It’s a complicated word for English-speakers, in that we use it to describe a building, an event (Sunday worship), a local group of believers, and the wider body of Christ. We often say things like “Where do you go to church?” and thereby treat the church not as a community or family, but as a place we go one day a week for a spiritual experience.

And because we have become so accustomed to this individualistic approach to church, if we aren’t happy in one church we decide we can just start going somewhere else.

In this consumer culture, being a part of a particular church can become more about signaling where you stand on certain hot-button theological issues than about being a part of a family that worships God, and works for his kingdom.

Paul’s metaphor for the church is “the body of Christ”. It’s a really beautiful way of putting it because it shows that we can’t ‘do the Christian thing’ on our own. Taking that one step further, it shows that the church can’t work as it’s designed to without the diversity of parts. Each part is needed! And most importantly, it shows that the church is indeed supposed to work- it is designed to do something!

As Wright says, “God intends to put the world to rights; he has dramatically launched this project through Jesus. Those who belong to Jesus are called, here and now, in the power of the Spirit, to be agents of that putting to rights purpose.”

Of course, as Wright puts it “The messengers must model the message”. With the resurrection of Christ, God has started a new creation and it is our job to “wake up” and start living like it!

It is one thing to believe with your mind, to acknowledge a list of statements as true and valid. It’s a whole other thing to believe with your entire being, to accept what God has done and respond genuinely to his love. The latter is the type of faith needed to play a part in the mission of the church.

Wright closes this chapter with a discussion on baptism, our entrance into the community of faith. Jesus himself was baptized and in doing so he pointed to God’s great saving acts in the history of Israel and identified himself as part of that story. For us now, all the meaning wrapped up in baptism is realigned with Jesus’ death and resurrection. Wright cites Paul’s teaching that in baptism we die with Christ and then share in his resurrection. We are now a part of that same story. The question is - Are we contributing to that story? Are we playing our part?

These are tough questions because they force us to face all the ways in which our “doing the church thing” is not really about our God-given mission at all. In what ways do we need to change how we go about being the church?

And if reading about death and sex and greed isn’t enough, there’s a chance the language they hear from Bible reading or by well-meaning Sunday school teachers gets a strange interpretation by their still literal minds.

Last spring, while reading a science textbook with my 7-year-old about the circulatory system she nearly gave up her faith.

“See Mom, I knew it,” she said. “There is no way God can live in your heart. It’s just not possible. And if He does, that’s just gross.”

Hmmm….

I’ve spent some number of years at different points in my life being trapped by what Wright calls “the polarization between ‘literal’ and ‘metaphorical’ interpretation” of scripture.

I agree with Wright. This is a confused way to live. It’s not that simple. It’s not that difficult.

Perhaps the biggest help to me in understanding Christian scripture as a complicated, beautiful narrative instead of rule book written just for me has been that wonderful children’s Bible, “The Jesus Storybook Bible.”

Reading through that Bible with my girls I am always touched by the narrative that points to God’s rescue plan. God, it says, is making the sad things come untrue.

The story begins in the garden, ends in a new kingdom and in the middle is us, trying to live out our vocations in big and small ways that point to the story of God’s reconciling work in God’s world.

And this is what Wright tells us.

“Listening to God’s voice in scripture doesn’t put us in the position of having infallible opinions. It puts us where it put Jesus himself: in possession of a vocation, whether for a lifetime or for the next minute…..But the performance isn’t just about our own private pilgrimages. It’s about becoming agents of God’s new world—workers for justice, explorers of spirituality, makers and menders of relationships, creators of beauty.”

It seems to me this is what is so right about the way our tradition reads scripture. I am a baby Episcopalian. I was an adult before I realized that Christians around the world read the same scriptures on the same days. I was an adult before I realized that reading scripture necessarily comes before celebrating the Eucharist.

The Eucharist reminds us that Scripture does not exist for us alone, but rather binds us together in imagining what God is up to in the world. We read from the Hebrew Bible, the Epistles, the Gospels and the Psalms as a way to prepare ourselves for the ultimate reminder of God’s intent to make the sad things come untrue by gathering us around God’s table in reconciliation. When we gather together at the Table, we are most fully reminded what God’s rescue plan is.

At the table, we become characters in God’s story. This is what Wright is saying—that when we best interpret scripture, we know ourselves as part of that story. And so we shape our gathering at the table by reading the story, so that when we leave the table to go out into our vocations, we are reminded that we are agents in God’s new world where the sad things are untrue.

That's the background I bring to this week's reading, the discussion on the Bible as God's inspired word, the work of God through and with men. Wright opens the chapter with a vision of the Bible as action-adventure groovy storybook: some of the best narratives out there, with flair & thrills in every chapter. Poetry beyond all poetry. Just the kind of thing I would ordinarily find compelling! And then he goes on to talk about how it has all of these great features that most of us never really use. That the Bible is and should be used as a guidebook to life, to helping to create a better place, not "simply to find [our] own way unscathed through the old creation." A guidebook!

My husband and I took our honeymoon to Thailand, a sort of fly-by-night adventure largely unplanned. We went to Bookstar and browsed piles of available books on Thailand before settling on the Frommer's book, written by someone named Jennifer. We took to calling her Jen & talking about consulting with Jen before we set out on daily excursions or decided what town to visit next. Jen was a huge resource and we only felt let down by her twice in 24 days, once on a restaurant recommendation and once when a guest house had apparently closed since the publication of the book.

So, if we could have such a successful experience guided by another human, an imperfect person, and a stranger, why am I so reluctant to let God's inspiration be the inspiration for my own life? I work in the non-profit world and have since I started working. Presumably my day to day life is a clear contribution to making "God's new creation happen in his old world" and presumably I want to do that in the way most in line with God's vision for that new creation. Maybe it's time for me to clear off part of my side table and put that Bible back on it. Time to stop looking at it with dread like "oh, should probably prop up my moral training a bit" and start looking at it with enthusiasm, more along the lines of "How can I manifest God's vision and help bring on his new creation today?"

So it is with prayer.

Why then, as a Christian who wants to be a part of God’s kingdom-movement, who does find myself, in Wright’s words “drawn into his heaven-on-earth way of living” - why do I often have such a hard time getting on with it? This chapter helped me begin to work through some answers to this question.

Wright says, “Christian prayer is at its most characteristic when we find ourselves caught up in the overlap of the ages, part of the creation that aches for new birth.”

Yes! I ache!

It’s like at the end of a complicated day at work. I come home and my husband says, “How was your day?”

I respond, “Too much to get into.”

In other words, “It was such a mess I’m not even sure where to start.” I find myself often approaching prayer the same way. “God, things are such a mess I don’t even know where to start.”

But then Wright reminds us that what makes Christian prayer different is that “God himself, by the Spirit, dwells in our hearts as we resonate with the pain of the world.” That God has launched this rescue mission through Jesus “precisely because all is not well.” Therefore, I need not be discouraged or paralyzed by the mess of it all. I am invited to join in the groaning of creation.

The invitation of our Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer is to stand at the line where the life of heaven and earth overlap. To join in bringing God’s kingdom “on earth, as it is in heaven.” Sometimes we will stand and celebrate. Sometimes we will be thankful, sometimes needy. Often we will groan (I do this a lot). But, as with worship, we must begin by accepting the invitation to join in.

The section on the Shema was encouraging, because I am one who needs much help when it comes to prayer and I find solace in many of the ancient prayers, both in the prayer book and throughout scripture. I appreciated Wright’s focus on this ancient Jewish Prayer from Deuteronomy 6: “Hear, O Isreal; YHWH our God, YHWH is one; and you shall love YHWH your God with all your heart.”

