For Life and Lordship

There are a lot of beliefs swirling around in our popular culture claiming that “science has proved” such and such, or “archaeology shows” this and that is true.  I am a big fan of thoughtful research among trained and accountable professionals in these helpful and important fields of pursuit.  However, there are many in these fields that interpret their data and skew their results based on the desired outcomes for which they have been hoping and looking.  Of course, we Christians are constantly faced with these same temptations.

Many actors, politicians, activists, and others on social media are far less careful and down-right manipulative with the data and truth they want to find.  Thus, if the pop-music-star, Lady Gaga, sings that her sexual orientation and/or behavior has nothing to do with the complexities of her sin, hurts, skewed knowledge, or influences – she is just “born this way” – how dare we “judge” that she is possibly wrong?  Most in her general profession is praising her, the masses are cheering her on, and pundits are telling her how wonderful she is…so how could she be wrong?

In a similar vein, many in our culture will tell us, “a woman’s body is her own to do with what she wants” which wittingly or unwittingly buys into a belief-system that proclaims that the fetus she is carrying is not a human being made in the image of God.  The scriptures tell us that mankind outside of redemption and a desire for Christ as their Lord, can only (spiritually) come up with skewed truth and a destructive way of life.  The culture, those in important academic disciplines, medical fields, economic intelligence, Law Enforcement, Justice, etc., all have philosophies, theologies, and beliefs by which they live and choose (or ignore) real “life”.

But the foundations for the Church of Jesus Christ have not changed.  God as creator made us in his image.  Unlike we human parents that rear children to grow and function someday on their own in society, God never stops “parenting us” or being our Lord.  The creator dictates to the created what is true and real, NOT his selfish, rebellious children that still want their own ways on their own terms.

 For those Baptized and committed to Christ, we are thus, NOT OUR OWN.  Listen to the words of Paul by which he reminds the Corinthian Church of their identity:

I Corinthians 6:
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.

The context here in these chapters in I Corinthians is NOT the world outside of the church, but of the community inside the church.  Taking one another to court, using grace and Christian freedom for immorality, and the blatant disregard for new believers (not yet grounded in their faith), are just a few of the many problems Corinthians are facing. They had gotten turned around regarding who their Lord was, and what it meant to follow him.

A foundation in our evangelism and discipleship is NOT making sure that new believers have all of our political, personal, and moralistic viewpoints, but a grounded and growing understanding in the absolute Lordship of Christ in their motives, lives, and behavior. We clergy are NOT to be gurus, but under-shepherds.  The Historic Church (i.e., the church “catholic”) has never changed her beliefs regarding the life of the unborn, holy matrimony, or the place of suffering and mourning in the world in which we now live. As believers, reconciled to the Father through Christ, we are AGAIN his true spiritual children through adoption.  Thus, we are now able to obey and follow him for the right reasons in the power of the Holy Spirit. Through Word, Spirit, and Sacrament, we are now marked, guided, and move as a united church family.

We can lead people to the waters of Baptism through faith in Christ, but in the end, when the going get’s tough, a person (or person’s) must choose Christ as their Lord above all else.  This change of heart, is a true and miraculous work of God. We hold true to the challenge of helping those we are reaching that they must “count the costs” of what it means to follow and know Christ.  As we graciously teach, lead, and shepherd people through the clarity that Holy Scriptures give us about the value of human life, (and the application for the unborn, ageing, dis-formed, or those suffering in illness) we should ourselves pause and consider.  We too must recommit to the reality that Jesus Christ is our Lord, and that he knows BETTER than we do. 

You see, the temptation to see ourselves as the master of our own bodies and directions stays with us to the grave.

Father Tom

Review: The Epistle to the Romans

The Epistle to the Romans by Karl Barth
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I stopped reading at about 150 pages, but will continue to use this book as a reference work as I exegete and engage the book of Romans in my ministry and in my theological development.

I so appreciate Barth's Christ-centered soteriology and his very OTHER, transcendent God. That said, I am struggling a bit with his seeming need to make salvation so esoteric that it smacks of an etheral form of Gnosticism. Of course, this is seen in other places where he works out his "dialectic theology" (and perhaps this theology finds it's rational end in Bultmann?). It seems erroneous to this reader that the incarnation, the cross, and the resurrection would be so "other" as not to occur in time and space. I believe the Patristic Fathers and Magisterial Reformers would agree.

That said, Barth's Doctrine of God has greatly encouraged this reader in seeing the Triune God in much more of his majesty, and it is a mistake of many that Barth does not respect and try to do justice to both Holy Scriptures and a historic orthodoxy. That said, Barth's modernistic shaped Biblical Theology, could use a dose of humility and pause regarding those on whose shoulders he builds; those in the past that enable him to have a scriptural text or theology by which to begin his work.

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Review: T&T Clark Companion to Reformation Theology

T&T Clark Companion to Reformation Theology by David M. Whitford
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



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Racism: A Brief History

See the below link for a well-done presentation regarding the historical definition of racism and how it has progressed in the History of the United States especially as seen through an Anglican lense.

Highly Recommended as an informative introduction to the topic.

https://youtu.be/o6hhR57IVSs

Review: Pastor

Pastor by William H. Willimon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Recommended for clergy seeking to pastor with integrity, authenticity, and honesty regarding the challenges and joys of pastoring...especially within a Protestant milieu. Some of the final chapters on the calling of the clergy, ordination, the long view on ministry, etc. will be a great comfort and reminder for those who seek to pastor in keeping with the calls of the Gospel and the Kingdom of God.

The author shows experience, theological and historical competence as well as nuance in application to life and pastoral leadership. The author also exposes the reader to some seemingly helpful books for further study and consideration.

The Author is at his best when he is not trying to legitimize Wesley or the anti-intellectual revivalism and pietism of Methodism. That said, he largely focuses on solid historical sources and solid theological influences of the 20th century.

However, I did find his chapter on preaching disappointing and typically Protestant...i.e., worship is seen as an event that is really about preaching that is dependent on a creative orator/leader instead of the historic idea of corporate worship as a spiritual discipline for both congregation and preacher (the main reason I give this book a 4-star rating instead of a 5) .

While it is important for clergy to be competent in knowledge and growing as communicators (stewardship), parishioners should be coming to worship their God and desirous to learn (faithfulness), not looking for excuses not to listen with an expectation to be titillated. When we succumb to this consumerist tendency we do not challenge our people to greater growth and thoughtfulness but enable their self-centered default settings and laziness. This approach to preaching has a long history in Protestant and Puritanical/pietistic preaching (although, I believe that Luther and Calvin would have chafed at it).

In the end, I recommend this book and will continue to refer to and use it in my future ministry and development.

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A Very Scary Situation

The fall season is probably my favorite time of the year.  The cooling down of temperatures, the changing of the leaves, the wearing of sweatshirts, the eating of homemade donuts (and, of course, good coffee) and, also, on the negative side (for me); Halloween.

If the "celebration" of Halloween disappeared, I would not shed a tear.  While we don't have the space to develop it here, Halloween is loosely connected to the earliest of pagan holidays and focuses on death, fear, and (in America) gore.  Now, I don't want to be misunderstood here.  I am not “anti-Halloween” completely as we celebrate it in the states either.  My children have always gone “trick-or-treating” with an emphasis on fun and a kind of “scary ghost story around the fire” atmosphere.  However, whatever one thinks of Halloween, it does highlight a few realities that many people would rather push out of their minds: death is real, fear often permeates our lives, and the Spirit-world...well...exists.

