Readings:
Psalm 51
Isaiah 51:1-8
Galatians 3:15-22
Mark 6:47-56
Sermon:
“And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”
Ephesians 2:1-6
Grace, Mercy and Peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.
Who amongst us is righteous? Who amongst us has the strength and the perseverance to walk according to all of the precepts of the Lord? Who amongst us can keep the law purely and wholly within our souls and our bodies and our minds?
None… no one… not one…
It’s a hard, harsh truth, a grim reminder of our mortal flesh and the weakness of our resolve. In sin we were born, and once more in sin, for the iniquity that does rip at our soul, we do die, fallen, our life but the short days of this earth, one breath taken, one step taken, until one day they are all taken from us and we no longer walk among the living.
And to a great many people, that’s all that there is. A life lived, and then nothing more, nothing else, beyond the grave. Amidst darkness and chaos life was conceived, the universe and nature, determined on a colliding course with one another, until suddenly there it was, until suddenly out of the nothingness came everything. If from darkness and chaos we did come, then to darkness and chaos we shall return.
It’s been a wisdom of this world that has weighed on the lives and the works of the Saint’s since first they took up the call of the Lord, the Holy Spirit working within them to bring them to that divine mission of loving mercy that comes through the power of the Redeemer. From the prophets who would be sent unto this world with the voice of God to speak the truth to the fallen children of God to the Disciples given the words of the Great Commission “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Sprit: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” (Matthew 28:18-20), they were, as was the Lord, acutely aware of the wisdom of this world.
The truth is that man… that people, for the most part, don’t like to be held to a degree of account, nor to be considered accountable for their actions. They often times like to abide in a world we’re they can do what they want, when they want, how they want, believing that it is right, that there are no consequences for their actions, there were no punishment for their sins.
So they would turn their backs on God, declaring that He is not there, somehow foregoing every evidence that He is there, so to make it somehow easier to believe that nothing really matters. And why not? Why wouldn’t they? As a God of Justice, one often described as vengeful, they would not want to incur His great wrath against them. How better to believe that you shall not by believing that He is not there, turning their eyes to gods that could not see or could hear the iniquity of their sins.
There, with each generation, with each child born, taught this worldly wisdom, this earthly knowledge, it becomes an easier lie to deceive ourselves with, until suddenly we just declare it to be truth, no more questions asked, no more need to supply answers.
And yet, here there has to come a fundamental understanding, a fundamental truth of God’s great love for us and that divine mercy in which He shows to us. Though a vengeful God, though a God of Justice, though a punisher of iniquity and sin, that is not all, that is not all that He has been meant to be seen as, and those who see Him only as such see Him not as He is but through the eyes of guilt and sin that believe that otherwise wrath would be showered upon them for their transgressions, see Him as the world constructs Him, a God that He is not.
But they are not alone, each of us, the faithful and the unfaithful alike, are sinners, it is the great equalizer amidst this world, and there it is only through the power of Christ that we are born anew into sainthood, the wickedness of our flesh washed away through the Blood of the Lamb. It is only through the love of Christ that we find mercy, a mercy that looks not to those transgressions of our being but the faith held within our hearts, working to create us anew. Yes, we stumble and at times we even fall, perhaps we wander away from the path of righteousness, relying on our wisdom or our knowledge, believing we can find redemption through our own justifications, through our own works, through our own actions, and yet, through it all, in it all God never loses hope for us, His Spirit searching for us, to once more be brought back to walk down that path with our Savior, in the love He has for us.
There each of us, we have a duty, as followers of that road, on that journey with Christ, to push back the onslaught of those who would forsake God for this earthly understanding that seems bound to its own arrogant self righteousness, for the redemption found in Jesus of Nazareth, that redemption that was intended not just for any one person or any one group but for all of humanity, that all people, in all places, might come to a better, greater peace than anything they could ever know.
Just as St. Paul preaches that Gospel Message of Christ’s salvation, reminding the believers in Ephesus of Christ’s great sacrifice and what it means to us, so to must we take hold of that same message, grasping it, holding on to it, pulling it close to us, and there opening our arms in love and compassion to share it with our fellow man.
This is the nature of the Gospel we can never forget or forsake in all of the days of our life, in all of the steps we walk in.
Lord, grant this unto us all.
Now may the peace of the Lord that transcends all human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus even unto life everlasting. Amen.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Episode 21: 1/28/09
Readings:
Psalm 53
Isaiah 49:1-12
Galatians 2:11-21
Mark 6:14-29
Sermon:
“Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child. But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.”
The Book of Jeremiah, Chapter 1, Verses 5 through 7
Grace, mercy and peace, from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.
How do we value life?
It can rightly said that God, our Heavenly Father… He never chooses his words lightly, nor does He select them without a full understanding of the implications that they hold. Rather, what He offers is divine truth that transcends the ages, that transcend time and place, to find themselves just as applicable, just as right, as they were in that moment when He first spoke them.
A practice that had reached back to the Jewish Captivity in Egypt, and at the very least, the reign of Ahmose the First, He would have been familiar with the writings of the Ebers Papyrus and the practice described within. Almost a thousand years later, by the birth of the Prophet, the children of Israel now fallen into the chaos of the divided Kingdom and eventual Babylonian Captivity, there would be no historical evidence that the grim procedure first written of by the Egyptians had ceased. Even as Greek medicine and philosophy began to flourish in the West, there were signs that it had been, in fact, embraced by what was considered the most enlightened civilization to rise. Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, would, a few short generations later would write of how he would consider it to be acceptable to be proceeded with in the proper circumstances.
Nothing stays hidden from God…
Here, in the first Chapter of the Book of Jeremiah, the Lord could have chosen different words, He could have expressed a different sentiment, after all, the acts of abortion would have been considered perfectly natural to the wisdom of this world. Still held in the womb, the fetus in question, it wasn’t entitled to anything, and, in fact, most of the prohibited procedures of those early abortions were there for the woman, not to protect the life growing in her.
Yet, here though, contrary to the wisdom and the enlightenment of this world, would embrace, that which was in the womb, not just as some growing organism but as life, conceived, and glorified, known by Him and sanctified, redeemed, in His divine love for him.
“Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee; and before thou camst forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee.”
God would not distinguish between the life of the Prophet in the womb, formed and created by Him, His breath giving him life, and the life of the Prophet amidst this world, speaking with His voice unto the children of Israel. They weren’t two different lives or two different beings, one a creature, the other a man. They were and they remained, the same life, inseparable and indistinguishable, to be lived by the same person, given as a sacred gift from the Lord.
But then, it could be viewed rightly in the words of Job, “If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me; What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him? Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?” (Job 31:13-15)
Today… well today our practices and our procedures have advanced far beyond anything perhaps imagined by the authors of the Ebers Papyrus, the tools more sophisticated than any of the ones described by Hippocrates, but there is little difference now between our society and those societies that did not know the Lord or value the preciousness of that gift of life that He gave unto us. More often than not we embrace the practice of abortion, claiming it nothing more than a simple medical procedure or stating that it’s the right of every woman to have one. We make laws to protect that so called right, we send our money overseas to foreign clinics to pay for woman of other nations to have the same, we make it easier and easier for teenagers to have a them, with or without the consent or knowledge of their parents.
