Planning for the New Year? - think again.

13 Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money." 14Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that."

From the Daily Office - James 4:13-17,5:7-11   (NRSV)

Happy Birthday Mr. Kipling!

Recessional

God of our fathers, known of old,

Lord of our far-flung battle-line,

Beneath whose awful Hand we hold

Dominion over palm and pine

Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,

Lest we forget lest we forget!

The tumult and the shouting dies;

The Captains and the Kings depart:

Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,

An humble and a contrite heart.

Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,

Lest we forget lest we forget!

Far-called, our navies melt away;

On dune and headland sinks the fire:

Lo, all our pomp of yesterday

Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!

Judge of the Nations, spare us yet,

Lest we forget lest we forget!

If, drunk with sight of power, we loose

Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe,

Such boastings as the Gentiles use,

Or lesser breeds without the Law

Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,

Lest we forget lest we forget!

For heathen heart that puts her trust

In reeking tube and iron shard,

All valiant dust that builds on dust,

And guarding, calls not Thee to guard,

For frantic boast and foolish word

Thy mercy on Thy People, Lord!

The Closet Christian

Outside, on the steps of the downtown Manhattan church, I think I see someone familiar coming down the sidewalk, and I bolt in the other direction.

Why am I so paranoid? I'm not cheating on my husband, committing crimes or doing drugs. But those are battles my cosmopolitan, progressive friends would understand. Many of them had to come out -- as gay, as alcoholics, as artists in places where art was not valued. To them, my situation is far more sinister: I am the bane of their youth, the boogeyman of their politics, the very thing they left their small towns to escape. I am a Christian.

Read it all:

http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2009/12/21/closet_christian/index.html

1 Christmas 2009

Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7

Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian.
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.

Strong's Number G3807 matches the Greek παιδαγωγός (paidagōgos), a tutor i.e. a guardian and guide of boys. Among the Greeks and the Romans the name was applied to trustworthy slaves who were charged with the duty of supervising the life and morals of boys belonging to the better class. The boys were not allowed so much as to step out of the house without them before arriving at the age of manhood.

The NRSV, unfortunately translates παιδαγωγός as “disciplinarian”. I like the KJV choice of “schoolmaster” better, but perhaps a better idiomatic choice would be “Drill Sergeant.”

The root word agoge or upbringing, comes primarily from the Spartan educational structure that trained and controlled all boys lives from age 7 to 29, and is a much closer equivalent of our boot-camp than anything else (Although much longer).

 The key defect in using “disciplinarian” is that is lacks the time, or maturity, limit that is incorporated in the concept of Drill Sergeant.

A Drill Sergeant takes the raw recruit and turns them into a soldier through a process of strict and, at least from the recruit’s point-of-view, arbitrary rules. At the end of the process though, the skills, reflexes and attitude of the recruit have been changed utterly, he is no longer the raw recruit but now he is a soldier, one of a family who have been through a common ordeal, a Band of Brothers. At this point the Drill Sergeant is left behind as no longer needed.

The Law was our Drill Sergeant until Christ came. Now we are adopted members of His family.

The Drill Sergeant taught us “Thou shalt do no murder.” Ex 20:13

Why not?

Because I said not to, Maggot! Drop and give me 50! Ex 21:12

Then Christ came and said “But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, 'You fool,' you will be liable to the hell of fire.” Mat 5:22

Could we have just begun there? Maybe, maybe not.

We learn in very different ways.

Some pure hearts eagerly seek to please our Lord all of their lives and fall into sin only by accident. Mt 19:20

For others the Law is like an electric fence that keeps them from wandering too close to the cliff edge that would destroy them. Ro 7:5

For some the Christ is the end of fear, and the joy of freedom. Ro 8:1

For some the Liberty that comes in Christ is an invitation to licentiousness. 1 Cor 5:1

Most of us are a complicated stew of all those attitudes.

Moral conduct is not any different under the Law than it is under the Christ. Mt 5:17

Nor are we intrinsically more moral after baptism than before, sad to say.

Christ and the Law are 2 different ways of staying on the path.

The law in two ways:

First by Prohibition, “Thou shalt not” in this the law erects electric fences around the wrong; and

Second by Prescription, “Thou shalt” in this the law directs or drives us toward a certain number of things, though by no means all, that are right.

Between the two, humans are driven by fear - like sheep before sheepdogs.

Christ comes and says neither Prohibition nor Proscription will necessary anymore. We will not need hundreds of laws.

Just one rule will do.

“Follow me” Jn 10:27

The Good Shepherd leads us on the same path He has already walked. (More about that come Lent)

We follow, eager to be with Him, to be like Him, to become Him.

