Trinity Sunday 2021 St. James Anglican Church Service

Trinity Sunday 2021

Celebrant Fr. Carlos Raines

Preacher Fr. Dale Matson

https://www.facebook.com/watch/stjas.org/

Homily for Trinity Sunday Year B 2021

The Trinity, The Creeds And Our Hymns

Father Dale Matson

St. Paul tells us in 1st Corinthians (14:3) that the prophets should speak to people for their edification, exhortation and comfort. Today it will be primarily edification. Today is Trinity Sunday. The Christian Church is Trinitarian. The doctrine of the Trinity was established early in the history of the Christian Church and we confess our belief every Sunday in the Nicene Creed.  I am sure that you are all familiar with the fact that we worship one God in three persons. This is both a fact and a mystery of Christ’s Church. Good doctrine is God centered. Good doctrine will not save us but bad doctrine can lead us down the wrong path,

“In terms of number of adherents, nontrinitarian denominations comprise a small minority of modern Christians. The largest nontrinitarian Christian denominations are The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Oneness Pentecostals, Jehovah's Witnesses, La Luz del Mundo and the Iglesia ni Cristo, though there are a number of other smaller groups, including Christadelphians, Church of the Blessed Hope, Christian Scientists, Dawn Bible Students, Living Church of God, Assemblies of Yahweh, Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ, Members Church of God International, Unitarian Christians, Unitarian Universalist Christians, The Way International, The Church of God International, and the United Church of God” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nontrinitarianism

The hymns we sing each week are designed to fit with each Sunday, so it is no accident that all of our hymns today deal with the TRINITY.

In our processional hymn we sung in part, “I bind unto myself today the strong Name of the Trinity, by invocation of the same, the Three in One, and One in Three.”

In our gradual hymn we sang in part, “There is a Redeemer Jesus, God's own Son; Precious Lamb of God, Messiah, Holy One. Thank You, O my Father, for giving us Your Son, and leaving Your Spirit 'til the work on earth is done.” 

In our offertory hymn, we sing in part, 

“Father, we love You, we worship and adore You

Jesus, we love You, we worship and adore You,

Spirit, we love You, we worship and adore You,

And in our dismissal hymn, we sing in part, 

“Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!

Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee:

Holy, holy, holy! Merciful and mighty,

God in three Persons, blessed Trinity.

Each person of the Godhead is usually associated with particular actions and we say as we do in the Nicene Creed that God the Father is the Creator of Heaven and Earth and all things seen and unseen. We also say that God the Son, Jesus Christ also participated in creation. Christ is one person with two natures. He is both God and Man. He is also associated with our redemption and salvation through this perfect life, death, resurrection and ascension. When He ascended to Heaven, the Holy Spirit was sent to give spiritual life to those who believe in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is here to live in us, to guide us into truth and to sanctify us as we live out our Christian lives. As we stated in our Gospel lesson last Sunday on Pentecost, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. Sanctification is the process of becoming Holy. In this process we take on the life of our Savior Christ. God the Holy Spirit empowers us to live the Christian life and to boldly proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ. What I have expressed are the basics of our faith.

While we think of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit acting independently from one another, what makes us a truly Christian Church is our embracing each of the Persons of the Godhead equally and understanding how all the Persons of the Godhead are working together for our sake.  Let me give you an example in the account of the resurrection of Christ. Who raised Christ from the dead? 

1. There are a number of passages that say it was God the Father. Here is an example from Acts 5:30.  “The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree.”

2. In the verse immediately prior to our reading from Romans Chapter 8, we hear in verse 11, “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” Here it is God the Holy Spirit who raised Christ from the dead.

3. How about this? “Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. “The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body” (John 2:19-20). The Mormons and the Jehovah’s Witnesses try and explain this verse away because it clearly shows the deity of Christ. They will say He was simply speaking in a metaphor and this should not be taken literally. OK, how about these verses from John Chapter 10 (17-18a). “Therefore, My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.” So, who raised Christ from the dead? One God acting as three Persons raised Christ from the dead.