Both the Shema and the Jesus Prayer have been particularly formative in my spiritual journey. As Wright points out, the Shema may not even sound like a prayer to some, more like a statement with a command attached. Yet as it declares who YHWH is and what he requires of his people, it is indeed an act of worship and commitment. Maybe most importantly, it turns the focus from my groaning, my needs and my fears, toward what God has done and is doing. The Shema is a reminder that God is both creator and redeemer, who made the good creation and is making it good again. And we are invited, “not only to watch, but to join in the song.” To image our creator in the world through both worship and prayer.

This week, I pray I’ll do a better job of getting on with it. Join me?

I’m really grateful for Wright’s chapter on worship.

I’ve developed a fairly complicated relationship with worship over the years (perhaps we all have, in our own ways). I will confess that I get easily frustrated (and cynical, no doubt) by the trends and marketing around the “worship movement” in music. There are good things about it, I know. But when the concept of worship becomes a 3 minute pop song on the radio, there’s some serious rub. I have seen it commercialized, homogenized, and emotionally manipulated. So… Wright’s thoughts are very helpful as I wade through years of baggage with this cultural beast that is modern worship. And I know not to throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater!

“God’s sphere and ours are not far apart, and at certain times and moments they interlock.”

When I can join in the ongoing worship of God, I am joining in the coming of God’s Kingdom here and now. I love that Wright ties these two ideas together- when we break bread and proclaim the life and death of Jesus, we are simultaneously worshipping God, and we become a conduit for the Kingdom coming.

“You become like what you worship.”

I find it helpful to reflect on some of the things that I tend to idolize- that is, to put in a place that only God is worthy of. My reputation, my finances, my sense of control, even at times my family. Wright reminds us that idolatry cheapens us and makes us “less human”, whereas true worship makes us more fully alive. We all know full well the difference between feeling cheap, and feeling fully alive.

I have one other thought on worship that is not necessarily Wright-approved. Many weekends I travel and cannot make it to church. I need whatever will put my heart back in a posture of awe- aware of my humanity, and God’s unending worthiness and glory. This might look like a time of reflection in the natural world- a hike along a quiet river, the grandeur of a mountain scene, overwhelmed by a sense of God’s creation and pursuing love for me. I am also starting to see missions and action/service as a form of worship. I want to respond to God’s love by serving others, giving myself away, echoing the love I have been given to those around me. It’s not the orthodox worship that Wright lays out for us, but still a formative expression and response to what God has first done. Maybe a point of discussion… does worship have boundaries? Is it a slippery slope to look at worship scenarios outside of a church environment?

For me, the Triune God is like (yet so much more complex than) one of those TV infomercials. We’ve all seen them—the ones for the knives that cut through cans, or the face cream that erases wrinkles or the sham-wow. You think you’re getting a pretty good deal and then the voice on the TV says, “But, wait, that’s not all.…”

First, as the Father God, he created us. Next He offers us salvation and redemption through the Son, Jesus Christ. But wait, that is not all! He then provides us with the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to live in relationship with Him and each other as His heirs. (Galatians 4:4-7)

It is this indwelling of the Spirit within our lives that then equips us “to reflect the image of God into the world” (140). And it is in our projection and reflection of God that we are able to provide the overlap that Wright references—“the overlap, between heaven and earth” (132). But, I’m probably getting ahead of myself.

Wright starts out chapter ten with insight into the Spirit’s work in our lives. The Spirit calls us to holiness (131) and to fulfill the Law (131). And it is in living this way that we are able to be “points of intersection...between heaven and earth” (132). In fact, “what ought to be normal Christianity is actually all about finding out how to sustain this kind of life and even grow in it” (132). What a relief! I don’t have to manufacture or even buoy my faith on my own! God has provided us with His Spirit as our comforter and refresher.

But wait, that is not all....

The Sprit’s power is evident and accessible in “the word” and wisdom. “The word” is probably my favorite component—I just love the simplicity of how it operates. Wright explains that,

When you announce the good news that the risen Jesus is Lord, that very word is the word of God, a carrier or agent of God’s Spirit, a means by which, as Isaiah had predicted, new life from God’s dimension comes to bring new creation within ours (Isaiah 40:8; 55:10-13) (134).

Our responsibility is merely to speak the truth of God’s existence and the power of the Holy Spirit is present. I just think that is too cool! And wisdom. God knew we would need His wisdom “in order to live a fully, genuinely human life” (135). Therefore he made it available to us through his Spirit. “The implication is clear: that the story of the church, led and energized by the power of the Spirit, is the story of Jesus continuing to do and to teach—through his Spirit-led people” (135).

After explaining what the Spirit wants for our lives and how it empowers us, Wright details how the Spirit can provide us with the answers we seek—answers about beauty, relationship, spirituality and justice.

Specific to Christian spirituality, he writes that it “combines a sense of the awe and majesty of God with a sense of his intimate presence” (137). And our spirituality “normally involves a measure of suffering” (137). The first concept is great, but I honestly have to say that the second part is less appealing. Nonetheless, the suffering part makes sense. As Christ’s believers we are called to follow “rules of the new world rather than the old one, and the old one won’t like it” (137). But, we should take heart because “it is precisely when we are suffering that we can most confidently expect the Spirit to be with us” (138).

So as Wright closes chapter ten, we’re once again staring into the Son and His many facets. Collectively this Trinity is the “one who satisfies” (138). From the beginning God has desired to live in relationship with us, and it is within the Father, Son and Holy Spirit that we have an example of how to live with Him and each other. “One way of understanding the Spirit is to see the Spirit as the personal love which the Father has for the Son and the Son for the Father” (139). Wright has just given the “How” of the Christian life and then he provides us in conclusion with the “Why.” The reason for this Christian life is “all because of Jesus” and “it is through Jesus that we are summoned to become more truly human, to reflect the image of God into the world” (140).

As I close out my own ramblings on chapter ten, I find the best encouragement and comfort in “the word” and the wisdom always found there. I pray you do too!

Romans 8:26-27 says:

The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.

My reaction to saying these words is one of the most troubling encounters I have with my own faith.

The rite of baptism, which we have performed a lot lately at St. B’s, is always a heartwarming ritual. In it, we witness a new member being welcomed into the family of God. And then we, the gathered assembly, are asked a question: “Will you by your prayers and witness help this child to grow into the full stature of Christ?” We are beckoned to respond with what to me can be a troubling phrase: “I will, with God’s help.”

What’s more, then we collectively renew our own baptismal covenant, and we are asked a whole series of even more loaded questions about some serious issues. Will we:

● Continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship? In the breaking of bread? In the prayers?

● Persevere in resisting evil?

● Repent and return to the lord when we fall into sin?

● Proclaim by word and example the gospel message?

● Seek and serve Christ in all persons?

● Strive for justice and peace among all people?

After each one of these MAJOR challenges, we respond in the affirmative: “We will”, but then we add this phrase that I am both thankful for and troubled by: “with God’s help.”

Why does this statement trouble me so?

It troubles me because I often find myself using this statement as a cop-out. I find myself feeling so glad that I don’t have to just say “I will.” If the response was “I will,” would I feel honest saying it? But “I will, with God’s help” adds this clause that sometimes my heart wants to interpret as “I will, if God helps me to.” I might not actually persevere in resisting evil, or repent when I sin, or seek and serve Christ in all persons, but then I guess that means God just didn’t help me to. Maybe my failings aren’t my failings; maybe they’re just God dropping the ball in my life, or choosing to use someone else for the hard stuff.

What if the response was rephrased so that I couldn’t interpret it as a cop-out? What if the response was: “Yes I will, and God will help me along the way”?

