Reformed Evangelical Synod of America

Author Archive

James, the brother of our Lord, is generally regarded as the author of the Epistle of James, and as an early bishop of the Church at Jerusalem. James, who would eventually suffer death for the cause of Christ, did not believe in him during his earthly life, but was converted after the resurrection. It was James who formulated the agreement at the Jerusalem Council concerning the inclusion of Gentile Christians in the Church. Outside the New Testament, James is mentioned by the Jewish historian Josephus, who calls him “the brother of Jesus the so-called Christ,” and reports that he was much respected even by the Pharisees for his piety and strict observance of the Law, but that his enemies took advantage of an interval between Roman governors in the year 62 to have him put to death.

COLLECT
Grant, O God, that, following the example of your servant James the Just, brother of our Lord, your Church may give itself continually to prayer and to the reconciliation of all who are at variance and enmity. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

READINGS
Acts 15: 12-22a
Psalm 1
1 Corinthians 15: 1-11 or James 1: 1-18
Matthew 13: 54-58

(Note: Normally celebrated on the 18th of October, St. Luke is transferred this year due to falling on a Sunday.)

Luke wrote one of the major portions of the New Testament, a two-volume work comprising the third Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. In the two books he shows the parallel between the life of Christ and that of the Church. He is the only Gentile Christian among the Gospel writers. Tradition holds him to be a native of Antioch, and Paul calls him “our beloved physician.”

Luke appears in Acts during Paul’s second journey, remains at Philippi for several years until Paul returns from his third journey, accompanies Paul to Jerusalem and remains near him when he is imprisoned in Caesarea. During these two years, Luke had time to seek information and interview persons who had known Jesus. He accompanied Paul on the dangerous journey to Rome where he was a faithful companion.

COLLECT
Almighty God, you inspired your servant Luke the physician to set forth in the Gospel the love and healing power of your Son. Graciously continue in your Church this love and power to heal, to the praise and glory of your Name. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

READINGS
Isaiah 43: 8-13 or Isaiah 35: 5-8
Psalm 124
2 Timothy 4: 5-11
Luke 10: 1-9 or Luke 1: 1-4; 24: 44-53

Homily for the Lord’s Day
The Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity – October 18, 2009

BCP Proper 26b
Numbers 11: 16, 24-29 – Psalm 51b – (Philippians 1: 12-18) – Mark 9: 38-50

(Note: The epistle from Philippians is used as the Evening Prayer reading this week in the local congregation in which the following homily is being preached, and thus is not figured in to the following text.)

Jealousy is, undoubtedly, one of the oldest negative human emotions. We only need to open our Bibles a few pages – page 12, in my principal study Bible for example – to encounter the story of Cain and Abel. The sense of jealousy, self-superiority, and ultimately self-justification that led to the first murder has remained a rampant ‘inspiration’ among our frail and fallen race ever since. Today, in our readings from Sacred Scripture, we are once again reminded of the impact of jealousy – even on the greatest of God’s followers. At the same time, God’s gracious sovereignty is demonstrated in both our reading from Numbers and our Gospel passage from Mark.

In our Old Testament reading, God instructs Moses to gather ‘seventy men who are recognized as elders and leaders of Israel’ and to bring them to the Tabernacle so that they may be filled with the Holy Spirit. The Lord knew that Moses was being overwhelmed by the constant battle to oversee the Hebrew masses… their ongoing petty disputes, arguments, and their ever-present complaints against God must have been horribly trying for him. He needed aid, and the Lord graciously provided. He promised that he would fill those selected with the power of the Spirit so that their wisdom and discernment might be made more and more perfect as it was manifest among the people.

On the following day, when Moses brought the seventy to the Tabernacle, two of them stayed back and did not come with the other elders. They are identified in our text as Eldad and Medad. Why did they stay back in the camp? There are several theories, but the most common among Christian commentators is that they recognized their unworthiness for such a great honor and chose to remain behind. Regardless of the reason, however, for their absence, God had other plans.

In truth, none of the seventy was truly ‘worthy’ of the honor, just as none of us are ‘worthy’ of God’s grace when left to our own devices. No matter how ‘worthy’ we feel that we are, our true, base nature remains a fallen one that is redeemed not by our own thoughts, but by the washing and the Word of our Lord. Perhaps the elders who went to the tabernacle with Moses recognized that it was God who was making them worthy. Perhaps they had witnessed enough during the time of the Plagues, the Passover, and the Exodus itself that they learned to place their reliance on God’s power as opposed to their own. Perhaps Eldad and Medad were so self-conscious that they knew they were unworthy, and that nothing they could do could make them worthy of God’s great gift. It didn’t matter. In the moment when the Spirit came to rest upon the others, the Spirit also entered into the minds and hearts of Eldad and Medad, and began moving them to speak the wisdom, love, judgment, and mercy of God among the people of Israel in the camp.