We have three creeds in the Anglican Church. We have the Apostles Creed which we say at baptisms, the Nicene Creed which we say every Sunday and ….What is the other creed? How many here have heard of the Athanasian Creed before? How many have said the Athanasian Creed before? The creed is the summary of our belief about the Trinity (The Creed of St. Athanasius is on 769 of your prayer book). It is fitting that on Trinity Sunday we should confess the Creed of St. Athanasius. This creed actually addresses the Trinity and includes a Christology. The Athanasian Creed is usually divided into two sections: lines 1–28 address the doctrine of the Trinity, and lines 29–44 address the doctrine of Christology. The Christology of the second section is more detailed than that of the Nicene Creed and reflects the teaching of the First Council of Ephesus (431) and the definition of the Council of Chalcedon. This may be why the ACNA prayer book did not include the Christology of the Council of Chalcedon. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athanasian_Creed#CITEREFSchaff1877a

There is a filioque clause in the Westernized version of the creed which means it is rejected in this form by the Greek Orthodox Church just as the filioque is rejected in the Nicene Creed. Is doctrine important? Yes, the great schism (1053) of the church occurred over whether the Holy Spirit came only from the Father or from both the Father and the Son.  

Now, I want to offer my understanding of the Gospel lesson for today. As you follow along, note how God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are all involved in the narrative between Jesus and the Pharisee Nicodemus.

“Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.  This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him". Here we have a powerful ruler of Israel Nicodemus sneaking away from his associates to ask questions of Mary’s Son the carpenter.  Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God". What does Jesus mean by this statement? You must be reborn spiritually to understand and inhabit the Kingdom of God. In fact, if you are reborn spiritually, the Kingdom of God will inhabit you.  Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Who do you think Nicodemus was referring to here? He was referring to himself. He was asking Jesus how he could be born again. Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Many commenters say that Jesus is referring to baptism here but I do not, based on the context of the statement that followed. In other words there is a natural birth accompanied by water and there is a second birth which is spiritual. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again' the wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit" Here I believe Jesus is referring to those who are born again or as some translations have it “born from above”. They are led by God the Holy Spirit but God is sovereign and comes and goes as He pleases. He is not some genie we can summon and command to grant us a wish. 

Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" Jesus answered him, "Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. Notice Jesus uses the term “We”. I believe Jesus is referring to the witness of all three of the persons of the Trinity. It was God the Father that revealed to Peter that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God. It is God the Holy Spirit that prepares our hearts to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ.  “If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.” Here Jesus is referring to His Omnipresence as God. He is in Heaven and He is on earth. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. This is a prophesy by Jesus about His own sacrificial death on the cross using the example of Moses in the Old Testament book of Numbers. “The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.” 

 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Here is my understanding of this. I simply want to put an additional word in the statement to clarify things. “For God so loved the world, that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes THIS, will be born again into Christ and will never perish but have eternal life. If you do believe this, that God Loved the World so much that He gave His Son Jesus Christ as a sacrifice for us that we could be freed from our sins and live eternally, then you already have eternal life. If you don’t believe it but want to believe it, as you receive communion, ask Christ into your life as you receive His life. Amen

Blessing at the end of the Committal

Bishop Eric Menees

Dear brothers and sisters, I pray that this Bishop’s Note finds you safe and well this week after Pentecost! Today we will finish our study of the Pastoral Rites section of the BCP by looking at the blessing at the end of the Committal.

Then may be said Officiant        Rest eternal grant to him, O Lord; and may his soul,                         and the souls of all the faithful departed,                         through the mercy of God, rest in peace. People            And may light perpetual shine upon them. A Priest may bless the people saying The God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, the great Shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight; and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among you, and remain with you always. Amen. The Officiant may dismiss the people with these words Alleluia, alleluia. Let us go forth in the Name of Christ. People        Thanks be to God. Alleluia, alleluia.

The Committal, and the burial as a whole, ends in a very interesting way. While the service has focused on the person being buried, this closing doesn’t mention them at all. If you look closely this blessing doesn’t even mention the family and friends who mourn their loved one’s death. Rather this is a blessing for all of those who have attended the burial and it hits on one of the main reasons for the burial. Yes, in a burial we pray for the person who has died, we comfort the bereaved, but this is also a time when we should be reminded of our calling as Christians. This begins with that reminder of the resurrection, and drives it home that God make us perfect in every good work to do his will. A burial isn’t just about looking at one singular death, it’s also about asking ourselves what that death and the hope in which they’ve died means for our faith and our lives. I pray you all have a blessed Trinity Sunday!

Day Of Pentecost 2021 St. James Anglican Church

Day Of Pentecost 2021

Celebrant Bishop Eric Menees

Fr. Anthony Velez

Preacher Fr. Carlos Raines

Dcn. Anna Hearn

https://www.facebook.com/stjas.org/videos/314924133377260/?__so__=watchlist&__rv__=video_home_www_playlist_video_list

Bishop’s Note: Day of Pentecost!