“God’s help,” of course, is the Holy Spirit, or as Wright calls it in Chapter 9, “God’s Breath of Life.” Wright says the Holy Spirit and the task of the church “walk hand in hand”, and that the point of the Spirit is to “enable those who follow Jesus to take into the world the news that he is Lord,... that a new world has opened up, and that we are able to help make it happen.” (122)

In other words, the Holy Spirit is so much more than some spiritual booster shot when we need it. Wright in chapter 9 illuminates the fundamental purpose for the least-understood member of the Trinity: it is the thread that knits God’s world and our world together in our own bodies -- it is the breath of life that makes us into that strange meeting place between the natural and the divine. “Your own human self, your personality, your body, is being reclaimed, so that instead of being simply part of the old creation, a place of sorrow and injustice...and death itself, you can be both part of the new creation in advance and someone through whom it begins to happen here and now.” (126)

Now wait a minute, Tom. It made sense to me when you said that under the Old Covenant the Temple was the place where the two worlds met, where God himself dwelt among us. I understood you when you said that Jesus became the new dwelling place, the human embodiment of the Temple, a person in whom the full world of divinity and the physical limitations of the natural came together. Now you’re trying to tell me that with the arrival of the Holy Spirit, I am the same kind of place? That I have been given the same spirit that made Christ Christ and have been empowered to be as much a manifestation of your kingdom in my world as he was in Palestine two thousand years ago?

Wright says yes, citing Paul on page 126: “You... are the Temple of the living God.”

Now like so many others in my generation, I have heard that my body is a temple over and over again. It was a great youth group metaphor that inspired us to not smoke or have sex or do drugs. You are God’s temple, so stay pure. But nobody ever really pointed out to me that Paul wasn’t making nice metaphors to Corinth, that he was speaking literally, and spooning out heaps of theology:

“Hey Corinth, you need to get your act together. You know how God’s dwelling place among us used to be the Temple, where Israel worshipped and offered sacrifices in the actual presence of God? You know how Jesus became the embodiment of that temple, was torn down and rebuilt in 3 days? Do you know where the “temple” is now that the advocate he promised you has arrived? It’s YOU! Corporately and individually. God gave you his spirit and made you into the Temple, just as real as it was after it was built by Solomon, and just as real as it was when it was Jesus himself. The Spirit that made the Temple the Temple and made Jesus Jesus, that Spirit has now been given to you. And now YOU are responsible to be the Temple, to be Jesus, to others in your community and in all the nations. The future of God’s full restoration of this world is being worked out in you.”

Wright’s Option Three, the overlapping and interlocking between heaven and earth has been made physically manifest in three ways throughout God’s interaction with mankind: the Temple, the person of Jesus, and now those who have received the Holy Spirit.

That’s what the rite of baptism means when it asks if we will do all in our power to help the newly baptized “grow into the full stature of Christ.” Stature can mean either “height” or “quality or status,” and I don’t think we are being asked to help others grow to be as tall as Jesus. Will you do all in your power to see that those in your community, throughout the world, or wherever God places you, receive that same spirit that you have received, that Spirit that makes us just as much a meeting place between heaven and earth as were the Temple and even Jesus himself?

(If so, see the top of this post for your response.)

On first reading, it took me a while to get into it. But in reading one or two sections a day over several weeks, I began to appreciate what Wright was saying as well as how he was saying it.

A couple of his points opened up new insights. The first was that Christianity is the only great religion that springs from an event (or series of key events).

The second was his recurring references to the three major worldviews: pantheism, Deism and Christianity. The Three Options, as he refers to them. The idea that Heaven and earth overlap and interlock in a number of different ways confirms my life-long beliefs and helps answer many seemingly intractable questions.

Throughout, Wright offers a number of equally provocative and only a little less impactful, concepts. In Chapter 8, he expands on who Jesus is, what he did and what it means.

Some of the more challenging thoughts:

• “His death would do what the Temple, with its sacrificial system, had pointed toward but had never actually accomplished.”

• “… he would be the place where heaven and earth met, as he hung suspended between the two. He would be the place where God’s future arrived in the present … “

• “Nothing in all the history of paganism comes anywhere near this combination of event, intention, and meaning. … The death of Jesus of Nazareth … is either the most stupid, senseless waste and misunderstanding the world has ever seen, or it is the fulcrum around which world history turns.”

• “Heaven and earth are neither the same thing, nor a long way removed from one another, but they overlap and interlock mysteriously in a number of ways; and the God who made both heaven and earth is at work from within the world as well as from without, sharing the pain of the world …”

• “Something has happened in and through Jesus as a result of which the world is a different place, a place where heaven and earth have been joined forever. God’s future has arrived in the present.”

Wright makes the case that heaven and earth intersect at times such as when we pray, worship, and observe the sacraments. I am sure there are many others, some corporate, some uniquely individual.

God, help me to recognize those places and hunger for them.

To prepare for our upcoming conversation, you can read the document at The Anglican Communion Official Website.

We cannot, however, look only to the historical person of Jesus for enlightenment on what God is about in the world. As Christians have claimed, and Scripture bears witness to, Jesus is “still available for us to meet him and get to know him” (94). This is a key belief for the Christian life, for in Jesus, God meets humanity; Jesus himself is the Temple (94). Wright echoes here the reference of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians when he says that the body is the Temple of God. God meets the world in the Church.

In this chapter, I am most struck by Wright’s treatment of Jesus’ announcement that the Kingdom of God is at hand. Like Israel in the 1st century, I often live as if the Kingdom of God is coming only in the future. But this is a problematic belief if it is all that I believe. By focusing only on the future reality of the Kingdom of God, I am stuck in a rut, looking around at all the pain and suffering wondering where God is. To some extent, I can sympathize with the Pharisees: they believed the Kingdom was coming. Their failure was in their disbelief that what Jesus said was actually true: the Kingdom is at hand.

I believe that hidden in the catchy question “What would Jesus do?” (W.W.J.D.?) is a hint of distrust that Jesus is actually doing anything now, that the Kingdom of God is still “out there” somewhere, if you will. "What would he do" invites the temptation to believe that we can only look to the past for inspiration about what is going on in the world today. The question “what would he do if he were here?” suggests that he isn’t here, that he is dead; God is dead. Therefore, if we must wear bracelets, I would argue for a new branding: W.I.J.D.? What is Jesus doing?

For me, the real difficulty is to look around and ask at every opportunity, “What is Jesus doing?” What is Jesus doing in the life of the young man or woman who bags my groceries at Publix? What is Jesus doing in the heart of my boss? What is Jesus doing in my family? What is Jesus doing in the family I sit beside on Sunday mornings? What is Jesus doing in me? What is Jesus doing in St. B’s?

The question “What would Jesus do?” makes me feel guilty; I can never do everything that Jesus did or might have done. But I can join him doing something today. My challenge from this chapter, and the one I’ll pose to you for reflection is this: What is Jesus doing today that I can see and join him in doing? I don’t have to worry about fear of failure: it is his Kingdom, his announcement and his promises that are being fulfilled.

I have shared this story with many who know us, but it bears repeating. When I took my daughter Anna to Kenya in the summer of 2008, one experience we had will always stand out to me from that trip. Early one morning, several of us went to a place in the village called Prayer Mountain where we had time to pray together and then we each had time alone on the mountain. As I went off, I gave Anna her bible (The Jesus Storybook Bible) and prayed for her and for God’s Spirit to speak to her in a fresh way. I prayed for an assurance of her faith and was led to read Romans 5:11 “So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God—all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us in making us friends of God.” As we gathered back together, I went over to Anna and asked her if anything stood out to her while she was looking through her Bible. She flipped very deliberately to the page that had the picture you see here on it.