Perhaps in that moment, Eldad and Medad had an experience not unlike John Wesley described in his journals. By 1738, Wesley was a man on the brink of defeat. He had engaged in a highly unsuccessful mission in Colonial Georgia, and had returned to England under a deep cloud of suspicion. His experiences prompted him to pen in his journal:

I who went to America to convert others was never myself converted to God.

In the months leading up to the defining experience of his life, Wesley began meeting with Moravians in England. He had observed their quiet confidence in the midst of a storm at sea during his journey to America, and as a result became somewhat enamored with their inner strength. In early March, Wesley met with Peter Bohler. Concerning this meeting, he wrote:

…by [Peter Bohler], in the hand of the great God, I was, on Sunday, the fifth, clearly convinced of unbelief, of the want of that faith whereby alone we are saved. Immediately it struck into my mind, ‘Leave off preaching. How can you preach to others, who have not faith yourself?’ I asked Bohler whether he thought I should leave it off or not. He answered, ‘By no means.’ I asked, ‘But what can I preach?’ He said, ‘Preach faith till you have it; and then, because you have it, you will preach faith.’ Accordingly, Monday the sixth, I began preaching this new doctrine, though my soul started back from the work.

For weeks he tried preaching this ‘new doctrine’, but for whatever reason Wesley still found himself unsatisfied. In places he seemed to be successful, but in Churches he was having a harder time of it. Congregation after congregation forbade him to preach. In the week leading up to his experience at Aldersgate, he wrote that he had ‘continual sorrow and heaviness’ in his heart.

On Wednesday, May 24th, however, something changed.

In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.

Here was a man, steeped in the Scriptures, filled with a great desire to proclaim the Gospel to the unsaved, who himself had trouble believing what he had heard and preached. For whatever reason, John Wesley had held himself back, just as Eldad and Medad did in the wilderness. And yet, even in the midst of Wesley’s unwillingness, the Holy Spirit began a new, transforming work in him that would change the Church of England, and ultimately the face of Christianity in the New World. He began to find strength and certainty – not in himself, but in the Holy Spirit. Just as Eldad and Medad stepped out into the Camp of the Israelites with boldness, Wesley now embarked on a new journey of faith, a deeper one; one that had the power not only to transform the self, but others, through the compassionate mercy of God.

Of course, Eldad and Medad had their detractors. In fact, they had a very powerful detractor, namely Joshua, Moses’ assistant. Joshua, who would later go on to lead the Israelites, viewed himself as more than just an aide – he was Moses’ chief defender. Here were two usurpers to Moses’ authority; men of questionable faithfulness who had not come as directed to the assembly in the Tabernacle. Joshua, being a man of great stature as a warrior, perhaps places too much stock in human strength, and not enough in the concept of Divine Strength.

Moses reaction mirrors Jesus’ in our Gospel reading today when the apostles forbade a man to minister in Christ’s name. In this instance, the Apostles – whose jealousy serves as a fiery undercurrent to their report – fare far worse than Joshua; at least Joshua asked Moses about the situation before taking matters into his own hands! The Apostles had no such qualms, and found themselves harshly rebuked by Christ: “Don’t stop him!” was the reply they received. It was, in essence, the reply that Joshua received too.

The core lesson we need to take from our readings today is that God, not man, determines who his servants are. We may recognize them, ordain them, send them out… but it is God who places the Spirit within his people to accomplish great things. The same God who does this, gives to his people guidelines for recognizing who will be rightly filled with the Spirit for mission and ministry – he did in the Old Testament, and he does in the New.

For two thousand years, the Church has called and sent ministers of Word and Sacrament to meet the needs of the faithful. Sadly, the Church has not always done the best job of living by the Biblical guidelines for calling and sending people forth. At times, this has necessitated some rather unconventional ministries in the Church – ministries like John Wesley’s, or Martin Luther’s. These men, whose hearts were filled with the Gospel message proclaimed by Paul and the Church Fathers, often found themselves shut out of pulpits. Each resorted to different means to ensure that the Gospel of Grace was proclaimed among the people. Luther’s solution was, undoubtedly, the more institutional of the two, but Wesley’s was perhaps more dramatic. Though he never ceased to be a priest of the Church of England, Wesley often found himself and his evangelistic meetings to be in direct competition with the ‘accepted’ worship of the English state in the fields on the outskirts of the villages and towns he visited. He was considered – variously – wacky, novel, disobedient, and undoubtedly a whole host of other negative attributes were held by his detractors. And yet, in the midst of a cold, barren, and at times faithless Church of England, God had chose the voice of this humble, broken man to be a great vehicle for revival and faith in his homeland and beyond.

