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Why I don’t hate “religion”, because it is His One, holy, catholic/christian and apostolic church
English: Baptism of Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
But this is the meaning and substance of this addition: I believe that there is upon earth a little holy group and congregation of pure saints, under one head, even Christ, called together by the Holy Ghost in one faith, one mind, and understanding, with manifold gifts, yet agreeing in love, without sects or schisms. I am also a part and member of the same a sharer and joint owner of all the goods it possesses, brought to it and incorporated into it by the Holy Ghost by having heard and continuing to hear the Word of God, which is the beginning of entering it. (1)
The Large Catechism of Martin Luther.
385 Our Lord says: “A new commandment I give you: that you love one another. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples.” And Saint Paul: “Bear each other’s burdens, and thus you shall fulfill the law of Christ.” I have nothing to add. (2)
I was reading the other day about someone who was making a case for a “personal relationship” with Jesus Christ. A little later a friend sent me a question about the protestant church, and their view of faith being individual, compared to the “one holy catholic and apostolic church”. I thought it through and sent him some thoughts about it, tracing it back past the Enlightenment to Zwingli and his attitudes towards the Lord’s Supper and the miraculous. Putting the two together this morning, plus preparing to head to St Louis for my denominations convention, has me thinking about our faith a lot, and how scriptures expresses it – corporately.
You can’t really come up with a “personal faith” in Christ, nor for that matter a personal relationship with Him. The easiest way to see this is to start with the Trinity. To have a relationship with Jesus, means we have a relationship with the Father, whom Christ brings us to, and with the Holy Spirit, who is sent to us, by the Father and the Son. The Spirit brings us deeper into that relationship with the Father and Son, testifying of Them, showing you Their glory, reminding us of the presence of God in our life, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. That’s why we baptize in Their Name.
If we can accept the relationship with the Trinity, then we have to realize that as They work in our lives as individuals, they are drawing us into a relationship with each other. It is inevitable, it is our very hope, to share in their glory, to know Christ is in us, but that means us. That means we are all enveloped in Him, we are united to Him, and therefore each other. This is why Escriva says he doesn’t have to add anything to what Jesus commissions us to be, what Paul describes and encourages us to be. Religion is nothing more than a way to classify this relationship, to describe the actions that take place because of it, for to be united to Christ results in our fulfilling the law of Chirst.
Which is why, united to Christ from our very baptism, from the very work of the Holy Spirit calling us to faith and repentance, we learn to love each other! It is part of being drawn into the love of Christ for us, for the Father. It isn’t our decision or desire to love, it is part of the very nature of God – the Triune God, who is working in our life. It is part of our spiritual DNA – our heritage as those called into a relationship with God. He makes us One! He causes us to love, to serve, to think of others before we think of ourselves. For that is who He is, and as He unites us to Him, as we look to Him, the Spirit is drawing us to this, forgiving, reconciling, redeeming and causing us to share in this life of Christ.
So go in peace, to love God, and therefore each other.
(1) The Large Catechism of Martin Luther.
(2) Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 973-975). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Related articles
- The Apostolic Mission that is the Church… and overcoming fear… (justifiedandsinner.com)
- We are God’s people….but what does that mean??? (justifiedandsinner.com)
Stirred, not Shaken!
Basic Bond coat of arms with motto translated as The World is Not Enough (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
“Stirred but not Shaken”
Acts 2: 14a ,22-36
† Father, Son, and Holy Spirit †
May you realize the grace of of knowing the Triune God desires and works to know you, and make you perfect, perfect for a relationship
Anybody get the number of that creed?
Even though I dearly love the Athanasian Creed, even though I love how it lays out the relationship of the Trinity, even though I love spending a couple of hours with it, and highly recommend that to you, there is a certain feeling I get, reading it in a worship service.
Two ways to describe it…
The first is, I feel like Wiley E Coyote at the end of every scene in the old Roadrunner cartoons….
The other, I wonder if anyone got the license plate number of the theological 18 wheeler than just hit me. I almost wonder if Anthony of the Desert, who is credited with writing it, and Athanasius, a deacon who presented the creed to a gathering of pastors and bishops – comprehended the depth of the creed’s teaching….
Maybe it overwhelmed them a bit two… as if as they read it, they wondered who was driving the chariot that ran over them….