All in the name of compassion…
And yet, in the eyes of the Lord, what distinguishes life in the womb from life outside of the womb? What distinguishes the compassion he shows to a child held within the belly of their mother or cradled in the arms of their mother?
Nothing… There is nothing that separates the two when looked upon by the Lord God Almighty, who, through His power and divine plan, gives life unto the world.
The words of the Lord are clear… unquestionably clear… “For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.” (Psalm 139:13-16)
He wove us together, knitted us together, when we were conceived in the womb. That beautiful image He created humanity in, so to does He create the child in the womb in. He breathes life into their lungs and gives them the capacity to gain and to grow in consciousness. He loves them as He loves the little children, seeking that they would be brought to Him. The same power of redemption that comes from Christ Jesus at the cross to cover the multitude of our sins, blankets that young, fragile life, in the divine mercy and tender precepts of the Lord.
How then will we view life? How then will we value it? Will we embrace the wisdom of this world, a knowledge that weakens the integrity and the dignity of human life, by placing such a small value on it or will we make our stand with God, realizing the truth… the unchangeable, inalterable, inalienable divine truth of Christ that tells unto us “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matthew 25:40)
Ours must be to protect the sanctity of human life and to make a stand for the weakest, those who cannot protect or speak for themselves. Just as God gave a voice unto the Prophet even as he could not speak, even as he could not form the words with his lips or the thoughts with his mind, so too must we give a voice unto those who cannot speak for themselves, those who have not that power to cry out for mercy, forming the words for them, to speak the certainty of the Lord handed to us as our great heritage of truth.
This must be our Christian imperative, a testimony of the faithful, that the love of God and the power of the Holy Spirit dwells within us, through the ages in the redeeming power of Christ’s great sacrifice for us.
Lord, grant this unto us all.
Now, may the peace of the Lord, that peace that transcends all human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, even unto life everlasting, Amen.
Psalm 53
Isaiah 49:1-12
Galatians 2:11-21
Mark 6:14-29
Sermon:
“Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child. But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.”
The Book of Jeremiah, Chapter 1, Verses 5 through 7
Grace, mercy and peace, from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.
How do we value life?
It can rightly said that God, our Heavenly Father… He never chooses his words lightly, nor does He select them without a full understanding of the implications that they hold. Rather, what He offers is divine truth that transcends the ages, that transcend time and place, to find themselves just as applicable, just as right, as they were in that moment when He first spoke them.
A practice that had reached back to the Jewish Captivity in Egypt, and at the very least, the reign of Ahmose the First, He would have been familiar with the writings of the Ebers Papyrus and the practice described within. Almost a thousand years later, by the birth of the Prophet, the children of Israel now fallen into the chaos of the divided Kingdom and eventual Babylonian Captivity, there would be no historical evidence that the grim procedure first written of by the Egyptians had ceased. Even as Greek medicine and philosophy began to flourish in the West, there were signs that it had been, in fact, embraced by what was considered the most enlightened civilization to rise. Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, would, a few short generations later would write of how he would consider it to be acceptable to be proceeded with in the proper circumstances.
Nothing stays hidden from God…
Here, in the first Chapter of the Book of Jeremiah, the Lord could have chosen different words, He could have expressed a different sentiment, after all, the acts of abortion would have been considered perfectly natural to the wisdom of this world. Still held in the womb, the fetus in question, it wasn’t entitled to anything, and, in fact, most of the prohibited procedures of those early abortions were there for the woman, not to protect the life growing in her.
Yet, here though, contrary to the wisdom and the enlightenment of this world, would embrace, that which was in the womb, not just as some growing organism but as life, conceived, and glorified, known by Him and sanctified, redeemed, in His divine love for him.
“Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee; and before thou camst forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee.”
God would not distinguish between the life of the Prophet in the womb, formed and created by Him, His breath giving him life, and the life of the Prophet amidst this world, speaking with His voice unto the children of Israel. They weren’t two different lives or two different beings, one a creature, the other a man. They were and they remained, the same life, inseparable and indistinguishable, to be lived by the same person, given as a sacred gift from the Lord.
But then, it could be viewed rightly in the words of Job, “If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me; What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him? Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?” (Job 31:13-15)
Today… well today our practices and our procedures have advanced far beyond anything perhaps imagined by the authors of the Ebers Papyrus, the tools more sophisticated than any of the ones described by Hippocrates, but there is little difference now between our society and those societies that did not know the Lord or value the preciousness of that gift of life that He gave unto us. More often than not we embrace the practice of abortion, claiming it nothing more than a simple medical procedure or stating that it’s the right of every woman to have one. We make laws to protect that so called right, we send our money overseas to foreign clinics to pay for woman of other nations to have the same, we make it easier and easier for teenagers to have a them, with or without the consent or knowledge of their parents.
All in the name of compassion…
And yet, in the eyes of the Lord, what distinguishes life in the womb from life outside of the womb? What distinguishes the compassion he shows to a child held within the belly of their mother or cradled in the arms of their mother?
Nothing… There is nothing that separates the two when looked upon by the Lord God Almighty, who, through His power and divine plan, gives life unto the world.
The words of the Lord are clear… unquestionably clear… “For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.” (Psalm 139:13-16)
He wove us together, knitted us together, when we were conceived in the womb. That beautiful image He created humanity in, so to does He create the child in the womb in. He breathes life into their lungs and gives them the capacity to gain and to grow in consciousness. He loves them as He loves the little children, seeking that they would be brought to Him. The same power of redemption that comes from Christ Jesus at the cross to cover the multitude of our sins, blankets that young, fragile life, in the divine mercy and tender precepts of the Lord.
How then will we view life? How then will we value it? Will we embrace the wisdom of this world, a knowledge that weakens the integrity and the dignity of human life, by placing such a small value on it or will we make our stand with God, realizing the truth… the unchangeable, inalterable, inalienable divine truth of Christ that tells unto us “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matthew 25:40)
Ours must be to protect the sanctity of human life and to make a stand for the weakest, those who cannot protect or speak for themselves. Just as God gave a voice unto the Prophet even as he could not speak, even as he could not form the words with his lips or the thoughts with his mind, so too must we give a voice unto those who cannot speak for themselves, those who have not that power to cry out for mercy, forming the words for them, to speak the certainty of the Lord handed to us as our great heritage of truth.
This must be our Christian imperative, a testimony of the faithful, that the love of God and the power of the Holy Spirit dwells within us, through the ages in the redeeming power of Christ’s great sacrifice for us.
Lord, grant this unto us all.
Now, may the peace of the Lord, that peace that transcends all human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, even unto life everlasting, Amen.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Episode 20: 1/26/09
Readings:
Psalm 52
Isaiah 48:1-11
Galatians 1:1-17
Mark 5:21-43
Sermon:
In today’s Gospel, we see two instances of miraculous healings, the woman with the issue of blood, and the young daughter of Jairus. The little girl was raised from the dead, the old woman from a life that was worse than death.
The story of Jairus’s daughter is one that will touch the heart of every parent. We are not told what her illness was, but it was obviously serious enough that her father knew his only help lay with Jesus. He begged Our Lord to visit his house and just lay His hand on the sick girl so she could be healed. Jesus readily agreed, but on the way back to the house, friends came out to Jairus with the news that the girl was dead, and he need not bother Jesus any longer.
