"...For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God..." Ephesians 6:12-13
I think that one of the greatest failures of true religion is the lack of discernment regarding that which is evil. Christians confine their spiritual vision to the earth, and too often miss the spiritual struggle that is even now working itself out in the heavenly places around us. We tend to discount the new pagans, attributing far too little power to their rites and beliefs. But Paul makes it clear in our opening scripture that there is a vast host of dark spiritual forces arrayed against the people of God, and it is to the heavens, as well as on the earth, that we must press the battle under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds..." II Corinthians 10:3-5. Throughout the ages the Church has sought to place such mighty weapons in the hands of her saints that they might strive mightily against the gates of hell and prevail. One such weapon are the seasonal days of fasting, which are known to the Church as the Ember days.
One tradition holds that the name "ember" comes from the Anglo-Saxon and means the completing of a circuit, the coming round of a recurring time or season. In modern terms we might liken it to the keeping of an anniversary date in which something of significance is remembered and celebrated each year. The scripture tells us that all of creation speaks to us of the nature of God, that His word and order is proclaimed throughout the heavens, that the recurring passage of time reveals knowledge of His ways to us (read Psalm 19:1-6 for instance). It's unfortunate that the Christian Church has forgotten such lessons in which the heavenly plan and will of God are made manifest in time and place. It is a lesson that the pagans have not forgotten, for in their "earth religion" they seek to tap into the cycle of creation which is by heritage the rightful property of the Christian Church.
Consider, for example, the great significance attached by the new age pagans to the keeping of the Vernal Equinox (March 21), the Summer Solstice (June 21), the Autumnal Equinox (September 23) and the Winter Solstice (December 22). Equinox comes from the Latin meaning days on which daylight and night are equal, and Solstice comes from a word meaning when the "sun stands" at its greatest extreme. The summer solstice is the longest daylight period, the winter solstice the shortest daylight period. Such celebrations were historically tied to the three great harvests of wheat, grapes and olives by the ancient Romans. But the Church was quick to note that these times were also periods in which demonic evil and wickedness seemed to flourish and peak in a cyclical regularity. This is not surprising; for if, in the times of abundance, man's heart does not rise to his Creator in thanksgiving, it falls to prideful sins of ingratitude and idolatry. Said another way, where grace is not at work in restoration, sin is at work in degradation. Because heathen practices and rituals were so active in these times, the Church instituted its own seasons which were intended to stir up the saints to spiritual activity. Such spiritual legislation is not forbidden by the scriptures and is part of the spiritual liberty which we possess as heirs with Christ.
Thus were born the so-called Ember days of Christianity. Another tradition holds the origin of their name to have been derived from a corruption of the Latin "Quatuor Tempora", the quarter tense or the four times. Regardless of the origin of their names, the Ember Days were established from the start as days of fasting, abstinence, prayer, and increased almsgiving that by the weapons of righteousness the deeds of darkness might be exposed and overcome. The Church also saw the added benefit in the observance of cyclic fasting in all the seasons of the year. It continued to remind the saints of their need for repeated purification under the hand of God. Then too it reminded each man that earthly life was not the fullness of the Kingdom of God, and the balancing of the days of feasting and celebration against the days of fasting and penitence brought a Godly harmony to daily life. As Paul states in Philippians 4:11-13 "...in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." The lessons which the ember days sought to teach were that men ought to thank God for the gifts of nature in each of its seasons; that men were to make right and moderate use of the abundance of God's bounty; and that from this use they were to remember and assist those in true need of Christian charity.
The practice of seasonal Church fasting is ancient. The Roman Archbishop Callistus in A.D. 222 wrote in his first epistle "Fasting, which you have learned to hold three times in the year among us, we decree now to take place as more suitable in four seasons; so that even as the year revolves through four seasons, we too may keep a solemn fast quarterly in the four seasons of the year. And as we are replenished with corn, and wine and oil for the nourishment of our bodies, so let us be replenished with fasting for the nourishment of our souls..." Leo the Great in his Sermon 19 delivered around A.D. 450 declared "This profitable observance [i.e. self restraint and abstinence] is especially laid down for the fasts of the Church, which, in accordance with the Holy Spirit's teaching, are so distributed over the whole year that the law of abstinence may be kept before us at all times. Accordingly we keep the spring fast in Lent, the summer fast at Whitsuntide, the autumn fast in the seventh month, and the winter fast in this which is the tenth month, knowing that there is nothing unconnected with the Divine commands, and that all the elements serve the Word of God to our instruction. For when the prophet says, 'The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth His handiwork; day unto day utters speech and night unto night shows knowledge.." what is there then by which the Truth does not speak to us?" He continues later on to infer an apostolic origin for this practice. "Let us therefore fast on Wednesday, and Friday, and on Saturday keep vigil with the most blessed apostle Peter....[performing] our supplications and fastings and alms which the Lord Jesus Christ presents..."