She told me that she was the little girl and the daddy in the picture was God. I asked her if she wanted to pray with us and she told me that she wanted to go pray by herself and talk to God. I gathered our group for prayer and then went to find Anna. She was sitting on a rock with Puppy (her beloved stuffed animal) looking out over Lodwar. She told me that she asked Jesus to come into her heart. I gave her a big hug and told her that I was so thankful for her. That night for our celebration with the staff before we left, we all shared in communion, and Anna took her first communion surrounded by the pulse of the African music and our beautiful brothers and sisters of Turkana.

When we celebrated a year later in the summer of 2009 to commemorate this day she had in Kenya, we read the story from the Jesus Storybook Bible with that picture in it. She expressed her deeper understanding of the reality in this picture. She said that she was running to God and not away from Him.

Colossians 2:6-7 says, “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” Over the last two years, this picture from the Jesus Storybook Bible has become a reference point for me and for Anna over and over. When she has struggled with something, we have talked about this picture and used it as a reminder to run back to God. Just as Anna received Christ and had a fresh picture of God’s grace, she is continuing to live that, being rooted and built up in His love and being strengthened in her faith.

On page 75, Wright says about the story of Israel: “It is the story of going away and coming back home again: of slavery and exodus, of exile and restoration.” This “going-away-and-coming-back-again” story is Israel’s story and it is my story too. Everyday it seems that I run away (in one way or another) and then come back to God’s mercy in confession and find restoration. It is the cycle of grace and repentance in our lives. We sin, we repent, we receive God’s mercy, and we repeat this cycle over and over. I am forever grateful for the cross—for this place I can run to and then realize that all along that God has been running toward me.

I appreciated Wright’s comment on page 96 too: “Ultimately, the real exile, the real leaving- home moment, was the expulsion of humankind from the Garden of Eden. Israel’s multiple exiles and restorations are ways of reenacting that primal expulsion and symbolically expressing the hope for homecoming, for humankind to be restored, for God’s people to be rescued, for creation itself to be renewed.”

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him… (Romans 15:13)

The chapter begins by comparing the folly of attempting to find God through rational analysis to attempting to see the sun by pointing a flashlight at it. Both the echoes and our probing can lead us in the direction of God, but God will never submit to our human inspection. However, borrowing from C. S. Lewis, Wright comments that even though looking directly at God, like looking at the sun, can be too dazzling to comprehend, we can still discern how His presence allows us to see everything else. The final section rearticulates this basic theme by describing how God’s name, Yahweh, translated as “I am, who I am,” further illustrates how He can not be placed into any category. Since God is wholly other, we can only know him through His revelation to us.

The middle section sets the stage for the rest of the book by describing the relationship between heaven and earth – between God’s space and our space. Wright first compares the three main views of this interrelationship. In the first framework, the two spheres are combined, as expressed in pantheism and panentheism; everything is God or is in God. This view has become more common recently – note the popularity of the movie Avatar. However, it offers little hope to either understand our sense of the brokenness of our world or to fix the problems; if everything is God, including injustice and misery, to whom could we petition for help? In the second view the two spheres are completely separate, as expressed in ancient Epicureanism or modern deism; God may exist, but he is unconcerned with human existence. This view also falters, since it can not explain the echoes of some lost transcendent reality. In the final view – the Christian view – the realms of God and earth are two interlocking spheres. Their point of intersection was best represented in the Old Testament by the Temple. This view explains the complexity and tensions we all experience, and it provides the framework to understand the entire Christian story.

Like C. S. Lewis, Wright’s writing is compelling in both its simplicity and profundity. In one fell swoop he provides probing insight into the failure of Western self-styled spirituality to explain or satisfy the deepest longs of our hearts, and he deconstructs the common misconception that heaven is a distant place, where Christians go after they die. He also lays a solid foundation for the rest of the book, where he outlines the grandeur of the Christian story and its implications for our lives, as God’s agents to model a restored creation.

Wright illustrates this with the fictional discovery of a Mozart composition. When it is played, the finders discover that it is a Mozart original. Unfortunately, not all the parts of the symphony are represented in the beautiful but incomplete composition. We don’t know what the picture on the puzzle box is and we do not hold all the pieces, but we, along with the beauty and the brokenness before us, are still part of the puzzle.

So how do we live within this tension? Wright says we look to biblical writers of the Old and New Testament. They knew, believed and told of a God that will complete what He starts. The creation that was before them wasn’t some shabby second-rate creation, but part of His Kingdom and should be treated and lived in as such. They believed the beauty of the kingdom would be enfolded into God’s ultimate creation where the pain and brokenness of the present kingdom would be “rescued, healed and restored” – the masterpiece would be heard in its fullness and in perfect harmony.

Wright says that beauty is “both something that calls us out of ourselves and something which appeals to feelings deep within us.” It is a “signpost to a larger beauty, a deeper truth.” I agree.

As I read this chapter I was reminded of June 11, 2002. It was truly a perfect day – rare. I was on a hiking trip in Ireland. Our group took the ferry to the tiny Beara Island – 200 in population. We hiked the entire island and we climbed to the highest peak where there was a cross erected for fallen soldiers. We came upon some of the Megalithic ruins, lunched in the only pub with the locals and then finished the day on a beach front with crystal clear water and the sun overhead. I thought about how the week before I had been sitting in my office in Nashville, at my computer, engrained in my little world. I hit the “signpost” head on. Theoretically, I knew the world was big. It had gone on way before I was placed on it and would continue to go on. But it was as if God had cleared my head to see unfiltered and without cynicism the beauty of His creation, the greatness of Him and His depth that I so often limit. It was a profound moment where the harmony of the masterpiece came together and I was given a glimpse.

A picture from that day is on my nightstand, only a memory now as Wright would say. I take it as the “echo of a voice” calling me further on the journey.

Just look at the popularity of relational web portals like MySpace, facebook, twitter, and match.com! They reveal how much our culture (us included) does not want to be alone. We find a lot of meaning in our “circles of friends” and the civic or religious groups we “belong” to, right?

In chapter three, N.T. Wright suggests that we know deep inside that are made for each other, and continues with a splash of cold water that once we found that special someone (whether spouse, friend, church, or community), our visions of bliss and compatibility start to erode because making relationships work is a very difficult task. Both the urge to be in relationship and the complexity of the relationship may just reveal something important. Resist the urge to relate, and you’ll be lonely. Listen to the urge, and you’ll experience vitality, but also the paradox of laughter and tears. Wright pushes the issue by reminding us that even if we build a great marriage or friendship, every relationship ends in death. Talk about a downer. But it does chase away the unachievable Hollywood archetypes and challenges us to wonder about bigger questions.

My wife Kim and I just celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary – and reflecting back on our early days, we had all these grand hopes that we would complete each other and achieve the intimacy we dreamed about. Coming from a broken family, I was idealistic and a hopeless-romantic and she wanted to erase the memory of a wounded heart. But it didn’t take long for us to realize that we didn’t fit perfectly. We were better candidates for miss-match.com than the blissful picture we envisioned. We learned why weddings are so compelling and marriages don’t last, but in that paradox we also found the guideposts of “unity, constancy, and peace” and this has helped inform how we relate to each other, our neighbors, our enemies, and even God. After reading chapter 3, we were intrigued with NT Wright’s unusual and compelling approach to apologetics. He continues to resist the urge to offer theological proofs, but instead aligns us all with universal longings and questions we can’t fully answer apart from God. Here are a few of the questions we’ve been pondering:

When it comes to our romantic relationships, what does it mean that we are “made for each other”?