Not surprisingly, the Scriptures contain a story where all three of the above-mentioned realities come in to play.  It is a scary witch story which God uses to teach a King (and us) some valuable lessons. 

As you might remember from our recent sermon series in I Samuel this past Summer, King Saul was given the difficult task of being Israel's first King (the nation of Israel wanted a king “like the other nations”).  Unfortunately, for the people, Saul was a lot like them.  I Samuel 13 tells us that he was impatient with God's timing and felt that he needed to step in and help God out to make sure he didn't lose too many troops before an important battle.  In I Samuel 15, Saul believes that when God says: “Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have; do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey (NRSV) that it is just a general command that needed some “tweaking” so as to be more culturally relevant.  I mean, hey, any smart king of that day would keep the best of the spoils of war (including the Amalekite King as a trophy), as this helps a king build up his treasury and gives him something more to give to God at worship...so if it is doing some good, it must be OK, right?  I mean, God needs our help, doesn't he?

Interestingly, when Samuel rebukes Saul for his wickedness and self-idolatry in I Samuel 15:23, he likens his sin with...wait for it...divination.  Divination is used by those who are separated from God and his Kingdom yet still wish to connect with the spirit-world and with those that have died.  Instead of a relationship with the Lord, these persons, through witchcraft and “magic”, take short-cuts in the hopes that they will attain great success, power, and wealth.

In I Samuel 28 we find King Saul in a miserable place emotionally and spiritually.  He no longer has the prophet Samuel in his life and is cut off from gleaning any wisdom or direction from the Lord.  In his desperation and fear, King Saul decides that he will try to glean some insight from those who are connected to the dead and the demonic.

In going to the Witch at Endor in I Samuel 28, King Saul continues his pattern of “going his own way” as reflected in I Sam 13 and15.  Saul is so desperate and full of fear that he goes to dark magic to try and communicate with Samuel for help.  The witch is shocked when she does bring Samuel back from the dead, revealing that whatever her connections with the underworld, she has never seen something this graphic!  On top of this, God allows Samuel to talk with Saul!  Saul's attempt to contact Samuel works, but his fear and desperation do not dissipate.

Before we get too critical of Saul, we should take a hard look at ourselves and our own decision making as believers and as churches.  The scary part of this story has little to do with the Witch at Endor.  The most frightening part of this story is how easy it is for us to place our plans ahead of the Lord's plans; to rely on our wisdom and cultural assumptions, before relying on the lived-out gospel; to hold on to our own fear instead of embracing a courageous trust in him, his ways, and his outcomes.  We too often look for this world’s “magic” as a replacement for the difficult “obedience” that even the Lord Jesus Christ had to “learn” in submitting and honoring his Father.

What might the Lord desire from us this year as we seek to "love him with all of our hearts" and "love others as we love ourselves"?  Where might he already be working amongst people that he wants us to love with the gospel of Jesus Christ?  Where might we be a support to people in our neighborhoods, a listening ear in our families, a touch of care to those who know little of true love?  How might God use us to further build the Kingdom of God?  I am not sure, but I know that he is the one who truly changes lives and converts hearts.  He can be trusted, and he wants to use us as his hands, feet, and mouth.

Will you join me in praying and seeking to be a people who strive toward these Gospel ideals?  The journey will often be hard and long, but as we focus on and listen to our Lord, it will be an adventure that we will never regret.

Father Tom

Review: The Screwtape Letters

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

2nd Read. Highly recommended for people concerned with a more authentic and honest form of Christianity.

Those committed to the external realities of moralism (liberal or conservative) and those given over to emotional dishonesty, beware.

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Review: Bonhoeffer for Armchair Theologians

Bonhoeffer for Armchair Theologians by Stephen R. Haynes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A wonderful introduction to Bonhoeffer's life, ministry, and theology.

Readable with excellent detail and recommendations for further reading.

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Review: The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind

The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind by Mark A. Noll
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Solid and worth the read if one wants to learn the roots of the anti-intellectualism, sectarianism, and creative-simplistic beliefs/movements that inform most Evangelicals.

While Noll is sympathetic to Evangelicalism, he is also honest about the bleakness of its future in having much depth of a lasting nature.



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Review: Within My Heart

Within My Heart by Michael A Van Horn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Extremely important book for those looking to discern the influences behind today's subjective, individualistic and populous Christianity. Many Evangelicals/Fundamentalists will be surprised to find out that both Kant and Schleiermacher are not only precursors to today's liberal/progressive theology, but also a strong and significant influence on their core ways of doing and thinking about theology and the church as the body of Christ.

We breathe in the Enlightenment and Modernity like air, but are largely unaware of what shapes our default settings when it comes to reading the scriptures, understanding theology, and pursuing faithfulness as the church of Christ.

A scholastic, but readable and important work. This book will challenge most pastors to a slow and disciplined read, but the fruits of the labor will be well worth the cost.


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Ready for Steak

Hebrews 5:11-14
About this, we have much to say that is hard to explain since you have become dull in understanding. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic elements of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food; for everyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is unskilled in the word of righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, for those whose faculties have been trained by practice to distinguish good from evil.


Being healthy is a lot of work. As I have gotten older, it has become more difficult to live a physically healthy life. More comfortable habits have replaced the time and energy I used to have in eating a balanced diet, exercising, or managing stress. Easy food has often replaced healthier food that takes time to prepare. Sitting seems preferable to walking. Comfort food and drink more enjoyable than it often should be. Distractions to my time and energy constantly call my name…most of them “good” things.


But when we do not take the time to prioritize the important aspects of our physical health the consequences to our behavior are right around the corner. A week immune system means that we are more susceptible to illness, exhaustion takes its toll on our energy and emotions, stress wears on our joints or causes other kinds of maladies, heart attacks sideline us, strokes threaten to take our energy and mobility…we can either make the time for our health, or we can be forced to take the time on our backs.


In addition, our unhealthiness affects those whom we are called to love…including the stewardship of our own lives. We are more irritable, given to impatience, have less energy, and are less prepared for those unexpected or tragic occurrences that are bound to come up in our everyday existence. When we get sick due to our poor health, we expect everyone around us to care for us, feel sorry for us, and cater to our needs. Our health always affects our “families” and friends.


In a similar way, being healthy spiritually also takes discipline. Without it we are, as the writer mentions above, “unskilled in the word of righteousness”. We cannot eat or digest meat, because we do not want to do the work to buy, prepare, cook, and then chew it. Milk is in the fridge, is cold, tasty, and accessible. Easy-peasy.


So we are unprepared and immature once the temptations, distractions or trials of life come our way as if the scriptures do not repeatedly talk of such things. We want to follow the Lord as long as it doesn’t take too much work, sacrifice, or challenge to do it. But where in any area of the created order or human existence does little discipline and work equal helpful and productive results? Why do we think we can be spiritually lazy, and then not suffer the consequences for it in our everyday lives, families, and joy?


When the hard times do come, we are then beset by the familiar phrases: “this isn’t fair”, “I shouldn’t have to suffer”, “why me?”, etc. We drink milk for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and then expect not to have protein deficiencies and diabetes. We face physical challenges with weak muscles and constant sickness that we can’t ward off and then marvel at the temptations to which we continually succumb. We don’t put on the armor of God or train our bodies, we just live like most other Americans who add certain aspects of spirituality to our lives while we engage in things that will always leave us malnourished and dissatisfied. We lack little discernment in distinguishing between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world because complexity and knowledge scare us. God isn’t our problem, we are our problem.


