Bishop’s Note – The Declaration of Consent

Bishop Eric Menees

Greetings to you my brothers and sisters of the Diocese of San Joaquin. I pray that you all had a very blessed Trinity Sunday, even if it meant our worshiping via a virtual platform. Last week we continued on with our examination of the 2019 BCP Rite of Holy Matrimony looking at the charge from the celebrant to the couple, requiring them to confess, and thus stop the service, if they know any reason why they cannot be married in accordance with God’s Word. This week we examine what immediately follows the charge…the Declaration of Consent.

The Officiant says to the Man N., will you have this woman to be your wife; to live together out of reverence for Christ in the covenant of Holy Matrimony? Will you love her, honor her, comfort and keep her, in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, be faithful to her as long as you both shall live? The Man answers I will. The Officiant says to the Woman N., will you have this man to be your husband; to live together out of reverence for Christ in the covenant of Holy Matrimony? Will you honor him, love him, comfort and keep him, in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, be faithful to him as long as you both shall live? The Woman answers I will. The Officiant then addresses the Congregation, saying Will all of you witnessing these promises do all in your power to uphold this man and this woman in their marriage? People We will.

Our marriage service has its roots in the first century and before. This portion, known as the Declaration of Consent, dates back to the betrothal ceremony where the families would bring the couple together, sometimes for the first time, and the couple would promise to be faithful during the betrothal period while they prepared, spiritually, emotionally and financially, for marriage. Note that these are promises before the Lord, the betrothed, their families, and the community.  With the 1662 BCP the two services were merged into one and the betrothal was marked by the publishing of the Bans of Marriage which I addressed a few weeks back.             One of the first things to notice is an addition made into the 2019 BCP, when the officiant asks each of them if they will “live together out of reverence for Christ in the covenant of Holy Matrimony.” Until 1979, the couple was asked to “live together after God’s ordinance in the holy estate of Matrimony.” The 1979 BCP removed God from this section by substituting “to live together in the covenant of marriage.” Not only did the 1979 BCP remove a reference to the covenant being God’s, they removed a reference to marriage being holy. This ties into what I shared in previous weeks about how marriage has come to be seen by many, not as an institution of God but as something man-made that can be changed by society. The 2019 BCP aligns with the earlier traditions and puts God back into center of marriage with the clear understanding that the relationship of husband and wife reflects the relationship of Christ and His Church. The marriage relationship is a covenantal relationship that St. Augustine described as a triangle with God at the pinnacle and the husband and wife at either corner. In order for the couple to come closer to one another they need to come closer to God. The language of the Declaration of Consent is beautiful and upholds the values so often forgotten in modern society. Rather than thinking in terms of me and mine a Christian Marriage is dedicated to seeking the good of one’s spouse prior to their own.  The values of honoring, loving, and comforting the other under all circumstances are a vital foundation to Christian Marriage.  These values turned to actions reflect Christ’s love and cannot be maintained without the help of Christ Himself and the community that surrounds them.  It is for this reason that the community gathered is asked for their public promise before God to support the couple in their marriage. I pray you all every blessing this week.

St. James Anglican Church Trinity Sunday Year A 2020

Fr. Dale Matson
The video of the sermon is here.
https://www.stjas.org/sermons.html

Homily for Trinity Sunday Year A 2020

Fr. Dale Matson

Let us begin with a prayer from our prayer book.

            Most loving Father, you will us to give thanks for all things, to dread nothing but the loss of you, and to cast all our care on the One who cares for us. Preserve us from faithless fears and worldly anxieties, and grant that no clouds of this mortal life may hide from us the light of that love which is immortal, and which you have manifested unto us in your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

            I want to begin with some comments about the current situation and then get into Trinity Sunday observations.

            My Garmin sport watch has a feature called “Body Battery”. It has a reading from 1-100. I think it does a good job of telling me when I have over exercised or been too stressed or I didn’t get enough sleep. Lately, I have begun my days with a score below 50. This is indicative of not just my overactive life, it is also a measure of my stress. Much of my activity is for dealing with stress. It seemed for me just as I was beginning to deal with the Covid 19 lock down and the easing of the restrictions, we were hit with the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers. His death was an event that shook the nation. Unfortunately, the civil protests were followed by rioting, looting and fires. Mr. Floyd’s family has called for peace. There will be justice.

            This is deja vu for me. I remember well the riots in 1967 that spread to 130 U.S. cities. I came home on leave from the army and found that Detroit was on fire and under martial law. Over 2,000 buildings were burned to the ground, a thousand people were injured and 44 people were killed. President Lyndon Johnson sent in units of the 92^nd and 101^st airborne divisions to put down the riots which lasted five days. This was the beginning of the end of the 5^th largest city in the U.S. which is now about the population of Fresno.