What are we teaching our children about gender and roles in relationships?

Do we make room for inevitable conflict, and even heartbreak in our relationships?

Have we developed strategies for healthy protest and repair in our relationships?

When it comes to the broader human race, how do we act like good neighbors?

How do we engage in community without forming cliques, and making enemies out of the “outsiders”?

Wright’s observation is that we in the Western world are that town. “The dictator is the philosophy that has shaped our world for the past two or more centuries, making most people materialists by default. And the water is what we today call “spirituality,” the hidden spring that bubbles up within human hearts and human societies.”

Evidently this isn’t a new phenomenon. Jeremiah quotes God, speaking to the nation of Judah in Jeremiah 2:12-13: “Be appalled, O heavens, at this, be shocked, be utterly desolate, says the Lord, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water.” The ongoing temptation of humanity is to choose our own way rather than submitting to God’s intended design for us as His beloved children – a life-giving relationship with the Creator and Lover of our hearts. But, as the story of the town’s springs illustrates, we can’t fulfill our hunger for God with our self-made strategies. At some point, our broken cisterns are exposed, sometimes with significant consequences and fallout to our own life and those around us.

The quest for spirituality that we observe all around us points to a deep well of longing. And yet, we are bent toward resisting the Spring that offers life for our weary souls. Lord, have mercy on us and grant us grace to allow our deep hunger and thirst to drive us to you, the fountain of living water. Amen.

The other night as we went through the bedtime routine with our children, Lucy climbed on my wife’s lap for story time. “That’s not fair!” shouted Nathaniel as he tried to negotiate lap space for himself. “It’s not her turn!” He appealed to us for help, because as parents we try enforce peace and justice in our home. We make our children take turns, share their toys, treat each other nicely. We discipline bad behavior and reward good behavior. But they are quick to notice and point out any perceived injustice done to them and run to us for relief. And occasionally we have to resort to telling them, “Sometimes life isn’t fair.”

Recently in my job I was asked to help another employee of my company, who had just been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. She was a young woman with small children and a low-paying job and had just been told she would not live to see another birthday. My heart broke for her and my reaction was the same as my five year old son’s: It’s not fair! It’s not her turn! But unlike in my son’s case, nobody could enforce my sense of justice. Sometimes life isn’t fair.

If justice is unachievable, why do we have such a powerful longing for it? How do we even know what it looks like? If God has written these things into our hearts, how can we as Christians be most responsive to that “echo of a voice” that calls us to be agents of peace and justice in a world that seems to have gone wrong?

One way or another, water is referred to in scripture almost 700 times. It is a life-giving source as well as a destroyer in the bible as well. We can’t live without it, yet we can certainly have too much of it!

We have also learned a lot about community in the last few weeks. Many found out that being members of authentic communities have been a source of comfort and strength when others, who are not actively involved in any form of community, have had to deal with the tragedy pretty much alone. How sad!

The scriptures make it quite clear that bona fide community includes a long-term commitment to members that evidences itself in sacrificial support in any number of ways.

Recently we have witnessed people opening their homes as well as their pocketbooks. They have abandoned personal plans to volunteer to lend a hand at dirty ‘grunt’ work and have made themselves available day in and day out for the sake of reconstructing the broken community.

There is an inherent need in all of us to belong, and as much as we might fight this, it is when tragedy strikes that we know how much we are, in fact, in need of it.

One of the many goals of the leadership team at St B’s is to be creating a community of men and women who are committed to both Christ and to one another. Then it might be written of us as it was of the first century apostles:

“All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need” (Acts 4:32-36).

Our response to the flood has been to create a web link where needs are being identified and teams of volunteers are being mobilized to help meet these needs. A best case scenario would be for this particular list to diminish and to have an ongoing site where our community might minister to one another “as any have a need”. Then it might be whispered of us as it was of those same apostles “see how they love one another”!

As community members grow in their commitment to one another we become that stream of life-giving water that flows from the throne of God referenced in Revelation 22:1. The force of community action is this strong. It is this healing, for it becomes the force of God at work through us.

It might equally be argued that when the community of God’s chosen fail to act, our inaction can be as destructive as the force of uncontrolled raging water - very damaging.

I choose to be on the side of God’s healing and restoration. I invite you to be a channel of Grace, Mercy and Healing by willingly partnering with God as we minister to one another and to the community at large.

Jerry

This week we will begin to calculate the loss, the magnitude of which is perhaps greater than our city has ever experienced, and the needs around us may seem overwhelming. And yet, so many within our family have already mobilized in profound ways and are even now being the hands and feet of Jesus.

As many of us have never been involved in an assistance effort this large, our process of providing help will need to be adjusted and refined in the weeks and months ahead.

Our first step has been to set up a place on our website to list immediate needs as they arise. I invite those who have needs to be in touch so we can provide assistance. Details can be found here.

I commend those who have already put in countless hours of work. The St. B’s family is doing what it so often does best, and we have seen many examples of genuine community and true depth of fellowship.

For those who may be wondering, our facilities weathered the flood remarkably well. The small amount of flooding in our basement is already dry. The recent updates we have made to our facilities paid off, as the damage could have been much worse.

Perhaps our greatest challenge going forward will be in answering the call to faithfulness. As we have risen to the occasion this week, we will need to be vigilant in maintaining our support, as the road to recovery will be long.

It is in times like this that we must remind ourselves in whose Kingdom we’re standing. Our God is indeed meeting us in the midst of tragedy through the support of one another, and it is in Him alone that we place our hope.

After the 1998 tornado ravaged our city, the Rev. Lisa Hunt, the then rector of St Ann’s, prophetically said, “God was not in the tornado, God was in our response”. This might be our motivation for continuing to rise to the demands of the occasion and be the hands and feet of Jesus in our own community.

In the days ahead, as we tear out drywall, move furniture and deliver meals, may we encourage each other to explore what it means to be faithful, as God has evidenced His enduring faithfulness to us.

Yours in Gospel Ministry,

Jerry

This year, however, I was struck by the dichotomy between intimacy and betrayal present in the story. The way John tells the story (Gospel of John chapter 13) you get great drama with John, the beloved disciple on Jesus’ right and Judas, the betrayer on his left during the meal. Because this was a Passover meal their placement makes particular sense. The youngest would be laying to the right of the rabbi and the host (Judas) on his left (or behind him). Jesus is troubled because he knows what Judas is about to do and when he tells the group one of them is going to betray him it makes contextual sense that John would be the one to lean on his breast (as it is written) and ask “Who?”

Jesus responds saying it will be the one who gets the piece of bread he has dipped in the dish. Again, at a Passover meal this makes perfect sense as the host and rabbi would likely be sharing food at the table. However, more striking is the fact that this act of passing bread was a symbol of special friendship in Jesus’ culture. It’s as if John’s gospel is telegraphing that what Jesus has with John he is offering to Judas as well. The one who would betray him gets the offer of special friendship.

This is deep and poetic to imagine Jesus at the Passover family meal flanked by intimacy on one side and betrayal on the other. Because he is open to the former he is exposed to the latter, but such is the call of the kingdom. In fact that is often how it goes. Intimacy and betrayal (or the possibility of betrayal) always go together because to have a true connection of special friendship with another person requires being open enough to them that, if they so choose, they could hurt us. This is hard, and may be a small application in the way Jesus realizes the call of the prophet who says, “I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting.” (Is 50:6)

When I have experienced betrayal my inclination is to close off. Confronted with the reality of my vulnerability I want to self protect, not self-give. But the orientation of Jesus is the other way round. In the face of inevitable betrayal he offers special friendship. I don’t know how it will all work out, but I want to do the same this Easter. Perhaps in such risk what Jesus said about his disciples will begin to come true; they’ll be known by their love.