Bishop Eric Menees

Dear brothers and sisters, I pray that this Bishop’s Note finds you safe and well this week after the Ascension! As we did last week, this week we will take a break from our discussion of the Burial Rite in the 2019 Book of Common Prayer so we can focus on the big feast coming up in our churches, the Day of Pentecost. This day marks a massive shift in the relationship between humanity and God. Prior to the fall humanity lived in intimacy with God. We can read about it in Genesis where Adam walks with God in the garden. After the fall the whole situation changes. There’s a distinct separation between God and man, and we try to bridge that separation by ourselves and on our own terms. It’s not about us seeing God for who he is, but us trying to drag him down to our level or worse equating him with idols. We can see that kind of behavior in the construction of the Tower of Babel and the golden calf at Sinai. If we try to bridge that gap on our own by dragging down God, it won’t go well. In Pentecost we have God himself bridging that gap. Rather than us building up to God, it’s God coming down in the person of the Holy Spirit to indwell the hearts of the faithful. In the Old Testament we hear about the Spirit being upon prophets, but never dwelling in this much more intimate way. The Day of Pentecost is a day to not only give thanks for that indwelling, for the love God has for us and his presence with us, but also to think about the role the Holy Spirit has in our lives. There are so many things like our faith and our love that people assume they’ve come to on their own when in reality they’re not capable of it without the Spirit’s presence in their lives. Pentecost is about giving the Holy Spirit credit for the work he’s done in our lives. I pray you all have a blessed Pentecost!

The Sunday After Ascension 2021 St. James Anglian Church Service

The Sunday After Ascension 2021

Celebrant Fr. Anthony Velez

Preacher Fr. Carlos Raines

https://www.stjas.org/sermons.html

Bishop’s Note: Ascension Day!

Bishop Eric Menees Dear brothers and sisters, I pray that this Bishop’s Note finds you safe and well this Ascension Day! Because this is one of the principal feasts in our church calendar we’ll take a break from looking at the burial rite and talk about why we have this day in our calendar. When we look at our church calendar, not all days are created equal. The main groupings of days are principal feasts, Sundays, holy days, and commemorations. Sundays are of course the principal day of Christian worship, commemorations are days where the church remembers certain heroes of the faith, and holy days are where we remember certain biblical events and biblical figures. Principal feasts are the main feast days of the church and take precedence over everything else. The main principal feasts people are aware of are Easter and Christmas, but Ascension, Epiphany, Pentecost, All Saints, and Trinity Sunday are all principal feasts. We might not think of the Ascension as an important enough event to warrant such a big day, but it is. This is the day Jesus Christ ascended to take his seat at the right hand of the Father. Unfortunately, because the Ascension happened 40 days after the resurrection, Ascension Day always occurs on a Thursday. This has led to it not being as widely known or celebrated, but it should be. Jesus’ ascension means that we have an intercessor in heaven in a place of power. We’re not just struggling on our own with a God far away who never hears from us, we have Jesus Christ, who knows and loves us, interceding on our behalf with his Father. The Ascension led to a huge shift in our relationship with God, one that should cause us to take pause, contemplate, and give thanks, exactly why we should celebrate this day each year. I hope you all have a blessed Ascension Day!

Mark 16:9 Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. 10 She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept. 11 But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it. 12 After these things he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. 13 And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them. 14 Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. 15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: bin my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” 19 So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. 20 And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.

Easter 6B 2021 St. James Anglican Church Service

Easter 6B 2021

Celebrant Fr. Anthony Velez

Preacher Fr. Carlos Raines

https://www.stjas.org/sermons.html

Bishop’s Note: The Prayer of Committal

Bishop Eric Menees

Dear brothers and sisters, I pray that this Bishop’s Note finds you safe and well this fifth week of Eastertide! This week we continue our discussion of the Burial Rite in the 2019 Book of Common Prayer. As we did last week, today we will continue to look at the Committal, this time focusing on the prayer of committal itself. Committal is the term for this section of the service, and what it means is entrusting or handing over. It’s not that a person is being committed to a grave, but committed to God, in a similar way that someone living may be entrusted or committed to a hospital or someone’s care.  In a very lovely way, this can be seen as the extension of the committal in baptism. When a child or person of any age is baptized they are being placed into God’s loving hands to guide, guard, and care for during this life. The prayer of committal is extending that care into the next.  This prayer is in a way the heart of this part of the service because it’s a prayer of committal, of entrusting. As we pray, “committing our brother N. to your gracious keeping.” This is a hugely important part of the service not just being able to pray for your loved one, but so those still alive on Earth can be reminded that their loved one is entrusted to God. As I heard a priest say before, “the souls of the dead are entrusted to God, and there’s nowhere better we can hope for them to be.” I hope you all have a blessed Sixth Sunday of Easter and Feast of the Ascension!

