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Credo-Life
A site that publishes some brief articles and other teaching of Father Thomas Reeves, the Priest/Pastor at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Bloomington, IL (stmattsblm.org)
Wednesday, November 20, 2024
Friday, October 25, 2024
Discipleship Article #7 (Final)
In considering daily discipleship to Christ, and in addition to the Book of Common Prayer, there are also other wonderful aids available to help us meditate, pray, and reflect on scripture. One is just below under the heading: The Good News Daily. This daily devotional was being made available when I came, and I have continued to offer it in our newsletter every week. I know a few of our people use this resource in their daily prayer time.
For many of us who have been engaging in daily prayer for many years, it keeps things fresh during the week when we can occasionally use different resources. In the link below, I am suggesting a few resources that you might find helpful or stimulating to jump-start your prayer life. While pictures are not links, they will give you a jump start to see if these resources are available on your smart-phone and/or computer:
As always, I am here to assist you in any way that I can.
Father Tom
Saturday, October 5, 2024
Why Do Episcopalians Call Their Priests, "Father"?
Why do Episcopalians and other catholic traditions call their clergy, “Father”? Below I am taking several different portions from an article that a fellow Anglican Priest, the Rev. Dr. Joseph Murphy wrote.
The LORD is my shepherd . . . (Psalm 23:1)
But, in fact, calling your church leader "Pastor" isn't wrong. For Christ is our "chief Shepherd" (see I Peter 5:1-4).
"If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell."(Matthew 5:29-30)
Wednesday, September 18, 2024
Thursday, August 29, 2024
The Feast of St. Augustine
Augustine, perhaps the greatest theologian in the history of Western Christianity, was born in 354 at Tagaste in North Africa. In his restless search for truth, he was attracted by Manichaeism and Neoplatonism, and was constantly engaged in an inner struggle with his personal morals. Finally, under the influence of his mother Monnica, Augustine surrendered to the Christian faith in the late summer of 386. He was baptized by Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, on Easter Eve in 387. After returning to North Africa in 391, Augustine found himself unexpectedly chosen by the people of Hippo to be a presbyter. Four years later he was chosen bishop of that city. His spiritual autobiography, The Confessions of St. Augustine, written shortly before 400 in the form of an extended prayer, is a classic of Western spirituality.
Augustine wrote countless treatises, letters, and sermons. They have provided a rich source of new and fresh insights into Christian truth.
The Manichaeans had attempted to solve the problem of evil by positing the existence of an independent agency eternally opposed to God. In refutation, Augustine affirmed that all creation is essentially good, having been created by God; and that evil is, properly speaking, the privation of good. A rigorist sect, the Donatists, had split from the Great Church after the persecution of Diocletian in the early fourth century. Against them, Augustine asserted that the Church was “holy,” not because its members could be proved holy, but because holiness was the purpose of the Church, to which all its members are called.
Stirred by Alaric the Visigoth’s sack of Rome in 410, Augustine wrote his greatest work, The City of God. In it he writes: “Two cities have been formed by two loves: the earthly by love of self, even to the contempt of God, the heavenly by the love of God, even to the contempt of self. The earthly city glories in itself, the heavenly city glories in the Lord. . . . In the one, the princes, and the nations it subdues, are ruled by the love of ruling; in the other, the princes and the subjects serve one another in love.”
Augustine died on August 28, 430, as the Vandals were besieging his own earthly city of Hippo.
Lord God, the light of the minds that know you, the life of the souls that love you, and the strength of the hearts that serve you: Help us, following the example of your servant Augustine of Hippo, so to know you that we may truly love you, and so to love you that we may fully serve you, whom to serve is perfect freedom; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Scripture Readings:
Hebrews 12:22–24,28–29
Psalm 87
John 14:6–15
(Lesser Feasts and Fasts, pgs. 360-361, Church Publishing, 2006)
An Earthy Redemption - Luke 24:36-48
The created order is restored through the resurrection of Jesus.
Tuesday, August 20, 2024
Saturday, August 17, 2024
Using the Daily Office (Discipleship Article #6)
For Anglicans, the Daily Office forms the foundation of how we see weekly, systematic prayer. Based on the monastic "hours", our Prayer Book provides us with five different services during the day where we may set ourselves apart for prayer (BCP, pg. 35) The two foundational services in the Daily Office are Morning and Evening Prayer.
I have from time to time trained anyone interested in how to "read" Morning Prayer and use the daily lectionary. This offer stands open to anyone (member or attendee) who would like such direction. If there is enough interest, I would be willing to teach a class on the same. In addition, I have also created introductory booklets for those who would like a more abbreviated approach to beginning Morning Prayer. Both the "Intro to Morning Prayer" and "Intermediate Guide to Morning Prayer" can be found in our booklet stands found at each entrance to our building, or you can click on the two links below:
In our next article, we will consider other ways to supplement and aid us as we journey in discipleship to Jesus, seeking and knowing our God.
Friday, August 9, 2024
Getting into the Specifics (Discipleship Article #5)
So, as we seek to live out our Discipleship during the week
what does this look like? How do we start? Where do we start?