The observance of Ember Days is therefore fixed and at the same time variable. They are fixed in the sense of occurring always on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday and variable since they occur in the week after Ash Wednesday, Whitsunday (Pentecost), September 14 (historically the exaltation of the cross), and December 13 (the remembrance day of St. Lucia). Thus the Latin verse was phrased to help the faithful remember their timing "Post crux, post lux, post ignes, post cineres", or in a rough translation, "after the cross, after the light, after the fire, after the ashes." The seasons of God's creation are ours by inheritance. Let us reclaim them from the pagans so that their line may go out through all the earth for the glory of God; and let us not despise the Godly disciplines whereby the saints in ages past have wrestled to keep themselves undefiled in the world and persevering in the promises of God's covenant.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Saturday, February 20, 2010
St. Matthias, Apostle (Remembrance Day February 24)
"You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give it to you." John 15:16
The doctrine of predestination is often misunderstood, often abused, often discarded as incompatible with the notion of human free will. Often it is wrongly reduced to the almighty sovereignty of God or to the irresistible decrees of God forcing itself upon our world. But at its heart I believe it is more about how God can use earthen vessels to contain the treasure of God’s most excellent power (II Corinthians 4:7). It is the word that clearly portrays how God looks on a world at enmity towards Him and from the rebels calls forth those that are, in the words of Jesus, "chosen vessels unto Me, to bear my name..." (Acts 1:15) And that divine calling, that choosing by the Lord Jesus Christ, is at the heart of salvation. We sometimes define the moment of salvation as that point in time when we chose to acknowledge Jesus as both Savior and Lord. But what we miss in that definition is the gracious invitation that reflects the love and choosing of God while we were yet sinners. Our decision finds its fullness only through the calling of Christ. He says, "Follow Me", and then and only then can our heart reply "I will." Again, to return to the word "predestinate", it comes from a word that means to mark out beforehand. When used by God it is as if He declares "This one is Mine, and it is My purpose to accomplish thus and such through him/her." Although all of the Apostles were specifically called or chosen (see Mark 3:13-15) nowhere is that divine choice made so clear as in the calling of the apostle Matthias, chosen to take up the office of the betrayer Judas (Acts 1:20).
The account of the calling of Matthias is recorded for us by Luke in Acts 1:12-26. The setting is an upper room in Jerusalem during the ten day period that falls between the ascension of the Lord Jesus to heaven and the pouring forth of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. The apostles and brethren numbering about 120 are gathered together waiting at the command of Jesus Christ for the promise of the Father. They have just spent forty days with their resurrected Lord hearing those things that pertain to the kingdom of God (Acts 1:3) and are now giving themselves over to prayer as they wait for the Holy Spirit. It must have occurred to them in prayer that everything that had happened in the recent past was solely at the express purpose and command of the Father. God ordains not just the end, but also the means to the end. And in that meditation they saw that those chosen by Jesus Christ to specifically be His witnesses in "Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth"(Acts 1:8b) now numbered eleven, not twelve as originally ordained. And so they set about filling out that number. But why? Why could they have not just as well accomplished the work of the kingdom with eleven as twelve?
We can endlessly speculate about that question or just accept that it was the number ordained by the Father and for that reason was the first order of business taken up by the followers of Jesus. Christ had, after all, spoken of twelve, not eleven thrones in Matthew 19:28-30, and Revelation 21:12-14 reveals to us that the New Jerusalem has twelve, not eleven, foundations, each one bearing the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. St. Augustine, bishop of Hippo, considering this question in the early 5th century A.D. said that twelve was a divine number. "The number remained a sacred number, a number containing twelve; because they were to make known the Trinity throughout the whole world (see Matthew 28:19), that is throughout the four quarters of the world. That is the reason of the three [Trinity] times four [world].