Almighty God, with whom do live the spirits of those who depart in the Lord, and with whom the souls of the faithful are in joy and felicity: We praise and magnify your holy Name for all your servants who have finished their course and kept the faith; and committing our brother N. to your gracious keeping, we pray that, together with him and with all those who are departed in the true faith of your holy Name, we may have our perfect consummation and bliss, both in body and soul, in your eternal and everlasting glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Easter 5B 2021 St. James Anglican Church Service

Easter 5B 2021

Celebrant Fr. Anthony Velez

Preacher Fr. Dale Matson

Deacon Anna Hearn

https://www.stjas.org/sermons.html

Easter 5 Year B 2021

Fr. Dale Matson

A Still Small Voice, Miracles And The Struggles Of Daily Life

I want to begin by backing up a few weeks to comment on Beth Conkle’s homily for Maundy Thursday. She rightly noted that on Maundy Thursday, Christ instituted the Last Supper. It was the first Eucharist. As she was talking the Lord revealed to me that the Eucharist is also the greatest multiplication miracle. In the New Testament there are two separate multiplication miracles. The feeding of the five thousand and the feeding of the four thousand. There are also three multiplication miracles in the Old Testament. Elisha fed 100 men with 20 loaves of bread and some corn. (2 Kings 4:42-44). Elisha also saved a women’s sons from slavery to a debtor by multiplying a little oil into vast amounts. (2 Kings 4:1-7) and Elijah asked a woman who had a little flour and some oil to make a cake. God said, “For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD gives rain on the land.’” 1 Kings 17:8-17.

Now think about the Last Supper which is really the first Eucharist. Christ’s body and blood, the food of immortality, has been shared for over two thousand years and is still being shared today. That brothers and sisters is the greatest multiplication miracle by far. The bread of life is inexhaustible.  

In our Gospel lesson, Jesus is talking about the Holy Spirit who indwells all Christians not just His apostles. Think a second about the actions of the Holy Spirit. He is One who reminds, He is a Teacher and He is a Comforter and He is a Helper. 

He was a helper last Monday. I was on my way to visit with and commune Arlynne. I had an object in my left rear tire sidewall that caused a blowout. With God’s help, the instruction manual and 45 minutes, I was able to remove the spare tire from underneath my Yukon. It requires a key and the jack handle to lower the spare. As soon as I had the spare ready, the road service person arrived to replace my flat tire with the spare. Lifting a 275/55R/20 tire is not generally thought of as a normal requirement of our ADL’s (activities of daily living). I called Sharon and asked her to call the house where Arlynne stays and tell them I would not be able to make it. I did make it on Wednesday however. There is a 15-minute visitation rule, however.

And speaking of miracles, in our lesson from Acts, after the eunuch was baptized, “the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. Philip, however, appeared at Azotus. it is definitely an instance of miraculous teleportation. The Spirit transported Philip from a wilderness between Jerusalem and Gaza to a city about thirty miles away.

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.  Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.  In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” How do we tune in to the Holy Spirit? How do we get on His wavelength? 

“And he said, ‘Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD.’ And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.” (1 Kings 19:11-12 KJV).

In this passage the Prophet Elijah finally understood that God can be found in the “still small voice” (“gentle whisper” NIV). Certainly God communicates with us through Holy Scripture. He also communicates through His Sacraments, circumstances and through a word from our Christian brothers and sisters. And men, especially from our wives! In all these ways God leads us in our daily life. I once had a student who said about herself in all humility, “I have always been blessed to hear the voice of Jesus.” I understood her perfectly and hope you do too.