There is no “or else,” no condemnation, no punishment. Jn 3:17

The downside of an evil life is that you will not be sharing in the good life.

The downside of not being with Jesus is:

Not being with Jesus.

Christmas Eve 2009

This is our Patronal Feast - the anniversary of our foundation 171 years ago.

At 5:00 we had Music! Music to fill the heart. Organ & Piano! – Trumpet & Voice! God was glorified.  The Sermon is on iTunes.

At 11:30 we had Silence. We knelt and prayed. We sat and thought. We came to the manger by a different path. And God was with us.

As this morning dawns, say a grace before opening the gifts, then let the wrapping paper rip! By all means! God is the Great Giver. We are at our best whenever we emulate him, even in the slightest.

Merry Christmas! (day 1 of 12)

<>< 

Hoss, Roseanne & Sam

A demanding, liturgical Church is actually attracting youth!

Two-thirds of young adults who have grown up in evangelical churches are leaving, ...


There is an exception, however, ... Traditional churches that are liturgical churches and smaller evangelical churches seem to be retaining their twenty-something members in greater numbers than larger and mega-churches.


Read more about it.


Read it all

4 Advent - How many Ends do you need?

Sermon Notes:

The 4 Parts of the series:

1 Advent - The Resurrection of the Body and Redemption of Creation.

2 Advent - The Judgments – Particular & General

3 Advent - The Kingdom of Heaven & the Son of Man

4 Advent - How many Ends do you need?

Review part 1:

The Creation is good and loved. The Resurrection is the redemption of the whole person - body & spirit. Now we have the Kingdom in part, as a battlefield is held in part by an army. The Kingdom is here in the Sacraments and in the Mission. When the Kingdom comes in full, Earth is redeemed and joined to heaven, as the body is redeemed in resurrection and glorified. 

Review part 2:

We need not fear the Day(s) of Judgment. The victim of oppression and injustice doesn’t fear judgment. Judgment is the means by which the corrupt is replaced by the incorrupt. The Particular Judgment is at the moment of death – “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” The General Judgment is at the resurrection when Heaven comes to Earth an all is made new. Jesus, together with the Saints (that’s us) will Judge all of creation.

Review part 3:

Kingdom of Heaven = Kingdom of God. Both mean the Rule of God on this earth now in our own day. We have that victory in progress but not yet complete. We are the army of God taking the world for His rule, one heart at a time. Victory looks like the Eucharist. Victory looks like the Outreach Lunch. All men and women are sons of men, Jesus is The Son of Man because he is the perfect exemplar and archetype of what each of us is called to be and what each of us is capable of being.

Sermon Notes part 4:

THE END- which end? How many ends do you need?

Strong's Number H7093 matches the Hebrew קץ (qets), which occurs 67 times in 62 verses in the Hebrew concordance of the KJV

Strong's Number G5056 matches the Greek τέλος (telos), which occurs 42 times in 41 verses in the Greek concordance of the KJV

The End as one of the Names of God Rev. 22:13

Every end is, or seems to be, The End - if it is the one you are experiencing right now.

But we are eternal creatures. Mt 22:32 explaining Ex 3:6, Jn 5:29

So if we ourselves do not end, than any end we may face is just “The End of This” not My End, not The End of Everything.

The End of This = The End of the World-as-we-know-it.

How many times has that happened?

Adam & Eve Gen. 3:7

Cain & Able Gen 4:8

The Flood Gen 6:7

The end of the common language Gen 11:6

The Covenant Gen 17:24

The End of Lot’s world Gen 19:26

Slavery Ex 1:8

Freedom & the Law Ex 20:1

 And the list goes on...

At each of these “Ends” nothing is as it was before, nothing except God.

Look at your own life as well.

You are not the child you were at 10 nor do you live that life, that life ended but you did not.

The Child is not the Adult.

The Maiden is not the Mother.

The Father is not the Grandfather.

The Bride is not the Widow.

We each experience scores of endings and beginnings in our brief mortal passage and who knows what awaits beyond? More beginnings and more endings.

The-World-as-we-know-it is coming to an end, as it has a thousand times before, as it will a thousand times again.

We do not end, but grow and change every time our world comes to an end.

God does not come to an end, does not change or waver in his love for us; but we see God from a new angle in each new world we inhabit. Our knowledge of his love grows as we journey towards him.

The one who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming soon."

     Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen. Rev 21:20

  

If I am on Twitter, does that make me a Twit?