I Corinthians 3:1-3
And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready, for you are still of the flesh. For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations?


The Lord calls us to life, hope, peace and joy. But it only comes his way through discipline with the Covenant Community of Christ and in our own personal discipline and training toward spiritual maturity. How are you pursuing your spiritual health?




Father Tom

“Old and New”

The asphalt driveway up to our house is about 50 yards long. Lining one side of the drive are seven trees that progressively go up with the drive to the house. When we first moved to Roanoke five years ago, I found out that mowing in these areas could be very hazardous and dirty work; very little would grow in these shaded areas. So, I decided to start looking for some ground cover which could keep the clay soil from eroding while adding beauty of the yard.

However, whether shaded or sunny, I found it very difficult to get most plants or grasses to grow well in the clay soil on our property. In some areas, I have added soil with mixed results. In the end, the plants that have done the best have had the clay soil removed and replaced with a new, rich, and black soil.

The season of Lent reminds us that this exercise, removing the old and replacing it with the new, is to be a lifestyle for the disciple of Christ. But similar to my planting experiments, we often try to add the new soil of change to the existing soil of our lives hoping for bountiful growth. It doesn’t happen, and thus, our spiritual growth looks wilted, tired, and hardly worth the effort.

Ephesians 4:
22 You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Repentance is about change; a change of thinking, and a change of living. Through the power of the Spirit, we can continually scrape back and dispose of the toxic soil of our poor beliefs shaped by our erroneous thinking, fear, and multiple idols. We are then able to fill the space left by this removal with the soil of humility and truth as found in Jesus Christ. In this process, we come to the authoritative Word of God NOT as book of suggested readings, choosing what we want to hear and what we want to ignore, but as the authoritative communication of our God regarding true life and salvation.

We must be prepared to change when the faithful incarnational community of Christ helps us see our poor behavior, ways, and hopes. We must hunger and thirst after righteousness, constantly assuming our need. We must replace the old with the desire for a changing heart, and thus, a continually changing of spirit and behavior.

Jesus is not in the “tweaking” business; he is in the business of transformation. Tweakers are those, who largely have little soil they believe they should remove. They don’t mind adding some new soil or ideas but are resistant to the removal of the soil to which they are accustomed. Those being transformed understand their need for a constant overhaul on a constant basis. Their need is great, and their freedom in Christ—freedom from their slavery to themselves, the kingdom of this world, and the power of the Evil One—continues to release them from their chains.

May Christ free us all. Thanks, be to God.

Fr. Tom Reeves

The Epistle - March and April 2017
Church of St. Peter and St. Paul
Father Thomas Reeves, Pastor/

The Importance of the Gathered Community

A comment on Matthew 18:20 by  PETER CHRYSOLOGUS, an Italian Archbishop (380-450 A.D.)

THE BEAUTY OF THE WHOLENESS OF THE BODY.: There are those who presume that the congregation of the church can be disregarded. They assert that private prayers should be preferred to those of an honorable assembly. But if Jesus denies nothing to so small a group as two or three, will he refuse those who ask for it in the assemblies and congregation of the church? This is what the prophet believed and what he exults over having obtained when he states, “I will confess to you, O Lord, with my whole heart, in the council and congregation of the righteous.”16 A man “confesses with his whole heart” when in the council of the saints he hears that everything which he has asked will be granted him.
Some, however, endeavor to excuse under an appearance of faith the idleness that prompts their contempt for assemblies. They omit participation in the fervor of the assembled congregation and pretend that they have devoted to prayer the time they have expended upon their household cares. While they give themselves up to their own desires, they scorn and despise the divine service. These are the people who destroy the body of Christ. They scatter its members. They do not permit the full form of its Christ-like appearance to develop to its abundant beauty—that form which the prophet saw and then sang about: “You are beautiful in form above the sons of men.”17
Individual members do indeed have their own duty of personal prayer, but they will not be able to fulfill it if they come to the beauty of that perfect body wrapped up in themselves. There is this difference between the glorious fullness of the congregation and the vanity of separation that springs out of ignorance or negligence: in salvation and honor the beauty of the whole body is found in the unity of the members. But from the separation of the viscera there is a foul, fatal and fearful aroma. SERMON 132.4-5.18


Simonetti, M. (Ed.). Ancient Christian Commentary (2002). Matthew 14-28 (pp. 80–81). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

Prayer for the Victims of Addiction

Blessed Lord, you ministered to all who came to you: Look with compassion upon all who through addiction have lost their health and freedom. Restore to them the assurance of your unfailing mercy; remove from them the fears that beset them; strengthen them in the work of their recovery; and to those who care for them, give patient understanding and persevering love. Amen.

It’s Hard to Fake Authenticity

Every once in a while, I get hooked into a documentary about art forgery.  It is amazing the detail and work that goes into a good forgery, and correspondingly, the hours and expertise it takes to spot one. 

But why make such a fuss over a good reproduction?  If a painting looks so much like a Picasso that no one else can tell the difference without a special scanning device, then why all the uproar? 

But for the art community, it does matter and it matters to the tune of thousands and sometimes millions of dollars.  A painting by Picasso holds great value and prestige not only because of the beauty of the painting, but because of the history, skill, and context of an artist’s life in a certain place and time.  Authenticity, i.e., artistic purity is highly valued.

Moralism is the enemy of purity, integrity, and authenticity.  On its surface, moralism looks

helpful, but the surface is deceiving.  Moralism is very concerned with what it does and how it looks.  It is obsessed with public relations and the perceptions of those that it is trying to impress or motivate.  Moralism, in its most basic definition, is the doing of good things, the embrace of good behavior, and the measurability of said things in comparison with others.  Moralism is self-serving under the guise of serving and sacrificing for others.  This is why it is such a dangerous, capricious, and duplicitous enemy.  It (and the Evil One’s subtle use of it) often fools us all.

Moralism produces visible and short-lived behaviors without changing a person’s beliefs and character.  In other words, if the “heart” of a person or an organization does not change, a lasting, loving, authentic behavior will not take root.  Integrity cannot be faked, and in the end, is seen most clearly when one has something to be gained or lost.  Only a “heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 11:19-20) can be genuine in its intentions and good works.

Our true character is revealed when it matters when the pressure is on, and when doing what is right trumps every other option…even if it means our pain and discomfort.  We can fake activity and surface do-gooding, but our motivations remain what they are.  Only resurrection power that is welcomed and embraced can change the condition of our true character.

As we begin our series on the “Authentic Christian Life” in C.E. in September, we look to engage what the scriptures (and our Lord) teaches us about the importance and impact of genuine authenticity.  In his book, The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis challenges the common misconceptions often engaged by those who are more concerned with how they look, than with who they really are.  We will be using this book as we try to flesh out what it means to grow in our ability to be truly pure vessels; to be shaped and effective in the hands of our creator for Gospel and Kingdom living.  Come join us as we seek our God.

Love is Vulnerable

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and
your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to
make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not
even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little
luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of
your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will
change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.
To love is to be vulnerable.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

God With Us?

Roanoke Times Article #2

(bold indicates section that appears in the Roanoke Times)

Often we have this view of God as if he is like us.  Historically, this is most blatantly revealed through the supposed “gods” of Greek Mythology.  These gods fought among themselves, were vindictive, powerful, and highly selfish.  They were often jealous of one another, were sexually unfaithful to their spouses (including having sexual relationships with humans as it so pleased them), and ruled others through fear.  Interesting enough, when we read of these Greek gods, there is something internal to us that desires them to be just, fair, generous, and forgiving.  It is probably why we like Clark Kent (i.e., Superman) so much.  He is kind of like a good Greek god.