Even as I love this incredible Creed, as I love how it teaches us about the mystery of the Trinity – the Tri-une God, the Three yet One, I realize it has one shortcoming. It was written to challenge all the false teachings about the Trinity, and about the nature of Christ…it seeks to teach us to know about how the Trinity is, and how Jesus is both fully God and fully man…
But it assumes one thing…. That we know this Trinity, this Triune God.
It does a wonderful job stripping away many, if not most of the false teachings about Jesus… yet leaves us there… needing to get to know Him…
May this day, we rejoice, in not just knowing who God is not, but may we rejoice in knowing our Triune God…..
And as we grow in knowing the Trinity, this God of ours, may we be just the opposite of James Bond’s famous drink – may we be stirred, and know we cannot be shaken.
Stirred
Still a little overwhelmed by the theological semi that ran over my brain, I’m going to do the sermon backward today – and give you the gospel, before the law…
Hear King David’s words again, really hear them….
‘I see that the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me. 26 No wonder my heart is glad, and my tongue shouts his praises! My body rests in hope. 27 For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your Holy One to rot in the grave. 28 You have shown me the way of life, and you will fill me with the joy of your presence.’
The very God we proclaimed that we trusted a moment ago, David said is right before his eyes. As God is here, right in our midst. Here to protect, here to be our shepherd, here to be all that we need as our Father, as our Lord, as our God.
He is here…The Triune God who has been at work in our lives since we were created, is with us. He has called us together, He has brought us here, in order that we can know His love, that we can remember His mercy. The Holy Spirit drew us that we can literally taste and see that the Lord is good.
Walking with Him, on this way, which He has revealed, is what our lives are to be, and are, because of that presence of His. To know He is here, To realize that love which causes Him to cleanse us, to assure us that our souls will not fade into nothingness, even as Christ’s body was not meant to tor in the grave.
Paul explain this, in this way,
12 For when you were baptized, you were buried with Christ, and in baptism you were also raised with Christ through your faith in the active power of God, who raised him from death. 13 You were at one time spiritually dead because of your sins and because you were Gentiles without the Law. But God has now brought you to life with Christ. God forgave us all our sins; 14 he canceled the unfavorable record of our debts with its binding rules and did away with it completely by nailing it to the cross. Colossians 2:12-14 (TEV)
That is what the presence of God in our lives means… it’s the time to rejoice in everything that has opened up to us. It is time for a party, for the feast – for the incredible life that God has given us…. And would live with us.
No wonder David says that His heart dances, it rejoices, (forget this line “glad” GRR) and his tongue SHOUTS his praises – the special shout reserved for the jubilee – that one time in life, everything you are shout!
He is here – He has given us life – He has given us the joy of His presence….
He is right beside me… and I shall not, will not, cannot be shaken…
Not Shaken
That is where the Law comes in, this idea of being “shaken”. Being shaken is like being out in the middle of Lake Galilee with 80 mph winds raising waves much bigger than our fishing boats, or a spiritual earthquake. Those are the words that are used for those traumas, when life is so in turmoil that you cannot determine which way is which – not just east and west or north and south, but forward and back and upside down.
The Trinity’s presence in our lives takes care of that – for it completely changes our point of orientation. It is no longer us that is spinning out of control, even as the world is spinning – and in such a way that people have to realize God is with us.
As we do, as our lives, as our desires, as our dreams ocme into line with His, as we see that our redemption, our deliverance has been the Father’s goal all along, things change.
The law – which is the way in which God orders the universe, which we struggle with, is revealed to be what drives us to Him, looking for hope, looking for something which will cause the storm…
And when we are with God, Triune, majestic, beyond our ability to comprehend, at least during this life, we do find ourselves able to rest in hope, our heart finds that gladness, and we shout His praise, as we realize His desire is to be here – with us, His people.
It’s His plan…no, we are His plan..
It’s His plan, the reading calls it His pre-arranged plan…
Even to the point where Jesus was betrayed, and fixed to a cross, and murdered. As Peter preaches to the very ones who killed him,
That He could, for the people the Father created, pay the price of redemption, and pour out His Holy Spirit, that we would become His Holy and Righteous people…
Yeah – no wonder our hearts are glad…joyous – know His presence, having been shown the way of life – through the death of Christ.