Blame it on the bishop.
Follow me 

3 Advent Yr C RCL 12 13 09

Sermon Notes:

The 4 Parts of the series:

1 Advent - The Resurrection of the Body and Redemption of Creation.

2 Advent - The Judgments – Particular & General

3 Advent - The Kingdom of Heaven & the Son of Man

4 Advent - How many Ends do you need?

Review part 1:

The Creation is good and loved. The Resurrection is the redemption of the whole person - body & spirit. Now we have the Kingdom in part, as a battlefield is held in part by an army. The Kingdom is here in the Sacraments and in the Mission. When the Kingdom comes in full, Earth is redeemed and joined to heaven, as the body is redeemed in resurrection and glorified. 

Review part 2:

We need not fear the Day(s) of Judgment. The victim of oppression and injustice doesn’t fear judgment. Judgment is the means by which the corrupt is replaced by the incorrupt. The Particular Judgment is at the moment of death – “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” The General Judgment is at the resurrection when Heaven comes to Earth an all is made new. Jesus, together with the Saints (that’s us) will Judge all of creation.

Sermon Notes part 3:

There are over a hundred names, titles and metaphors for Jesus of Nazareth in the New Testament. When you add in all the references to the Second Person of the Trinity and to The Unity, and run the Hebrew Scriptures and the Apocrypha you get a boggling number of names.

You can be forgiven for not always being able to tell exactly who we are talking about. If The Word is Jesus, Jn 1:1 & The Door is Jesus, Jn 10:9, then who is at the door?

From the original Not Ready For Primetime Players:

--knock at the door

Lorraine:           Yes?

at door:            Mrs. Jarlsburg?  (mumbled)

Lorraine:           Who?

at door:            Mrs. Boroughyu?  (mumbled)

Lorraine:           Who is it?

at door:            Flowers.

Lorraine:           Flowers for whom?

at door:            Plumber, maam.

Lorraine:           I don't need a plumber. You're that clever shark, aren't you?

at door:            Candygram.

Lorraine:           Candygram my foot.

                        You get out of here before I call the police.

                        You're the shark and you know it.

at door:            Uh, uh, I'm only a dolphin, maam.

Lorraine:           A dolphin, Well, ok.

--Lorraine opens the door and is eaten by the Landshark

Now I just finished pointing out last week that we need NOT be afraid when Jesus comes, so I’m trusting you here to get that the take-away from the Saturday Night Live skit is NOT “When Jesus comes, He’ll eat my face!”

But even though the Bible uses hundreds of Names for the same Jesus, they are not interchangeable. You cannot read John 1:1 as:

In the beginning was the Door and the Door was with…

The origin of this is that God is too big! Our minds and our language are inadequate to the task of describing God. A good breakdown of Logos - Word as used in John 1:1 fills a small book.

Today we are just going to try to pin down 2 terms that are essential in our understanding of The End or Eschatology.

Kingdom of Heaven & Son of Man

I. A. Kingdom of Heaven (& Kingdom of God)

Kingdom – Gk basileia rule, reign, kingship & kingdom. ccc2816

of Heaven – Gk ouranos sky, celestial realm

of God – Gk theos God, god

 Only St. Matthew uses “Kingdom of Heaven” and it is used where other authors use “Kingdom of God.” Mt 5:3 Lk 6:20 (there is good linguistic scholarship on the reason for this which you can read elsewhere).

So read Kingdom of Heaven = Kingdom of God and vice versa

B. The Kingdom of Heaven is not in Heaven.

We pray “Thy kingdom come” because we want the Kingdom here & now.

Start thinking “Reign of Heaven”, and you quickly see that heaven doesn’t reign over heaven, but we would very much like heaven to reign over the Earth.

C. Described by Parables

The Kingdom of God:

is within (or among) people, Lk 17:21;

approached through understanding, Mk 12:34;

entered by acceptance like a child: Mk 10:15;

entered by Baptism, Jn 3:5;

doing the will of God, Mt 7:21;

does not come to, or come to contain, the wicked, 1 Cor 6:9;

II The Son of Man circle.

Before we begin – do not call the gender police. Jesus called, he will stipulate that Pronouns of one gender include the masculine, feminine and neuter.

A. Adam was a man; but not the man he should have been. Gen 3:11

B. Every man is a son of man; but neither father nor son are the men they should have been. Gen 5:1

C. Jesus is the man that Adam, and we, should have been. The true Son of Man or, heir of humanness? 1 Cor 15:21

D. By becoming what Jesus is we too become what we should be. Jn 1:12

And so we arrive at The End in the place we began. In the Garden, God Reigned and humans lived in His perfect will. In the Kingdom, God Reigns and we, perfected by Christ and Glorified by Resurrection live in His perfect will.  