First of all, we choose and strive to have an awareness of God's presence with us everywhere we go. Paul teaches us that in Christ we "live, move, and have our being" and that we are indwelt with the person of the Holy Spirit (see Romans 8, the Spirit connecting us to the very being of God and his power in our lives"). We are told in I Thessalonians 5 that we should go through our day in a prayerful state of mind:
16Rejoice always, 17pray without ceasing, 18give thanks in all
circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Secondly,
we set time aside for prayer, scripture reading/reflection, and meditation. It
is one thing to read scripture or listen to a homily. It is completely another
to reflect on how that scripture and/or teaching can help shape our character,
beliefs, and life. Sometimes the meditation we engage may be necessary before
we begin our prayer so that we can put the random swirling thoughts and many
responsibilities aside and rest in the "peace that passes all
understanding." Other times, we may need meditation after our time of
prayer and/or Scripture reading to open our hearts to the Holy Spirit's clarity
and applicational wisdom.
Thirdly,
set this time of prayer aside daily, at the same time of the day, and for a
specified amount of time. I often tell new believers that it is better to start
with only five minutes a day than to take on too long of a time which then
becomes drudgery. The hope is to develop good habits. Don't rely on willpower
first of all, but ask the Lord to strengthen and help you in this discipline.
Lastly,
get help from a spiritual guide for the best ways to accomplish these spiritual
disciplines, or if you have engaged in these disciplines for a long time,
inquire of a spiritually mature person how you might approach your personal
prayer life in some fresh and meaningful ways. Your Priest or Pastor is always
the best place to start.
In our
next article, we will investigate some resources that can aid us as we seek to
develop a life of prayer.
Thursday, July 25, 2024
Meditating on the Word (Discipleship Article #4)
Joshua 1:
8 "This book
of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; you shall meditate on it day and
night, so that you may be careful to act in accordance with all that is written
in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall be successful.
9 I hereby command you: Be strong
and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the LORD your God is with
you wherever you go.”
The Lord here is giving instructions to Joshua, not the
entire assembly of Israel. However, Joshua is being given a source to know and
meditate on so as to understand the Lord's wisdom and direction for the people
that he is to now lead. He would need courage to trust the Lord as he sought
wisdom from his God.
This means that, like the future kings to follow him,
Joshua would have likely had a copy of the Torah of that day.
Deuteronomy 17:
18 When he
has taken the throne of his kingdom, he shall have a copy of this law written
for him in the presence of the levitical priests. 19 It shall remain with him and he shall
read in it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the Lord his
God, diligently observing all the words of this law and these statutes, 20 neither exalting himself above other
members of the community nor turning aside from the commandment, either to the
right or to the left, so that he and his descendants may reign long over his
kingdom in Israel.
The copy of the law the king received would have come
from the Holy Scriptures that the priests cared for; most of the people would
have had no access to the written Scriptures. And yet, we are told in
Psalm 1:
1 Happy
are those
who do not follow the advice of the
wicked,
or take the path that sinners tread,
or sit in the seat of scoffers;
2 but
their delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law they meditate day and
night.
The righteous are taught to delight and meditate
regularly on the Law of the Lord. This meant that they had to rely on the
teaching of the priests, prophets, and other wise sages for their exposure to
the written Holy Scriptures, which were only available to a certain few. Those certain few could meditate on that which they read and studied.
WE today are the "certain few". We are blessed
to have a complete, written account of God's actions, ways, and teachings. We
can meditate not only on what we hear and are taught, but can also read the
Holy Scriptures for ourselves. We need care to realize the varied genres,
literature, and complexities of interpreting Holy Scripture, but we are still
able to swim in it's truths and expose ourselves to content that can later be
expounded for us by those with the spiritual gifting, training, and ordination.
The Old and New Testament ideas of God's covenant people
being "priests of the church to the world" (the "priesthood of
the believer") has never meant that any baptized person with the
Scriptures in their hands will understand and interpret truth equally. However,
it does mean that we all have responsibility for what we know and how God has
gifted us to serve the church and the world. We can each come before God
through Christ for a relationship with him, and He has gifted each one of us to
be light and salt in the world.
Are we taking advantage of all of the "gifts"
that he has given us? How can we better come to know and serve him in our
everyday lives?
In the next few articles, we are going to focus on some
of the specific, practical steps, and actions we can take in becoming more disciplined
and strong followers of Jesus. He longs to walk with us every moment of the
day, but, like Adam and Eve in the garden, we must come out of the shadows of
guilt, shame, and fear and engage Him.
Walking with God (Discipleship Article #3)
Gen 3:
8 They
heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of
the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence
of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
In
Genesis, Adam and Eve represent the entire human community. We are given
insight into a very interesting fact: God came to visit Adam and Eve, and his
visit is pictured in such a way as to indicate that this was a regular, if not
daily, occurrence. In the past, "hearing" that God had come to
fellowship with them would have been a delight. Now, after their disobedience,
it made them afraid.
In
short, we were created, first of all, to have a relationship with God. This
relationship while personal, is also communal. It is also intimate. But for
Adam and Eve to have fellowship with God, they also had to be present and
engaged.
It is
often said in life that "what we put into a task or relationship is what
we will likely get out of it". This is certainly also true in our
spiritual life and discipline.
Daniel
6:
10 Although
Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he continued to go to his house,
which had windows in its upper room open towards Jerusalem, and to get down on
his knees three times a day to pray to his God and praise him, just as he had done
previously.
The idea
we get for regular, daily prayer comes first from the Old Testament and the
worship of the Old Covenant People of God. There were different times for
prayer during different periods in the life of the people of Israel. Daniel had
made it his practice to pray at morning, mid-day, and evening. He is positioned
as someone who sought God, had spiritual power, and remained faithful to the
Lord in the midst of hostile circumstances.