May we indeed know His peace, as we wait, resting in the hope that comes from knowing He is beside us. May such knowledge stir us to love and good deeds, even as we trust, as we know we’ll never be shaken…
AMEN?
You must be a Theophilus (Loved/r of God before being a Theologian
Devotional Thought of the Day:
2 I may have the gift of inspired preaching; I may have all knowledge and understand all secrets; I may have all the faith needed to move mountains—but if I have no love, I am nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:2 (TEV)
7 The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I’m tearing up and throwing out with the trash—along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ. 8 Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant—dog dung. I’ve dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ 9 and be embraced by him. I didn’t want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ—God’s righteousness. Philippians 3:7-9 (MSG)
“You wrote to me: “To pray is to talk with God. But about what?” About what? About him, and yourself: joys, sorrows, successes and failures, great ambitions, daily worries—even your weaknesses! And acts of thanksgiving and petitions—and love and reparation. In short, to get to know him and to get to know yourself— “to get acquainted!”” (1)
For the last year or so, I have been toying with the idea of going back to school, to get a doctoral degree. I’ve thought about which degree to get, for there are a number of fields that interest me – from worship, to sociology, to counseling, to homiletics and other pragmatic areas of ministry. Yesterday I went back to where it all started, 30 years ago this fall, as I entered a “non-denom” Bible College – in a very accidental “God-thing” type moment.
Combine with that preparing to preach this weekend – “Trinity Sunday” we call it, a day to meditate upon how God has revealed Himself to us, as three distinct, yet …..One. One of the greatest, most complicated theological doctrines there is, and yet, still so far out of ability to comprehend. ( Read the Athanasian Creed – an incredibly beautiful explanation of God, yet each phrase, raises more questions, leaves us more in awe. And for a theologian, albeit an amateur one, (as all pastors are – as serving others takes precedence…always… over such deep thoguhts) I love to just sit back and plumb the depths of the minds who wrote far more comprehensively than I can think.
But then I come to St. Paul – a man who was a first rate theologian in his day, prior to His conversion, who wrote the quotes above. It doesn’t matter how much I know, I’ve got to realize I am loved, I have to understand why Paul so desired to be embraced by Christ, why everything else took a back seat to knowing, not the details.
Which is where Theophilus – the person Luke writes his gospel for comes in. The name in Greek is Loved by God/Lover of God. But it is that relationship that matters, that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit have revealed that we are the beloved, that we never walk alone, that we have been cleansed and healed and are loved. It is starting from there, realizing the miracles our being justified and sanctified are only to deliver us, the children of the Father, the ones Jesus calls His friends, the ones who are the Home of the Holy Spirit. We must be Theophilus, before we ever become Theologians..
English: Gergeti Trinity Church cross relief (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I would never say to not study theology, but first, come to know God, as St Josemaria says – get acquainted with Him in prayer. Talk to Him – about everything and anything. Listen to Him, hear Him tell you of His love, of His mercy, of His grace. That is what matters, in a way, it is ALL that matters….. for knowledge even all the data we can generate about Trinity – without that love… is nothing….empty…worthless.
I pray for you (and ask you to pray for me, as the apostle Paul did for the people of Ephesus…
14 For this reason I fall on my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth receives its true name. 16 I ask God from the wealth of his glory to give you power through his Spirit to be strong in your inner selves, 17 and I pray that Christ will make his home in your hearts through faith. I pray that you may have your roots and foundation in love, 18 so that you, together with all God’s people, may have the power to understand how broad and long, how high and deep, is Christ’s love. 19 Yes, may you come to know his love—although it can never be fully known—and so be completely filled with the very nature of God. Ephesians 3:14-19 (TEV)
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 365-368). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
In Christ, One with the Father!
English: Baptism of Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In Christ, One With the Father
John 17:20-26
† Jesus, Son and Savior †
As we are drawn into the life of Christ, as we come to realize the depth of His love and mercy and the peace which goes beyond all comprehension, may we find that we the world knows of God’s love, because they see the evidence of it, in us.
Listening in on a Overwhelming Conversation
Two things we learn
You are walking down the hallway, and overhead your name mentioned, before you respond, you realize you aren’t being called – but rather you are the topic of conversation.
Or you are asked to go look at something on someone’s computer, and rather than what you expected, you realize that they left up an email, where you are the topic of conversation.
