Reformed Evangelical Synod of America

Archive for November, 2009

Andrew was Peter’s brother, and was called with him. John the Evangelist presents Andrew as a disciple of John the Baptist. Little else is said about Andrew in the Gospels. Before the multiplication of the loaves, it was Andrew who spoke up about the boy who had the loaves and fishes. When the Gentiles went to see Jesus, they came to Philip, but Philip then had recourse to Andrew. Legend has it that Andrew preached in what is now Greece and Turkey and was crucified at Patras.

COLLECT
Almighty God, you gave such grace to your apostle Andrew that he readily obeyed the call of your Son, and brought his brother with him. Give us, who are called by your holy Word, grace to follow him without delay, and to bring those near to us into the gracious presence of Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

READINGS
Ezekiel 3: 16-21
Psalm 19a
Romans 10: 10-18
John 1: 35-42

East Face - Cross of Muiredach

Scripture Texts:

Daniel 12:1-3
Psalm 16
Hebrews 10: 11-25
Mark 13:1-13

O Come, O Come Emmanuel!  Ransom – or liberate – captive Israel!  We’ve sung this song for years during Advent.  It is the mournful song of a people needing divine deliverance. But what is the liberation these people seek? What is the “big deal”?

What turns a man so zealous for Judaism that he would kill and imprison anyone who called Jesus the “Messiah” into someone who risks his life time and again and suffers beatings, whippings, starvation, and imprisonment to proclaim this same Messiah Jesus of Nazareth?

What is such Good News that overcomes our own desire to seek our own well being and seek the glory of Jesus Christ? Why do we build our lives and our calendars around the coming of Christ? It pays to know… you and I will face the Day of Judgment together and its outcome will depend on whether we have entrusted ourselves to this same Messiah! It pays to know what it’s all about! Perhaps it will even inspire you and I to give ourselves entirely to Jesus Christ in gratitude for His Mercy! Wouldn’t that be amazing!

But Paul sees Jesus Christ as not just a wandering prophet from Galilee, not just as an enlightened Teacher or even a Prophet as Islam wants to say.

No Paul sees in Jesus God in the flesh, the fullness of God in human form (Col 2:9). Jesus is the One in whom all God’s promises for Israel and the world are coming true as guaranteed by Jesus’ Resurrection (2 Cor 1:20; Rom 1:3,4)

Consider the scriptures  we have read today in this light –

The prophet Daniel foretold a day of resurrection when some will rise to eternal joy and others to eternal shame. This word of prophecy came to a people enslaved… they had fallen under Gods’ Curse and send from their “Promised Land” as Deuteronomy 28 had warned them.

How can a people who were once blessed, people who received the Word of God , and now a people who were condemned to slavery and whose history is one fall from grace after another ever hope to rise to eternal joy?

It seemed as if God had given Israel a second chance – the nation was set free from exile – the Temple had been rebuilt and the sacrifices had returned to the Temple!

But something was missing.

There was still no real hope.

As Jesus walks that land, outwardly the people are blessed, but inwardly they are a people filled with hypocrisy, plagued by demons, and sick with sin.  The never ending stream of blood from the sacrifices may have made people technically “clean” to enter the Temple, but inwardly the pollution of sin remained untouched, uncleansed, not only under bondage to  the Romans, but in a spiritual bondage and slavery.

Jesus tells his disciples in Mark 13, that judgement is coming again. The Temple they consider as eternal as the world itself will be torn down to the ground (John 2:19-22). God’s true Temple – the Resurrected Christ – will become the focus of those who worship the God of the Bible “in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23). Their hopes will be directed to Jesus not to the Temple.

In Jesus, the liberation that set sinners free, that cast out demons, that forgave sins, is now sealed once and for all by our Lord’s death and resurrection. In that act, Jesus seals the salvation of His people and as the judgment He promises Jerusalem comes – He encourages them to keep trusting, those who persevere to the end shall be saved.

As Hebrews says:

Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. There he waits until his enemies are humbled and made a footstool under his feet. For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy.

And the Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so. For he says,

“This is the new covenant I will make

with my people on that day, says the Lord:

I will put my laws in their hearts,

and I will write them on their minds.”

Then he says,

“I will never again remember

their sins and lawless deeds.”

And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices.

And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.

This is what St. Paul was willing to die for! Because in meeting the Resurrected Jesus on the Damascus Road it was evident God’s promises really were coming true in Jesus.