What
time do we make for prayer and meditation (which, in our time in history, means
that we can meditate on a complete copy of Holy Scripture)?
I submit
to you that the Holy Scriptures and the Christian Tradition encourage us that
to be "strong in the Lord" this kind of regular spiritual discipline
is vital to our faithfulness and joy.
Thursday, July 18, 2024
The Feast of Bishop William White
William White was born in Philadelphia, March 24, 1747, and was educated at the college of that city, graduating in 1765. In 1770 he went to England, was ordained deacon on December 23, and priest on April 25, 1772. On his return home, he became assistant minister of Christ and St. Peter’s, 1772–1779, and rector from that year until his death, July 17, 1836. He also served as chaplain of the Continental Congress from 1777 to 1789, and then of the United States Senate until 1800. Chosen unanimously as first Bishop of Pennsylvania, September 14, 1786, he went to England again, with Samuel Provoost, Bishop-elect of New York; and the two men were consecrated in Lambeth Chapel on Septuagesima Sunday, February 4, 1787, by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York and the Bishops of Bath and Wells and of Peterborough.
Bishop White was the chief architect of the Constitution of the American Episcopal Church and the wise overseer of its life during the first generation of its history. He was the Presiding Bishop at its organizing General Convention in 1789 and again from 1795 until his death. He was a theologian of no mean ability, and among his proteges, in whose formation he had a large hand, were such leaders of a new generation as John Henry Hobart, Jackson Kemper, and William Augustus Muhlenberg. White’s gifts of statesmanship and reconciling moderation steered the American Church through the first decades of its independent life. His influence in his native city made him its “first citizen.” To few men has the epithet “venerable” been more aptly applied.
O Lord, in a time of turmoil and confusion you raised up your servant William White, and endowed him with wisdom, patience, and a reconciling temper, that he might lead your Church into ways of stability and peace: Hear our prayer, and give us wise and faithful leaders, that through their ministry your people may be blessed and your will be done; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
Psalm 92
Lessons:
Jeremiah 1:4–10
John 21:15–17
Lesser Feasts and Fasts, pgs. 306-307
Tuesday, July 16, 2024
Appetites (Discipleship Article #2)
The summer before my junior year in high school, I took a
bicycle trip with some family friends. The goal was to bike all the way around
Lake Michigan, starting in Illinois and finishing in Wisconsin. We didn't make
it the entire way around the lake, but we got very close. All in all, it was
over two weeks of continuous bicycling - no matter the precipitation or the
heat of the day.
While on this trip, I discovered something new. If I got
thirsty enough, even warm water tasted good. Granted, I had to be very thirsty,
but this often happened because we rarely stopped unless it was absolutely
necessary So, when I did get thirsty, I gladly drank the water that I had, even
though it had been affected by the sun. In normal circumstances, I would have
dumped this water into the grass. I have rarely known that kind of thirst in my
life, nor have I easily forgotten it.
This thirst is reminiscent of the Psalmist's proclamation in
Chapter 42:
1 As a
deer longs for flowing streams,
so my
soul longs for you, O God.
2 My
soul thirsts for God,
for the
living God.
When
shall I come and behold
the face
of God?
When was
the last time you were this thirsty or hungry?
Blessed
are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
(Matthew
5:6).
What are
the appetites that we feed in our lives? Do we hunger after the Lord, His
direction, His life. If our occasional hunger for God is placated, but treated
as optional, what other appetites are taking over? The reality is that
“hungering after God” is a gift that only he can give, but one we have to truly
want. This kind of hunger is developed by planning, commitment, and time. It
must be developed and prioritized.
It is
only through hungering after our God and seeking him that gives us true and
lasting fulfillment. He wants to fill us up, but if our “baskets” are already
full of other things, His life-giving gifts will go elsewhere.
Ps. 81:
10 I
am the Lord your God,
who
brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
Open
your mouth wide and I will fill it.
11 ‘But
my people did not listen to my voice;
Israel
would not submit to me.
12 So
I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
to
follow their own counsels.
13 O that
my people would listen to me,
that
Israel would walk in my ways!
16 I
would feed you with the finest of the wheat,
and
with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.’
The appetites we develop, feed, and prioritize will end up defining us and our values. There is no lasting discipleship to the Lord Jesus Christ without developing and feeding the right kind of hunger. Our commitment as disciples of Christ to the weekly worship of Word and Sacrament is paramount. However, if we are going to develop our spiritual strength and stamina, we must pursue Christ and His community in deeper and more intimate ways. Discipleship groups with qualified and trained teachers, personal prayer and meditation, and constant immersion in Holy Scripture help give us the nutrition and training to stay fit and prepared in our journey with Christ and His people.
Let us seek, hunger, and thirst after our God.
Thursday, July 11, 2024
Sunday, June 30, 2024
The Feast of St. Irenaeus
There is considerable doubt about the year of Irenaeus’ birth; estimates vary from 97 to 160. It is certain that he learned the Christian faith in Ephesus at the feet of the venerable Polycarp, who in turn had known John the Evangelist. Some years before 177, probably while Irenaeus was still in his teens, he carried the tradition of Christianity to Lyons in southern France.