Do you keep listening? Do you silently tiptoe up to the doorway, pressing your back against it so you can hear even better? Do you walk away? Do you cough or somehow make it known you are there? How do deal with the embarrassment if you are caught listening, or reading? Which is harder – if the conversation was really critical, or if the conversation was one discussing something very special, even unbelievable that would be done for you?
I feel a little like that – as we read the gospel of John today. This incredible conversation between Jesus and the Father. This intimate look at their relationship – their interdependence, their inter-existence, that goes beyond explanation. We are talking about the mystery of the Trinity.
Even as that is a mystery beyond comprehension, this prayer of Jesus takes it one step farther, one step even more… challenging to believe….
The conversation is about… us. About bringing us into Their sacred relationship, about bringing us into their life, about sharing with us, their glory!
Jesus is praying and that we would belong in that relationship as amazing as that seems, Together with people from every time in history and every tongue and every people, we are in Christ –and are one… ever as Jesus and the Father are one.
Even when we struggle to realize it, it is known by the world, through our words, our thoughts, and deeds,
We are to be One, in Christ, in the Father
As I struggled to write this sermon, I was more and more aware of the necessity that we get what Jesus is praying for – even if we can’t comprehend how it happens, or what it all means. As Vicar Mark and Deacon Mike talked about it on Monday night – we were stymied.
How do you explain verse 21? What can illustrate it? That Jesus prayed that we may be one – that seems easy, until you understand how “one”.
Hear it again..21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us,
This isn’t unity in the sense that fans of the patriots are sure that we will trounce the Jets. Or unity is mission – which is critical for a church to be who God calls us to be, for us all to be pushing on the same side of the box.
It is far deeper than just unity in purpose – it’s more intimate, more awe-inspiring this unity in substance that is so indescribable – yet so holy, so precious, so overwhelming! It would be overwhelming if it was “just” the Father being in Jesus, Yet this relationship is reflexive – as the Father is in Jesus, as Jesus Is in the Father. They are – indistinguishable in character, in purpose, in existence, in being.
They are One… (remember to pause)
In Jesus – we are joined “in” Them. Not just to them, but in Them. What a glorious, incredible, beyond our ability to imagine, concept. Jesus says that “they also may be in us.” Slight clarification there, because of the English – it sounds like that hasn’t happened yet, but the verb tense there means a continuing state that starts in the past and is still active now.. and for the unforeseeable future.
In this case we are in the Father and the Son…for eternity. (pause)
As Paul says in the Acts of the Apostles, “In Him we have life, and we move and we exist.
Or as Jesus says in Colossians,
12 For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. Colossians 2:12 (NLT)
You are in Jesus – united with Him in baptism – and therefore as He is in the Father, and the Father is in Him… you are there!
That this is seen by the world, that they may believe
While I might not like accidentally overhearing or reading the critical conversation about me; I think it is far more embarrassing and awkward when people are praising you, or when they are planning to shock you with something, and you happen in on the conversation.
I don’t think I am alone in this, because I think most of us understand we aren’t perfect, and when people praise us, we also realize there are things that they could criticize or even crucify us for, if they only knew.
Most of us don’t realize when we are living in Christ, because it is just that – it is living – it clicks, it works and we find ourselves content. We find great dissonance though and discontent when we are not in that peace, when we are struggling in our unity with Christ and with each other.
While we may not see it – the world does. I am more and more convinced that the church, when it remembers its place is in Christ, in the Father, the more natural it grows – as the world knows why Jesus came – and comes to trust in it as much as we do.
That’s what being drawn into Christ does – that is what being baptized into Christ has done, it was what finding yourself strengthened as you eat the Body of Jesus and drink His Blood does. The Holy Spirit, through word and sacrament transforms us, it causes us to remember Him, that He dwells here – it unites us all, together in Him, in the Father.
The world will notice this, it notices the love, the caring, the peace.
They won’t notice our call for them to follow our moral code, or even our views on science, or on history, or on the nature of man. They may not notice our excellent music, or our preaching, or the beauty of the stained glass and what each symbol means.
They will notice the unity in substance, our unity in love, the will notice the Christ in which we live.. and the peace that passes all comprehension.