(the below section is the continuation of the above article)

However, this is backwards if we assume that the Holy Scriptures are reliable (yes, this is a big IF for many, but please hear me out).  It is we humans who are made in God’s image, not vice-versa.  It is not that God has treated us badly, but it was humanity in the beginning who despised his gifts and desired to replace him on the throne.  A historic Christian reading of the scriptures tells us that humanity is born wanting to replace him on his throne to this day.

YET, this God did not destroy or remove himself completely from humanity.  Several times in our early history, humanity came close to destroying itself, but God intervened to prevent this.  Most people at this time had NO INTEREST in knowing God, yet he intervened just the same.  He was able to have a relationship with the few while the many preferred their own ways, which included ultimate and final death.

In our westernized individualistic viewpoint, we see God as having something personal against us.   We see God as someone who can’t wait to punish and reject us.  So when we do listen to some Christians speak (and there are a lot of ignorant, vapid, and self-informed “talking heads” out there who claim to speak for all Christians) we find our perceptions reinforced.  If we have read some of the scripture passages where God’s holiness and judgment are revealed, we may be tempted to jump to the conclusions that we truly want to find (psychologists call this a “self-fulfilling prophecy”).

But, when we take this approach are we revealing our bias?  How does one get an honest picture of the God of Historic Christianity as revealed in the Holy Scriptures handed down over a 4,000 year period through faithful communities of people?  How does one grasp the idea of a loving God, but yet a God beyond our understanding, control, and description?

I suggest that instead of viewing God as disinterested or vindictive, the scriptures reveal a God who chose to stay engaged with the human world when it was not required of him.  I suggest that because of the rebellion of mankind there is now a cloud of rebellion and judgment that covers the entirety of the created order, but God remains connected to humanity and the creation.  He does not try to control or manipulate the will of mankind but has a plan to engage mankind with a redemption that could only come from his very being.

This is where Jesus Christ enters into the picture.  Jesus, being God’s son, came as God but took on the form of flesh.  The God of the universe, creator, and Lord…not a superhuman like Clark Kent, but very God of very God….took on humanity so that we might know salvation and a restored relationship with God.

What kind of God puts in that kind of effort, embraces that kind of humility, and gives up the glory of being infinite and unlimited to live as a sweaty, needy, stinky, thirsty, hungry and limited human being?

This is the God of historic Christianity.   Jesus Christ, who is Emmanuel which means “God with us”.  His is the true understanding and clarification of the holiness, justice, and love of the transcendent and holy God of the universe.  This is the same God who wants to save and love us.

Mmmm…maybe this God is more than we think he is.

The Disinterested God

Roanoke Times Article #1

(bold indicates section that appears in the Roanoke Times)

How can we believe in a God who seems disinterested in the troubles and horrors present in the world today?

Is God just an evil entity who enjoys ruling over and controlling his weaker and more vulnerable subjects?  Is God nothing more than a bored child on summer break, holding a magnifying glass while burning ants by the power of the sun?   In the least he seems absent and/or disinterested in human suffering.  What does God know of suffering if he seems removed from all of its mess?

(the below section is the continuation of the above article)

But if we hold to the vision of an evil or disinterested God, it reveals that we do have an awareness, some expectations, and legitimate hurts and disappointments with this same God.  If there is no God, then with whom are we angry?

Of course, what is often missed, is that every other human belief system (whether individual or organized) struggles with this same "problem of evil".  The reality is that we all (whether we are aware of them or not) have beliefs that shape and direct our lives.  We all have "faith" in something or someone; even if that someone is ourselves.

However, what kind of "god" are we?  How has a trust in humanity's "innate goodness" worked out?  Even if we, like some, blame religion for all the problems in the world, we don't really solve the "problem of evil" in the world.  If there is no god, this logically means that humanity is then to blame for creating the idea of a god and for all the religions in world history.  Did God cause the financial crisis?  Did God give corrupt and greedy corporate leaders the bonuses they did not deserve while most Americans have suffered greatly through a continually struggling economy?  Does God cause the strife and war in the world?

Often, the reasons we like documentaries, biographies, and tabloids about famous and influential people (who often have accomplished very positive or impressive things) is that we relish finding out that they are just as prone to evil and self-destruction as we are.  So, how has humanity done in controlling and ruling the world over the millenniums?  Are we enlightened and modern humans really doing a better job than the God we say we don't believe in?

What if the God of Christianity does understand what it is to suffer?  What if he does care?  What if by definition he cannot intervene as we would like him to do because he created us as human beings instead of soul-less machines with no real choice?  What if he intervenes and holds back evil much more than we even realize?  What if he really wants us to know a lasting peace, love and joy in this world and the one to come...instead of the empty and fleeting happiness we continually pursue?

How does the “Jesus” of the scriptures actually address these very issues?

We will consider these thoughts more in our next article.

Clarity in Contrast

There are a lot of children who dream of someday being a professional baseball player.  After watching their favorite baseball team, a child may even go out in the yard and imagine playing in a professional game.  The child may practice their skills with a parent, or even play a lot of “catch” with their friends.  However, the child will really never know how good they truly are until they compare their skills with others in competition.  They will only see the level of their abilities when they test those skills among others.

In a similar way, this is how we learn anything regarding any gifting that we may have inside or outside of the church community.  If we are “good” at something or accomplished in any arena, it will always be considered in contrast with others who have similar or different abilities.  If we are capable in any arena it will also be clear to others around us.

In our small group studies as of late, we have been talking about the contrast between Adam and Eve’s view of God in the first Eden and ours in the New Heavens and New Earth.  Again, the comparison is important.  We know God to be a saving, forgiving, and gracious God in a way unknown to our original parents.  Because of Fall of mankind in rebellion to the Creator, we understand the depth of God’s love as we have experienced it in the suffering and sacrifice of Christ Jesus.  In addition, it is through his Son that our God continues to pour out his continual mercies in light of our continual rebellion.  Without the contrast between sin and grace, darkness and light, well, our appreciation would be much more limited.

This is the reality and contrast that we hope to accomplish in the celebration of Easter and the Easter Season.  In Lent, we engage the depth and regularity of our sin, the needed power of the Holy Spirit, and the important reality of our continuing need for repentance and Christian maturity.  We embrace that we are sinners, but engage in the battle of our flesh that we may be constantly more conformed to the Image of His Son.

In our Lenten worship, we introduce contrasts through a silent procession of the cross, an embrace of the Ten Commandments, an emphasis on the spiritual disciplines, and the muting of our “Alleluias”.  We do these things with purpose and in submission to historic Christianity to provide a contrast with our sinfulness and need (a somber and bleak reality), and the glory, joy and hope found in the promise of Easter. 

Thus, on Easter Day, there is celebration, light, beauty and feasting!!!  Our need and sin are real, but the hope and joy of the Resurrection far exceed our sin.  The Resurrection covers and banishes the guilt and shame that has been dealt with at the cross.  In the contrast we embrace the reality of being saint and sinner at once; of being saved, but not completely; of having a lasting sure hope, with a need to continue in our search for God; of having a gratefulness for the gift of salvation, yet a passion for a world in need of the same. 

Thus, we embrace both Lent and Easter so that we might be aided by their contrast, and encouraged to understand our true identity as found in the life and work of the Lord Jesus Christ on our behalf.

Thanks be to God.