His name means “the peaceable one”—and suitably so. The year 177 brought hardship to the mission in Gaul. Persecution broke out, and a mounting tide of heresy threatened to engulf the Church. Irenaeus, by now a presbyter, was sent to Rome to mediate the dispute regarding Montanism, which the Bishop of Rome, Eleutherus, seemed to embrace. While Irenaeus was on this mission, the aged Bishop of Lyons, Pothinus, died in prison during a local persecution. When Irenaeus returned to Lyons, he was elected bishop to succeed Pothinus.
Irenaeus’ enduring fame rests mainly on a large treatise, entitled The Refutation and Overthrow of Gnosis, Falsely So-Called, usually shortened to Against Heresies. In it, lrenaeus describes the major Gnostic systems, thoroughly, clearly, and often with biting humor. It is one of our chief sources of knowledge about Gnosticism. He also makes a case for Christianity which has become a classic, resting heavily on Scripture, and on the continuity between the teaching of the Apostles and the teaching of bishops, generation after generation, especially in the great see cities. Against the Gnostics, who despised the flesh and exalted the spirit, he stressed two doctrines: that of the creation as good, and that of the resurrection of the body.
A late and uncertain tradition claims that he suffered martyrdom, about 202.
pg. 298, Lesser Feasts and Fasts, 2006
Lessons:
Psalms 85:8–13
2 Timothy 2:22b–26
Luke 11:33–36
Tuesday, June 25, 2024
Say "NO" to Easy (Discipleship Article #1)
Mark 4:
The reality is that Jesus never made following him easy.
To be a disciple in first-century Judaism meant finding a Rabbi and sitting at his feet to learn and be shaped by him. The Rabbi was a teacher and expert who would help people understand the truth that would lead them to Covenantal faithfulness as a Jewish person. In the past, the Jewish people had rejected the teaching of the Lord and found hope and life in other things. Largely, the Jewish people had rebelled against their Covenant God and followed false idols that promised quicker results and the promise of easier access to power and protection.
Thus, the Jewish rabbis in the day of Jesus decided that the best way to avoid the judgment of God was to create an oppressive works-based religious system that would ensure the obedience of the Jewish people that would protect the nation of Israel from ever having to go into captivity again. However, the system was a fabrication of men that bypassed their need to know and follow their God even when it made no earthly and human sense. The system created by man was easily abused and manipulated by lawyers and powerbrokers. When Jesus came, he was a threat to their system and their childishness.
So, Jesus spoke in parables. But the parables were confusing. They were interesting, but in the end, it is hard to understand why Jesus would make his truth so veiled and indirect. The Answer? He challenged the large and impressive crowd that came for MANY different reasons, to seek him for the right reasons. In time, most of the crowd melted away. The disciples of Christ stayed, embraced him, asked questions, and continued to seek him, although in rough and sometimes silly ways.
However, it is those silly, childish, and needy disciples who found answers, truth, and life by seeking Jesus after the dust of his teaching had settled. Worship in Word and Sacrament together is important, but it doesn't show us HOW to live out the truth in everyday life. For that, there must be searching, asking, reading, staying, showing up, and learning. In short, to grow strong in the faith, there must be discipleship.
Are you engaging in Discipleship? What does that look like?
More to come.
Friday, June 14, 2024
The Feast of St. Basil the Great
Basil was born about 329, in Caesarea of Cappadocia, into a Christian family of wealth and distinction. Educated in classical Hellenism, Basil might have continued in academic life, had it not been for the death of a beloved younger brother and the faith of his sister, Macrina. He was baptized at the age of twenty-eight, and ordained a deacon soon after.
Macrina had founded the first monastic order for women at Annesi. Fired by her example, Basil made a journey to study the life of anchorites in Egypt and elsewhere. In 358 he returned to Cappadocia and founded the first monastery for men at Ibora. Assisted by Gregory Nazianzus, he compiled The Longer and Shorter Rules, which transformed the solitary anchorites into a disciplined community of prayer and work. The Rules became the foundation for all Eastern monastic discipline. The monasteries also provided schools to train leaders for Church and State.
Basil was ordained presbyter in 364. In the conflict between the Arians (supported by an Arian Emperor) and orthodox Christians, Basil became convinced that he should be made Bishop of Caesarea. By a narrow margin, he was elected Bishop of Caesarea, Metropolitan of Cappadocia, and Exarch of Pontus. He was relentless in his efforts to restore the faith and discipline of the clergy, and in defense of the Nicene faith. When the Emperor Valens sought to undercut Basil’s power by dividing the See of Cappadocia, Basil forced his brother Gregory to become Bishop of Nyssa.
In his treatise, On the Holy Spirit, Basil maintained that both the language of Scripture and the faith of the Church require that the same honor, glory, and worship is to be paid to the Spirit as to the Father and the Son. It was entirely proper, he asserted, to adore God in liturgical prayer, not only with the traditional words, “Glory to the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit;” but also with the formula, “Glory to the Father with the Son together with the Holy Spirit.”
Basil was also concerned about the poor, and when he died, he willed to Caesarea a complete new town, built on his estate, with housing, a hospital and staff, a church for the poor, and a hospice for travelers.
He died at the age of fifty, in 379, just two years before the Second Ecumenical Council, which affirmed the Nicene faith.