For Paul says it clearly –
27 God’s plan is to make known his secret to his people, this rich and glorious secret which he has for all peoples. And the secret is that Christ is in you, which means that you will share in the glory of God. Colossians 1:27 (TEV)
They will notice as we see revealed the glory of the Father shared with the Son, into which we’ve been drawn as we share in The Trinity’s love, and for they will seethe change it makes in us, and give him glory.
AMEN?
The Sacramental Life, one of Transformation
Devotional Thought of the Day:
1 Jesus again used parables in talking to the people. 2 “The Kingdom of heaven is like this. Once there was a king who prepared a wedding feast for his son. 3 He sent his servants to tell the invited guests to come to the feast, but they did not want to come. 4 So he sent other servants with this message for the guests: ‘My feast is ready now; my steers and prize calves have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast!’ 5 But the invited guests paid no attention and went about their business: one went to his farm, another to his store, 6 while others grabbed the servants, beat them, and killed them. 7 The king was very angry; so he sent his soldiers, who killed those murderers and burned down their city. 8 Then he called his servants and said to them, ‘My wedding feast is ready, but the people I invited did not deserve it. 9 Now go to the main streets and invite to the feast as many people as you find.’ 10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, good and bad alike; and the wedding hall was filled with people. 11 “The king went in to look at the guests and saw a man who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ the king asked him. But the man said nothing. 13 Then the king told the servants, ‘Tie him up hand and foot, and throw him outside in the dark. There he will cry and gnash his teeth.’ ” 14 And Jesus concluded, “Many are invited, but few are chosen.” Matthew 22:1-14 (TEV)
In a radically converted, evangelically Catholic life, the love of Christ has transformed the disciple and brought him or her into an earthly experience of the love shared by the Holy Trinity— an experience of atonement, of being “at one” with God, made possible by the Paschal Mystery and the gift of the Holy Spirit. 29 That experience changes everything. It is the driving force behind the deep reform of the Church. (1)
In just a week, we come to Maunday Thursday, the day in which the church remembers the Last Supper, (even though some of us do every week, and some have the opportunity and blessing to do so daily.)
As a child, the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharistic Feast was what I loved the most about church, and it didn’t matter which parish I was at. St Joseph’s, which was our home parish, a more modern stone facility, or the dark and damp St Francis, where I went to school. Or the Maronite church, or the Christian Formation Center – each place, each priest that celebrated it, whether the people communed at an all altar rail, or simply processing toward the priest and then returning to their seats, this was the highlight of the mass.
Now as a Lutheran Pastor – it still is. My sermons, my homilies, are hopefully something that strengthens the trust that people have in God, and the reading of God’s word is promised never to be without return – without a gain. But there is something incredible, as I see people receive the Body and Blood of Christ. There are bodies that visibly sigh, and relax, as burdens are taken, and peace descends upon them. There are others, who realizing the great love of God, are moved to tears. There are those who struggle with sin, that… struggle and squirm a little there, for they know, even if only intuitively, that they have hurt and pained the heart of God – who so desires them to come to repentance…to the transformation that is theirs, because Jesus was crucified for them.
The Body and Blood of Christ, given and shed for YOU. O how I love to point that out! O that all people would realize the depth of God’s love, the love in which we abide.
It is what comforts our soul, this love beyond measure, it is that love – that as Wiegel says above – transforms us, and bring us into the love that exists within the Trinity itself. As we dance and celebrate with great joy the fellowship, the communion, the love of God that changes us.
3rd quarter of 16th century (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
And it not only transforms us, it will transform the church, our parishes our families. It assures the sinner of forgiveness, of love – of a welcome home.
May we be like the bad and good on the street – who once we are invited, come in to the feast…. the incredible feast….
and realize,,,
The Lord is with us!
Weigel, George (2013-02-05). Evangelical Catholicism (p. 48). Basic Books. Kindle Edition.
Related articles
- The Body of Christ, united in Love…. that which remains! (justifiedandsinner.com)
- Evangelical Catholicism – an interesting read.. (justifiedandsinner.com)
- Revealing rather Lecturing: Evangelical Catholicism II (justifiedandsinner.com)
Familiarity Breeds ….. Awe!
As always – feel free to comment/discuss:
There is an old saying – which cam to mind while discussing yesterday’s devotion on the Trinity. A good friend of mine indicated that he feared reducing his faith to that of the country/gospel songs where Jesus is described as a friend/pal – almost as if he will raise a mug of Coors or Bud with us. ( blech) . I get that, there is a point where we can make God our ole bud and then take him for granted. (as we sometimes do with our best friends)
It’s what the old phrase “familiarity breeds contempt” so aptly describes. THe idea that the longer we spend with someone, or with something, the more we take it for granted.