This voice is not the auditory persecutions experienced by psychotics. A clinically depressed person may believe that the voice telling them that they are no good is from God. Well, it is not from God.  The Holy Spirit’s voice is instructive. It is a Teaching voice. It is not the condemning conscience energized by the law written on our hearts. “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1). The voice is Comforting. The voice is not one of self-criticism. How many have you made a mistake and immediately say something like, “You jerk, what were you thinking?” That is not God. That is what I would call the voice of our critical parent. Has a parent ever talked that way to you?  The voice is a Counselor. The voice is not any louder than our own thoughts as God the Holy Spirit speaks to us. God is not in the earthquake. He is in scores of little things in our daily life. As the children’s song states, “He walks with me and He talks with me and He tells me I am His own.”

God so often puts a wife, a husband or friend around us as a helpmate. Like the Holy Spirit, we too often miss or dismiss what they have to say because of pride or stubbornness. Most people are offering a consultation not a criticism so don’t take it personally. It has been jokingly stated that a consultant is someone who borrows your watch and tells you what time it is. The Holy Spirit is a consultant Whose advice you ignore at your own peril. 

He is the voice of the teacher, the counselor and the comforter neatly woven into our thoughts yet we are able to distinguish His voice from our own thoughts. He also is the voice of a spouse, a brother or sister, a friend, a non-Christian or even an enemy. How many times did God use the enemies of the Israelites to bring them back to Him. With Elijah, God was not in the wind, earthquake and fire. Monks and Mystics seek silence and solitude to hear the voice of God yet ordinary Christians are blessed to hear God every day. Yes, God also speaks to us through others, even those who persecute us. The indwelling Holy Spirit is a sign and a seal.  “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.” The Holy Spirit is more than a lifetime warranty. He is an eternal warranty alleluia! As a 76-year-old, a lifetime warranty to me means less than it does to you. 

Don’t you do the same thing? Something happens with our health and we immediately think the worst. We “Awfulize”. Satan, the author of “Survivor Guilt”, immediately steps in and says, “Why should you live any longer” Aren’t you already older than half of those folks you read about in the obituaries? Never look for an encouraging word from the evil one, the accuser of the brethren.             

 How fitting is it then for St. Paul to say that those who are led by the Spirit are not under the Law. (Galatians 5:18) Does this mean that we are no longer bound by the Law? No, it means that when we are led by the Spirit of God, we will also honor the Law. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” (Romans 8:14). The more the world becomes a confusing and crazy place to exist, the more I appreciate the Ten Commandments. There is certain clarity about them. The commandments are to behavior what sea level is to the surveyor.

St. Paul uses the Phrase, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. It is also a peace with God and our own conscience. The peace the world gives is transitory. We strive for peace in our lives. How do we do this? Much of what we do in life is intended to provide security isn’t it? We lock our doors. We work toward being debt free. We guard our health. We have insurance plans for our life, home and automobile. We have extra food on hand.

So much of our efforts are aimed at avoiding problems and in our human frailty, we often create more problems. We once pulled a dead tree down that was lying against another tree and a piece of the tree landed on our fence and smashed it to the ground. Needless to say that created an even bigger project to repair the fence. I’ll bet you have experienced this too.  And yet, and yet again, like clearing weeds, tree limbs and brush, there is no lasting peace that we can provide through increased security. Much of our perceived threat is out of our control. We cannot protect against things outside the security cocoon we build around ourselves. It makes us anxious much of the time. There are so many things that impact us that we have no control over like terrorism and Wall Street and Cancer and car crashes and aging. 

Changes in marriage, social isolation, and family roles will continue into the next generation. Folks had great expectations for how their lives would turn out but it hasn’t panned out. I also think there is a great deal of moral ambiguity and confusion. Never forget this. The church will always be counter culture. We are called haters and bigots and we are not. It is not a right to free speech that we claim. It is a prophetic voice we cannot and should not keep silent. A life led for Christ is an affront to those living licentious lives.

 As St. Paul inspired by the Holy Spirit has told us, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21). We live in anxious times. So what is the release from this prison of anxiety for the Christian? It is the decision to die to self and live for Christ, for He is our authentic self. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit. If I have failed over and over as a Christian it is disregarding the good council of the Holy Spirit. I too easily tune into my anxieties and fears and allow them to drown out the still small voice of God.

As Christians, we have the Holy Spirit. He is our counselor and advocate. We have a conscience cleansed by the blood of Christ and forgiveness of our sins. We have hope. We are headed toward eternal life. We cannot convince the pagans around us to reform themselves because their minds are darkened by sin. We can however live a redeemed life, be a beacon of light to those who are perishing; to those who no longer have boundaries. “… but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.” (1 Peter 3:15) Amen.