(pg. 286, Lesser Feasts and Fasts, 2006)
Psalm: 139:1–9 or 34:1–8
Lessons:
1 Corinthians 2:6–13
Luke 10:21–24
Wednesday, June 12, 2024
Feast of St. Barnabas
Barnabas and Paul were sent by the disciples in Antioch to carry famine relief to the Church in Jerusalem. Upon their return, the Church in Antioch sent them on their first missionary journey beginning at Cyprus. At Lystra in Asia Minor, the superstitious people took them to be gods, supposing the eloquent Paul to be Mercury, the messenger of the gods, and Barnabas to be Jupiter, the chief of the gods, a testimony to the commanding presence of Barnabas. The association of Barnabas and Paul was broken, after their journey, by a disagreement about Mark, who had left the mission to return to Jerusalem. After attending the Council of Jerusalem with Barnabas, Paul made a return visit to the Churches he and Barnabas had founded in Asia Minor. Barnabas and Mark went to Cyprus, where Barnabas is traditionally honored as the founder of the Church.
It seems that Barnabas continued his journeys for the Gospel, because Paul mentions him several times in his letters to the Galatians, the Corinthians, and the Colossians. Tradition has it that he was martyred at Salamis in Cyprus.
(from Lesser Feasts and Fasts, 2006, pg. 282)
Grant, O God, that we may follow the example of your faithful servant Barnabas, who, seeking not his own renown but the well-being of your Church, gave generously of his life and substance for the relief of the poor and the spread of the Gospel; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Lessons:
Isaiah 42:5–12
Acts 11:19–30;13:1–3
Matthew 10:7–16
Friday, May 31, 2024
Thursday, May 30, 2024
The End of Devotion
"The end of devotion is not, to become extraordinarily devout. It is possible to fill one's life with practices of piety and yet not to get more Christ-like. It is possible to spend much time in devotion, and yet to be hard and critical and to lack a-missionary and loving spirit. It is a terrible, as well as a salutary, thing to remember that it was devout people at a time of special devotion who killed our Lord."
"God Himself must be the sole end of our devotion. There is no great danger of our worshipping graven images, but there is a very great danger of our worshipping mental images of our own imagining. God has been revealed to us in the dear figure of Christ, and the supreme revelation of God is a naked man dying on the gallows in the dark. We have to be dispossessed of our mental images of a sentimental Christ by this stark reality of the perfect sacrifice of the Cross. He is our model. ' He never thought of Himself or His own interests. He never did one single action because He was bribed in any way to do it. He never abstained from any for fear of what might happen to him. In all things He sought only and always his Father's will."
"The end of devotion is attained when the complete taking of all things meets with the complete giving of all things. Death, the great taker, is defeated when he meets Christ, the great giver. The supreme devotion of our Lord's life was consummated as He laid down His life for His sheep and yielded His spirit in perfect faith to His Father. The true end of devotion is the gift of ourselves and all we have to God."
Fr. Andrew, Meditations, pg. 166
Friday, May 17, 2024
"An Earthy Redemption" - Luke 24:36-48
The created order is restored through the resurrection of Jesus:
Devotion to God
"But our devotion to Almighty God depends upon its being unlimited and unconditioned. Devotion to a creature that has no limit or condition is what we call inordinate affection, but devotion to God which is limited and conditioned is robbed of its meaning. There is no rivalry between the love of God and the love of one's neighbor, because one's love of one's neighbor will only be a true love if it is conditioned by the love of God. The glory of God and the good of one's neighbor will be the two motives that, ever in union, control a devout life. Out of our love of God will come true social service and true love of mankind."
Father Andrew, Meditations, pg. 165
Thursday, May 16, 2024
Catholic but NOT Roman Catholic: Big "C" and Little "c"
Our ecumenical baptismal creed, the Apostles Creed, states “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church. . . .” The most widely used ecumenical creed, the Nicene Creed states “We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.” So what does it mean to be catholic?
For the most part, when we hear someone declare “I am a catholic” or if someone uses the word catholic, our thoughts turn first to the Roman Catholic Church. However, while the Roman Catholic church is catholic, they are not the only catholics. The very term Protestant derives its meaning from that time period in the 16th century when many historic, catholic Christians were protesting some of the doctrine and a lot of the practices of the Roman Catholic church. It is important to realize that all Protestants derive their starting place from the medieval Catholic church. Men like Martin Luther and John Calvin were Roman Catholics that were forced to leave the church, and were used over time to help the Roman Church see its need of change in multiple ways. However, John Calvin and Martin Luther always subscribed to the catholicity of the creeds and the importance of those Christians and church fathers that went before them.
Unfortunately, many groups have decided in their own thinking, and in their brief history, that THEY now are the true church (as if they were starting the church from scratch). The implication is that the church before them has been getting things wrong, that they are above the corruption or blind-spots that others have had, and that they are in little need of the help offered by those Christians who have lived before them. Not only is this historically dishonest, it is thoroughly unscriptural. The reality is that the Feast of Pentecost in the first century was the beginning of the church (as recorded in Acts). The Reformation, Pilgrims landing on Plymouth Rock, Great Awakenings, Azusa Street Revival, etc., were NOT the beginning of the church. In addition, of all the informing events that may be meaningful for us, we should be open to discernment and an honest evaluation of these same events through the lenses of scripture and those who have gone before us. History teaches us (if we will listen) that hindsight is 20/20. Why do we always believe that our generation is somehow removed from this reality; that we will avoid the blind-spots that no generation has ever eluded?
All churches that name Christ as Lord today owe a great debt to the church councils and leaders that helped settle the debates and truth regarding the Trinity, the incarnation of Christ, and many more basic core doctrines that we take for granted today. In other words, our debt to those who have gone before us is pronounced whether we want to admit it or not.