We have to admit – most of us take God for granted, and treat Him contemptuously from time to time. 🙁
I wonder though, is our taking Him for granted just based in our being too close? That we only take Him for granted when we think of Him as friend as a familiar part of our lives? Or do we take Him for granted when we think we related to Him as the Creator, and we are just a speck of the Creation? I would suggest its both.
So let’s look again at a familiar passage..
15:11 “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My commandment is this: love one another, just as I love you. 13 The greatest love you can have for your friends is to give your life for them. 14 And you are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 I do not call you servants any longer, because servants do not know what their master is doing. Instead, I call you friends, because I have told you everything I heard from my Father. 16 You did not choose me; I chose you and appointed you to go and bear much fruit, the kind of fruit that endures. And so the Father will give you whatever you ask of him in my name. 17 This, then, is what I command you: love one another.
John 15:11-17 (TEV)
It is in realizing that Jesus, Lord of Lords, King of Kings shares with us what the Father entrusted Him with, that we are no co-heirs of Christ, adopted children of God. That level of familiarity, that yes, does include the entire Trinity, that is amazing! A common sinner like me (and yes you as well) welcome into the presence of God, not as a servant/slave, as one indebted (yet we owed a great debt) but as family, is too me something I desire not to take for granted, not to treat contemptuously, and yes, it hurts and sickens me when I realize that I have. How it should crush us, for a moment, as we realize that we have forgotten the Holy Spirit, who abides with us, the incredible gift of our baptism.
We are His people,….I am His own. He has called us by name – His name….
He became common – that He could be with us… that we would share in His glory, as we abide in Him, and He abides in us…
May this familiarity continue to breed such awe..that my life responds in worship and praise!
Post 100! A Challenge..rejoice in trials
Devotional thought of the day:
Wow, it’s post 100, averaging some 20 hits, plus those 40 that are subscribed by email. Every continent has seen my blog – including countries that are amazing to me. Some blogs have gotten a ton of hits – the most about my death 20 years ago, some have have only received 3 or 4. I guess, as I look back – some were good (praise God for those) and some…well sucked. (Blame me.) What to talk about on #100? The following quote stuck out in some reading yesterday.
“To follow Christ—that is the secret. We must accompany him so closely that we come to live with him, like the first Twelve did; so closely that we become identified with him…. But do not forget that being with Jesus means we shall most certainly come upon his cross. When we abandon ourselves into God’s hands, he frequently permits us to taste sorrow, loneliness, opposition, slander, defamation, ridicule, coming both from within and from outside. This is because he wants to mold us into his own image and likeness. He even tolerates that we be called lunatics and be taken for fools.” de Prada, Andres Vazquez (2011-04-18). The Founder of Opus Dei: Volume III, The Divine Ways on Earth (The Life of Josemaria Escriva) (Kindle Locations 7632-7638). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
There are days I wish that our Lord wouldn’t permit so many trials in the lives of the people I pastor (whether they are part of my congregation or those…that would be..yet…) TO be honest, it can get very tiring to watch, to spend time in prayer for, to try and stand by their side, (when they let me know they are going through it.) While our confidence is in God, it is in such times that such confidence is shaky, not in God, but in us. Yet the closer we are to Him, the more dependent it seems the more burdens we have to endure, the more challenges we come across…..
As I serve and observe people going through such times, as my heart breaks for them, I have found something out. Theologically speaking, this becomes a “first commandment issue”. Can we let God be God? Can we give to our Father the recognition that He does reign over us, but to accept that in His reigning, it is His responsibility to make these things a blessing, something good for us, even as we do not see it? Can we say, not my will, but thine, realizing that it means we are not just ceding what we are going through, but as well – ceding complete control over how it works out?
That is what Jesus had to do at the cross – ultimately – in His humanity He had to entrust Himself to the Father, and know that it was the Father’s plan to do something wonderful.
In trusting the Father, in the midst of trials, in hearing the Holy Spirit’s comforting voice, in realizing we have been united with Christ’s death and resurrection, the outcome of the trial is one thing we don’t have to concern ourselves with.
