Corona Light-Walkers

Almighty God, 

through the waters of baptism 

your Son has made us children of light. 

May we ever walk in his light 

and show forth your glory in the world; 

through Jesus Christ our Lord, 

who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, 

one God, now and for ever. (BAS p291)

…the Collect (or prayer of the day/week) for the Fourth Sunday of Lent in most Canadian Anglican Churches. It is one of the Collects featured in “A Collection of Disciplines for Lent,” a “devotional” I prepared for the current issue of Taste and See…, Anglican Renewal Ministries Canada’s quarterly magazine (to subscribe go to www.armcanada.org). 

Having written it, I feel obliged to follow it. Following it forces me to ask myself some demanding questions about how I am living my life. When I do these things certain phrases light up for me. For example, “May we ever walk in his light” brought the idea of being a Light-Walker into my mind. Which, in turn, conjured up a bit of a jumble of rather grandiose Star Wars and Lord of the Rings imagery and with that, of course, St Paul: 

For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. (1Thes5.5)

We are Light-Walkers all: illumined by, bathed in, refracting and reflecting the lovely Light of Jesus, the LIght of the World and bravely showing forth his glory all around. 

When I wrote the “Collection of Disciplines” the coronavirus was not the thing that it has become. As I pondered Light-Walking I remembered that a corona is much more than just a virus. A corona is the glowing envelope of light which surrounds the sun, the moon and the stars but which is only visible during an eclipse. We Light-Walkers are to be the glowing corona-like light of Jesus enveloping and warming all who live in fear and are suffering because of the viral, crepuscular eclipse of normal life and freedom visited on us in the pandemic. 

And not only that, a corona is also a crown. Not only are we Light-Walkers showing forth the glories of the life-giving corona light of Jesus, but we are to worship and proclaim him as our heaven crowned King of kings and LORD of Lords (Rev19.16) before whom no mere virus, or anything else, can stand. 

Love in Jesus,

Gene+

Light-Walking, the Ten Commandments, Sin and Jesus: Sermon Notes for the Second Sunday of Easter with Reference to 1 John 1.5-2.1

Jesus is the reason I’m speaking to you today. Jesus is the reason we have a 125th anniversary to celebrate.

Today, as part of my 125th anniversary celebration series of sermons on our slogan: founded on faith, focused on the future,  we’re returning to the Faith upon which we’re Founded and in particular the Catechism and the Ten Commandments and why they are so important.

I’d like to get there via our epistle so please turn to 1 John 1.5:

5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

There is a tendency among some to think of anything approaching a commandment as being somehow punitive and unreasonable: stealing? I’m just ripping my friends copy of the CD on to my computer. It won’t affect the copyright holder. Besides those fat-cat record companies won’t miss it. Adultery!? My spouse doesn’t understand me, I have a right to happiness and I have needs, you know. When there are ten of them together, that makes it even worse. But if there is no darkness at all the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, then there is no darkness in the Ten Commandments. On the contrary, the Ten Commandments must be an expression of the light that is God. If there is any darkness to do with them, some of it must come from us. John thinks so:

6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another…

So there’s walking in darkness and there’s walking in the light. To walk in darkness is to walk in sin.

8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

I’ll come back to v9 later.

10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. 2:1a My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.

The Ten Commandments were also written so that we may not sin. The Ten Commandments are practical instructions on how to walk in the light…how to be light-walkers.

But make no mistake, following the Ten Commandments won’t save us from sin. There is only one who can do that.

2:1b But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

7b the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Some things about sin:

1. Sin is REBELLION against God, missing the mark, and pride in trying to put ourselves in the place of God.  Sin is self-centredness, instead of God-centredness.  It is selfishness instead of love.  [Tucker & Swatos, Questions on the Way: A catechism based on The Book of Common Prayer (Cincinnati, Ohio: Forward Movement, 1987)]


2. Sin is not wrong doing, it is wrong being. deliberate and emphatic independence of God.  (Oswald Chambers)


3. Sin is crouching at the door. "Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” (Gen 4.7)


4. Sin clings (Heb 12.1)


5. Sin is a choice


6. Sin produces death Ro 7.13


7. Sin dwells within us (Ro 7.17) and v18: “I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.”


8. Sin blocks God’s grace

Four things about sin and about Jesus, our Lord and Saviour.

1. Jesus is an advocate with the Father for us. An advocate is a person who pleads on someone else's behalf.


2. Jesus is the propitiation for our sins and the sins of the whole world. Propitiation: “a sacrifice that bears the wrath of God against sin and thereby turns God’s wrath into favour.” [Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: an introduction to Biblical Doctrine, (Zondervan, 1994) 509-510]


3. It is the blood of Jesus, shed on the cross, which cleanses us from all sin.


4. But we must believe that Jesus is who the Bible says he is and confess our sin, if we do, Jesus is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

And in the meantime, using the Bible as our guide, we must do our best to be light-walkers. Knowing the Ten Commandments (write these thy laws on our hearts we beseech thee O Lord, we say every morning in the 830 service) and obeying them is a great help and it honours our Lord and Saviour, Jesus.

Epiphany: Finding Jesus and What To Do With That

Some thoughts arising from the Epiphany readings and this morning's A Guide to Prayer reading: John 1.35-42.

The wise men had to search for Jesus. I don't know whether Andrew was searching but when he found Jesus, he told his brother, Peter (v41), and brought him to Jesus (v42).

Four Epiphany questions:

1. Have I found Jesus?


2. If not, have I been looking? 


3. To whom shall I say, "I have found the Messiah"? 


4. Who shall I bring to Jesus? 

To say "I have found the Messiah" sounds pretty religious and grandiose in this day and age. Most people would not understand the terminology. It doesn't have to be said that way. We need to say it more naturally. For example, we could say something as simple as , "I've found the meaning of life," to use Alpha course language, or "I've found someone and something that makes sense out of my life and helps me to live it with more peace and joy, even in the midst of troubles, than I ever thought possible."

People are hungry, many are desperate, for answers, for solutions to their problems. All sorts of people have built followings and fortunes touting empty or downright false someones and somethings.

Our job as Light Emitting Disciples (LEDs…see here) is to find ways of saying and demonstrating that Jesus is the only, the ultimate, answer, solution and someone. His Church is the something.

Then, who shall we bring to meet him?

On Being an Epiphany Light Emitting Disciple (LED)

As I was about to pray the prayer of Thanksgiving and Consecration in our early service yesterday, the light theme which shines through Epiphany somehow brought LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) to mind. Quick as a flash, the thought popped into my mind that we need to be Light Emitting Disciples to make Jesus manifest to the world around us. This all in the pause between the Comfortable Words and the Thanksgiving and Consecration.

LEDs are all the rage these days. Most of the Christmas lights are LEDs now (where did all the incandescents go? Where all the IBM Selectrics and CRT computer monitors went, I guess). The thing about LEDs is that they are energy efficient.

Three ways to become energy efficient Epiphany LEDs:

1. make sure our connection to the power source is secure (worship and devotional life)


2. keep our lenses clean (confession and repentance)


3. shine brightly (generosity, good words and works for Jesus' sake)

The only trouble with the analogy is that Light Emitting Diodes are cold. Light Emitting Disciples must be warm.