So what does it mean when we declare every Sunday that we are catholic?
First of all, it means that we have an ancient faith. We, by very definition, are a people dependent on those who have come before us. We are dependent on God's work now among us, but God's work among us does not negate or lay aside the work that he has always been doing among his covenant people. From the creation of humanity to today, we owe a debt of gratitude to those who have faithfully served the Lord and handed down a living faith to our generation. If we desire the scriptural and historic honesty that the Lord requires of us, we will embrace that we build on the shoulders of those who have come before us. There is a core teaching and interpretation of Scripture that has been and is being passed down from generation to generation. It is appropriate to question what belongs in this “core” and we are still in the process as the “church universal” of taking the good and leaving the bad. However, there is that which we believe will not change from the past regarding the Gospel, the Kingdom of God, and the character of our God. This is our catholic faith, and the creeds are our starting place in any discussion of our central beliefs.
Secondly, it means that we have an apostolic faith. As Christians we read the Old Testament through apostolic “lenses;” and we are guided by the apostolic perspective, especially as recorded in the Holy Scriptures. The catholic perspective is that any authority we have as a church is derived from Jesus Christ who is the head of the church. However, we also believe that we learn of this Jesus through the perspective of the apostles who lived, listened, and walked with Him. Their teaching and their writings in the Holy Scriptures now guide and shape our thinking, being, and living. In Acts 2 we are told that the church gathered together in part to hear “the apostles’ teaching”. We believe that the truth and authority that we have today as God's faithful people is derived and handed down to us from the apostles. Outside of their Holy Spirit-led perspective, Christian truth does not exist.
Thirdly, we are a global church. Our catholicity, while derived from the Jewish people and based on the salvific work of a Palestinian Jew who was also God, has always been intended for ALL the peoples of the world. WE ARE AN INCLUSIVE FAITH. Every nation and tribe is offered the good news regarding the Messiah, Jesus Christ. The Abrahamic Covenant makes it clear that the Lord was going to bless all nations through Abraham's family. This has come to pass with the coming of Jesus Christ in obedience to His Father through the power of the Holy Spirit. Now the church is spread across the globe. There is a strength and unity that Christians gain from these global relationships, challenges, and differing perspectives. Christ's desire is that we all be one, so that the nations of the world may see our love and unity and “believe that you (the Father) have sent me (Jesus)” (John 17). Salvation is offered for every person who repents of their sin, accepts their need, and puts their hope and faith in Jesus - no matter their ethnicity, gender, or socio-economic status. With Jesus, redemption is never "bought" or manipulated by the power structures of this world.
So are we Anglicans also catholic? YES! We are local bodies of believers with our own distinct location, culture, strengths and weaknesses, and, yet, connected to the church that has "always been" through Apostolic Succession, The Holy Scriptures, The Historic Liturgy, and the Historic Creeds. We are an ancient, apostolic, and global people interconnected and dependent on those faithful believers throughout space and time. Thanks be to God!
Tuesday, May 7, 2024
The Christ We Believe In
"It is well for us to consider the education of the spiritual life. James and John had to learn, as Peter had to learn, the kind of Christ they believed in. Peter cried, 'Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God,' but when our Lord began to speak to him of the Sacred Passion, to tell of the Cross and the agony and shame and apparent defeat; then S. Peter said 'That be far from Thee, Lord,' and he Who had been called Peter one minute was called Satan the next. When Salome asked that her two sons might be on our Lord's right hand and His left, she had a vision of splendid royalty. The vision of the cup of a king in an oriental woman's mind was the golden cup brought by a cupbearer at a banquet, when the king was celebrating some great victory. Neither Salome nor James nor John could dream what the cup of our Lord really was. They knew not what they asked, nevertheless what they asked was granted them."
"Every time we say the Lord's Prayer we pray, 'Thy will be done,' and indeed we know not what we ask. Every time we come to our communion we drink the cup of His Precious Blood, and we know not for what that grace is given to us, what challenge is coming to every part of our being. We know not what the will of God is going to be in our lives, but we do know this, that the will of God is that our will should be one with His will, and that when we drink of His cup and receive the communion of His Sacred Body we should take into our beings the power of the everlasting love of God."
-Father Andrew, Meditations, pg. 155.
Friday, April 12, 2024
Saturday, March 9, 2024
Feast of Gregory of Nyssa
Gregory was a man enchanted with Christ and dazzled by the meaning of his Passion. He was born in Caesarea about 334, the younger brother of Basil the Great, and, in his youth, was but a reluctant Christian.
When he was twenty, the transfer of the relics of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste to the family chapel at Annesi quickened Gregory’s faith, and he became a practicing Christian and a lector. He abandoned this ministry, however, to become a rhetorician like his father.
His brother Basil, in his struggle against the Emperor Valens, compelled Gregory to become Bishop of Nyssa, a town ten miles from Caesarea. Knowing himself to be unfit for the charge, Gregory described his ordination as the most miserable day of his life. He lacked the important episcopal skills of tact and understanding, and had no sense of the value of money. Falsely-accused of embezzling Church funds, Gregory went into hiding for two years, not returning to his diocese until Valens died.
Although he resented his brother’s dominance, Gregory was shocked by Basil’s death in 379. Several months later, he received another shock: his beloved sister Macrina was dying. Gregory hastened to Annesi and conversed with her for two days about death, and the soul, and the meaning of the resurrection. Choking with asthma, Macrina died in her brother’s arms.