And trusting in the Father, knowing His promises, we can dwell in His joy and in His peace…
Knowing that He has promised us life, we can cry, “Lord have mercy!”… and rest in the sure knowledge of His love.
His Plan His Desire take II
His Plan, His Desire, His People, “in Christ”!
Ephesians 1:3-14
† In Jesus Name †
May our lives bless our Father in Heaven, as it is revealed to us that He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing! AMEN!
Too personal? Yeah… so what
It is one of those things that is hard to explain, but every time I preach on this epistle passage, I overlook the obvious connection I have to it. Perhaps it is because it is too personal, to talk about what it means to be adopted, or I find a way to gloss over it. Make the connection, and move on.
The emotional overload that comes, when discussing the challenges that face an adopted kid are immense – there are incredible joys, and yet incredible questions, In my case, having met my birth mom 6 years ago this week – there is knowing the incredible love of two mothers, both of whom were intimately involved in making me, you pastor. I am truly blessed, but even more so when I realize how different, more incredible God’s adoption of all us is…
Preaching on God adopting us is somewhat challenging then, as describing God making us His children opens levels of stuff I am not used to letting people see. So, I usually don’t. I come up with other ways to explain it, but a quick online comment of my high school coach made me change this sermon this morning….
But it is important to grasp the intimacy, the intentionality in God’s choice, in God wanting to make us His children, and in paying the price to process it – the price of Christ’s blood. For if we understand God’s choice,
So be aware, this sermon may be a little rougher than usual, as I re-wrote the sermon this morning, knowing I had to bring it up this way….
For we need to grasp what it means for God to choose us, to bring us into the Family that is the Trinity, to grasp this incredible blessing
Chose us in Him
On April 1st, 1965, when Thomas and Marie Parker went to Catholic Charities in Lawrence, Massachusetts, they weren’t sure what they were getting themselves into. They had been waiting to adopt a girl, but they had been called a few days before. The couple originally slated to get me had panicked, or maybe had a vision, and bailed on the process. Some have said that April 1st date was very appropriate…
My folks came and got me, adopted me as their own, and would eventually get the daughter a few years later. I used to joke with my friends that while their parents were stuck with them, mine chose me. But they didn’t choose me, they chose to adopt, if they had only known what they were getting themselves into…
God’s a bit different. He knows all about us, every moment of our lives… and chooses to adopt us. Paul tells us that the Father has “chose us in him before the foundation of the world.”
It is in choosing us, that we find every spiritual blessing coming upon us, it is there that that we realize that we aren’t just after thoughts in God’s plan, but indeed the focus of His will, and His desire. From before the foundation of the earth, He has chosen mankind to have a special relationship with Him, and demonstrated that choice by placing us in Christ.
There, we find out what He has chosen us for, to be His children, adopted because of Jesus Christ, for it is in Christ that we are found to be holy and blameless, set apart for something special, with nothing able to mar or change that choice. To share in the life and love of God, in what sounds amazing – to become part of that relationship that exists between the Father and the Son and the Spirit. To share in such a relationship, as one of my friends has described it in a song – to join in the Trinity’s dance.
This indeed Paul tells us is no accident, it was a choice made from before the foundation of the world. It is the very purpose of His will – or as another translation explains it – it is the plan to achieve God’s greatest desire. Peter phrases it this way,
3:9 The Lord is not being slow in carrying out his promises, as some people think he is; rather is he being patient with you, wanting nobody to be lost and everybody to be brought to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9 (NJB)
The Lord’s choice, to choose you in Him, in Christ…knowing everything about you…
Riches of His gift, lavished upon us
When my parents adopted me, there was little idea of the costs, financial, emotional, the nights sitting with me in the hospital over the years, the shock of finding out I have Marfans and the complications it brings.. the challenges they faced because of the odd person I am, but they didn’t know the cost. That is where God the Father adopting us is so radically different. He did know the cost… the cost of adopting us, of making us holy and blameless was very high. Paul writes in verse 7.
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight
In Christ’s death, we have been paid for, our lives purchased at the price of His sacrifice on the cross. He did this that because of the great grace, the gift which he lavishes upon us, why? Even more incredibly, Hebrews tells us it was for joy that Christ embraced that payment – as He, loving each of us, embraced that cross.