But, let’s return to the upper room. Peter and the brethren are gathered to fill out the apostolic number ordained by Christ and he lays out the qualifications that must be met in Acts 1:21-22. The replacement was to be taken from those "men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John unto that same day that He was taken up from us". Such a man, Peter explained, would be a witness with us (the eleven) of the resurrection of the Lord (see the reasons for this as explained in II Peter 1:12-21 and I John 1:1-4). From the 120 gathered in that upper room, two men were put forth, Joseph called Barsabbas who was also surnamed Justus (that is the righteous or just one) and Matthias. Both fulfilled the raw requirements to be an apostle, they only lacked the calling. Thus what follows is not a democratic vote by those gathered, nor an authoritative declaration by Peter as one of the leaders of the Church, but a specific and intentional acknowledgment that the apostolic choice was reserved to Christ alone. They cast lots therefore, praying "You Lord, who knows the hearts of all men, show which of these two you have chosen." And Luke simply records that the lot fell to Matthias and he was numbered with the eleven remaining apostles.
The postscript to that whole event might be "and he was never mentioned again in any of the scriptures." One commentator wrote that "As soon as Matthais was chosen as an apostle, he fell back into obscurity. He experienced with the others the fiery and joyful grace of Pentecost. And with the others he suffered arrest and scourging by the Jewish leaders and rejoiced that he had been counted worthy to suffer disgrace for the name of Jesus. He journeyed and preached and healed, but not a single word more was dedicated to him in the Holy Scriptures. He was simply one of the Twelve. In fact, it is a matter of record, that in the first ten centuries of the Church’s ministry only two sermons celebrating his ministry have survived to the present day.
A bit more of background can be gleaned from other Church writings. In Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History, Book 1, Chapter 12 he writes "Matthias, who was numbered with the apostles in place of Judas, and he who had been honored to be a candidate with him [i.e. Justus] were also said to have been deemed worthy of the same calling with the seventy."(see Luke 10:1-12). From his "qualifications" of having been with Jesus from the very beginning we can conclude that Matthais left everything behind, that he followed after Jesus, that he heard Jesus preach, that he saw Jesus minister, and that he did not leave the Lord when many of the other disciples were offended by Him (John 6:66). Tradition says that he ministered first in Judea, then into Egypt, Ethiopia and Cappadocia (Asia Minor). There is a consensus that he was martyred in Colchis, a district of Asia Minor on the eastern Black Sea.
So what does the brief biographical record that we have of the apostle Matthias bequeath to us in our spiritual walk? I believe that it must be this. The calling of Jesus Christ is the very heart of our relationship with Him and ministry through Him, and this calling cannot be simply communicated through a third party to us. Oh, others may tell us of Jesus and what He has done for them, and even what He could do for us if we would just let Him. But until we hear the Lord Himself call us by name and bid us follow we can have no real relationship with Him. We must hear Him for ourselves, we must see Him work, we must receive His invitation, we must follow. In short, a true Christian must be an eyewitness to the reality of the resurrected Lord. This is what Matthias was, this is what we must be. Nothing changed in Matthias’ heart when the lot fell to him (God already knew what was in his heart), only his gifting and authority. Yet he remains for us an example of the work of God’s predestinate grace in conforming a man to the "image of his Son" (Romans 8:28-30). Those whom God predestinates He calls, those He calls He also justifies, and those He justifies these He also glorifies. This is the high calling of God in Christ. May we allow it to have its way in our life so that we might be numbered among those found to be faithful witnesses to God’s gracious work in our world.