Famished

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.  And granted, there was no other water available 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 thoroughly warmed by the sun.  In normal circumstances, this water would have been dumped 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 really thirsty?; hungry? What are those things that you normally and continually ache for?  When was the last time you experienced an intense hunger to know and engage your God?  Not the last time you needed a "pick-me-up" because you were having a tough week, or the last time you needed God to give you a genie-like wish (hoping he would go back into his lamp after granting your wish).  No, the hunger I am talking about leaves a continuous ache in one's heart; it longs to be filled.  It is the kind  of ache that affects you so deeply that you have to do something about it.

As we approach another new year, let me challenge you regarding your appetite for the Lord.  Do you long to know him more deeply?  Do you hunger and thirst after those things closest to his heart, and reflective of his character?  Ask him for this hunger, and he will give it to you.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. (Matthew 5:6).  It is only in hungering after our God and in obeying him that we will find a true and lasting fulfillment, and he wants us to be truly fulfilled.

Father Tom

The Task

“Our task as image-bearing, God-loving, Christ-shaped, Spirit-filled Christians, following Christ and shaping our world, is to announce redemption to a world that has discovered its fallenness, to announce healing to a world that has discovered its brokenness, to proclaim love and trust to a world that knows only exploitation, fear and suspicion".

-N.T. Wright, "The Challenge of Jesus"

N.T. Wright on "Political Camps"

From Mark: In these theological/political times, where it seems so important to be in the right "camp" lest we be cast out from fellowship with others because we do not hold the "correct" views, how do you suggest moving forward toward greater unity, rather than greater division?


Beware of ‘camps’.


In the U.S. especially these are usually and worryingly tied in to the various political either/or positions WHICH THE REST OF THE WORLD DOES NOT RECOGNISE. Anyone with their wits about them who reads scripture and prays and is genuinely humble will see that many of the issues which push people into ‘camps’ - especially but not only in the U.S. - are distortions in both directions caused by trying to get a quick fix on a doctrinal or ethical issue, squashing it into the small categories of one particular culture. Read Philippians 2.1-11 again and again. And Ephesians 4.1-16 as well.


(from a blog interview conducted by Rachael Held Evans, June 11, 2013)

Transitions

Transitions are never easy; however, they are one of the constants in the human experience. Whether we want them or not, whether we are prepared or unprepared, the seasons of our life move in one direction: forward.

As newborns we become toddlers; we learn to garble and then talk; we learn to stumble, fall and eventually walk. We are taught things by parents and learn things through experience. We have our first day of school, middle school, high-school, etc. We have our first crush, our first date; we marry, have our first child. We get our first job, first car, first paycheck...and the pattern continues. We move from being children to young adults; young adults to middle-aged; middle-aged to early retired; retired to just...tired.

Of course, there are transitions that go far beyond just our human natural maturation. Transitions happen within families at the loss of a loved one, when a child goes to college, when a spouse get's ill; within companies when one is promoted, demoted or when a company downsizes; within a church when it MERGES, calls a new pastor, disciples new leadership, experiences new growth, or finds itself aging. Each transition brings new challenges and new opportunities.

In January The Church of St. Peter and St. Paul will be eight years old. We have been through a lot together; December marks my (and my family's) third year in sharing this journey with you as a family member (s) and shepherd.

I see the Spirit visibly at work in us and as we continue to submit to his Word and leading, and I see bright days ahead in regards to Kingdom of God living and serving. For me this is no small statement; I have rarely been able to say this in many of the other church contexts in which I have served. However, for us to continue to be fertile and receptive in following our Lord's direction, I believe we must embrace the transitions that He is now bringing us through.

The Lord has drawn new members and friends to our body; not only do we desire to continue to love and serve these new people, we will need their gifts and support to continue to be effective as a New Covenant community of Christ. More of our active members have become too ill to serve, or have been drawn home to Lord. Many of us have transitioned into stages of our lives that have forced us to realize that we can no longer do the things we have done in the past. However, we have also experienced a slew of newly retired working professionals who now have more time for discipleship and ministry engagement and this has been a huge “shot in the arm” for us. Thanks be to God.

With me will you open your hearts to the transitions that God is bringing us through as a church? Where might he want to use you? What are some things that he is trying to show you? Where might you need to change your approach, and where might you need to look for another? How does God want to heal you in 2015, and where does he want to stretch you?

As we were reminded this week in our small group study of Hebrews:

Heb 2:14-15

Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death.

We have nothing to fear. Christmas reminds us that the Christ-child came to take on the form of flesh to represent us and save us by his death on the cross. In this death the evil one (here Satan being the figure-head of all that is in rebellion to God and his Kingdom) has been defeated, and we no longer have anything to fear because we have no punishment or death to be worried about.

The Lord walks with us day by day through our transitions. We are not alone, and we have nothing to fear. Let us EMBRACE our transitions as a church and in our personal lives; it will not be easy, but we do not walk alone.

Thanks be to God.

The Great Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day is a well known holiday in the United States.  Quite frankly, it is one of my favorite times of the year.  I really like the fall with all of its explosive colors, the crisp air, the festive food, and yes, the focus and feasting that encourages we Americans to be a thankful people for the many blessings that we have been given.

However, what is often lost on most Americans (even American Christians) is that the historic Christian Church celebrates a feast of Thanksgiving every single week.  It is called The Eucharist.  For many, the term Eucharist sounds different, mysterious, maybe even dangerous.  So, let’s take a closer look at this important word. 

 The word Eucharist comes from the Greek word εὐχαριστῶ (eucharisteo) and it is the general word for “thanksgiving”.  Interestingly, it is found in this form in just thirty-eight different scriptures in the New Testament.  Let’s look at a few:

 Mark 8:

⁶ And he commanded the crowd to sit down on the ground; and he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. ⁷ And they had a few small fish; and having blessed them, he commanded that these also should be set before them. ⁸ And they ate, and were satisfied; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full.
 

Mark 14:

²² And as they were eating, he took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” ²³ And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. ²⁴ And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.

As you might know, the record of Jesus and his Disciples sharing Passover together, thus, establishing the Eucharistic Feast of Holy Communion, is recorded in all three of the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke).  It is at this first Eucharistic meal that Jesus gives us our “words of institution” so we may set apart the bread and wine to be a blessing to us, and a source of great thanksgiving, indeed.

I Corinthians 10:

¹⁶ Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? ¹⁷ Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.
³⁰ If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for?

The attentive eye will notice that I did not highlight the word “thankgiving” or “give thanks” in verse sixteen above.  The Greek word used here is the normal word for “blessing” not “thanksgiving”, but the NIV has captured well here the idea implied in the text itself.  The blessing and thanksgiving at the table of our Lord work in conjunction with each other.  I challenge you to go back now to the verses in Mark 8 and 14 and see how Jesus uses the terms “thanks” and “bless” correspondingly as he does his miracle in the feeding of the four-thousand.

Each week when we come to celebrate Holy Communion, we are engaging and celebrating the Great Thanksgiving, i.e., The Eucharist.  We come to receive a blessing from God and to be a blessing to him as we honor him with thankful and moldable hearts.  We are there to worship and thank him for the love he has poured out on us through Jesus Christ on the Cross, through the power of the resurrection we experience through the Holy Spirit, and through the hope of our final glorification living eternally in the unhindered presence of the Father.

We have much to be thankful for, and we have the opportunity to give thanks to God every day.  However, the pinnacle of our individual and communal thanksgiving finds it’s fulfillment in our communion with the Lord and one another as we gather around The Table of the Lord Jesus Christ.

O Lord, enable us to be a people of constant thanksgiving!