Q; Does Civilization have to collapse before Jesus comes?

OR: “Honey, do we have enough ramen soup and ammunition?”

Well… To begin with “Civilization” is not a concept the Bible has much use for.  Civilization is the, seeming, triumph of humanity over the “nasty, brutish and short” life that is the state of nature.

The Bible is all about the Kingdom (& by coincidence so is this coming Sunday’s Sermon. Golly!)

Christianity is not any particular requirement of civilization. Pagan Greeks, Maya, Khmer, Chin, all achieved high levels of civilization without our input. Nor is every Christian country automatically a civilized garden; remember the Spanish Inquisition?

Likewise, civilization is not always a friend to the Faith.

Nero’s Rome,

Nazi Germany,

The USSR,

China, &

Saudi Arabia,

are all very orderly places, but offer no safety to the Disciples.

We can well imagine a very civilized society, where Christians, solely on the grounds of acting out the faith, are jailed, put to slave labor in state factories, physically and sexually abused, and medically assaulted for organ harvesting.

No Wait!

We don’t have to imagine it.

All that is occurring today in the Peoples Republic of China. http://www.persecution.org/suffering/index.php

So as the Church, we have a justifiably jaundiced view of the benefits of Civilization.

But does that mean that we must as a matter of faith go through some Mad-Max type collapse before we see the Son of Man coming in Glory? Actually, it is likely to be a lot like now, only more-so.

Let’s break it down. It is not Civilization, the human thing, that is threatened here, it is the Church, the army of the Kingdom that is now, and will be suffering.

First a note: this is not “The Tribulation” – when capitalized like that, is a part of Darby Premillennial Dispensationalism – see Not the End Part 2 below.

But real persecution, ordeals, trials & tribulations – are the battles of the war being fought for this world between the Disciples and the Enemy – in EVERY generation.

“they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name.” Lk 21:12

“Then they will hand you over to be tortured and will put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of my name.” Mt 24:9

“I have chosen you out of the world--therefore the world hates you.” Jn 15:19

The Church has been persecuted from the cradle, and the pace and intensity of persecution has done nothing but increase.

 Nor do we have any excuse from either Scripture or Reason to believe that persecution will diminish. Instead we can expect the Church to continue to be exposed to increasing violence, hatred and attack as she continues in faith to carry out the Great Commission of Jesus Christ to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Mt 28:19

So if we accept as a given that the pace of persecution increases over time; and

We also accept as a given that The End comes, as it were, at the end.

Then the greatest intensity of persecution will come just before the end. q.e.d.

Whether a particular Christian experiences that persecution in a blasted and law-less wasteland, e.g. Somalia, or with electric lights and running water, under the iron fist of a totalitarian secret police, e.g. China; Is probably just an accident of geography.

“Yes honey, we have enough ramen & ammunition.”

The question is, “Do we have enough Faith?”

Sermon Notes: 2 Advent

The 4 Parts of the series:

1 Advent - The Resurrection of the Body and Redemption of Creation.

2 Advent - The Judgments – Particular & General

3 Advent - The Kingdom of Heaven & the Son of Man

4 Advent - How many Ends do you need?

Review part 1:

The Creation is good and loved. The Resurrection is the redemption of the whole person - body & spirit. Now we have the Kingdom in part, as a battlefield is held in part by an army. The Kingdom is here in the Sacraments and in the Mission. When the Kingdom comes in full, Earth is redeemed and joined to heaven, as the body is redeemed in resurrection and glorified. 

Notes part 2:

Surprised by Hope – Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church

+N.T. Wright, Durham

Moore:             You threaten like a dockside bully.

Cromwell:         Oh! How should I threaten?

Moore:             Like a minister of state, with justice!

Cromwell:         Oh, Justice is what you're threatened with.

Moore:             Then I am not threatened.

A Man For All Seasons Robert Bolt

Who Fears the Judgment?

the Egyptians Ge 15:14 Ex 6:6 Ex 7:4

God’s adversaries Dt 32:41

the wicked Job 36:17

Corrupt Rulers, Priests, and Prophets Isa 28:6

sorcerers, adulterers, those who swear falsely, those who oppress the hired workers in their wages, the widow and the orphan, against those who thrust aside the alien, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts. Mal 3:5

Babylon Rev 18:20

Who is protected by Judgment?

the sons of Israel  Ex 28:29 Jdg 4:5

the poor and great alike Lev 19:15 Dt 1:17

the powerless 2Ch 20:12

all the oppressed of the earth Ps 76:9

all his faithful ones Ps 149:9

Who is the Judge?