Paul calls this the making known of the mystery of His will, this incredible grace lavished upon us, as God picks us up in our brokenness, and instead of throwing us away, carefully repairs and heals us, bringing us into Himself, that we might be one with Him. Imagine everything perfect, in His presence, a place where doors don’t creak and neither do our bodies, where our relationships are finally the way they should be, including our relationship with our Father, where we finally let God be God, and we rejoice in knowing we are His children, His people, His chosen people.
This is our lot for all eternity, that which God has planned for us! It is the life God has given to us, this great mystery of why He would choose us to be His children, that even as He makes this true now, we struggle to realize it, for we struggle to realize we are in Christ, we are in the Beloved son of God, and therefore share in the Father’s love.
How we got there?
We are the children of the king – waiting for that moment when we reach full maturity, when we share in His kingdom. It is true now, and yet like a child waiting to reach the age of inheritance, we struggle with it. Indeed, we need to be reminded of it often, and how and when this incredible thing happened.
Paul explains it in verse 13
13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
It’s the same story throughout scripture – the way we become His children, according to His plan is when we hear the truth – the truth of His love for us, that is this gospel, this good news.
It is the message of His love that causes us to trust in Him, to believe in Him, to realize that our very lives are in His hands, and that this is a good thing!
That when we were baptized, God marked us, He sealed us as His children, the sign of the cross is what we were marked with, that even as we share in Christ’ death, we too share in His resurrection, for we live in Him.
That has been His plan all along, a plan we have only begun to realize. We are still children, waiting for our inheritance to become ours. Waiting to reach the maturity of Christ, when we visibly know we are in His kingdom.
Until that day, we have a guarantee, a down payment if you will. Something incredibly wonderful, something beyond our comprehension! The presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, what Peter describes as the gift of God’s Spirit, which Paul will also describe as our being the temple – the living place of the Spirit of God, the one called the Comforter, the Lord and Giver of life…
Here, in us, even as we dwell in Him….even as we are, right now, His children. His heirs, as we live in the Beloved. Chosen by Him, chosen to be in Him, adopted as His. With all the knowledge of who we are, what we’ve done…..
He made us His.
So knowing this we can rejoice as Paul does and declare, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places… for we live in Christ. AMEN?
Connected…
Discussion/Devotional Quote of the day:
In the introduction to a book of Josemarie Escriva’s sermons, I read this,
When we cry ‘Abba! Father!’ it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Rom 8: 14–17). This text speaks to us about the Blessed Trinity, which is another frequent theme in these homilies. It also reminds us that Jesus Christ is the way leading to the Father through the Holy Spirit. He is our brother, our friend—the Friend—our master and lord and king. The Christian life, then, means being continuously in touch with Christ in the context of our ordinary life, without abandoning our rightful place. How does this contact take place? Monsignor Escrivá explains very concisely: “In the bread and in the word.”
Escriva, Josemaria. Christ is Passing By
I was recently told that the only hope for the church was to be found in a “annointed man’s” understanding of the book of Revelation and the end times passages of Matthew.
I don’t think so, for Paul declined talking of such things in detail – saying it wouldn’t be of benefit to the church. What matters – that we understand His grace is all we need. (funny coincidence that I just preached on that!) That we, because of Christ, and through the Holy Spirit can cry out Abba, Father! That is where our hope lies! Not in someone’s speculation – but instead in a intimate dance with the Trinity, as they pull us into their relationship…
That comes, as the introduction tells me this priest points out – as we hear God’s logos, His word, His reason, His plan.. as we see that plan re-revealed as we come again to the feast which is a foretaste to come, as we commune with our Lord, as He communes with us. This is not just some simple ritual, this gathering of people who walk with God, it is an intimate encounter with God, the I AM – and because He is, as we commune with Him, we find out that we are…. His. It’s where we enjoy the dance, where we are reminded of the depth, height, width, and breadth of God’s love, of that fact that His peace is so incredible, that we can rest in His presence, rejoicing that we are welcome there…
God’s Revelation, the Apocalypse, the Unveiling (they are all translations of the same word) is not about the calendar – its about the relationship, the assurance that God is with us, that He is always HERE. If we can learn that… if we can hold on to that… we won’t have to change the church… we will realize that we are being changed… as we walk in Christ.
That is the reason we have hope… when we realize…
The Lord has had Mercy… on us..