Prayer

From Father Andrew, S.D.C - "Meditations for Every Day"

"Prayer does not mean getting God to do things, but co-operating with Him in doing things. It is not reminding God of things He has forgotten, but reminding oneself that God is remembering, and the way in which God is remembering somebody may be by giving us prevenient grace which made us set about praying. It was because God remembered first that we began to pray. It was because God was there first that we came pray".

Submitting to Death

Last chapter and last paragraph of Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis:


"Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favorite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end: submit with every fiber of your being, and you will find eternal life.  Keep back nothing.  Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours.  Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead.  Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay.  But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in."

K.I.S.S.?

Might I suggest to all of us a more complex, deep, and trusting Christianity in the Triune God who is the reason of all life and hope? Might I suggest that the simple easy to control God that we often seek to create, is a god of our own choosing and making?

C.S. from Mere Christianity, chapter on the Trinity:

"I warned you that Theology is practical. The whole purpose for which we exist is to be thus taken into the Life of God. Wrong Ideas about what that life is will make it harder....It is the simple religions that are the made up ones..."

C.S. reflecting on the historic Christian community:

 "...the one really adequate instrument for learning about God is the whole Christian community, waiting for Him together...that is why all these people who turn up every few years with some patent simplified religion of their own as a substitute for the Christian tradition are really wasting their time...if Christianity was something we were making up, of course we could make it easier. But it is NOT... anyone can be simple if he has no facts to bother about"

Trying to Love the Lord with "...all your mind"?

Below is a very poignant article regarding the whole "Creation vs Evolution" culture war debate.

It is my belief that much of popular American "Christian" thinking on this subject is unwittingly dictated not first of all by the context and understanding of Scripture but by a polarizing post-enlightenment, modernistic discussion between those given over to current cultural ways of thinking.  A thoughtful, historic, and orthodox (i.e., what Christians historically have always believed about the Church and revelation) Christianity needs to discern the culture from a truthful and thoughtful perspective.

My hope is that the article below will prod some of us (who have ears to hear) along this path.

Creationism Is Materialism’s Creation

2/8/14

www.patheos.com/blogs/badcatholic/2014/02/creationism-is-materialisms-creation.html 1/17

I take Frederich Nietzsche quite seriously when he says, “when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you,” and thus I did not, nor ever will watch the recent debate between Bill Nye The Science Guy and Ken Ham The Creation Man. There are things in this world too depressing for people desperate to maintain some sense of hope regarding humanity, its direction, and capacity for truth.

Nevertheless, I want to take this opportunity to point out that, far sooner than any creationist vs. scientist debate amounts to a debate between a Christian and an atheist, it amounts to a debate between atheists. Neither side defends or attacks the Christian tradition. Both argue about a laughably boring god, a strange phenomenon of modernity — not the God of philosophy, theology or Scripture in any meaningful sense.

Fundamentalism, which includes creationism, is a modern phenomenon. The Middle Ages, though rife with scientific illiteracy in comparison with our age, never bred such a beast. It is a 20th century frenzy, not the product of ignorance as much as a by-product of materialism, and I daily blame — in an odd, bitter ritual that usually involves throwing pretzels at a cut-out of Richard Dawkins — the propagators of this selfsame materialism for cursing the world with the idiocies of devil-buried fossils and 6-day literalism. For evolution is only ever a threat to the idea of God if your idea of God has been hopelessly manhandled by materialistic assumptions. That’s right kids. Creationism is materialism’s inescapable, obnoxious spouse.

“What?” protest the protestors. “Creationists believe in angels, demons, and a whole host of immaterial realities, while materialists believe in no such thing!” But the point is not that creationism and materialism are in secret cahoots. The point is that materialism has provided the metaphysical framework for mainstream modern thought, a framework within which the creationist operates, from whence — along with a typically materialistic incapacity to distinguish poetry from a science textbook — comes his creationism.

The materialistic assumption is this: The universe is a closed, material system, and that all there ever is or was can be reduced to matter and material processes. The materialist flatly denies the possibility of the spiritual. The creationist concedes to a closed, purely material universe as the prejudice of the age. Unlike the materialist, however, he holds on to the idea of spiritual things. Now, however — and thanks to the materialist assumption — these spiritual things cannot be in harmony with the material. They — whether God, angels, or demons — must exist apart from it — opposed to it, even.

Consider it this way: If the universe is reducible to matter and material processes, but is nevertheless created by God — for people will always believe in God — then God, who himself is not reducible to matter or material processes, must be “outside” and “apart” from the universe he creates. He is utterly estranged from the universe. In short, the rise of the materialistic worldview meant that — if there was to be a belief in God — this god must be the god of Deism.

This is the god the creationist unwittingly and inconsistently defends, a god who creates the universe at a single point, a god whose creative action must be defended as a particular point in time (6 days of time, to be exact) now long past — a god who already made the closed, material universe and is now done, dwelling outside of it like “an old man peering from the sky.” Such a relationship between God and the universe necessarily makes any forces that determine our physical existence “competitors” of his work. He created the material universe. He served as its origin, a 6-day origin now over. Thus any apparent “creation” within the material order is creation apart from God, and a threat to his sovereignty. The only creation possible must either have already happened, at one point, or it must be magical.

I mean this quite seriously. If by the world we mean a purely physical system, than God — who is not
physical — can only be encountered in an inexplicable “break” in the same system. If God is to be active in a purely material universe, it must be as a Cosmic Magician popping into the world over and against all physical processes and laws — utterly at odds with his own creation.

God is evidenced by that which is “utterly apart” from the universe “breaking into” the universe. And so the creationist, having conceded the materialistic assumption, must “prove” the existence of God by way of things “science can’t explain.” The complex cell, the fossil record — God is real because there are inexplicable things, materials that look as if something has broken into the material system and left its immaterial and thereby inexplicable mark.

Evolution, which posits a natural process of change in successive generations of living things, is a threat precisely because it works against the Cosmic Magician, the God of one-time creation who now busts into the universe here and there. It says, quite reasonably, that living things as we know them today were not always so, and that man in his material consistency did not spontaneously pop into existence as the bipedal we know and sometimes manage to love today. Evolution is an affront to a god who “finished” his work of creation some 6000 years ago. It is an affront to a God who made the material universe in one now-past action, a god who now only associates with his creation through the miraculous breaking of the spiritual into what is purely material. It is, in short, a rival god.

But now we’ve stared into the abyss long enough. God is not simply the Creator of the material order, and the theistic tradition has never made such laughable claims. The concept of God as Creator has always been the source of existence as such. This means that God does not just answer the material question of “Where came this rock, that plant, or the entire conglomerate of material thing mabobs we call the universe?” He answers the ontological question: “Why is there something rather than nothing?”

Evolution cannot answer the question of why there is something rather and nothing, and no scientist outside of the self-titled, 8th-grader/athesim variety would ever embarrass themselves with such a claim. Evolution presupposes something which evolves. Existence — the fact that something is — is prior to any evolution. Again, God is first and foremost the source of existence, the fact that there is something rather than nothing.  For not a single thing in this entire marvelous universe contains the source of its own existence. Each depends on an innumerable multitude of factors for the fact of its being here. The most obvious example of this is in our origins — there is not a single thing in the universe that brought itself into being. The less obvious but even more important example of this is in our current existence — there is not a single thing in the universe that “holds itself in being.” There is nothing that causes itself to continuously exist. 