We can imagine the despair that gripped Jairus as he heard those words --- all his hopes were dashed, his faith proven to be in vain. But Jesus ignored the mocking of the crowd and encouraged Jairus to hold fast to his belief that his daughter would be restored to him, and she was. Jesus called her back, from death or sleep, back to life with her family and friends.
The story of the old woman provides an interesting contrast to that of the young girl. We see her after many years of suffering, spending all her money on medical treatments that failed to bring her relief, growing weaker by the day. Because of the nature of her ailment, she would have also been considered unclean, unable to find comfort in worshipping with her community. Sick, poor, and outcast, she clung desperately to one last hope --- that if she could only touch the edge of Jesus’s cloak, she would be healed. Maybe she had heard of other miraculous cures, maybe she recognized that she had no other options. For whatever reason, she maneuvered her way through the crowd until she was able to touch Him and feel the healing relief flow through her body.
But then, at the moment of healing, at the answer of her prayer, came the realization of the truly miraculous encounter she had just experienced. The woman, fearing that she had presumed too much in touching Jesus, and that He was angry with her, fell to the ground, pleading for mercy. Instead, Our Lord lifted her up and comforted her, saying “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering." (Mark 5:34) Perhaps this was also meant to encourage Jairus, who was still awaiting the fulfillment of his fervent prayer for help.
So here we see in one small passage of Scripture, two lives restored, one a young girl brought back from death to enjoy renewed life with her family and loved ones, the other an old woman restored to health and her rightful place within her community. But the miracle didn’t stop there: all those present on that day were witnesses to the power of God to bring life out of death, health out of sickness, to take broken lives and make them whole again.
In 1703, Puritan minister Cotton Mather addressed a joyous congregation as they gave thanks for the return of their husbands and sons, sailors who had been captured years before by the Barbary Pirates and held as slaves. From the moment of their capture, these men were as good as dead. Few could expect to survive the starvation and brutal treatment they would face at the hands of their captors, and those who did could only look forward to “a bitter servitude, that was enough to have made them even weary of their lives.” Their families were confronted with the knowledge that their loved ones almost certainly would not be returning to them: as Mather remarked on the miraculous nature of their release, “In former years, the lions den, in that part of Barbary where you have been cast, had this unhappy character upon it: few or none returned.”
But like Jairus, like the bleeding woman, the families of these captives refused to give up hope, clinging to a desperate belief that God could rescue their loved ones when all the help of man had failed. And at last, after years of suffering, their fervent prayers were answered and they stood in wonder as they saw the former captives restored to life.
But what of the men themselves, how were they now to live their newly-born lives? Mather tells them first to remember that only the power of God was able to save them: “We do in the first place, pray to the God of all grace that you may have the grace to be very sensible of the matchless favors that God hath bestowed upon you . . . That we now see the return of so many who have been a prey to those terrible ones, truly, ‘tis a new, a strange and a great sight. We may say upon it This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes!”
Next, he says, it is not enough to give thanks with their lips only, it must be matched by their manner of living: “But what signifies a Thanksgiving without Thanksliving? . . . It is the most reasonable, and most advisable thing imaginable that you should seriously consider with yourselves, and ask divines and other Christians to assist you in considering What lessons you should learn by the changes that have passed over you? And apply your cares to learn those lessons and live as you have been blessed.” This includes encouraging those who are suffering or in doubt with the story of their remarkable deliverance.
And lastly, he advises, never forget the power of prayer: “Finally brethren, you see by your own happy experience what prayer can do: Oh! Let it make you in love with prayer. If this one point may be gained, all will be gained: prayer, fervent prayer, constant prayer, daily prayer: Oh, pray without ceasing, and with every sort of prayer; and very particularly for a good effect of all the divine dispensations towards you. Resolve with Him, Psalm 116:2, Because the Lord hath inclined His ear unto me, therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live.”
We are not told what happened to Jairus’s daughter or the old woman after their miraculous encounter with Jesus. But it is reasonable to believe that they were changed forever by that healing touch that brought them back to life. And while most of us, thankfully, will never experience captivity at the hands of pirates, we are all subject to a much worse slavery, slavery to sin and death until we experience Our Lord’s healing touch upon our spirits, breaking our chains, bringing us back from the grave, restoring us to the lives we were meant to live. And when we do, let us show our thanks for our remarkable deliverance by the manner of our lives, so that everyone who sees us will know that a miracle has taken place.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Psalm 52
Isaiah 48:1-11
Galatians 1:1-17
Mark 5:21-43
Sermon:
In today’s Gospel, we see two instances of miraculous healings, the woman with the issue of blood, and the young daughter of Jairus. The little girl was raised from the dead, the old woman from a life that was worse than death.
The story of Jairus’s daughter is one that will touch the heart of every parent. We are not told what her illness was, but it was obviously serious enough that her father knew his only help lay with Jesus. He begged Our Lord to visit his house and just lay His hand on the sick girl so she could be healed. Jesus readily agreed, but on the way back to the house, friends came out to Jairus with the news that the girl was dead, and he need not bother Jesus any longer.
We can imagine the despair that gripped Jairus as he heard those words --- all his hopes were dashed, his faith proven to be in vain. But Jesus ignored the mocking of the crowd and encouraged Jairus to hold fast to his belief that his daughter would be restored to him, and she was. Jesus called her back, from death or sleep, back to life with her family and friends.
The story of the old woman provides an interesting contrast to that of the young girl. We see her after many years of suffering, spending all her money on medical treatments that failed to bring her relief, growing weaker by the day. Because of the nature of her ailment, she would have also been considered unclean, unable to find comfort in worshipping with her community. Sick, poor, and outcast, she clung desperately to one last hope --- that if she could only touch the edge of Jesus’s cloak, she would be healed. Maybe she had heard of other miraculous cures, maybe she recognized that she had no other options. For whatever reason, she maneuvered her way through the crowd until she was able to touch Him and feel the healing relief flow through her body.
But then, at the moment of healing, at the answer of her prayer, came the realization of the truly miraculous encounter she had just experienced. The woman, fearing that she had presumed too much in touching Jesus, and that He was angry with her, fell to the ground, pleading for mercy. Instead, Our Lord lifted her up and comforted her, saying “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering." (Mark 5:34) Perhaps this was also meant to encourage Jairus, who was still awaiting the fulfillment of his fervent prayer for help.
So here we see in one small passage of Scripture, two lives restored, one a young girl brought back from death to enjoy renewed life with her family and loved ones, the other an old woman restored to health and her rightful place within her community. But the miracle didn’t stop there: all those present on that day were witnesses to the power of God to bring life out of death, health out of sickness, to take broken lives and make them whole again.
In 1703, Puritan minister Cotton Mather addressed a joyous congregation as they gave thanks for the return of their husbands and sons, sailors who had been captured years before by the Barbary Pirates and held as slaves. From the moment of their capture, these men were as good as dead. Few could expect to survive the starvation and brutal treatment they would face at the hands of their captors, and those who did could only look forward to “a bitter servitude, that was enough to have made them even weary of their lives.” Their families were confronted with the knowledge that their loved ones almost certainly would not be returning to them: as Mather remarked on the miraculous nature of their release, “In former years, the lions den, in that part of Barbary where you have been cast, had this unhappy character upon it: few or none returned.”
