Bishop Eric Menees
“O
Lord, we beseech thee, let thy continual pity cleanse and defend thy Church;
and, because it cannot continue in safety without thy succor, preserve it
evermore by thy help and goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth
and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.”
As a
bishop of the Church, this week's collecting prayer is one that is ever present
on my lips. "Please God, have pity on your church and on me as your
servant." Funny, when we think of the act of "pity," vague,
negative connotations come to mind of the strong offering the weak sympathy out
of guilt, or to get the weak to leave them alone - an image of shivering Oliver
Twist asking for another morsel of bread from the indifferent, wealthy, top hatted
man on the street corner. However, the term actually speaks more about someone
in a position of power and authority having genuine compassion on a weaker
person and providing them help and protection.
That
is exactly the situation that we are in, and we need to be in continual
acknowledgment of the reality that God is God, and we are His creation. In some
ways, we are like the blind men on the side of the road near Jericho. They
called out for Jesus to have mercy upon them and Jesus responded in pity and healed
them:
“And
as they went out of Jericho, a great crowd followed him. And behold, there were
two blind men sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was
passing by, they cried out, “Lord, have
mercy on us, Son of David!” The
crowd rebuked
them, telling them to be silent, but they cried out all the more, “Lord,
have mercy on us, Son of David!” And
stopping, Jesus called them and said, “What
do you want me to do for you?” They
said to him, “Lord,
let our eyes be opened.” And
Jesus in pity touched their eyes and immediately they recovered their
sight and followed him” (Matthew
21:30-34)
The
blind men were blessed because they, unlike the Jewish authorities known as the
Pharisees, recognized their blindness. This week's collect calls upon the Lord
to have pity upon His church - to cleanse and defend us. What an important
prayer, because too often we don't recognize our uncleanness or defenselessness
until it is too late - until Satan has attacked, we've compromised our
standards, and the floodgates have been opened.
Generally,
this has taken place in the Church when she has sought to be
"relevant" to the world - which has meant accepting the practices of
the world for fear of the world rejecting us. History has proven how very
deadly this desire to be liked by the world can be to the Church. The very
existence of the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin is due to the desire of the
Episcopal Church USA to be relevant. In a short period of time, the leaders
opened the floodgates by no longer seeking to live up to the standards of Holy
Scripture. As a result, questions regarding the divinity of Jesus, the virgin
birth, the physical resurrection, biblical ethics, etc., etc. are compromised
so as not to "offend" anyone. The ethic of "tolerance" has
become their guiding principle. The problem is that "tolerance"
implies that you have a firm standard that you live by, and that you are
gracious to an opposing view while not abandoning the standard or accepting the
other viewpoint. The Episcopal Church, and many other mainline denominations, has
confused "tolerance" with capitulation to, and acceptance of, a
non-biblical worldview. Thus, they accept almost anything as good and right, as
long as people do not impose their views upon another person or group.
Let us join with Archbishop Cranmer and
pray that the Lord will have pity on His Church, cleanse us of our errors and
desire to be merely liked, and defend us from future attack and error.
Note: These articles written by Bishop Menees for the ADSJ. I have posted them for viewing by a wider audience with his permission. Dale+
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