The Collect for his remembrance day runs thus:
O Almighty God, who into the place of the traitor Judas didst choose Thy faithful servant Matthias to be of the number of the twelve Apostles; grant that Thy Church, being always preserved from false Apostles, may be ordered and guided by faithful and true pastors; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The doctrine of predestination is often misunderstood, often abused, often discarded as incompatible with the notion of human free will. Often it is wrongly reduced to the almighty sovereignty of God or to the irresistible decrees of God forcing itself upon our world. But at its heart I believe it is more about how God can use earthen vessels to contain the treasure of God’s most excellent power (II Corinthians 4:7). It is the word that clearly portrays how God looks on a world at enmity towards Him and from the rebels calls forth those that are, in the words of Jesus, "chosen vessels unto Me, to bear my name..." (Acts 1:15) And that divine calling, that choosing by the Lord Jesus Christ, is at the heart of salvation. We sometimes define the moment of salvation as that point in time when we chose to acknowledge Jesus as both Savior and Lord. But what we miss in that definition is the gracious invitation that reflects the love and choosing of God while we were yet sinners. Our decision finds its fullness only through the calling of Christ. He says, "Follow Me", and then and only then can our heart reply "I will." Again, to return to the word "predestinate", it comes from a word that means to mark out beforehand. When used by God it is as if He declares "This one is Mine, and it is My purpose to accomplish thus and such through him/her." Although all of the Apostles were specifically called or chosen (see Mark 3:13-15) nowhere is that divine choice made so clear as in the calling of the apostle Matthias, chosen to take up the office of the betrayer Judas (Acts 1:20).
The account of the calling of Matthias is recorded for us by Luke in Acts 1:12-26. The setting is an upper room in Jerusalem during the ten day period that falls between the ascension of the Lord Jesus to heaven and the pouring forth of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. The apostles and brethren numbering about 120 are gathered together waiting at the command of Jesus Christ for the promise of the Father. They have just spent forty days with their resurrected Lord hearing those things that pertain to the kingdom of God (Acts 1:3) and are now giving themselves over to prayer as they wait for the Holy Spirit. It must have occurred to them in prayer that everything that had happened in the recent past was solely at the express purpose and command of the Father. God ordains not just the end, but also the means to the end. And in that meditation they saw that those chosen by Jesus Christ to specifically be His witnesses in "Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth"(Acts 1:8b) now numbered eleven, not twelve as originally ordained. And so they set about filling out that number. But why? Why could they have not just as well accomplished the work of the kingdom with eleven as twelve?
We can endlessly speculate about that question or just accept that it was the number ordained by the Father and for that reason was the first order of business taken up by the followers of Jesus. Christ had, after all, spoken of twelve, not eleven thrones in Matthew 19:28-30, and Revelation 21:12-14 reveals to us that the New Jerusalem has twelve, not eleven, foundations, each one bearing the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. St. Augustine, bishop of Hippo, considering this question in the early 5th century A.D. said that twelve was a divine number. "The number remained a sacred number, a number containing twelve; because they were to make known the Trinity throughout the whole world (see Matthew 28:19), that is throughout the four quarters of the world. That is the reason of the three [Trinity] times four [world].
But, let’s return to the upper room. Peter and the brethren are gathered to fill out the apostolic number ordained by Christ and he lays out the qualifications that must be met in Acts 1:21-22. The replacement was to be taken from those "men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John unto that same day that He was taken up from us". Such a man, Peter explained, would be a witness with us (the eleven) of the resurrection of the Lord (see the reasons for this as explained in II Peter 1:12-21 and I John 1:1-4). From the 120 gathered in that upper room, two men were put forth, Joseph called Barsabbas who was also surnamed Justus (that is the righteous or just one) and Matthias. Both fulfilled the raw requirements to be an apostle, they only lacked the calling. Thus what follows is not a democratic vote by those gathered, nor an authoritative declaration by Peter as one of the leaders of the Church, but a specific and intentional acknowledgment that the apostolic choice was reserved to Christ alone. They cast lots therefore, praying "You Lord, who knows the hearts of all men, show which of these two you have chosen." And Luke simply records that the lot fell to Matthias and he was numbered with the eleven remaining apostles.
The postscript to that whole event might be "and he was never mentioned again in any of the scriptures." One commentator wrote that "As soon as Matthais was chosen as an apostle, he fell back into obscurity. He experienced with the others the fiery and joyful grace of Pentecost. And with the others he suffered arrest and scourging by the Jewish leaders and rejoiced that he had been counted worthy to suffer disgrace for the name of Jesus. He journeyed and preached and healed, but not a single word more was dedicated to him in the Holy Scriptures. He was simply one of the Twelve. In fact, it is a matter of record, that in the first ten centuries of the Church’s ministry only two sermons celebrating his ministry have survived to the present day.