Had the apostles found that their competitor was preaching a doctrine that did not focus on Jesus Christ; had Moses discovered that Eldad and Medad were attempting to prophesy in a manner inconsistent with God’s revelation to the Hebrew people; had Wesley’s bishop determined that he was preaching a doctrine not in accord with the faith of the Scriptures, then all of them would have been fully within their rights to stand against the teachers, preachers, and prophets that sprung up in their respective day. More often than not, however, jealousy – as Moses cites to Joshua – is the reason to run ‘competitors’ out of town, not fidelity to the truth.

As believers, and as members of our own local congregation and our own Synodical fellowship, we must be sure and certain of what we believe, but at the same time we must be careful not to ‘un-church’ others who are preaching the sufficiency of Jesus Christ for salvation. We may have differing ways of approaching the message, but if the message is, at its root, the same, then we are called to lift our hearts and hands to God in thanksgiving for his providential provision of preachers of the truth, not to decry them as usurpers or threats to the kingdom in a sense of jealousy or envy when we consider their accomplishments.

Does this mean we should ‘give up’ our own distinctive and directions? No… on matters which are not essential to salvation, we are free to select practices that seem best and right, provided they are not directly opposed to the Word of God. Our liturgy and ritual, or others lack thereof, may be an important matter to us – but the most important matter must be the answer that is given when we give an account of our faith. Do we attempt to conform the Christian message to ourselves, or do we embrace the Christian message and allow it to conform us to Christ?

If the answer is the former, then God help us… but if it is the latter, God has already helped us as he helped Eldad and Medad, as he helped the Apostles, and as he has helped countless believers throughout the ages. To our good and gracious God –who ever stands ready to warm the heart and inspire the mind– be glory and honor, now and forever. Amen.

Born in Syria, Ignatius converted to Christianity and eventually became the bishop of Antioch. In the year 107, Emperor Trajan visited Antioch and forced the Christians there to choose between death and apostasy. Ignatius would not deny Christ and thus was condemned to be put to death in Rome. During his journey to Rome, he wrote several letters to the various Christian Churches, exhorting them to faithfulness in Christ and teaching them the truths of the faith. Ignatius was martyred by lions in the Circus Maximus.

COLLECT
Almighty God, we praise your name for your bishop and martyr, Ignatius of Antioch, who offered himself as grain to be ground by the teeth of wild beasts that he might present to you the pure bread of sacrifice. Accept, we pray, the willing tribute of our lives and give us a share in the pure and spotless offering of your Son Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

The Apostles commissioned seven men in the congregation at Jerusalem to supervise the church’s ministry to the needs of its widows and other poor; among them was Philip.

Philip preached the Gospel to the Samaritans, a group who had split off from the Jewish people about six centuries earlier, had intermarried with other peoples, and were considered outsiders by most Jews. They received the Christian message with eagerness, and soon Peter and John came to Samaria to bless the new converts.

After this, Philip was sent by God to walk along the road from Jerusalem southwest to Gaza, where he met a eunuch of the Queen of Ethiopia, returning home after worshipping in Jerusalem. The man was reading from Isaiah 53, and Philip told him about Jesus, and persuaded him that the words were a prophecy of the saving work of Jesus. The man was baptized, and went on his way rejoicing, while Philip went north to Caesarea, the major seaport of Israel, and its secular capital.

When Paul was going up to Jerusalem for the last time, he paused at Caesarea and spent several days with Philip. After this, tradition describes him as settling at Tralles in Asia Minor, where he became the bishop of that church. Nevertheless, he remains most widely known as ‘Philip the Deacon’.

COLLECT
Almighty and everlasting God, we thank you for your servant Philip, whom you called to preach the Gospel to the peoples of Samaria and Ethiopia. Raise up in this and every land heralds and evangelists of your kingdom, that your Church may make known the immeasurable riches of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen.

READINGS
Isaiah 53: 1-6
Psalm 67
Acts 8: 1-25 or Acts 8: 26-40 or Acts 21: 1-14
Mark 10: 42-45

Father Robert Lyons offers a prayer of benediction over Deacon Greg Elsbernd as he becomes a professed religious solitary within the Reformed Evangelical Synod of America.