But like Jairus, like the bleeding woman, the families of these captives refused to give up hope, clinging to a desperate belief that God could rescue their loved ones when all the help of man had failed. And at last, after years of suffering, their fervent prayers were answered and they stood in wonder as they saw the former captives restored to life.
But what of the men themselves, how were they now to live their newly-born lives? Mather tells them first to remember that only the power of God was able to save them: “We do in the first place, pray to the God of all grace that you may have the grace to be very sensible of the matchless favors that God hath bestowed upon you . . . That we now see the return of so many who have been a prey to those terrible ones, truly, ‘tis a new, a strange and a great sight. We may say upon it This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes!”
Next, he says, it is not enough to give thanks with their lips only, it must be matched by their manner of living: “But what signifies a Thanksgiving without Thanksliving? . . . It is the most reasonable, and most advisable thing imaginable that you should seriously consider with yourselves, and ask divines and other Christians to assist you in considering What lessons you should learn by the changes that have passed over you? And apply your cares to learn those lessons and live as you have been blessed.” This includes encouraging those who are suffering or in doubt with the story of their remarkable deliverance.
And lastly, he advises, never forget the power of prayer: “Finally brethren, you see by your own happy experience what prayer can do: Oh! Let it make you in love with prayer. If this one point may be gained, all will be gained: prayer, fervent prayer, constant prayer, daily prayer: Oh, pray without ceasing, and with every sort of prayer; and very particularly for a good effect of all the divine dispensations towards you. Resolve with Him, Psalm 116:2, Because the Lord hath inclined His ear unto me, therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live.”
We are not told what happened to Jairus’s daughter or the old woman after their miraculous encounter with Jesus. But it is reasonable to believe that they were changed forever by that healing touch that brought them back to life. And while most of us, thankfully, will never experience captivity at the hands of pirates, we are all subject to a much worse slavery, slavery to sin and death until we experience Our Lord’s healing touch upon our spirits, breaking our chains, bringing us back from the grave, restoring us to the lives we were meant to live. And when we do, let us show our thanks for our remarkable deliverance by the manner of our lives, so that everyone who sees us will know that a miracle has taken place.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Episode 19: 1/23/09
Readings:
Psalm 35
Isaiah 50:1-11
Ephesians 6:1-9
Mark 4:35-41
Sermon:
“But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God. But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
The Epistle to the Philippians, Chapter 4, Verses 18 and 19
Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, amen.
How do we view God?
He watched in quiet wonder, his eyes wide with marvel as he saw them lay their hands on the heads of people. Having come to Samaria only a short time before, he had quickly worked his magic on the citizens, conjuring the powers of demons and darkness that it might come to surround them, engulf them, bewitching them through his wickedness.
Without a doubt, he was a powerful sorcerer, the likes the people of Samaria had never seen before. But then would come these men, these wanderers, perhaps a bit dirty and ragged in their appearances as they came from seemingly nowhere. To have seen them for the first time there were perhaps not that impressive, especially to a man who would go from place to place using his works of evil to ensnare those around him. A man holding such power and lacking such conscience, he had probably, through his magic accumulated wealth, and looked the part, what threat then could a few drifters pose to him?
Chances are that he paid them no mind or consideration…
Then… then though, they would give him much to worry about. In a moment, as these Apostles laid their hands on the people the power of the Holy Spirit would work through them, casting aside the powers of Simon as if it had been nothing at all. Without a doubt, he had never seen anything quite like it before.
The thoughts began to swirl around his head. What is this great and powerful magic that these men work? What could be that could put mine to such shame? Imagine all that I could do with this power if only I held it within my grasp. The world, it could be mine and all of those in it would bow before me.
Above all other desires, this is what he wanted, this is what he needed.
Coming to Peter he would ask the he would give unto him these powers, not for free of course, but purchased with gold and silver, that he too would be able to work the miracles of the Holy Spirit. There… there the Apostles rebuke would be a hard, harsh one, delivered to the Sorcerer, “Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.” (Acts 25:20-23)
“Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.”
It’s perhaps a bit hard for us to imagine the story of Simon or how the admonition of St. Peter is relevant within our lives. None of us are quite so bold or foolish to believe that the gifts of God or the power of the Holy Spirit, is something that we can purchase or buy, as if going to the super market and going down the religion aisle, we could pick up a case of it. Unlike Simon, we don’t quite believe that we can meet a guy on the street corner, thinking that perhaps we could buy a bag of God’s gifts and suddenly we hold a power that is greater than those around us have ever seen. We know it’s not just a magic in a box set we can purchase for our kid’s birthday.
But still, does that mean that we see the power of God and His gifts rightly?
It’s an easy trap for us to fall into to somehow believe that we can buy our way into God’s graces. We read passages in the Bible that tell us, “Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine” (Proverbs 3:9 and 10) or “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye met withal it shall be measured to you again” (John 6:38) or even our sermon text today and we take it to mean something completely different that what had been intended for us. We start to think that if we give this or we give that or we do this or we do that, then suddenly God’s grace for us will unfold immeasurably more, and we start to expect things from God, wealth or power or possessions, because, after all, He promised it to us.
But what we learn in our sermon text and through the power of the story in Acts of Simon the Sorcerer, is something completely different altogether. God’s gifts come only to those who have faith and who give sincerely of themselves with no expectations, with no requirements or pre-requisites, they come to those who give of themselves believing that it is right to do, that it is what God has asked them to do out of a love of Him and their fellow man, never thinking of any returns that may come to them.
There, when that is our motive, not of earthly gain, but heavenly service, there is a purity in our hearts that is well pleasing to God.
Ours cannot be to see God as a genie in a lamp that we have purchased from some easy trade, to be rubbed that He might grant our wishes for us, or to see the power of His Holy Spirit as something that we can just buy, watching as easy wealth comes to us for it. It must be to see Him rightly for that which He is, a loving God of tender mercies who gives and grants according to His divine plans for our lives that we might be able to carry out His will to preach and teach the Gospel Message of His Son, Christ Jesus unto all nations, to live our lives in the richest of testimonies to the power of that salvation through our Redeemer that brings such powerful redemption into our lives.
There God does not give to us because He has to or because, for some reason, He is bound to or required to. Rather He does so out of His great love for us. A love that was made whole and perfect in the life, sacrifice, and death that precious Lamb of God whose was the beacon of enlightenment unto this world, making way the path that leads on high and bringing the power of the Spirit once more into this world that all those dark, hidden places of the soul could find the light, the warm, glowing light of God, once more shining upon them.
This… this must be how we view God that we might see Him rightly.
Lord, grant this unto us all.
Now may the peace of the Lord that transcends all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus even unto life everlasting, Amen.
Psalm 35
Isaiah 50:1-11
Ephesians 6:1-9
Mark 4:35-41
Sermon:
“But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God. But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
The Epistle to the Philippians, Chapter 4, Verses 18 and 19
Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, amen.
How do we view God?
He watched in quiet wonder, his eyes wide with marvel as he saw them lay their hands on the heads of people. Having come to Samaria only a short time before, he had quickly worked his magic on the citizens, conjuring the powers of demons and darkness that it might come to surround them, engulf them, bewitching them through his wickedness.