A bit more of background can be gleaned from other Church writings. In Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History, Book 1, Chapter 12 he writes "Matthias, who was numbered with the apostles in place of Judas, and he who had been honored to be a candidate with him [i.e. Justus] were also said to have been deemed worthy of the same calling with the seventy."(see Luke 10:1-12). From his "qualifications" of having been with Jesus from the very beginning we can conclude that Matthais left everything behind, that he followed after Jesus, that he heard Jesus preach, that he saw Jesus minister, and that he did not leave the Lord when many of the other disciples were offended by Him (John 6:66). Tradition says that he ministered first in Judea, then into Egypt, Ethiopia and Cappadocia (Asia Minor). There is a consensus that he was martyred in Colchis, a district of Asia Minor on the eastern Black Sea.
So what does the brief biographical record that we have of the apostle Matthias bequeath to us in our spiritual walk? I believe that it must be this. The calling of Jesus Christ is the very heart of our relationship with Him and ministry through Him, and this calling cannot be simply communicated through a third party to us. Oh, others may tell us of Jesus and what He has done for them, and even what He could do for us if we would just let Him. But until we hear the Lord Himself call us by name and bid us follow we can have no real relationship with Him. We must hear Him for ourselves, we must see Him work, we must receive His invitation, we must follow. In short, a true Christian must be an eyewitness to the reality of the resurrected Lord. This is what Matthias was, this is what we must be. Nothing changed in Matthias’ heart when the lot fell to him (God already knew what was in his heart), only his gifting and authority. Yet he remains for us an example of the work of God’s predestinate grace in conforming a man to the "image of his Son" (Romans 8:28-30). Those whom God predestinates He calls, those He calls He also justifies, and those He justifies these He also glorifies. This is the high calling of God in Christ. May we allow it to have its way in our life so that we might be numbered among those found to be faithful witnesses to God’s gracious work in our world.
The Collect for his remembrance day runs thus:
O Almighty God, who into the place of the traitor Judas didst choose Thy faithful servant Matthias to be of the number of the twelve Apostles; grant that Thy Church, being always preserved from false Apostles, may be ordered and guided by faithful and true pastors; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Invocabit Sunday, First Sunday in Lent
Tomorrow is Invocabit Sunday, the first Sunday in Lent. It takes its name from the psalm reading for the day, Psalm 91 at verse 15. "He shall call upon me." In case you don’t know, the "he" is you and me. The scripture readings for the day may vary, depending upon your church tradition, but the theme of the entire Sunday usually centers on these important truths so important for our Lenten pilgramage:
1. In this life we will struggle against "the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life." as St. John summarizes. Our response to temptations in those areas serve to define where our true allegiance lies. We can only serve one master and Lent reminds us to remember that with all seriousness.
2. Our struggle against these strongholds requires self-denial, for we must take up the cross of Jesus daily, losing our life in order that we might receive it from him in fullness. The cross is to those that perish foolishness, but for us who believe, it is the power of God unto deliverance.
3. Since we struggle against principalities and powers, expect that all of your strength will soon be spent. You best intentions, solemn vows, and spiritual disciplines will lie broken or exhausted at some point in this Lenten journey. But we have the assurance that the weapons of our struggle are divinely ordained and divinely empowered. They are capable of storming and tearing down the strong places in our hearts and bringing every unruly tendency within us into obedience to the will of God in Jesus. So at that point of near surrender, call out to God.
Piece of cake? Absolutely not. I wish it were so but I have weathered enough Lents to know that the gaining of something eternal always costs me something. Even though grace is a gift, there is a great difference between receiving it freely and then letting it permeate every nook and crany of your soul. The book of Hebrews says that we have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in our struggle against sin; let’s be honest, most of us haven’t even broken a sweat yet. But that is what this season of Lent is about, and Psalm 91 reminds us that when we call upon God, "I will answer him, I will be with him in trouble, I will rescue him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him, and will show Him my salvation." The gospel reading recounts Jesus’ own temptation in the wilderness. Ah, the wilderness, a place of aloneness, of scarcity, of bleakness, of testing. Forty days of Jesus in the wilderness and forty days of Lent...do you notice any similarity? The wilderness is a place where there are wild beasts, some around us, but I think as well some within us. But if we face its testing by our confidence in the promises of God, and by our obedience to that which He commands, the wilderness must eventually give way and then, the scripture says, the angels of heaven minister to us. May this first Sunday of Lent renew our determination to let God have His whole way with us, body, mind, heart and spirit.