I pray the same will be said of me.

Foundational to the Easter message is understanding that with the resurrection of Jesus, we are being invited to both enter into a brand new life and then enjoy the power of a whole new rhythm of living.

St Paul would write that believers were ‘crucified with Christ’ at their baptism. In another place he says we have died with Christ, and emerging from these same baptismal waters is to be likened to our resurrection.

Sadly, if we are to be a people who are experiencing the resurrection, having defeated the power of sin and death, then many of us haven’t actually received this message. Our lifestyles indicate that we are still experiencing the same death cycles as the rest of the world. Isn’t life in the Kingdom of God suppose to reflect something profoundly different?

The best biblical narrative to express this truth is that which is found in Mark chapter 2. Jesus ministry was just beginning and the crowds gathering around him were growing. He was still in ‘house meeting’ mode, not having moved to the great outdoors yet.

A reasonably large crowd had gathered in the home of a supporter where he was teaching.

“Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."

This was this man’s “Good Friday”. At this point he was aware, in that deep place in life that we all have, that pit in our stomachs in which we “know that we know that we know that we know”!

Life for this man changed at this very moment, even though he was still on his mat in the middle of a meeting room.

What happens next is important for us to hear.

“But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . . ." He said to the paralytic, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all.”

This man’s healing was simply to prove that his sins had been forgiven! The resurrection of Jesus proves the events of Good Friday.

If we are like the man on the mat, we all need to have both the Good Friday experience as well as the Easter Sunday experience in our lives. God’s desire is for us to both know we have been forgiven and then be empowered to get up and live a whole new life as a result.

This is what the Kingdom of God is all about.

It is disappointing to know that many of us seem content to accept God’s grace for forgiveness, but are reluctant to accept his invitation to experience a whole new way of living.

I imagine that the man in this narrative had difficulty adjusting to new expectations. He needed to learn how to walk, look after himself, find a job, and all of the rest of the mundane chores that others had been doing for him, but the joy of this new life outweighted the burden and fear of starting over.

This year we are invited to move beyond Good Friday and accept Christ’s challenge to follow Him into a fuller expression of Kingdom life by recognizing that our celebration of Easter is an acknowledgement of this option.

In part, this is what it means to be following Jesus into the Promised Land, learning to live in our Easter victory even today.

Be blessed this season

Jerry+

Our propensity is to want to enjoy the blessings of being a follower of Jesus, but we are often reluctant to experience the actual cost. This is one of the reasons Paul would write to Timothy “if we died with him (Christ) we will also live with him” (2 Tim 2:11). He was hoping that his young reader would come to understand that no price is too great when we fully understand the nature of the blessing we have in Christ.

Possibly the full blessing is not understood because we fail to value the actual cost!

This year you are invited to better understand this cost by walking with Christ through his passion and death.

It begins with the triumphal entry of Palm Sunday. Then, plan on spending Thursday evening with us as we reenact the institution of the Lord’s Supper. On Friday evening, stand by Christ as he pays the ultimate sacrifice, or come and walk the stations of the cross with us Good Friday afternoon. Finally, before the victory celebration, join with those who are committing themselves to Christ and His family in baptism by renewing your own commitment to Him during the Vigil of Easter on Saturday evening.

Then I promise you, the celebration of the resurrection with have much more meaning and certainly more power in your own life for having walked with Christ during His final hours.

In my experience, there will be a number of distractions and even many valid excuses that might deter you from actually being able to participate with us. All of them are just that, distractions. Make every effort to join us, I know you won’t be disappointed.

The schedule for the week can be found here.

Journeying together,

Jerry+

This evening marks my sixth annual meeting at St B’s.  It is hard to believe that time has past so quickly!

LOOKING BACK

2009 proved to be a very interesting year. It was salted by the death of five members of our community that have contributed to the life of our body for decades. We remember with gratefulness and much sadness the ‘graduation to glory’ of Maggie Ward, Bert Hardwick, Mary Peebles, Henry Martin, Jeannie Hunter and of the death earlier this year of Tom Howard. “Rest Eternal Grant unto them O Lord, and Light Perpetual Shine Upon Then.”

Their deaths have reminded many of us of the significance that each and every member of our faith community has in our unfolding life together. It has also proven to be a reminder of, as the Prayer Book says, “the shortness and uncertainty of human life”. Sadly, many of us are not as prepared as we should be for the inevitability of our own, or our family members, deaths. I encourage all of you to become proactive in the alignment of your affairs, personal, financial and spiritual, for your own sake and for the sake of those who may be left behind mourning your loss. With the help of Tony Morreale we have been offering regular ‘Finishing Well’ seminars which are intended to help ask the right questions to help to think ahead. We are reminded that it is said that in order to live right we need to know how to die right!

2009 was the first year in my 34 years of ordination that a vestry deemed it necessary to cut the operational budget of a parish in which I was ministering. This proved to be much more difficult than anticipated, particularly given that the budget was established in faith and after much prayer.  The leadership of the parish did not take this task lightly as we knew that a $150,000 slash would affect most every aspect of our community life. The final decision as to where these monies should be found, was left to me as rector.

There are those of you who still will argue that I should have decreased our apportionment payment to the Diocese or asked one of our two missionary families to return to America. I believed then, and I believe even more tonight, that if our family decision is that cutbacks need to be made, then those cutbacks need to be felt so that the impact will be fully known. Calling missionaries home (or simply cutting their support) or decreasing our diocesan support would not affect us in the least. Life here would continue on just as normal. I have serious ethical issues with this way of thinking.

Among other things, I opted, as you all know, to cut one staff position. Fr Randy was, and remains one of my closest friends in Nashville. Eliminating his position on staff was in many ways, like cutting off my own arm. He was an integral part of our pastoral team, so not only did I lose a friend but I increased my own workload along with the loads of Fr Dixon and Carla Schober. I also know that my own credibility has been seriously damaged in some of your minds as a result of this decision. I am sorry for two reasons about this, firstly because of the loss of our primary pastoral care giver, a good friend and a large asset to our community and secondly because some of you have lived with resentment about this decision and have not come to talk with me about it.

Losing Randy has set us back enormously and the ripple effect has proven, in some cases to be more of a tsunami. All this being said, if I had to go back and do it all over again I would make the exact same decision.

I am personally grateful that vestryperson Dorman Burch quickly stepped up to the plate and has been offering great assistance in the delivery of pastoral care in the absence of an assistant priest.  He has established a great team of people that are visiting and ministering to a number of our folks who cannot make it to church regularly.

In the end, 2009 was the best financial year St B’s has ever had. In spite of the small deficit in our operating fund, the total financial contributions to the parish, general and designated, were the highest they have ever been in the history of our faith community. You contributed over 1.8 million dollars to the work of the Kingdom in this parish last year! Congratulations!

LOOKING AHEAD

According to an old cliché, ‘the new broom sweeps clean, but the old broom knows where the dirt is’! I now fall into the category of being an old broom at St B’s. In fact, with this sixth annual meeting under my belt, I will have been here longer than any of my predecessors, save the famous Fr Murphy. I am now of the opinion that I am beginning to know where the serious dirt is in our parish. My role as rector affords me the opportunity to have a view of or faith community that most of you are not privileged to have. I have begun to see the patterns, the rhythms of our life together that have brought us to where we are and in some cases, prevent us from moving ahead.