Without a doubt, he was a powerful sorcerer, the likes the people of Samaria had never seen before. But then would come these men, these wanderers, perhaps a bit dirty and ragged in their appearances as they came from seemingly nowhere. To have seen them for the first time there were perhaps not that impressive, especially to a man who would go from place to place using his works of evil to ensnare those around him. A man holding such power and lacking such conscience, he had probably, through his magic accumulated wealth, and looked the part, what threat then could a few drifters pose to him?
Chances are that he paid them no mind or consideration…
Then… then though, they would give him much to worry about. In a moment, as these Apostles laid their hands on the people the power of the Holy Spirit would work through them, casting aside the powers of Simon as if it had been nothing at all. Without a doubt, he had never seen anything quite like it before.
The thoughts began to swirl around his head. What is this great and powerful magic that these men work? What could be that could put mine to such shame? Imagine all that I could do with this power if only I held it within my grasp. The world, it could be mine and all of those in it would bow before me.
Above all other desires, this is what he wanted, this is what he needed.
Coming to Peter he would ask the he would give unto him these powers, not for free of course, but purchased with gold and silver, that he too would be able to work the miracles of the Holy Spirit. There… there the Apostles rebuke would be a hard, harsh one, delivered to the Sorcerer, “Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.” (Acts 25:20-23)
“Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.”
It’s perhaps a bit hard for us to imagine the story of Simon or how the admonition of St. Peter is relevant within our lives. None of us are quite so bold or foolish to believe that the gifts of God or the power of the Holy Spirit, is something that we can purchase or buy, as if going to the super market and going down the religion aisle, we could pick up a case of it. Unlike Simon, we don’t quite believe that we can meet a guy on the street corner, thinking that perhaps we could buy a bag of God’s gifts and suddenly we hold a power that is greater than those around us have ever seen. We know it’s not just a magic in a box set we can purchase for our kid’s birthday.
But still, does that mean that we see the power of God and His gifts rightly?
It’s an easy trap for us to fall into to somehow believe that we can buy our way into God’s graces. We read passages in the Bible that tell us, “Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine” (Proverbs 3:9 and 10) or “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye met withal it shall be measured to you again” (John 6:38) or even our sermon text today and we take it to mean something completely different that what had been intended for us. We start to think that if we give this or we give that or we do this or we do that, then suddenly God’s grace for us will unfold immeasurably more, and we start to expect things from God, wealth or power or possessions, because, after all, He promised it to us.
But what we learn in our sermon text and through the power of the story in Acts of Simon the Sorcerer, is something completely different altogether. God’s gifts come only to those who have faith and who give sincerely of themselves with no expectations, with no requirements or pre-requisites, they come to those who give of themselves believing that it is right to do, that it is what God has asked them to do out of a love of Him and their fellow man, never thinking of any returns that may come to them.
There, when that is our motive, not of earthly gain, but heavenly service, there is a purity in our hearts that is well pleasing to God.
Ours cannot be to see God as a genie in a lamp that we have purchased from some easy trade, to be rubbed that He might grant our wishes for us, or to see the power of His Holy Spirit as something that we can just buy, watching as easy wealth comes to us for it. It must be to see Him rightly for that which He is, a loving God of tender mercies who gives and grants according to His divine plans for our lives that we might be able to carry out His will to preach and teach the Gospel Message of His Son, Christ Jesus unto all nations, to live our lives in the richest of testimonies to the power of that salvation through our Redeemer that brings such powerful redemption into our lives.
There God does not give to us because He has to or because, for some reason, He is bound to or required to. Rather He does so out of His great love for us. A love that was made whole and perfect in the life, sacrifice, and death that precious Lamb of God whose was the beacon of enlightenment unto this world, making way the path that leads on high and bringing the power of the Spirit once more into this world that all those dark, hidden places of the soul could find the light, the warm, glowing light of God, once more shining upon them.
This… this must be how we view God that we might see Him rightly.
Lord, grant this unto us all.
Now may the peace of the Lord that transcends all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus even unto life everlasting, Amen.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Episode 18: 1/21/09
Readings:
Psalm 38
Isaiah 44:24-45:7
Ephesians 5:1-14
Mark 4:1-20
Sermon:
In today’s Gospel reading, Our Lord teaches us the parable of the sower, one in which He Himself gives us the meaning, and from which we can draw many applications to our daily lives.
Our Lord tells us that our hearts are like soil. What kind of dirt are we? We would like to think that we are good dirt, rich and fertile, that can take a tiny seed and make it grow forth into a mighty crop. We might admit that we have our share of thorns and thistles, that we are easily distracted by the cares of the world. But none of us wants to think that we could be bad dirt, that our hearts could be so hard and dry that nothing could grow there.
Those of us who garden know the importance of good dirt. Some of us are blessed with soil that takes little preparation for planting, that we can just dig down and pop a plant into and watch it grow. More likely though, we have to clear out an accumulation of rocks and weeds and add in compost and fertilizer before we can get a successful crop. Then we have to constantly weed it and keep it watered and protect it from parasites, or our fruits and vegetables will rot on the vine.
On the other hand, we know bad dirt too when we see it, dirt that’s little more than sand or dust, dirt that can barely grow weeds, let alone beautiful flowers. Sometimes it’s been damaged by overuse, or by erosion, or by toxic chemicals that have been dumped there. But whatever the reason, it’s dead dirt.
Into this dirt, the sower sows his seed. The seed, the Word of God, is cast into every kind of dirt, some of it sprouting into life, some of it being blown away or trampled underfoot. We might think this is a wasteful way of planting, that it would be better to concentrate on the soil where it has the best chance of growing strong and healthy vines. But this is where Our Lord’s grace and mercy prove so much better than anything our worldly wisdom can tell us. While we may give up on a bad patch of garden, He can take that dead dirt and make it new again, making it burst forth with life.
In Isaiah we read that:
The desert and the parched land will be glad;
the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.
Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; (Isa. 35:1-2)
This is no more of a miracle than the work that the Holy Spirit can perform in even the hardest, driest hearts. We see it in the life of St. Paul, once a murderous persecutor of Christ’s followers who went on to spread the Gospel at the cost of his own persecution and eventual martyrdom. We see it in the life of John Newton, the captain of a slave ship who repented of this great sin and spent the rest of his life as an ordained minister, fighting injustice in society and uplifting his brothers and sisters in Christ with songs such as Amazing Grace. We can see it in the lives of captors who have set their hostages free, escaping with them into freedom.
In October of last year, two men emerged from the jungles of Colombia. One was Oscar Lizcano, a Colombian senator and university professor who had been held captive by FARC guerillas for eight years. During those 8 years, he endured hunger and sickness and the constant threat of death. But the worst part, he said, was the loneliness: his captors refused to talk to him. He somehow managed to hang on to his sanity by standing sticks in the dirt, pretending that they were his students and lecturing them on history, literature, and politics. But they were just sticks and could not respond.
Then slowly, a change came. One of his captors, a young man who had joined the rebel army at the age of 12, began playing chess with Sen. Lizcano in the evenings and talking about his life. Over the next months the relationship grew to the point that Isaza, the young captor, repented of the harm he had done to Sen. Lizcano and determined to help him escape. They spent three days hiding from search parties until they stumbled upon a Colombian army patrol, with the senator being rescued and Isaza being arrested. But then, another surprise took place: Sen. Lizcano asked that Isaza be set free, as he had helped restore his freedom. Isaza was granted political asylum in France, and is now calling on FARC members to end their rebellion and free their more than 700 remaining hostages. So far, about a dozen have answered this call, and last week, two more hostages were brought to freedom.