1. In this life we will struggle against "the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life." as St. John summarizes. Our response to temptations in those areas serve to define where our true allegiance lies. We can only serve one master and Lent reminds us to remember that with all seriousness.
2. Our struggle against these strongholds requires self-denial, for we must take up the cross of Jesus daily, losing our life in order that we might receive it from him in fullness. The cross is to those that perish foolishness, but for us who believe, it is the power of God unto deliverance.
3. Since we struggle against principalities and powers, expect that all of your strength will soon be spent. You best intentions, solemn vows, and spiritual disciplines will lie broken or exhausted at some point in this Lenten journey. But we have the assurance that the weapons of our struggle are divinely ordained and divinely empowered. They are capable of storming and tearing down the strong places in our hearts and bringing every unruly tendency within us into obedience to the will of God in Jesus. So at that point of near surrender, call out to God.
Piece of cake? Absolutely not. I wish it were so but I have weathered enough Lents to know that the gaining of something eternal always costs me something. Even though grace is a gift, there is a great difference between receiving it freely and then letting it permeate every nook and crany of your soul. The book of Hebrews says that we have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in our struggle against sin; let’s be honest, most of us haven’t even broken a sweat yet. But that is what this season of Lent is about, and Psalm 91 reminds us that when we call upon God, "I will answer him, I will be with him in trouble, I will rescue him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him, and will show Him my salvation." The gospel reading recounts Jesus’ own temptation in the wilderness. Ah, the wilderness, a place of aloneness, of scarcity, of bleakness, of testing. Forty days of Jesus in the wilderness and forty days of Lent...do you notice any similarity? The wilderness is a place where there are wild beasts, some around us, but I think as well some within us. But if we face its testing by our confidence in the promises of God, and by our obedience to that which He commands, the wilderness must eventually give way and then, the scripture says, the angels of heaven minister to us. May this first Sunday of Lent renew our determination to let God have His whole way with us, body, mind, heart and spirit.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Thoughts on Church Unity
There are many ways that congregations evaluate unity within the church at large, and I think it is fair to say that most of their measuring sticks consist of a doctrinal checklist that tends to exclude based on perceived differences. I am always amazed, however, with the simple statement that Paul gives in I Corinthians 1:2 of the overriding truth of our unity. Paul writes to "those that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours. " To put it simply, if we are Christians, then we have an inherent unity with every other person who calls upon the name of Jesus Christ, no matter what creed or confession or denomination they claim for themselves. This is disturbing to us, because most of these people look tremendously different than us in the way they express their spiritual beliefs. But the simple reading of Paul’s salutation means that we have a spiritual unity with the old Presbyterian hymn singer, the Reformed psalm chanter, and the nondenominational praise choruser. We have unity with full immersion believers-only Baptists, with three-fold immersion Orthodox believers, and with those who sprinkle babies. We have unity with altar callers, incense users, sacramentalists and iconoclasts. We have as much unity with the drummer in the black pentecostal church as the organist in the High Anglican church. We may not feel comfortable admitting it, but the scripture leaves us very little room to wiggle about…."with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both their Lord and ours.”
So here are some thoughts that I have on the church as pertains to its oneness and catholicity:
1 Jesus Christ is building up only one church, of which He is the fullness and the head, whether we like it or not.
2. The church is composed of “whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord” for salvation and gathers together in His name on the basis of His work of grace.
3. Such a church at large is intended to be catholic (universal) and includes a multitude of congregations which possess a diversity in the midst of their inherent unity. As the scripture says, they come out “from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.” Unity must never be reduced to uniformity.
4. If we acknowledge the Church as catholic, we acknowledge sharing a common faith with those who do not necessarily express their spirituality as we do, but who nonetheless belong to Jesus Christ. This view of catholicitiy was summed up in the 17th century by the German protestant theologian Rupert Meldenius. "Unity in essentials, liberty in incidentals, and in all things, charity."