            Jesus 2 Tim 4:1, Ro 2:16

            with the saints (that’s us) 1 Corr 6:2, 1 Thess 13:3, Mt 19:28, Lk 22:30, Rev 20:4

The Particular Judgment – judgment of the person, pre-resurrection

            today you will be with me in Paradise. Lk 23:43

            Many mansions Jn 14:2

            coming back with Jesus 1 Thess 13:3

The General Judgment – judgment & redemption of the world

            End of the battle = Thy Kingdom Come Rev 11:15

            The Baptized enter Jn 3:3

            end of death 1 Cor 15:24

           

True signposts pointing into a brilliant mist:

            Life

Death

The Particular Judgment

Life after Death – paradise

Resurrection & General Judgment

Life after Life after Death – new heaven & new earth

Not the End 2 – The Rapture

Second installment in what we don’t believe about The End.

(I am discussing these ideas here to avoid using teaching time in the pulpit to discuss things that we do not believe.)

We don’t believe that The Left Behind books are Holy Scripture.

Well, maybe I am being presumptuous. Some of us do in fact believe it, that is part of why we are teaching on the The End this Advent.

But the great ancient undivided Church, which today includes those called Orthodox, Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran and lots of others, That Church, got along just fine for 1800 odd years without teaching a rapture and we do not teach it today.

For those of you who missed the best selling Left Behind series, the premise is this:

Jesus will “rapture” or take up to heaven all the faithful and the lukewarm or worse will be “left behind” to suffer adventures.

First, check the Bible – Number of times the word “rapture” occurs = zero. Now that is true of a lot of words, and a translator can do a lot if they want to, so lets see what the text does say.

The title Left Behind comes from Luke 17:34 and others where Jesus says:

“I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding meal together; one will be taken and the other left."

Looks pretty strong, doesn’t it? But let’s put a little context on it.

“26 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so too it will be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 They were eating and drinking, and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed all of them. 28 Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot: they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, 29 but on the day that Lot left Sodom, it rained fire and sulfur from heaven and destroyed all of them 30 --it will be like that on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. 31 On that day, anyone on the housetop who has belongings in the house must not come down to take them away; and likewise anyone in the field must not turn back. 32 Remember Lot's wife. 33 Those who try to make their life secure will lose it, but those who lose their life will keep it. 34 I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. 35 There will be two women grinding meal together; one will be taken and the other left."  37 Then they asked him, "Where, Lord?" He said to them, "Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather."

In the days of Noah who got left behind? Noah! He lived.

In Sodom who got left behind? Lot! He lived!

Jesus says, “one will be taken”

they ask, “Where, Lord?”

and Jesus answers, "Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather." Ooo nasty!

Is it just me, or do the ones taken away seem to be the losers in this?

The rapture is not an ancient doctrine of this or any Christian Tradition. In fact, our very own Christ Episcopal Church, Matagorda, Texas is slightly older than Darby Premillennial Dispensationalism. This the novel and complicated theology (Google it if you must) developed, in part, by John Nelson Darby (18 November 1800 – 29 April 1882). Darby started out as an Anglican (Church of Ireland) Priest but left to form a new movement called the Plymouth Brethren.

Is someone who follows Darby dammed? Of course not!

Jesus is Lord and Christians believe lots of things differently from one another without courting damnation. But nobody is well served when we do not know what we believe or why.

This is where you are invited to sign up for the inquirer’s series “What we believe, and why we believe it” starting soon.

<>< 

The Regrettable Common Lectionary continued.

Our reading from the Hebrew Scripture Sunday (2 Advent Yr C) is Malachi 3:1-4
     1  See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight--indeed, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?

     For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap; 3 he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the LORD in righteousness. 4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years.

This is where the Editor cuts off. The Prophet Malachi however continues:

      5 Then I will draw near to you for judgment; I will be swift to bear witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired workers in their wages, the widow and the orphan, against those who thrust aside the alien, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts.



It says something about the Editor's opinion of the ordinary Christian Congregation that they were concerned that:

• the adulterers;
• those who swear falsely;
• those who oppress the hired workers in their wages;
• those who oppress the widow and the orphan;
• those who thrust aside the alien;
• those who do not fear God;

are so thickly represented that the Judgment will be un-palatable to their ears.

This Sunday take a look around, are these really the friends and neighbors who share your pew?
If so, would it not be a kindness to tell them what Malachi said was coming?
If not, why are we shy about reading the parts of the Bible with the pointy-edges?

Forgive the Lectionary Editors (again) and trust that God is able to get His Word across with or without their help. Amen!