This is a dramatic example of a cold, dead heart being brought back to life, but we can see many more in our everyday life. We can see it in the lives of addicts and alcoholics who are able, with God’s help, to break the chains that bind them. We see it our own lives, when God sets us free from years of grudges and resentments and lets the fruit of the spirit grow in our hearts instead of the thorns and thistles that formerly inhabited it. Whether in our own lives or those around us, we can see God’s word and spirit at work, softening even the hardest hearts and making them ripe for harvest. Thank God that where we can only see a dead, lifeless patch, He can see a piece of Eden.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Psalm 38
Isaiah 44:24-45:7
Ephesians 5:1-14
Mark 4:1-20
Sermon:
In today’s Gospel reading, Our Lord teaches us the parable of the sower, one in which He Himself gives us the meaning, and from which we can draw many applications to our daily lives.
Our Lord tells us that our hearts are like soil. What kind of dirt are we? We would like to think that we are good dirt, rich and fertile, that can take a tiny seed and make it grow forth into a mighty crop. We might admit that we have our share of thorns and thistles, that we are easily distracted by the cares of the world. But none of us wants to think that we could be bad dirt, that our hearts could be so hard and dry that nothing could grow there.
Those of us who garden know the importance of good dirt. Some of us are blessed with soil that takes little preparation for planting, that we can just dig down and pop a plant into and watch it grow. More likely though, we have to clear out an accumulation of rocks and weeds and add in compost and fertilizer before we can get a successful crop. Then we have to constantly weed it and keep it watered and protect it from parasites, or our fruits and vegetables will rot on the vine.
On the other hand, we know bad dirt too when we see it, dirt that’s little more than sand or dust, dirt that can barely grow weeds, let alone beautiful flowers. Sometimes it’s been damaged by overuse, or by erosion, or by toxic chemicals that have been dumped there. But whatever the reason, it’s dead dirt.
Into this dirt, the sower sows his seed. The seed, the Word of God, is cast into every kind of dirt, some of it sprouting into life, some of it being blown away or trampled underfoot. We might think this is a wasteful way of planting, that it would be better to concentrate on the soil where it has the best chance of growing strong and healthy vines. But this is where Our Lord’s grace and mercy prove so much better than anything our worldly wisdom can tell us. While we may give up on a bad patch of garden, He can take that dead dirt and make it new again, making it burst forth with life.
In Isaiah we read that:
The desert and the parched land will be glad;
the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.
Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; (Isa. 35:1-2)
This is no more of a miracle than the work that the Holy Spirit can perform in even the hardest, driest hearts. We see it in the life of St. Paul, once a murderous persecutor of Christ’s followers who went on to spread the Gospel at the cost of his own persecution and eventual martyrdom. We see it in the life of John Newton, the captain of a slave ship who repented of this great sin and spent the rest of his life as an ordained minister, fighting injustice in society and uplifting his brothers and sisters in Christ with songs such as Amazing Grace. We can see it in the lives of captors who have set their hostages free, escaping with them into freedom.
In October of last year, two men emerged from the jungles of Colombia. One was Oscar Lizcano, a Colombian senator and university professor who had been held captive by FARC guerillas for eight years. During those 8 years, he endured hunger and sickness and the constant threat of death. But the worst part, he said, was the loneliness: his captors refused to talk to him. He somehow managed to hang on to his sanity by standing sticks in the dirt, pretending that they were his students and lecturing them on history, literature, and politics. But they were just sticks and could not respond.
Then slowly, a change came. One of his captors, a young man who had joined the rebel army at the age of 12, began playing chess with Sen. Lizcano in the evenings and talking about his life. Over the next months the relationship grew to the point that Isaza, the young captor, repented of the harm he had done to Sen. Lizcano and determined to help him escape. They spent three days hiding from search parties until they stumbled upon a Colombian army patrol, with the senator being rescued and Isaza being arrested. But then, another surprise took place: Sen. Lizcano asked that Isaza be set free, as he had helped restore his freedom. Isaza was granted political asylum in France, and is now calling on FARC members to end their rebellion and free their more than 700 remaining hostages. So far, about a dozen have answered this call, and last week, two more hostages were brought to freedom.
This is a dramatic example of a cold, dead heart being brought back to life, but we can see many more in our everyday life. We can see it in the lives of addicts and alcoholics who are able, with God’s help, to break the chains that bind them. We see it our own lives, when God sets us free from years of grudges and resentments and lets the fruit of the spirit grow in our hearts instead of the thorns and thistles that formerly inhabited it. Whether in our own lives or those around us, we can see God’s word and spirit at work, softening even the hardest hearts and making them ripe for harvest. Thank God that where we can only see a dead, lifeless patch, He can see a piece of Eden.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Episode 17: 1/19/09
Readings:
Psalm 25
Isaiah 44:6-8, 21-23
Ephesians 4:1-16
Mark 3:7-19
Sermon:
“The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord GOD will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up.”
Isaiah 50:4-9
Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.
It was perhaps a message that he knew all to well…
In a world where the hearts and minds of men are turned from the image of God and His righteousness, there is so much suffering for those who seek to offer the truth, those who seek to preach the word of the Lord. The picture offered by the Prophet of the suffering servant who was to come is a grim, dark picture of the life that he would lead. Stricken and afflicted, abused and tormented, he would come into a world of sin and pain, and amidst it all it would cause him great distress as those he was sent to offer a message of God’s great mercy to turned their angry eyes and hands to him.
Of a portion of that he had to understand.
A prophet sent by the Lord into a world where the land of promise had fallen to foreign enemies, where the chosen children had knelt before foreign gods, where corruption of the body, mind and spirit seemed to reign, Isaiah would feel the anguish of the soul for the sins of his brothers and sisters, and know their anger turned to him.
Yet it would be nothing compared to the pain and suffering that would be delivered against that Messiah, that Suffering Servant that was to be sent into this world for the sake of man and their sins. It perhaps even seemed a bit strange and yet a bit familiar as he wrote the words. One sent to preach and teach the word of the living God, and yet to be so cast aside by those he was sent to deliver, to be treated with such contempt and hatred by those he was sent to save. The words had to sear in his mind as he sat back to read them later, to imagine the torment this Messiah, this Staff of David, this King of kings, would have to endure in the name of the Lord, the persecution he would face, to even imagine it had to seem overwhelming.
And yet, even amidst that there was a ringing truth to be held in them. That even when times are at their hardest, even when the voices are loudest trying to shout down the words taught, even when the hands are raised against, God, the Lord God Almighty, gives strength to endure. As is taught in the first song of the Suffering Servant a few chapters prior, though his enemies may find their courage in their numbers, rising up to strike him down, “A bruised reed shall he not break. (Isaiah 42:3). Through the power of the Lord and His righteousness His Suffering Servant is and always shall be justified. His vindication shall come shine through, regardless of the trials and the tribulations that he faces in this world. The promise God would make to Joshua would ring through his life, “There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” (Joshua 1:5)
As we find ourselves now mediating on the words of Isaiah and the life of Christ Jesus, we too have to be struck by not just the knowledge of the suffering that he endured for us and our sake, coming forth not just to preach that Gospel message for us and our salvation, but to live it perfectly, but also by the understanding that even before he entered into this world, seated at the right hand of God, the Father, he knew fully of that which was in store for him as he entered into this world. There would be no surprises or mysteries to him about all that he was to endure, it had been revealed to him even at the moment of man’s first sin.