All of this was during the backdrop of the Vietnam War. It was an unpopular war and young people were demonstrating everywhere. Being seen on the streets in uniform was an invitation to abuse. When I was 22 I was bothered by this but not distressed. So, you had a powder keg setting with the civil unrest of the Viet Nam war and then the match was struck with the riots. It ended LBJs presidential ambitions for another term as president. He chose not to run.

I believe the Covid 19 shut down was a similar preliminary problem to the Viet Nam war. People were already upset and had been demonstrating against the shutdown. With the U.S. population being cooped up for 3 months, was the seedbed. This was the powder keg that set the stage for the demonstrations and rioting following the death of George Floyd. It was once again a perfect storm.

While I was resilient when I was 22, today I am distressed. I think the words fragile and elderly go together. I cannot begin to imagine the stress some of our parishioners are under who are in poor health and living alone. But this is taking a toll on all of us. Stress damages the immune system. Many folks will die younger because of the stress of these two events so close together. But, I want to say to all of you, pray, pray and pray some more. I understand what you are experiencing because I am going through this too.

   

            The title of my homily today is:

God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit

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 it 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. 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. 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, the Nicene Creed 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.  Before I get to our Epistle Lesson today I want to take you to Page 769 of your ACNA prayer book for those of you who have one, please follow along as I read the Athanasian Creed. It is fitting that on Trinity Sunday we should examine aspects of the Creed.

            “…That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one, the Glory equal, the Majesty co-eternal.”

“…So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God. And yet they are not three Gods, but one God. And in this Trinity, none is afore, or after other; none is greater, or less than another; But the whole three Persons are co-eternal together and co-equal.

Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believe rightly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. For the right Faith is, that we believe and confess, that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man; God, of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and Man, of the Substance of his Mother, born in the world;Perfect God and perfect Man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting.

At this point in the Athanasian Creed, it becomes similar to the Nicene Creed. And fleshes out a similar Christology.

“For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and Man is one Christ;

Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead. He ascended into heaven; he sits at the right hand of the Father, God Almighty, from Whom He will come to judge the quick and the dead. At whose coming all men will rise again with their bodies and shall give account for their own works. And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting; and they that have done evil into everlasting fire. This is the Catholic Faith, which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved.”

            In our Epistle lesson the Apostle Paul concludes and includes the Trinity with this. “11 Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. 12 Greet one another with a holy kiss. 13 All the saints greet you. 14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

            My final prayer is also from our prayer book.

“O God the Holy Spirit, Sanctifier of the faithful: Sanctify this Congregation by your abiding presence. Bless those who minister in holy things. Enlighten the minds of your people more and more with the light of the everlasting Gospel. Bring erring souls to the knowledge of our Savior Jesus Christ; and those who are walking in the way of life, keep steadfast to the end. Give patience to the sick and afflicted, and renew them in body and soul. Guard those who are strong and prosperous from forgetting you. Increase in us your many gifts of grace, and make us all fruitful in good works. This we ask, O blessed Spirit, whom with the Father and the Son we worship and glorify, one God, world without end.  Amen.”

Bishop’s Note – The Charge

Bishop Eric Menees

Greetings to you my brothers and sisters of the Diocese of San Joaquin. I pray that you all had a blessed Day of Pentecost, even if it meant our worshiping via a virtual platform. The last two weeks we’ve taken a break from our discussion of the pastoral Rite of Holy Matrimony to focus on the collects for the Feast of the Ascension and the Day of Pentecost, but this week I’m pleased to continue on with our examination of the 2019 BCP Rite of Holy Matrimony. Some might ask, given the high tension and anxiety surging around us this past ten days or so, why not address racism, riots, etc. in this Bishop’s Note? The answer is because the greatest gift that the church offers society is a strong family founded on the love of Jesus Christ. Holy Matrimony, the joining of a man and woman as one, forms the basis of each family, and our families are the cornerstone of society and the nucleus of civilization. We may have immediate and pressing concerns in society, but if we want a society that’s stronger and more cohesive, improving marriages is a huge part of the solution. So today, we continue with our examination of the Rite of Holy Matrimony by looking at the charge given by the officiant. In the service with the congregation gathered together, the celebrant has laid out the theological and scriptural foundations for marriage.  The celebrant then asks the congregation if anyone knows of any reason why the couple should not be married according to God’s Word, and if so they should speak up or forever hold their peace.  The celebrant then turns to the couple about to be married and says:

The Officiant then continues, saying to the persons to be married I require and charge you both, in the Name of God, from whom no secrets are hid, that if either of you know any impediment why you may not be married rightly, you do now confess it; being assured that those who are joined contrary to God’s Word are not truly united in Holy Matrimony.