Suddenly God’s covenant promises in the past from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob had taken on a reality in the Risen Jesus that made all the other promises of God an inevitable certainty because death itself had been conquered in Jesus Resurrection!

Our inability to find peace with God while locked in our own sins and incapable of living by God’s Law in our own strength are finally no longer a threat to you and a threat to me because the One who HAS been faithful to God in all things has become the mercy seat, the location of God’s forgiveness infallibly achieved, for all the world who come to Him in faith!

Yes, Paul saw, Christ was the goal for which those who lived under the Law yearned! He is the One whose saving crucifixion and death defying resurrection now brings every good and perfect gift promised by God and makes it available to all who entrust themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ!

Even more- the power of death is broken and Jesus  in His ascension is reigning and He is delivering His trusting, dependent people safe to the end.

Because the promises of God have been secured, because sin’s power, pollution, and penalty are conquered in Christ for all who entrust themselves to Him, because the alienation caused by sin between Jew and Gentile can finally be healed, because all humankind can, in Christ, be transformed, there is hope for all the world… a hope for peace in Christ before the Inheriting King comes in judgment not only in Jerusalem in AD 70  but in all the world at His Second Coming (Acts 17:30-31).

Because this is true, because it is such Good News, the Apostles and Martyrs declared it without regard for their safety.  On the Celtic Cross of Muiredach,  Christ as standing as He was in Stephen’s vision (Acts 7) because they considered themselves ALL MARTYRS, to the cause of Christ in one way or another, whether the red martyrdom of those who shed their blood, or the white martyrdom of those who daily offered themselves as living sacrifices unto God (Romans 12:1,2).

When we finally understand why the Good News is called the Good News, we are free to risk trusting Jesus Christ with our lives! We can trust Him and give our lives to him because  He is the one who has conquered death and will conquer all our enemies, even death itself! While we fear giving our lives up to His Lordship,  it’s His resurrection, His forgiveness, His promise of eternal salvation that enables us to finally be free to serve Him in joy and gratitude.

What is the least that we can do in light of this Good News? The author of the Book of Hebrews has no problems speaking to people who risked becoming outcasts in their own communities – Jews living in pagan environments whose only economic lifeline is the local synagogue – and tells them this:

Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

In light of Jesus’ coming, the people who cried O Come, O Come Emmanuel found the One who finally set them free to hope in God  and free to live as God’s Children by Divine Adoption (John 1:12-13;Gal 4:4-7).

His Coming guaranteed that the covenant keeping God had drawn near in His grace…but not just for His ancient people Israel but for all who would draw near to God through Him!

What does the coming of Christ into the world mean to you? Why was it important?

Most importantly, how is the Christ who fulfilled the Law of God and who fulfills all the promises of God the answer to your deepest longings?

The First Thanksgiving

Another Thanksgiving Day has been celebrated and, overall, we have focused on how much we have and what we are thankful for. As one of America’s leading theologians and pastors, Jonathan Edwards’ Thanksgiving Day sermon in 1739 focused on what we should give in light of what Jesus Christ has given us.

His scripture text for that day was Luke 8:2-3 (ESV):

and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means.

Usually we don’t hear Thanksgiving Day sermons about demons or demon possessed people! Anything to interrupt our self-absorption is not too popular. The only things we want to contemplate on such a day are food, football, and the Black Friday bargains we hope to gain. Though the day is one designed to evoke thanksgiving to God, it is usually just a day about feeling satisfied in our own accomplishments and position in the world (see what Jesus said about that in Luke 12:16-21).

Edwards’ point is that Thanksgiving Day must move our focus beyond ourselves – as if we have “arrived”! – to the gifts of Jesus Christ to us, and how we ought to respond in gratitude for His gifts.

Perhaps we shouldn’t ask “Did you have a Happy Thanksgiving?” Perhaps we should be asking “How did your Thanksgiving to Jesus Christ overflow to serve Him and those He has called us to reach in His Name?”

You can read more about Edwards’ sermon here.

Edwards’ Sermon notes for this Thanksgiving Sermon at Yale

Catherine converted to Christianity after receiving a vision. At the age of 18, she debated 50 pagan philosophers who, amazed by her wisdom, became Christians—as did about 200 soldiers and members of the emperor’s family. All of them were martyred. Sentenced to be executed on a spiked wheel, Catherine touched the wheel and it shattered. She was eventually beheaded.