I believe that it is time for us to face the giants that are hindering us (or in keeping with the metaphor of rising to greater heights, maybe the sandbags that keep us from flying), and time to begin to engage in a more enthusiastic and intentional walk with God that will allow us to move into a fuller understanding of what it means to be the Body of Christ in this community.

What are our giants?

1.  believe we are a community that at the same time longs for and yet fears intimacy. In our estranged culture we have a variety of misunderstandings of what intimacy is to look like. Consequently when we read that the early believers enjoyed a depth of fellowship that allowed them to “share everything in common” (see Acts 2 & 4) we both envy that and fear it at the same time. Our hearts were created to live in genuine community where we become increasingly aware of the unconditional love of God through one another.

The fear of losing control of the life to which “I am entitled”, prevents many from making the step to begin this aspect of the journey into this expression of the Kingdom of God.

The fear of becoming vulnerable with people who just may ‘up and leave’ for whatever reason, also prevents us from working on this type of genuine commitment. 

The solution to this must include the invitation to everyone to commit to the journey we are on together and help them (or this may be you) to understand the value to both individual and community formation of long term commitment, no matter what the cost.

2.  There are those in our community who are apprehensive of what is happening at levels in our denomination that are far above our ability to control. This has always been the case and forever will be. There comes a time when we need to simply realize that Christ is the head of the church which is His body on earth. There may be times when limbs and organs in the body chose to act independent of the whole, or even of the head, but that does not give us permission to sever ourselves. I will remind you of what I have said many times: the bible speaks much more intentionally about the spirit of judgment and division than it does about most anything, and we need to be cautious that in the name of an altruistic motive we don’t fall into the very trap of the Pharisees and lawyers of Jesus day.

The national church is not the enemy any more than the giants in the land God was leading the Israelites to were enemies. After all we believe that nothing is impossible for our God!

3.  One of the interesting cycles of this parish includes significant growth and then it seems to hit a ceiling with force before attrition sets in. In fact, when I first hired an assistant priest back in 2006 a long standing member of the parish told me that his only fear was that we would eventually have to let the assistant go because growth was unsustainable in this parish. Is there a giant that whispers in our ears that we cant get any bigger that we are? Is there some sort of glass barrier that we hit and rebound off of that then leaves a stinging pain that prevents us from trying again? 

At some point this becomes self fulfilling prophecy, just like those businesses that think they can’t afford to advertise are in fact the very ones that can’t afford not to advertise, this parish finds itself afraid to take the next steps to legitimate growth by providing the infrastructure we need to sustain growth. An infrastructure, by the way, which takes more than most volunteers can manage.

4.  I think the biggest giant that causes fear in many is the giant that asks us to trust the leadership even when we may not agree with them. This parish has a long history of very strong lay leadership and I believe that it is difficult for many to release control of some long held traditions. I am also apprehensive to say this, but I think there is an inherent distrust of authority, which is not unusual for those influenced by the seventies favorite theology of “the priesthood of all believers”. That theology by the way, announced that we all share equally in the ministry of Christ, but we do not all share equal authority or responsibility. Paul would argue that we are all members of the Body and we all have gifts and talents to be used for the development of the body, but not all are the same. Sometimes we act as if we are afraid of trusting others to do what they have been trained and equipped by God to do. We act as if we are afraid to give up control and we develop a multitude of good (and even theological) excuses for our actions.

The way were are going to be able to move forward as an active growing part of the Body of Christ is to own our fears and then allow God the Holy Spirit to empower us to walk into the inheritance granted us by God and face those giants as the Israelites faced the walls of Jericho. 

The only other option, the one that is easiest and often taken, is to head back to the wilderness for a generation. Even in the wilderness the Israelites were God’s children. That is not in question. Even in the wilderness the Israelites experienced the daily provision of God (manna, quail and water) but they were still in the desert. The wilderness is not the Promised Land.

God calls us out of our Egypts (our bondages) and these are most always identified by the immediate emotional characteristic of fear. Fear of heights prevents people for scaling new mountains; fear of flying prevents people from exploring new lands; fear of poverty prevents the people of God from sharing God’s heart of hospitality; fear of lost of control prevents us from surrendering our all to Christ. 

Our way ahead, the invitation of the meeting to ascend to new heights, is to realize that God is bigger than all of our fears. In fact scripture is quite clear, “perfect love casts out all fear”! Jesus and Jesus alone is Perfect Love. The more we get to know Jesus, the less place fear has in our lives. Our movement ahead, our ability to rise to new heights, will be equally proportional to our discarding of the weight of fear that holds us down.

When the Powells made their decision to follow God to Germany, when the Chapmans made their decision to move to Liberia and when the Martins decided to engage in Sudanese translation ministry, it demanded that each of them face head-on the fears that would otherwise prevent them, and then allow God to dispel that fear with a greater revelation of His Love for them.

Whenever anyone feels the call to full-time vocational ministry, it is often rational and irrational fear that attempts to thwart God’s plans for their lives.

I think of the Sudanese lost boys who left the familiarity of their families and homes, at age 6 or 10, and travelled hundreds of miles through the unknown countryside without food or tools to provide for themselves, and I realize that what God is calling us to is much much simpler.

They did it in order to flee certain death, we do it to embrace the fullness of life that our God has called us to.

You will be able to talk with the Powells and Chapmans when they are here on break this summer and you can talk with Deborah Martin most any Sunday about what this is like. You can introduce yourself to any number of Sudanese on any Sunday as well. They will all attest to the same thing - God dispels fear but only as we begin and continue the journey. Fear will raise its head at any number of corners if we stop and look for it!

Can I publicly celebrate the team that we have who will help us move to these new places with God? I am thrilled to work with such remarkable people. Dixon Kinser, Carla Schober, Erin Somerville, Eric Wyse and Pamela White form the core of a remarkable staff that have a vision for us to be what and who God wants us to be. The support staff amassed around them are also key players in the unfolding of God’s Kingdom in this place. And your vestry all have hearts for God and His Story and have proven supportive and faithful in the tasks assigned to them.

I invite you to let 2010 be a year in which you face the fears that are holding you down and embrace the Grace of a Loving God that will empower you to be the people He is calling you to be. 

Faithfully,

Jerry+

As we have now been on our Lenten journey two full weeks it is time for most of us to recognize that we are powerless to make the changes in our lives that we felt convicted to make at the beginning of this season. We are a people who like to talk about the faith; who like to study and master words. But words are cheap and talk is empty unless it actually changes our lives!

Paul would earlier refer to the church in Corinth as “mere infants in Christ” (3:1). He was not referring to their chronological age but to their maturity level. I wonder what he would say about my life in Christ? Although chronologically aged, what is my maturity level when it comes to the Christian faith? The answer to this question will be evidenced by the fruit of the Spirit in our lives (see Galatians 5).

When he writes that the Kingdom of God is a matter of power, he means that engaging with God is manifested by increased power to live like God Himself wants us to be living. Authentic faith is evidenced by the transformation of our thinking and living. We cannot possibly accomplish this by ourselves, nor does God expect us to.

This Lent we are invited to acknowledge two things: Firstly, just how helpless we are to change our lives on our own, and secondly, how much we genuinely need the Holy Spirit to accomplish this in and through us.

This week, pray God will give you the Grace of His Holy Spirit to be what He is calling you to be.

Interestingly, as much as we seem sold on the 40-day period of the Lenten season, there was a time that it was much longer (and even a period that it was shorter) than what we now observe.

These last three Sundays before Ash Wednesday were considered ‘preparation’ Sundays. They provided Christians with a time to reflect on what they needed be doing during Lent to allow the formation of that season to be most effective.

I would like to invite you to use these next three weeks to contemplate participating in the following four areas of spiritual discipline.