There, we have to ask ourselves, what will we do, what are we willing to endure, for the name of Christ and the Word of the Lord. In the Great Commission, as Christ prepared for his ascension on high, we are admonished by him to “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” (Matthew 28:19 and 20). Each of us, each and every one of us, as children of the Heavenly Father, bought and redeemed in the precious blood of the lamb, are called by the Lord to preach and teach His word and His love at all times and in all places.
Often times though the world seems like a dark place, so prone to sin, purchased by the power of the Prince of this world, with hearts turned from the Lord. There, faced, with the challenges of preaching that Gospel message, we worry or we fear, we think we cannot do it or we should not do it because we will face ridicule and possible hardships for it. And so we waver.
What has to be remembered is not the troubles we may face, or the challenges that are out there, they have been there in each age as the saints were called to spread the Word, in some these troubles were much more than we could have ever imagined and those who loved the Lord and abided in His command to us, paid the ultimate price for it, dying that martyrs death as St. Stephen had, at the hands of those whose hearts were hardened by the Lord. Even as we consider this though we must remember that we have a loving and caring God who will not leave or forsake us, who will give us strength to endure and the courage to carry on if we humble ourselves before Him and give ourselves to him.
Yes, perhaps at times, it could and does seem like there is more than we can take or more than we can deal with, but there we have to remember God never gives us more than we can handle if we trust in Him and His promises to us. In those moments of hardship God’s love and mercy, His grace and wisdom, has to be seen rightly for what it is, that which transcends this world and our understanding of it, to strength and preserve the saints from age to age, in all times and in all places.
Ours must be to give ourselves to Christian service to our neighbor and to our fellow man, that all may hear the promises of the Lord and be called to the salvation that He offers. Ours must be to give ourselves to Christian duty, as Christ had before us, seeking to be imitators of him, living that gospel message and preaching it, teaching it throughout the world, in the love, compassion, and understanding that God has first shown unto us. Come whatever may, come whatever must, through God we shall be guided and protected as we do His will, we too shall be bruised reeds that shall never break, finding our vindication as we stand before His throne.
Lord, Grant this unto us all.
Now the peace of the Lord that transcends all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus even unto life everlasting. Amen.
Psalm 25
Isaiah 44:6-8, 21-23
Ephesians 4:1-16
Mark 3:7-19
Sermon:
“The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord GOD will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up.”
Isaiah 50:4-9
Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.
It was perhaps a message that he knew all to well…
In a world where the hearts and minds of men are turned from the image of God and His righteousness, there is so much suffering for those who seek to offer the truth, those who seek to preach the word of the Lord. The picture offered by the Prophet of the suffering servant who was to come is a grim, dark picture of the life that he would lead. Stricken and afflicted, abused and tormented, he would come into a world of sin and pain, and amidst it all it would cause him great distress as those he was sent to offer a message of God’s great mercy to turned their angry eyes and hands to him.
Of a portion of that he had to understand.
A prophet sent by the Lord into a world where the land of promise had fallen to foreign enemies, where the chosen children had knelt before foreign gods, where corruption of the body, mind and spirit seemed to reign, Isaiah would feel the anguish of the soul for the sins of his brothers and sisters, and know their anger turned to him.
Yet it would be nothing compared to the pain and suffering that would be delivered against that Messiah, that Suffering Servant that was to be sent into this world for the sake of man and their sins. It perhaps even seemed a bit strange and yet a bit familiar as he wrote the words. One sent to preach and teach the word of the living God, and yet to be so cast aside by those he was sent to deliver, to be treated with such contempt and hatred by those he was sent to save. The words had to sear in his mind as he sat back to read them later, to imagine the torment this Messiah, this Staff of David, this King of kings, would have to endure in the name of the Lord, the persecution he would face, to even imagine it had to seem overwhelming.
And yet, even amidst that there was a ringing truth to be held in them. That even when times are at their hardest, even when the voices are loudest trying to shout down the words taught, even when the hands are raised against, God, the Lord God Almighty, gives strength to endure. As is taught in the first song of the Suffering Servant a few chapters prior, though his enemies may find their courage in their numbers, rising up to strike him down, “A bruised reed shall he not break. (Isaiah 42:3). Through the power of the Lord and His righteousness His Suffering Servant is and always shall be justified. His vindication shall come shine through, regardless of the trials and the tribulations that he faces in this world. The promise God would make to Joshua would ring through his life, “There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” (Joshua 1:5)
As we find ourselves now mediating on the words of Isaiah and the life of Christ Jesus, we too have to be struck by not just the knowledge of the suffering that he endured for us and our sake, coming forth not just to preach that Gospel message for us and our salvation, but to live it perfectly, but also by the understanding that even before he entered into this world, seated at the right hand of God, the Father, he knew fully of that which was in store for him as he entered into this world. There would be no surprises or mysteries to him about all that he was to endure, it had been revealed to him even at the moment of man’s first sin.
There, we have to ask ourselves, what will we do, what are we willing to endure, for the name of Christ and the Word of the Lord. In the Great Commission, as Christ prepared for his ascension on high, we are admonished by him to “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” (Matthew 28:19 and 20). Each of us, each and every one of us, as children of the Heavenly Father, bought and redeemed in the precious blood of the lamb, are called by the Lord to preach and teach His word and His love at all times and in all places.
Often times though the world seems like a dark place, so prone to sin, purchased by the power of the Prince of this world, with hearts turned from the Lord. There, faced, with the challenges of preaching that Gospel message, we worry or we fear, we think we cannot do it or we should not do it because we will face ridicule and possible hardships for it. And so we waver.
What has to be remembered is not the troubles we may face, or the challenges that are out there, they have been there in each age as the saints were called to spread the Word, in some these troubles were much more than we could have ever imagined and those who loved the Lord and abided in His command to us, paid the ultimate price for it, dying that martyrs death as St. Stephen had, at the hands of those whose hearts were hardened by the Lord. Even as we consider this though we must remember that we have a loving and caring God who will not leave or forsake us, who will give us strength to endure and the courage to carry on if we humble ourselves before Him and give ourselves to him.
Yes, perhaps at times, it could and does seem like there is more than we can take or more than we can deal with, but there we have to remember God never gives us more than we can handle if we trust in Him and His promises to us. In those moments of hardship God’s love and mercy, His grace and wisdom, has to be seen rightly for what it is, that which transcends this world and our understanding of it, to strength and preserve the saints from age to age, in all times and in all places.
Ours must be to give ourselves to Christian service to our neighbor and to our fellow man, that all may hear the promises of the Lord and be called to the salvation that He offers. Ours must be to give ourselves to Christian duty, as Christ had before us, seeking to be imitators of him, living that gospel message and preaching it, teaching it throughout the world, in the love, compassion, and understanding that God has first shown unto us. Come whatever may, come whatever must, through God we shall be guided and protected as we do His will, we too shall be bruised reeds that shall never break, finding our vindication as we stand before His throne.
Lord, Grant this unto us all.
