Bishop Eric Menees
“Grant,
we beseech thee, merciful God, that thy Church, being gathered together in
unity by thy Holy Spirit, may manifest thy power among all peoples, to the
glory of thy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with
thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen”
This
week's Collect speaks to both the greatest power and the greatest weakness of
the Church - our unity and our disunity.
On
the Lord's Day, we gather to give thanks to God for His Grace and Mercy in the
liturgy known as The Lord's Supper; or Holy Communion; or Holy Eucharist. In
this service, we pray prayers that have been prayed for two thousand years, and
that are said by millions of Christians on the same day around the world. How
awesome is that? To know that brothers and sisters in Kenya, and Argentina, and
the Arctic Circle are all confessing our faith in the words of the Nicene or
Apostles’ Creeds - saying the same words that Jesus used as we consecrate the
bread and wine, which mystically become the body and blood of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. Just one step back from that, we share the same faith with
millions of other Christians who are not as liturgically centered in the Holy
Eucharist, but share the same love of Christ and His Word as found in the Bible.
In that shared faith, there is such strength and grace.
However,
I also believe that in that same unity of faith, there is a disunity of polity.
Following the great divide of the Church - East and West in the eleventh
century - and then the Reformation of the sixteenth century - dividing
Protestant from Roman Catholic - the Lord's heart is broken. It is impossible
to imagine the impact that the Church could have in this broken world, if only
we worked in concert rather than - too frequently - working at odds with each
other.
Let
us join with Jesus and pray for unity in faith and life: "Holy
Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one,
even as we are one." (John 17:11) And to that I say...AMEN!
Catechism
Questions 8 & 9
8.
How does God save you?
God
saves me by grace, which is his undeserved love given to me in and through
Jesus. “God so loved the world, that he gave his
only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John
3:16).
9.
Who is Jesus Christ?
Jesus
is my Savior, fully divine and fully human. He bore my sins, dying in my place
on
the cross, then rose from the dead to
rule as anointed king over me and all creation.
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