The two deaths, while stunning Gregory, also freed him to develop as a deeper and richer philosopher and theologian. He reveals his delight in the created order in his treatise, On the Making of Man. He exposes the depth of his contemplative and mystical nature in his Life of Moses and again in his Commentary on the Song of Songs. His Great Catechism is still considered second only to Origen’s treatise, On First Principles.
In 381, Gregory attended the Second Ecumenical Council at Constantinople, where he was honored as the “pillar of the Church.” In the fight for the Nicene faith, he was one of the three great Eastern theologians, known with Basil the Great and Gregory of Nazianzus, as the Cappadocian Fathers.
Prayer:
Almighty God, you have revealed to your Church your eternal Being of glorious majesty and perfect love as one God in Trinity of Persons: Give us grace that, like your bishop Gregory of Nyssa, we may continue steadfast in the confession of this faith, and constant in our worship of you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; for you live and reign forever and ever. Amen.
Scripture:
Gregory of Nyssa (lectionarypage.net)
Saturday, March 2, 2024
Wednesday, February 21, 2024
The Feast of Martin Luther, - Pastor, Prophet, and Theologian.
The Feast Day was actually on Sunday, February 18th. This is a late post.
Martin of Erfurt, born in 1483 of German peasant stock, was a monk (more exactly, a regular canon) of the Order of Saint Augustine, and a Doctor of Theology. In his day, the Church was at a spiritual low. Church offices were openly sold to the highest bidder, and not nearly enough was being done to combat the notion that forgiveness of sins was likewise for sale. Indeed, many Christians, both clergy and laity, were most inadequately instructed in Christian doctrine. Startling as it seems to us today, there were then no seminaries for the education of the clergy. There were monastic schools, but they concentrated on the education of their own monks. Parish priests, ordinarily having no monastic background, were in need of instruction themselves, and in no way prepared to instruct their congregations. Brother Martin set out to remedy this. He wrote a simple catechism for the instruction of the laity which is still in use today, as is his translation of the Scriptures into the common tongue. His energy as a writer was prodigious. From 1517, when he first began to write for the public, until his death, he wrote on the average one book a fortnight.
Today, his criticisms of the laxness and frequent abuses of his day are generally recognized on all sides as a response to very real problems. It was perhaps inevitable, however, that they should arouse resentment in his own day. Martin Luther was not alone in his views, but in time (and largely, by no design of his own) he became the most prominent of the voices calling for reform in the Church. Theologically, he emphasized the importance of divine Holy Scripture as the church's highest authority and salvation by grace through faith in Christ (in response to the work of Christ in his death, resurrection, and ascension).
In Brother Martin's own judgement, his greatest achievement was his catechism, by the use of which all Christians without exception might be instructed in at least the rudiments of the Faith. Some of his admirers, however, would insist that his greatest achievement was the Council of Trent, which he did not live to see, but which he was arguably the greatest single factor in bringing about. While the Council's doctrinal pronouncements were not all that Brother Martin would have wished, it did take very much to heart his strictures on financial abuses, and undertook considerable reforms in those areas. It banned the sale of indulgences and of church offices, and took steps to provide for the systematic education of the clergy. Putting it another way, if I were arguing with an adherent of the Pope, and I wanted to point out to him that many Popes have been, even by ordinary grading-on-a-curve standards, wicked men, cynically exploiting their office for personal gain, I would have no difficulty in finding examples from the three centuries immediately preceding Brother Martin and the Council of Trent that my opponent would have to concede. If I were restricted to the centuries afterward, I should have more of a problem. And this is, under God, due in some measure to Brother Martin's making himself a nuisance. Thanks be to God for an occasional nuisance at the right time and place.
Behold, Lord An empty vessel that needs to be filled. My Lord, fill it I am weak in the faith; Strengthen me. I am cold in love; Warm me and make me fervent, That my love may go out to my neighbor... O Lord, help me. Strengthen my faith and trust in you... With me, there is an abundance of sin; In You is the fullness of righteousness.Therefore I will remain with You, O whom I can receive, But to Whom I may not give. -Martin Luther (1483-1546)
(Main source: James Kiefer's Hagiography)
Prayer and Lectionary Readings
Thursday, February 1, 2024
Sunday, January 28, 2024
Evangelism in the Anglican Tradition
Anglican evangelism is communal, constantly sprouting and spreading from within the Covenant Community of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Church. God gifts and calls His people to serve the church and be light to the world outside the gathered People of God. In the Old Testament, God called Israel to be His special Covenant People, “a light to the Nations”. While they did not fulfill this task due to their disobedience to their sovereign God, Jesus Christ, the light of the world, DID!
Through his life, death, and resurrection, the Lord accomplished the way of freedom and salvation for all humankind. In following our Lord by repentance and faith through the mystery of Baptism, we join the New Covenant People of God in worshiping and knowing this wonderous, Triune God, bringing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a world in need of forgiveness and reconciliation with their Creator. While the church sends out evangelists gifted explicitly in sharing the good news of salvation, they are sent from within the community of Christ, which is the vehicle of salvation in the world. Also, the very nature of our Worship is evangelistic, as the Gospel is at the center of what we preach, pray, and engage in the sacraments.