5. We must be careful not to make the basis of our unity shared doctrine, but rather our shared Lord and Deliverer, Jesus. The “word” always points to “The Word”.
6. In my mind, there is no congregation or denomination on earth which is fully catholic, for no church possesses in the full and absolute sense the wholeness of the gospel as its exclusive possession. Each congregation has a claim upon and a responsibility towards all other bodies of believers, and cannot be “complete” without them.
7. The church does not belong to us; it is the bride of Christ. We are, as John the Baptist stated, the friends of the bridegroom that hear His voice and find joy in His pleasure towards His bride.
May we share the prayer of Jesus as our own during this Lenten season, “may all be one, even as You Father are in Me, and I in You…that the world may believe that You have sent Me.”
So here are some thoughts that I have on the church as pertains to its oneness and catholicity:
1 Jesus Christ is building up only one church, of which He is the fullness and the head, whether we like it or not.
2. The church is composed of “whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord” for salvation and gathers together in His name on the basis of His work of grace.
3. Such a church at large is intended to be catholic (universal) and includes a multitude of congregations which possess a diversity in the midst of their inherent unity. As the scripture says, they come out “from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.” Unity must never be reduced to uniformity.
4. If we acknowledge the Church as catholic, we acknowledge sharing a common faith with those who do not necessarily express their spirituality as we do, but who nonetheless belong to Jesus Christ. This view of catholicitiy was summed up in the 17th century by the German protestant theologian Rupert Meldenius. "Unity in essentials, liberty in incidentals, and in all things, charity."
5. We must be careful not to make the basis of our unity shared doctrine, but rather our shared Lord and Deliverer, Jesus. The “word” always points to “The Word”.
6. In my mind, there is no congregation or denomination on earth which is fully catholic, for no church possesses in the full and absolute sense the wholeness of the gospel as its exclusive possession. Each congregation has a claim upon and a responsibility towards all other bodies of believers, and cannot be “complete” without them.
7. The church does not belong to us; it is the bride of Christ. We are, as John the Baptist stated, the friends of the bridegroom that hear His voice and find joy in His pleasure towards His bride.
May we share the prayer of Jesus as our own during this Lenten season, “may all be one, even as You Father are in Me, and I in You…that the world may believe that You have sent Me.”
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
A Vision for Lent
"Then to Adam He said....Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return." Genesis 3:17-19
The keeping of days, times or seasons must be based on the divine action and revelation of God lest it supplant the very calling of God. Thus the Church has, since ancient times, celebrated the Paschal cycle ("...indeed Christ our Passover, was sacrificed for us." I Cor. 5:7) which marks the very work of God's salvation in the earth made possible by the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Man had been separated from God by his sin and was without hope in this world. The continual offering of the blood of bulls and goats was insufficient to atone for his transgression. It required a supremely more perfect sacrifice, a divine sacrifice of the blood of the only begotten Son of God to accomplish redemption. It required Jesus Christ who was that "Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world".
Informally the season starts on Septuagesima Sunday which marks out a period of time of about seventy days before the celebration of Resurrection Day. The next two Sundays before Lent, Sexagesima (sixtieth), and Quinquagesima (fiftieth) remind us of the transition made in the Church year from the celebration of the Lord's birth and Epiphany (manifestation) to the world, and the season of preparation for recalling His all-sufficient sacrifice. Formally, Lent (which comes from an Old English word meaning Spring) starts on Ash Wednesday. This day is marked by the placing of ashes on the heads of the faithful in the sign of the cross with the words "Remember, man, thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return." It is the pronouncement of death upon us, a recognition of the consequences of our sin. The words carry with them the same dread and sorrow which they did when Adam heard them from the very mouth of God. Unless God be gracious, the enormity of our sin must surely swallow us alive and carry us down to the grave. Ashes have always been a sign of frailty and transience (consider the grass thrown into the oven in Matt. 6:30). They also speak of mourning and repentance when seeking the favor of God (consider Esther 4:1 or Jonah 3:4-9). To us they speak of humility and repentance. The ashes used in the service come from burning the palms which were used during last year's Palm Sunday celebration when our hearts were joyful at the coming of our King. Now we humbly prepare those same hearts to turn from our sinfulness to seek again His righteousness.