COLLECT
Almighty and everlasting God, fill us with the gift of your Holy Spirit, that we may always present to those we meet the reason for our hope, that following in the footsteps of Catherine of Alexandria, we may bring others to the saving knowledge of your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Little is known of the life of Clement, who was the fourth bishop of Rome. Irenaeus reports that he “had seen and consorted with the blessed apostles.” He is famous for a letter he sent as head of the Roman Church to the Church of Corinth when some there had went into revolt against their leadership. The letter was a model of pastoral concern, was well received by both parties to the Corinthian dispute, and was read in their assemblies for many years. He died as a martyr around the year 100 AD, being cast into the sea with an anchor tied to his neck.

COLLECT
Almighty God, you chose your servant Clement of Rome to recall the Church in Corinth to obedience and stability. Grant that your Church may be grounded and settled in your truth by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit; reveal to it what is not yet known; fill up what is lacking; confirm what has already been revealed; and keep it blameless in your service. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Cecilia was a young Christian of high rank betrothed to a Roman named Valerian. Through her influence Valerian was converted, and was martyred along with his brother. The legend about Cecilia’s death says that after being struck three times on the neck with a sword, she lived for three days, and asked the bishop to convert her home into a church.

COLLECT
Almighty God, your servant Cecilia bore witness to you to her intended, and, with him and his brother, you gave her grace to stand firm in her faith even unto death. Grant us, like her, the courage to remain true to you in spite of every assault of the enemy. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Philemon was a prominent first-century Christian who owned a slave named Onesimus. Although the name “Onesimus” means “useful,” Onesimus proved himself “useless” when he ran away from his master and stole from him. Somehow Onesimus came into contact with the apostle Paul while the latter was in prison, and through Paul’s proclamation of the Gospel he became a Christian. After confessing that he was a runaway slave, he was directed to return to his master and become “useful” again. In order to help pave the way for Onesimus’ peaceful return home, Paul sent him on his way with a letter in which he urged Philemon to forgive his slave for having run away and “to receive him as you would receive me”.

COLLECT
Gracious heavenly Father, you sent Onesimus back to Philemon as a brother, freeing him from his slavery to sin through the Gospel of the Lord. Cleanse the depths of sin within our souls, cause all resentments to cease within us, and reconcile us with our brothers and sisters in fellowship and peace. We ask this through Jesus Christ your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.. Amen.

READINGS
Genesis 50: 15-21
Psalm 103
Philemon 1-25
Matthew 16: 24-28

Today a group of prominent Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant leaders took the microphone at the National Press Club to discuss the unveiling of “The Manhattan Declaration”, a document outlining the commitment of many Christian believers in America to the notions of the sanctify of life, family, and faith which are under attack from various circles.

With the United States Senate set to take up debate on the hotly contested topic of health care reform, the Manhattan Declaration comes at an opportune time to remind legislators and citizens alike that many Christian believers cannot conscience what the United States is becoming.

The Declaration itself, which is available online, is a relatively succinct and eminently cogent manifest of conservative Christian beliefs; one that is sure to draw instant criticism from the leaders of the political and cultural institutions of the country and, sadly, from other Christian leaders as well.

In its two-thousand year history, Christianity has been its most faithful when faced with secular opposition, and the contemporary era gives no less of an opportunity for believers to stand up for the teachings of the Scripture with confidence and joy. Unfortunately, much of the Church in North America has sold itself out to “social justice”, so-called, at the expense of what is supposed to be her first love, the truth as revealed in Jesus Christ.

When the Church turns its back from the defense of life, endorses unbiblical concepts as ‘enlightened’ progress, and conforms herself more to society at large than to Christ, she, in effect, abandons the faith once delivered and surrenders herself into the ready embrace of the Antichrist. All too often, such ecclesiastical bodies become almost indistinguishable from the society surrounding them, and, in the process, subverts the Gospel, reducing it to a ‘lowest common denominator’ belief system or, more accurately, a form of humanism with an object of affection.

Christianity, while always seeking for reconciliation, compassion, and love among all peoples, is also a religion that teaches (and has taught for two-thousand years) in accordance with a high moral and ethical code, one that is rooted in recognizing that human beings are fallen, sinful creatures whose very reason has been corrupted as a result of our own perverse selfishness. Freedom thus means, for the believer, a deliverance from that corruption in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Christ’s redemptive act and His transforming power alone are the only true basis upon which humane society can even be envisioned, let alone implemented.