By our particular vocations dictated by the spiritual gifts given to us in the body of Christ, we live, love, and engage the created order around us, revealing the true humanity of Jesus Christ as we are continually “conformed to the image of the son”. Every task and vocation we engage in is valuable and a potential revelation of our God-given humanity and redemption in the world. The Gospel is often lived as a message before it can be verbally proclaimed and understood by those living in darkness. Most vocations must live out the faith before the words about Jesus will be heard. However, there is a time to speak clearly and boldly of the need of sinful humanity, and the gracious salvation that our Savior offers.
The Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas is the greatest theologian of the high Middle Ages, and, next to Augustine, perhaps the greatest theologian in the history of Western Christianity. Born into a noble Italian family, probably in 1225, he entered the new Dominican Order of Preachers, and soon became an outstanding teacher in an age of intellectual ferment.
Perceiving the challenges that the recent rediscovery of Aristotle’s works might entail for traditional catholic doctrine, especially in its emphasis upon empirical knowledge derived from reason and sense perception, independent of faith and revelation, Thomas asserted that reason and revelation are in basic harmony. “Grace” (revelation), he said, “is not the denial of nature” (reason), “but the perfection of it.” This synthesis Thomas accomplished in his greatest works, the Summa Theologica and the Summa Contra Gentiles, which even today continue to exercise profound influence on Christian thought and philosophy. He was considered a bold thinker, even a “radical,” and certain aspects of his thought were condemned by the ecclesiastical authorities. His canonization on July 18, 1323, vindicated him.
Thomas understood God’s disclosure of his Name, in Exodus 3:14, “I Am Who I Am,” to mean that God is Being, the Ultimate Reality from which everything else derives its being. The difference between God and the world is that God’s essence is to exist, whereas all other beings derive their being from him by the act of creation. Although, for Thomas, God and the world are distinct, there is, nevertheless, an analogy of being between God and the world, since the Creator is reflected in his creation. It is possible, therefore, to have a limited knowledge of God, by analogy from the created world. On this basis, human reason can demonstrate that God exists; that he created the world; and that he contains in himself, as their cause, all the perfections which exist in his creation. The distinctive truths of Christian faith, however, such as the Trinity and the Incarnation, are known only by revelation.
Thomas died in 1274, just under fifty years of age. In 1369, on January 28, his remains were transferred to Toulouse. In addition to his many theological writings, he composed several eucharistic hymns. They include “O saving Victim” and “Now, my tongue, the mystery telling.”
(Lesser Feasts and Fasts, pg. 152)
Saturday, January 27, 2024
Living or Fabricated?
Authentic people discern reality and truth as they present themselves, so that love and wisdom may be rightly applied.
Inauthentic people create the narratives they must have, and then desperately try to manipulate others and situations for their own happy returns. One approach reflects the character of God. The other, the power brokers of this world.
Friday, January 26, 2024
The Feast of John Chrysostom, January 27th, 2024
John Chrysostom, Patriarch of Constantinople, is one of the great saints of the Eastern Church. He was born about 354 in Antioch, Syria. As a young man, he responded to the call of desert monasticism until his health was impaired. He returned to Antioch after six years, and was ordained a presbyter. In 397, he became Patriarch of Constantinople. His episcopate was short and tumultuous. Many criticized his ascetical life in the episcopal residence, and he incurred the wrath of the Empress Eudoxia, who believed that he had called her a “Jezebel.” He was twice exiled, and he died during the second period of banishment, on September 14, 407. Thirty-one years later, his remains were brought back to Constantinople and buried on January 27.
John, called “Chrysostom,” which means “the golden-mouthed,” was one of the greatest preachers in the history of the Church. People flocked to hear him. His eloquence was accompanied by an acute sensitivity to the needs of people. He saw preaching as an integral part of pastoral care, and as a medium of teaching. He warned that if a priest had no talent for preaching the Word, the souls of those in his charge “will fare no better than ships tossed in the storm.”
His sermons provide insights into the liturgy of the Church, and especially into eucharistic practices. He describes the liturgy as a glorious experience, in which all of heaven and earth join. His sermons emphasize the importance of lay participation in the Eucharist. “Why do you marvel,” he wrote, “that the people anywhere utter anything with the priest at the altar, when in fact they join with the Cherubim themselves, and the heavenly powers, in offering up sacred hymns?”
His treatise, Six Books on the Priesthood, is a classic manual on the priestly office and its awesome demands. The priest, he wrote, must be “dignified, but not haughty; awe-inspiring, but kind; affable in his authority; impartial, but courteous; humble, but not servile, strong but gentle. . . .”
Along with Athanasius of Alexandria, Basil the Great, and Gregory of Nazianzus, he is counted as one of the Four Great Eastern (or Greek) Doctors of the Ancient Church. The Four Great Western (or Latin) Doctors are Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, and Gregory the Great.
-John Kiefer (Lay Episcopalian Writer).
Tuesday, January 23, 2024
Monday, January 22, 2024
Saturday, January 6, 2024
That Donatist Problem Today: The Elusive Search for the One Pure Church
“Frodo: 'It's a pity Bilbo didn't kill Gollum when he had the chance.'
Gandalf: 'Pity? It is pity that stayed Bilbo's hand. Many that live deserve death. Some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo? Do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. Even the very wise cannot see all ends. My heart tells me that Gollum has some part to play in it, for good or evil, before this is over. The pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many.'
49 John answered, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us.” 50 But Jesus said to him, “Do not stop him; for whoever is not against you is for you.”