Forty days are marked by Lent from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday. We do not count Sundays in our observance for these days have forever been marked as days of rejoicing and celebration by the Resurrection of the Lord. The other days are days marked by special prayer, fasting, self discipline in striving against sin, and sacrificial giving. The Church has always prescribed the two fold discipline of fasting and almsgiving as strong weapons in the fight against self-centeredness and indulgence. Forty is a sacred number being 4, the symbol of the earth, multiplied by 10, the symbol of the complete judgement of God. Forty days marked the deluge which cleansed the earth in the time of Noah; forty years the wandering of the Jews in the wilderness to purge their unbelief; forty days the fasting and warfare of Jesus in the wilderness against Satan. May we welcome this season as the time in which "the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge [our] conscience from dead works to serve the living God." (Hebrews 9:14)
The keeping of days, times or seasons must be based on the divine action and revelation of God lest it supplant the very calling of God. Thus the Church has, since ancient times, celebrated the Paschal cycle ("...indeed Christ our Passover, was sacrificed for us." I Cor. 5:7) which marks the very work of God's salvation in the earth made possible by the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Man had been separated from God by his sin and was without hope in this world. The continual offering of the blood of bulls and goats was insufficient to atone for his transgression. It required a supremely more perfect sacrifice, a divine sacrifice of the blood of the only begotten Son of God to accomplish redemption. It required Jesus Christ who was that "Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world".
Informally the season starts on Septuagesima Sunday which marks out a period of time of about seventy days before the celebration of Resurrection Day. The next two Sundays before Lent, Sexagesima (sixtieth), and Quinquagesima (fiftieth) remind us of the transition made in the Church year from the celebration of the Lord's birth and Epiphany (manifestation) to the world, and the season of preparation for recalling His all-sufficient sacrifice. Formally, Lent (which comes from an Old English word meaning Spring) starts on Ash Wednesday. This day is marked by the placing of ashes on the heads of the faithful in the sign of the cross with the words "Remember, man, thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return." It is the pronouncement of death upon us, a recognition of the consequences of our sin. The words carry with them the same dread and sorrow which they did when Adam heard them from the very mouth of God. Unless God be gracious, the enormity of our sin must surely swallow us alive and carry us down to the grave. Ashes have always been a sign of frailty and transience (consider the grass thrown into the oven in Matt. 6:30). They also speak of mourning and repentance when seeking the favor of God (consider Esther 4:1 or Jonah 3:4-9). To us they speak of humility and repentance. The ashes used in the service come from burning the palms which were used during last year's Palm Sunday celebration when our hearts were joyful at the coming of our King. Now we humbly prepare those same hearts to turn from our sinfulness to seek again His righteousness.
Forty days are marked by Lent from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday. We do not count Sundays in our observance for these days have forever been marked as days of rejoicing and celebration by the Resurrection of the Lord. The other days are days marked by special prayer, fasting, self discipline in striving against sin, and sacrificial giving. The Church has always prescribed the two fold discipline of fasting and almsgiving as strong weapons in the fight against self-centeredness and indulgence. Forty is a sacred number being 4, the symbol of the earth, multiplied by 10, the symbol of the complete judgement of God. Forty days marked the deluge which cleansed the earth in the time of Noah; forty years the wandering of the Jews in the wilderness to purge their unbelief; forty days the fasting and warfare of Jesus in the wilderness against Satan. May we welcome this season as the time in which "the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge [our] conscience from dead works to serve the living God." (Hebrews 9:14)
Good Intentions
It's funny how you can start something with the best of intentions, this blog, for instance, and then completely forget about it in the busy-ness of daily life. There are two paths at least that lead on from this. You can completely be disgusted by your lack of follow-up and just bag the whole thing and forget about it, or you can admit that you were not as diligent as you thought you were going to be and pick up and move on as best as you can. That is the path I am trying to walk now and we will see whether I succeed or not in the weeks to come. I had intended to chronicle my thoughts starting with the beginning of the new liturgical year in Advent, here I stand on the eve of Ash Wednesday and Lent is upon me. I suppose that is at least as good a place to start and so I do.
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