While civil government has its place, the civil governments of North America (as well as other parts of the world) have taken steps to marginalize those who hold to the central moral and ethical teachings of the Scriptures; steps which then trample on the rights and freedoms of individual believers and upon religious assemblies.

As committed Christian believers who recognize the calling of the Scripture as witnessed through countless generations of the faithful, the Reformed Evangelical Synod of America must speak out against the continued erosion of the fundamental right to life, which has been so seriously eroded away by the blight of Abortion… and which stands to be further minimized by the continued policies of the civil government which allow for and even encourage (fiscally) the destruction of human life. We cannot remain silent about God’s plan for the family, which forms our opposition to any and all personal relationships which are not in keeping with the Word of God, nor can we remain silent about the very real threats to men and women of conscience to speak their minds freely based on their faith without being accused of promoting hatred and facing civil, revenue, or criminal penalties for exercising not simply their right to free speech, but their God given responsibility to speak out on behalf of the truth.

It is with great confidence and solemnity that the ministers and members of the Reformed Evangelical Synod of America join those who endorse “The Manhattan Declaration”, and affirms her commitment to preach the truth about God’s plan for his people, regardless of the cost.

This headline has been in the making for years, like a movie star’s obituary awaiting the breaking news of an expected, but suddenly swift demise: New Lutheran body to form after gay pastor vote

Faithful Lutherans within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America who had remained in hopes of a turn around have encountered the proverbial straw that promises to break the “camel’s back”. They can no longer let their patience accommodate this new perversity. Yet leaving is not as easy as outsiders think it might be as others within the mainline have found. Lutherans in the ELCA have an irenic bent not always shared by American Lutheranism’s “Fighting Fundamentalists”, the LCMS and WELS. They are desperately seeking a home for their commitment to their irenic evangelical Lutheranism.

Their conciliatory nature in the past means that they have been able to forge agreements like “A Formula of Agreement Between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Reformed Church in America, and the United Church of Christ” that dared to say that Lutherans and Reformed might actually coexist and minister together as reformational Christians. This is a habit of  tolerance is not unprecedented but it has earned them their share of derision over the years as the modern day Melancthons and “Crypto Calvinists” when they only spoke for peace (Ps. 120:7).

Happy reunions with those who’ve spent their days in criticism for one alleged confessional betrayal or another are envisioned by some at this juncture. As a practical reality, those will not be likely for many. Women’s ordination is a barrier for those committed to that practice that will only be accommodated by the formation of a new Lutheran jurisdiction.

Another path may be possible for some, and it is not unprecedented. In the mid-1800’s  Lutherans who felt their similarities with other brethren of like precious Reformational faith outweighed their differences formed the Evangelical Synod of North America. While we are a small body, we welcome those irenic Lutheran brethren who wish to pursue that path. Our commitment to the diaconal ministry of men and women while retaining a male pastorate, our irenic and broadly reformational “Articles”, and our commitment to historic faith and contemporary mission may be the new irenic home some need to find a new place of ministry and service within the evangelical, reformed, and catholic tradition.

Hugh of Lincoln was the son of William, Lord of Avalon. He was raised and educated at a convent at Villard-Benoit after his mother died when he was eight. He was professed at fifteen, ordained a deacon at nineteen, and was made prior of a monastery at Saint Maxim. While visiting the Grande Chartreuse with his prior in 1160, he decided to become a Carthusian there and was ordained. After ten years, he was named procurator and in 1175 became Abbot of the first Carthusian monastery in England.

His reputation for holiness and sanctity spread all over England and attracted many to the monastery. He admonished the civil government for abusing ecclesiastical matters for financial gain, and soon found himself named as bishop for the See of Lincoln – a post he accepted only when ordered to do so by the prior of the Grande Chartreuse. Hugh quickly restored clerical discipline, labored to restore religion to the diocese, and became known for his wisdom and justice.

He was one of the leaders in denouncing the persecution of the Jews that swept England in the late twelfth century, repeatedly facing down armed mobs and making them release their victims. He went on a diplomatic mission to France for King John in 1199, visiting the Grande Chartreuse, Cluny, and Citeaux, and returned from the trip in poor health. A few months later, while attending a national council in London, he was stricken and died two months later at the Old Temple in London on November 16.

COLLECT
Holy God, you endowed your servant Hugh of Lincoln with wise and cheerful boldness, and taught him to commend the discipline of holy life to kings and princes. Grant that we also, rejoicing in the Good News of your mercy, and fearing nothing but the loss of you, may be bold to speak the truth in love, in the name of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.