This charge isn’t a charge in the sense of an accusation or admonishment, but a charge in the sense of a spiritual exhortation. In the same sense that Baptism and the Eucharist as sacraments need to be approached both in a sense of faith and repentance, so too does Holy Matrimony. This charge begins with that recognition of God’s role, and then it continues with the officiant charging the couple to publicly confess if they know of an impediment to their being married. This is a confession to God but in front of the congregation and their fiancée. This serves as a reminder, for the couple and the congregation, that marriage should be entered into without trying to hide anything. As it says, no secrets are, or can be,  hidden from God. Like so much we’ve already covered in Holy Matrimony, this is a change from the 1979 BCP. The 1979 only charged the couple to confess so that they could enter into marriage lawfully, whereas this speaks to God withholding that union if they’re joined contrary to God’s Word. Holy Matrimony isn’t simply a legal relationship outlined by man that people sign up for. Holy Matrimony is a sacrament of the Church where a man and woman are made one by God. Each person is answerable to their spouse but they’re also ultimately responsible to God, the one who joins their union. Therefore, this is a reminder for the couple that they are accountable to each other and that keeping of secrets, other than a birthday gift etc., is dangerous to the relationship. Each person should both confess their sins regularly to God, and share and confess to their spouse the wrongs they’ve done them. For all of those reading this Bishop’s Note I encourage you to turn to God regularly in repentance and confess your sins, knowing that no secrets are hid from him. For those of you who are married, I encourage you additionally to turn to your spouse and communicate with them, making sure you don’t keep any secrets from them. If you find yourself keeping a secret from your spouse ask yourself, “Why?” “What is it I need to change so that I can be transparent before my beloved?” For those of you who are single, and called to marriage, my prayer is that you find the person God has called to be your spouse and that you truly may live happily ever after. I pray you all a very blessed, healthy and safe week.

St James Anglican Church Pentecost and Ordination of a Deacon

Feast of Pentecost
Ordination of Anthony Velez to the Diaconate
Preacher Fr. Carlos Raines
Celebrant Bishop Eric Menees
https://www.stjas.org/sermons.html

Bishop’s Note: The Feast of Pentecost

Bishop Eric Menees

I pray that your Ascensiontide (The time between the Feast of the Ascension and the Feast of Pentecost) has been blessed. Last week, because of Ascension, we took a break from our study of Holy Matrimony in the Book of Common Prayer and looked at the collect for the Feast of the Ascension. The Ascension is, of course, the commemoration of Jesus Christ ascending to be at the right hand of the Father. Some people have called this “a little Advent”, because in the same way our Advent is spent awaiting the coming of Christ, the original Ascensiontide was spent waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit. For that reason, I thought it would be good to continue this break one week more and talk about the Feast of Pentecost as seen through the collect for Pentecost.

Almighty God, on this day, through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, you revealed the way of   eternal life to every race and nation: Pour out this gift anew, that by the preaching of the Gospel your salvation may reach to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

What we celebrate on the Day of Pentecost is an event in history only surpassed by Christ’s birth, death, and resurrection. In Christ, God became man and dwelt among us, but on Pentecost, with the Holy Spirit coming down on His church, God has come to dwell in and among us. Throughout human history after the fall, humanity has been separated from God. We were created for intimacy with him, but we instead redirect ourselves towards the things of the world, things that won’t ultimately give us joy or fulfillment. Saint Augustine described this by saying of God, “our hearts are restless until they rest in you,” and CS Lewis summed it up by saying each of us has a “God-shaped hole in our hearts.” Through God the Holy Spirit we are invited into a special intimacy with God again. Not only having a relationship with God made man, Jesus, but a relationship that hits us at the core of who we are. On that first Pentecost God revealed to us the way of eternal life because he placed “the Lord the giver of life” in our hearts. This collect begins by recognizing all the above but it doesn’t end there. In it we ask God to “pour out this gift anew.” That’s not us asking to receive the Holy Spirit, which we received in baptism, it’s us asking God to pour out the Holy Spirit on those who haven’t received Him, that “your salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” We’ve been given the gift of the Holy Spirit in our lives, that holy flame, and we should pass it on, not worshiping the ashes but spreading the fire. I hope that this time after Pentecost is a time for you to contemplate the Holy Spirit’s role in your life, not only in thanking God for his presence with and in you, but also asking God the Holy Spirit how He wants to involve you in his plan for his salvation to reach the ends of the earth. I pray you all have a blessed Pentecost!

St. James Anglian Church Service Easter 7A

https://www.stjas.org/sermons.html
Father Carlos Raines Preacher