To quote David Bentley Hart again: If one considers the terms of one’s own existence, for instance, one sees that there is no sense in which one is ever self-existent; one is dependent on an incalculable number of ever greater and ever smaller finite conditions, some of which are temporal, and some of which are definitely not, and all of which are dependent on yet further conditions. One is composed of
parts, and those of smaller parts, and so on down to the subatomic level, which itself is a realm
of contingently substituent realities that flicker in and out of actuality, that have no ontological
ground in themselves, and that are all embraced within a quantum field that contains no more of
an essential rationale for its own existence than does any other physical reality. One also
belongs to a wider world, upon all of whose physical systems one is also dependent in every
moment, while that world is itself dependent upon an immense range of greater physical
realities, and upon abstract mathematical and logical laws, and upon the whole contingent
history of our quite unnecessary universe…In short, all finite things are always, in the present,
being sustained in existence by conditions which they cannot have supplied for themselves, and
that together compose a universe that, as a physical reality, lacks the obviously supernatural
power to exist on its own. Nowhere in any of that is a source of existence as such.

If the materialistic assumption is true, and the universe is entirely reducible to matter and material processes, then the universe is an inexplicable oddity. All things exist in their present-moment existence by depending upon other things, which in turn exist in their present-moment existence by depending on other things, and so on unto infinite regress. If this were true, nothing would ever come into or persist in being. 

The theistic position, properly understood, is that our universe is not an inexplicable infinite regress, but that all things exist in their present-moment existence because all things are upheld by an absolute existence, a being that is the source of its own existence (snipping short the infinite regress), supplying all contingent things with a non-contingent “ground” which renders their existence possible.

How could evolution possibly pose a threat to God, properly understood as the Absolute Giver of Being, who at every moment provides the absolute ground for the existence of every contingent thing, every thing which does not contain the source of its own present-moment existence — every particle, every random mutation, every genome strand, every protein, every moment of procreation, every fertilization event, in short, every single material component of the process of evolution?

In fact, I can think of no other view more favorable to the concept of evolution than the view that Creation is now, not an act that happened at one point in time, now long past, but rather the timeless fact of there being something rather than nothing, the present-moment, as-you-sit-reading donation of being which you cannot provide for yourself. God created, creates and is always creating the universe in a singular timeless act by which the entirety of space, time and human history, from beginning to whatever end, is given that existence it cannot provide for itself. God is creating everything now, there is no need for miraculous, inexplicable events to “prove” His existence, no need for him to break in to an already finished work and leave some boggling mark. It is the horrifying and beautiful surprise that anything in this storm of contingencies exists at all that has the theist positing an absolute source of existence, our wonderful God, not a thought that
“everything looks so well-designed,” or that “science cannot explain this or that.”

Creationism only exists as a reaction within the framework of materialism. The Christian ought to reject the evolutionist vs. creationist debate on the level at which it is offered, and question instead the metaphysics of the thing, for if the universe is a contingent reality that requires the eternal and ever-present donation of being by an absolute source of being, then the idea that evolution is an affront to creation is ridiculous at best, manufactured for easy points at worst.

Why Do Anglians Call their Pastors "Father"?

Why in the world do some Anglicans call the priest/pastor, “Father”? Below I am taking several different portions from an article that a fellow Anglican Priest (and good comrade) wrote in regards to this subject. If anyone would ever like to read the article by the Rev. Joe Murphy in it's entirety, I would be pleased to send you a copy.

Jesus reproached the religious leaders of His day with some strong words about being called, "father," that sounds like we shouldn't touch that name in the Church” (to save space I will not be printing most of the scripture texts, but I would challenge you to read them for a better understanding of what is being written. - Fr. Tom - Matthew 23:1-12 ).

Jesus' words to His disciples on not calling anyone else "father" seems to make the catholic practice of addressing a priest as "father" completely unbiblical, and a proud and Pharisaic thing to do. At least, a straightforward reading of the text might lead us to think that, what some would call a "literal" reading. The problem with such a reading of this text is that it would also prevent Christ's followers from calling their earthly male parent, "father." Jesus is pretty explicit: " . . .call no man your father on earth . . ." The same thing applies to teachers, of course. We would have to cease calling all teachers by that name--Jesus doesn't restrict it to religious teaching--if one takes this statement at face value. But, human society and the Church within it still need parenting and teaching. Of course, if we stopped using those terms altogether it would be very problematic, because then we wouldn't even be able to explain Who the heavenly Father is in relation to Jesus, or why Jesus alone is our Teacher, because those words would no longer apply to their earthly counterparts. No, Jesus wasn't teaching His disciples to stop using a name, a label, a way of referring to or addressing someone, whether "father" or "teacher." A literal reading of Jesus' words here just doesn't make sense.”

We run into further problems when we read the Apostle Paul's comments to the Corinthians and Thessalonians (see I Cor 4:14 – 17 and I Thes. 2:11-12)

The early Christians followed Paul's pattern. The Aramaic word "abba" ("father" or many argue, "dad") (e.g., Romans 8:15; Gal. 4:6) is the source of the English word "abbot" which the Celts first used for the head of their monastic communities. The French "Abbe" is similar, common for a parish priest. 

Oddly enough, the Christians that find it offensive to call the priest "father" routinely call their ordained church leader, "pastor." That term, however, is derived from the Latin word for "shepherd." Apparently, in their view, we have only one Father (as Jesus said) and so don't call their leader "father," but we have more than one shepherd. This is odd because Scripture is very clear on this:

The LORD is my shepherd . . . (Psalm 23:1 ESV)

But, its even more specific. At one point during the ministry of the prophet Ezekiel, the Lord rebuked the shepherds of Israel, His flock (Ezekiel 34:2), and later called David (as a type of the Messiah) the shepherd of his people (Ezekiel 34:23 and 37:24).

One Shepherd and yet we call our church leader “pastor” (shepherd)?

But, in fact, calling your church leader "Pastor" isn't wrong. For Christ is our "chief Shepherd" (see I Peter 5:1-4).

Peter commands the leaders of the Church in I Peter 5 to "shepherd" the people of God, yet they have a chief Shepherd. With pastors(shepherds), it isn't that God doesn't use humans to do that work--He does--but they are only obedient and beneficial as God's shepherds if there is a clear understanding of who the Real Shepherd is. 

Isn't this, however, exactly the case with fatherhood? We have a physical father, yet only one heavenly Father. We may have a spiritual father as well, perhaps several, yet understood as utterly insignificant in light of our heavenly Father because such "fathers" are only by analogy.  

So, why did Jesus say, "call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven"? For the same reason He said,

"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 ESV) 

He was making a point, a strong one, about the seriousness of sin. But, if we took it literally we might wind up killing ourselves to keep from sinning! Repentance is what Jesus was getting at, not self-mutilation. 

With giving our church leaders titles, whether "pastor", "teacher", or "father," Jesus' point is clear and driven home by the forceful way He expressed it: don't mistake anyone for the only Real Shepherd, Real Teacher, Real Father that you have. 

I believe the best and first way to see a local church body is as a "family".  Jesus talks of those that do "the will of his Father" as those that are his true family.  We are "adopted" to be heirs with Jesus Christ, the Son of God.   The Apostles in their writings also use family terms constantly: "household of faith", "brothers", "brotherly love",  "sons and daughters" of the Father God, being  "children of God", etc.  In scripture it is also revealed that the biblical communal love that we have is a close and intimate love which reflects that of a close family.  