Now the peace of the Lord that transcends all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus even unto life everlasting. Amen.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Episode 16: 1/14/09
Readings:
Psalm 12
Isaiah 41:1-16
Ephesians 1:15-23
Mark 1:29-45
Sermon:
Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me; And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified. Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God. And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength. And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth. Thus saith the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the LORD that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee.
The Book of Isaiah 49:1-7
Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.
He just didn’t know…
Promises had been made. For centuries, generation upon generation, the children of Israel waited, their faith placed in a Redeemer God had foretold of even as man was cast from the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:15). The words of the prophets would be littered with references to the advent of this Messiah; stories would be passed down from father to daughter, from mother to son, songs would be sung, and yet so many of them would never hear his voice, or sit at his feet learning from his wisdom.
Yet the images would be drawn, a King of kings, the rod of Jesse, the staff of David, a prophet, a conquering hero of the children of Israel. Now here he was shown in a different light.
Called upon to save the nation of God, it would not just be a promise for the children of Israel but a promise for the Gentile. Redemption would come not just for one people or one nation but for all people, for all nations. In the words of St. Paul, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1:16)
For the Jewish people it perhaps was not the easiest concept for them to understand. After all, they had always had a closed faith. They did not evangelize amongst the gentiles, nor did they seek to convert them. They saw them, and rightly so, as idolaters, not prone to worship at the feet of the Living God, but to bow before the statues of God with the eyes that could not see and ears that could here. To imagine a Messiah who would be called to save not just the children of Jacob but the gentile nations would be a hard one for them to picture.
And yet, from the words of their prophet there would come the image of just that.
It would not be an easy journey or a simple path, yet from the moment of his conception, from the moment of his birth he would be called upon to restore righteousness and bring salvation. Despite the idea that seemed to arise that he would be a King of epic proportions sent to unite the divided kingdoms and to smite the foes of Israel, Isaiah would talk of a prophet sent without military or political victory, sent to free the captive soul.
There is where we find our Savior.
Born in a manager in Bethlehem, the son of a carpenter, the Christ did not come as the child of an earthly king, robed in gold and silk. He did not come as the son of a great general with a sword of steel in his hand and a breastplate upon his chest. He came in meager estate with little pomp, a bed of straw, as animals fed around him.
Yet from this child would come the salvation of nations, the path of restoration for the children of Israel, and a light of redemption for the gentiles. Perhaps his birth and his life would not be as those who waited faithfully for his coming had hoped for, but from him would God’s plan be made perfect. Though there would be those who would persecute him and seek to silence him, through him God’s will would be done for all people in all places, the Lord would, regardless of what the world threw at His Holy One, would be victorious through him who He had sent.
But then we have to remember, sometimes God’s plan doesn’t make sense to us or to the world that we had always pictured, the life we had always dreamed of. Perhaps, in hearing His promises we envisioned something different than that which He had intended. In those times, in those moments, its not hard for us to abandon that which He has given us, believing that He either was not faithful to His word or that this could not be what He had sent for us. But in it all God is present and just because it’s not the way that we had imagined it does not mean that it’s not God’s will working through us and for us.
God is faithful and true to His promises, and though his wisdom might be foolishness to man, it is made perfect in His grace that brings to those with open eyes to a sense of peace in His divine will.
Do not, dear brothers and sisters, close your eyes to God plan just because its not as you had always expected. Look for His presence and His fulfillment in all that is around you in the understanding that He works His will in mysterious ways. Perhaps it doesn’t make sense to you right at that moment, but with time He will reveal all that it is that you need to know. It is only through this knowledge, this discernment that you may not miss the wondrous and miraculous deeds that He does for you and your salvation.
The peace of the Lord that transcends all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus even unto life everlasting. Amen.
Psalm 12
Isaiah 41:1-16
Ephesians 1:15-23
Mark 1:29-45
Sermon:
Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me; And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified. Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God. And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength. And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth. Thus saith the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the LORD that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee.
The Book of Isaiah 49:1-7
Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.
He just didn’t know…
Promises had been made. For centuries, generation upon generation, the children of Israel waited, their faith placed in a Redeemer God had foretold of even as man was cast from the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:15). The words of the prophets would be littered with references to the advent of this Messiah; stories would be passed down from father to daughter, from mother to son, songs would be sung, and yet so many of them would never hear his voice, or sit at his feet learning from his wisdom.
Yet the images would be drawn, a King of kings, the rod of Jesse, the staff of David, a prophet, a conquering hero of the children of Israel. Now here he was shown in a different light.
Called upon to save the nation of God, it would not just be a promise for the children of Israel but a promise for the Gentile. Redemption would come not just for one people or one nation but for all people, for all nations. In the words of St. Paul, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1:16)
For the Jewish people it perhaps was not the easiest concept for them to understand. After all, they had always had a closed faith. They did not evangelize amongst the gentiles, nor did they seek to convert them. They saw them, and rightly so, as idolaters, not prone to worship at the feet of the Living God, but to bow before the statues of God with the eyes that could not see and ears that could here. To imagine a Messiah who would be called to save not just the children of Jacob but the gentile nations would be a hard one for them to picture.
And yet, from the words of their prophet there would come the image of just that.
It would not be an easy journey or a simple path, yet from the moment of his conception, from the moment of his birth he would be called upon to restore righteousness and bring salvation. Despite the idea that seemed to arise that he would be a King of epic proportions sent to unite the divided kingdoms and to smite the foes of Israel, Isaiah would talk of a prophet sent without military or political victory, sent to free the captive soul.
There is where we find our Savior.
Born in a manager in Bethlehem, the son of a carpenter, the Christ did not come as the child of an earthly king, robed in gold and silk. He did not come as the son of a great general with a sword of steel in his hand and a breastplate upon his chest. He came in meager estate with little pomp, a bed of straw, as animals fed around him.
Yet from this child would come the salvation of nations, the path of restoration for the children of Israel, and a light of redemption for the gentiles. Perhaps his birth and his life would not be as those who waited faithfully for his coming had hoped for, but from him would God’s plan be made perfect. Though there would be those who would persecute him and seek to silence him, through him God’s will would be done for all people in all places, the Lord would, regardless of what the world threw at His Holy One, would be victorious through him who He had sent.
But then we have to remember, sometimes God’s plan doesn’t make sense to us or to the world that we had always pictured, the life we had always dreamed of. Perhaps, in hearing His promises we envisioned something different than that which He had intended. In those times, in those moments, its not hard for us to abandon that which He has given us, believing that He either was not faithful to His word or that this could not be what He had sent for us. But in it all God is present and just because it’s not the way that we had imagined it does not mean that it’s not God’s will working through us and for us.
God is faithful and true to His promises, and though his wisdom might be foolishness to man, it is made perfect in His grace that brings to those with open eyes to a sense of peace in His divine will.
Do not, dear brothers and sisters, close your eyes to God plan just because its not as you had always expected. Look for His presence and His fulfillment in all that is around you in the understanding that He works His will in mysterious ways. Perhaps it doesn’t make sense to you right at that moment, but with time He will reveal all that it is that you need to know. It is only through this knowledge, this discernment that you may not miss the wondrous and miraculous deeds that He does for you and your salvation.
The peace of the Lord that transcends all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus even unto life everlasting. Amen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