Prayer:

I invite you to be intentional about your prayer life, in particular to join the community of Jesus followers in the Daily Office, especially Morning Prayer and Compline. If you are able, Morning Prayer is read at 7:30 am every day at St B’s, or you can make this a family discipline. There is no better way to end your day than by reading Compline each evening right before bed!

Stewardship:

I invite every member of the community to practice tithing for the season, if you don't already. (Biblically this means 10% of your income be offered to your local church. Other charities should be supported from your “free will offerings” or “sacrificial gifts,” both of which are other biblical models of giving).  If you already tithe, I invite you to sacrificially increase your offering.

Service:

I invite you to find an area of service new to you and commit yourself to fulfill an obligation, 'as unto the Lord'.

Study:

Finally, I invite you to commit to participating in a weekly Lenten Study in the Parish Hall every Wednesday evening from 6:30 - 8:00pm. The study will be entitled "Following Jesus toward the Promised Land: A biblical study of people on the move"

Lent can be a wonderful time of spiritual revitalization, but it does demand that we be willing to cooperate with the Holy Spirit to see the work begun brought closer to completion.

Join me in the journey of a Holy Lent.

Jerry+

Read it online or grab one this Sunday.

On Wednesday afternoon, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori visited St. B's missionaries Keith and Kristin Chapman at Trinity Dental Clinic in Liberia.

Her visit was part of a weeklong stay in the country, at the invitation of the Episcopal Church of Liberia.

The visit is best described by Kristin in this email message from earlier today:

"I know, we still can’t believe it, either! And, if not for a toothache (not hers!) this never would have happened!

We learned of The Most Reverend Dr. Katharine Jefferts Schori’s visit to Liberia from our priest at St. B’s. A couple of weeks ago he wrote to us letting us know she would be here. We started contacting everyone we could find online to see if it would be possible to see her while she was here. Another missionary in Liberia sent us her schedule and we decided to attend the service she was doing at the cathedral downtown.

So, on Sunday we went and it was quite a service—all three hours of it!!! But, other than shaking her hand at the peace (which about 500 other people did as well) we did not have a chance to introduce ourselves.

So, on Tuesday, Keith texted the man in charge of her schedule to see if she might be able to drop in at the clinic just for a few minutes on her way to another event. Within minutes of that text we received a YES!! Here’s the amazing part. Keith and I had been trying for weeks to get in touch with Bishop Hart, the bishop of Liberia (the man in the collar in the above picture). Bishop Hart was out of the office for two weeks and then was busy with the Presiding Bishop. We never were able to meet with him. But, just before the Presiding Bishop’s arrival he called because his brother was suffering with a severe toothache! Keith had seen his brother the morning that he texted about them coming for a visit.

According to the Presiding Bishop, it was Bishop Hart that insisted that they stop by and visit us!! Who would have ever guessed! God does work in amazing ways!"

In some traditions Epiphany is a time for house blessings; in others it is a period of intense and intentional evangelism. It ought to be a motivational time for us all!

We understand the word ‘epiphany’ to mean ‘uncovering’ or ‘unveiling’ and the Gospel narratives throughout the season draw our attention to those times when the impact of the Christ is made known or ‘manifested’ not only to the first century participants, but to contemporary readers as well.

The story of the coming of the magi to discover Christ in Bethlehem stands as a reminder of the universal nature of Christ’s ministry to the whole world, rather than being limited to a particular nationality or geographic region of the Hebrews. The narrative of Christ changing water into wine reminds us of how our Lord’s ministry is intended to engage the whole community in the celebration of his saving work, as well as inviting us to understand that his delight is to take the common, the ordinary (water) and make it extraordinary (wine). (This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him. John 2:11)

The primary point of the season is clear. God wants the world, the whole world, to know that the person of His Son was being sent to them all, regardless of ethnic origin, race, religion or other cultural identification tags. This is the message the church is commissioned to carry even today.

God is still at work calling the world to His side and he needs us to partner with him. Just as the miracle of water being changed to wine manifested His glory and resulted in many putting their faith in Jesus, so today, God wants many to come to put their faith in Christ because they see him at work changing us.

It is highly unlikely that anyone will come to believe just because of sound theology, as necessary as that is. Nor is it likely that many will put their faith in Jesus because we do the liturgy so well, or sing in perfect pitch or have the most spectacular campus in the city. All of these are important but it is when the unbelieving world sees the transformational power of God at work in His children that they come to take seriously the message on the lips of His children!

When those wise men from the east made the pilgrimage to find the Christ, the world watched with wonder. What would make these men pick up and travel to a small community in the middle of an un-prosperous land? They watched with curiosity at what charged them to make these changes in their routine and then heard the testimony on their lips once they had found the child-king. Their lives and their testimony would be the witness that invited others to follow in their same footsteps.

So it will be today. As men and women like you and me take the Gospel seriously and allow the Christ to change our lives, then and only then with the testimony of our lips be listened to by people who actually want to hear.

Epiphany is about making the good news of the Christ known, and you and I are called to be co-workers with God in the accomplishing of this task of ‘unveiling’. As we allow Christ sway in our lives then His Glory will be revealed and others will come to put their faith in Him.

Together with Christ we will witness the miracle of the extension of his Kingdom!

The Rev. Jerry Smith
Rector

I loved Fr Bill and probably learned more from him about real ministry than from anyone else, but there was no ‘flex’ room in his life when it came to the boundaries of each of the seasons of the church year.

Advent was a season of preparation and Christmas was for celebration: end of sentence!

The truth is though, our culture begins to use the Christmas message as an advertising gimmick from the first of November. Christmas becomes a genuine ‘moveable’ feast. The dates move to assist the goal of sales.

I find myself attempting to walk an almost impossible line between understanding the need to make a season of authentic preparation particularly for full spiritual benefit, and recognizing that our society just can’t seem to wait as it needs the excuse to celebrate by gathering with family and friends and experience the joy of this time of the year. Better a mid-winter festival that has some Christian influence than one that won’t give Jesus the time of day.

But how do we make Advent meaningful when by the 25th of December most all of the office parties and school concerts will be over? How do we maintain some spiritual focus when there are more demands on our time during this time of the year than any of the others?

Discipline and focus are difficult at the best of times, and we may find it particularly tough this time of year. But for followers of Jesus to gain the most of this time, and frankly, to maintain some resemblance of peace (maybe even sanity) it becomes a necessity rather than an option.

I invite you to the observance of a holy Advent. Advent is a season similar to Lent, but with more emphasis on “waiting”. It is a time of increased spiritual preparedness, marked with intentional prayer, study of scripture, focused worship, serious self-examination and, if deemed appropriate, fasting and self-denial. These are traditional ways to prepare ourselves for increased intimacy with God and above all else, this is a primary goal of this cycle of the Christian year.

Have you even given any thought to your spiritual preparation this season? Chances are that you have already begun to think about the other demands of the season. Our family has already had its first Christmas event when Marjie and I visited our children and grandchildren in mid-November. It was the only time we were going to be able to see them until sometime in the new year. As much as I think my old mentor, Fr Bill, would be disappointed that we compromised the integrity of Christmas (Advent too) it was something we needed to do.

Maybe one of the questions we ought to ask during Advent is, “Is this necessary or can it wait?” Another might be, “Does this enhance my walk with Christ, or does it clutter my life so that Jesus is harder to find?”

As much as this might increase the tension of an already complicated time, the invitation of God during the Advent season is to de-clutter our lives so that Jesus might be given even more room to be the primary influence. It might be reasonable to think that this will also cause the angels to sing as they harmonized that first Christmas morn!

Wishing you a Blessed Advent,

Jerry