Thus, i refer to myself mostly as Father Tom (although, I am receptive to Pastor Tom, or just Tom as well).  I am a shepherd, care-giver, and an authority figure in regards to the centrality of Gospel and Christ's teaching regarding the Kingdom of God.  However, in my basic membership in the household of God, I am one family member in a local church of many members.  We are all equal in the eyes of God due to the work of Christ...while we may have differing roles.

Thanks be to God for the body of Christ!

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The Anglican Tradition

In a nutshell, what is the Anglican Tradition?

"Sane, wise, ancient, modern, sound, and simple," as Martin Thornton calls it, the Anglican tradition is rooted in the witness of the Holy Scriptures and the Early Fathers, and is often described as a via media (middle way) between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism.  Sometimes called "reformed Catholicism," Anglicanism gives equal weight to Word and Sacrament in its worship, and secures its polity in the Apostolic Succession of bishops.  With Holy Scripture as its rule of faith, Anglicanism reserves a place for Reason and Tradition in its theological discourse, and has always made a strong association between what the Church believes and what the Church prays.  Lex orandi, lex credendi - "the law of prayer is the law of belief" - well expresses the close correspondence in classical Anglicanism between doctrine and doxology.

(taken off of the Nashotah House Seminary website in 2013)

It's Complicated

Last Sunday in our Christian Education class, my children and I looked at the story of Joseph, son of Jacob. It is actually a very interesting story involving a lot of different characters, twists, motives, tragedy and hope. And like many other Bible stories that as children seemed very basic with “good guys” and “bad guys”, it is actually quite complicated and confusing throughout.


Jacob has three wives, and he favors one of them: Rachael. THIS is actually where the story of Joseph begins. In Genesis chapter 37 we see Joseph as a young man, his father's favorite. Joseph is young with many older adult brothers. These brothers hate Joseph and what he stands for in their minds. Joseph is the favorite son, of the favorite wife. They are second class citizens who long for their Father's approval and affection (as is poignantly seen when they seek to console their father in the coming tragedy). Joseph, being young and dealing with normal naive pride, doesn't always help his own situation. Let's look at verse 2 of chapter 37:


Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.


Joseph in his prized position is a “tattle-tale”. Jacob in the next verse gives Joseph a beautiful and likely very expensive coat which physically and visibly screamed to his older brothers: “I am better and more important to my father than you”. In addition to this, Joseph has several dreams (sent to him from the Lord) that he shares with his family. The point of the dreams is unmistakable to his brothers: “I am going to rule you, and you will bow down to me”. If you listen closely, even NOW you can hear the brother's blood boiling!!!! Even Jacob proclaims when he hears Joseph talk to him of the second dream:


When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?”


However, the verse goes on to reveal that even in Jacob's incredulity, he heard something that rang true. He filed the dream and it's potential importance into the back of his mind.


The rest of the story, many of us remember: Joseph is sold into slavery, goes through many trials, is used providentially by God to protect and bless the people of Israel, and rules Egypt and his family with great wisdom and forgiveness.


What is interesting and revealing, is that the “problems” that led to the above reality and blessing of the family (and, thus the Nation of Israel) are complex and multi-faceted. In the midst of the struggle, neither Joseph, Jacob, or the brothers would have felt “blessed” by God in how things were playing out. Present were the sins of pride, hate, unforgiveness, favoritism, and deception. In addition, Jacob showed a great lack of wisdom and foresight in understanding the implication of his favoritism, and Joseph a great naivety in the way he approached his position and dreams.


So who caused the problems that led to Joseph's initial slavery? I submit that the problems were caused by everyone involved...including the Lord. The Lord did no evil, but in his providence stirred up jealous hearts that reacted to the revelation of Joseph's dreams. The Lord gave the truth of these dreams to a young, haughty, well meaning adolescent. Who among us would not have struggled with what Joseph struggled with in his position? Yet, Joseph later reveals that he has a real, enduring faith in God, and a tender heart to God's teaching and moving.


I believe the lesson for us is that our lives and the moving of God is more complicated than we will often admit to ourselves and others. It is a constant challenge for us to look for simplistic answers to our many inter-personal problems, sins, and blind spots and seek someone or something to blame...the whole time giving ourselves a free pass. Similarly, mistakes can be made by the insecure and over-sensitive; instead of seeing the multi-faceted nature in the conflict and tensions of having relationships in this life, and God's gracious work in the midst of the conflict, the spiritually fearful “take all the blame” for the sake of peace. But neither approach gets us closer to the truth, nor does it put us in line with the perspective and moving our our Lord.


The reality is that God is moving and working in His own way and time. There are many people that are often a part of our problems (starting with us!), and God is one of them. He is moving to stir up our messiness and heart attitudes that he is already aware of. He does it for his purposes, and for our blessing. Let us all open our hearts to the reality that our limited individual perspectives are just that...very limited. Let us seek God; his truth, his leading, his timing. Let us open our hearts to where he constantly wants to draw us to repentance, grace and hope knowing he is good, forgiving and in control


Thanks be to God.

Looking at Life and Death

Philippians 2: 21-24

21 For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which I prefer. 23 I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better; 24 but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you (NRSV).

 
In writing to the Philippians, Paul finds himself in a tough predicament. He is under house arrest due to his preaching the gospel and is now getting word that other “pastors” are maligning him for it. There are those that are standing by him, and he is writing to the Philippians to help them keep their faith and perspective regarding their own situation.


Paul is torn in his view of the future. He knows that his execution is a real possibility, yet he believes that if he is set free, he will have a continuing fruitful ministry (especially in relation to the Philippian church). However, Paul settles on the fact that his execution would be far better. No, I do not believe that Paul is a masochist, or that he would not have had great trepidation about the whole execution process. What Paul relates to us is a mature understanding of what really matters: Jesus Christ and the hope that we have in Him.


Paul is not more mature than us in his perspective because God loves him more, or because He is more impressed with Paul ministry than with ours (I mean, come on, his story made it into the Bible!!!). Paul is not more mature because he had built up more good works than us, and therefore had an elevated status. No, I believe that Paul's maturity was found in his clear perspective of this life and the life to come; in his desire to live within a “redemptive reality” not caught up thinking that this life is what life is really all about. He saw Christ at work in both realms, but preferred to be in the unhindered presence of the Lord.


Also, please notice that his desire to stay with the Philippians was not because he still wanted to try skydiving, reach a few more milestones, or see his favorite vacation spot one more time. No, his desire to stay in the temporal realm was in relation to his love for the Philippians and their growth in the Lord.


As a church we have been through quite a time in the last six months. Illnesses that have come to a head, unexpected surgeries (in all age groups), lingering sickness, and the unexpected deaths of loved-ones. While we want to pray to the Lord in regards to His protection, and know that He will bring us through this time as a church committed to Him, some of what we are facing can help us focus on what really matters...IF we see it as an opportunity for such. Please don't misunderstand me. I am not minimizing our pain, the grief, and the stress that we have all been dealing with. What I am suggesting is that in the midst of it, the Lord is working and “growing” us as a people of God...IF we receive it as such through the power of the Holy Spirit. An eternal perspective does not see our limited engagement with the presence of Jesus in this life to be “the new heavens and the new earth”, but finds the true “new heavens and new earth” in the eternal unhindered presence of God. In this life, we “see through a glass darkly” and only experience the presence of God in limited (although, glorious) ways. His presence through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is a “down-payment” not the whole inheritance.


Our God is with us, so we have hope. His Spirit indwells us, so we have the strength to carry on. Let us seek Him and hunger after righteousness, praying and meditating on His precepts so that we may truly know his peace. Grant us this gift as you have promised us, Oh, Lord.