Gregory Jude Elsbernd, a deacon of the Reformed Evangelical Synod of America, began his first year as a vowed religious solitary with the taking of vows at the Divine Service on Sunday, October 4th. Father Robert Lyons offered a homily on the day’s readings, in which the meaning of the profession was elaborated upon in light of the universal call to holiness. After taking his vows, Brother Elsbernd was invested with a simple black crucifix, a symbol of his profession. While he remains attached to the RESA Mission in Johnson County (Indiana) as his parish of record, he will now take up residence at Saint Francis of Assisi Hermitage in Cincinnati, Ohio. Later this fall, the Hermitage plans to begin construction on a chapel which will serve as a house of  worship and a hub of outreach ministry.

Please keep Brother Elsbernd in your prayers as he embarks on this new stage in his journey of faith.

The Reformed Evangelical Synod of America recognizes the validity of special callings called “Christian Sodalities”. We understand Christian Sodalities in this light expressed in Chapter 34 of our Articles of Religion:

Throughout the history of the Church, men and women, married and unmarried, clergy and lay alike have formed religious, fraternal, and missionary organizations or sodalities to commit themselves to God for special service and to carry out the labors of specific Christian vocations in the church and world. No pride or superiority should be attached to such service and these organizations retain their legitimacy so long as they serve to carry out the mission of Christ in accordance with Holy Scripture, without seeking to supplant, but rather support, the public ministry of Christ’s Church and operating in coordination with the Church’s lawful spiritual authority.

Deacon Greg, by God’s grace, is establishing a mission house and base for preaching the Gospel. He will be evangelizing and gathering God’s holy people for worship while exercising a diaconal ministry of service in Christ’s Name. Thank you for your prayers on his behalf. +Chuck

Francis, born in 1182, was the son of a wealthy cloth merchant. He lived a carefree life and aided his father until 1201 ,when he joined a military expedition against Perugia. He was taken prisoner and spent a year as a captive. Upon his return to Assisi in 1203, Francis returned to his life until a serious illness led to a spiritual crisis. In 1205 Francis left for Puglia to enlist in the army of the Count of Brienne. In Spoleto, a strange vision made him return to Assisi, deepening his spiritual awakening.

Eventually, Francis’ call came into focus when, in a vision, he was given a mission to ‘rebuild the Church’. At first he focused on the small chapel where he received the vision, rebuilding it while, at the same time, laying the foundations for his future life as a mendicant. Others gathered around him, and soon a community was formed. In February 1209 he heard a life-changing sermon which called him to a life of total poverty and oneness with all creation, which stood in stark contrast with many of the clergy and monks of his own day.

Francis’ example strongly affected Clare, who, facing an arranged marriage to a man she did not truly love, elected to surrender her life to Christ’s service by following a path similar to Francis. While Francis’ followers travelled widely, Clare and her sisters lived quiet lives in enclosed communities, devoting themselves to prayer, nursing the sick, and works of mercy for the poor and neglected.

Francis died in 1226. Clare lived until 1253. Both remain cherished examples of selflessness among the many who today are members of or are influenced by the various orders of the Franciscan family.

COLLECT
Most holy God, grant your people grace to renounce gladly the vanities of this world; that, following the way of your blessed servants Francis and Clare, we may, for love of you, delight in your whole creation with perfectness of joy, serve you with singleness of heart, and attain to the riches of the age to come. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Remigius was elected bishop of Rheims at the age of twenty-two. He is chiefly remembered for having baptized Clovis, king of the Franks, on Christmas Day in 468. Clovis’ conversion drastically changed the history of Europe, for through Remigius, the Franks were won to the catholic faith as opposed to the doctrines of the Arians.

COLLECT
Lord God, by the teaching of your faithful servant and bishop Remigius you turned the nation of the Franks from vain idolatry to the worship of you, the true and living God, in the fullness of the catholic faith. Grant that we who glory in the name of Christian may show forth our faith in worthy deeds. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

The ancient kingdom of Armenia was the first country to become Christian, and it recognizes Gregory as its apostle. Armenia was a buffer state between the powerful empires of Rome and Parthia, and both of them sought to control it.

Gregory was born about 257. When he was still an infant, his father assassinated the King of Parthia, and friends of the family carried Gregory away for protection to Caesarea in Cappadocia, where he was reared as a Christian. About 280 he returned to Armenia, where he was at first treated severely, but eventually by his preaching and example brought both King Tiridates and a majority of his people to the Christian faith.

About 300, Gregory was consecrated the first bishop of Armenia. He died about 332. Armenian Christians to this day remember him with honor and gratitude.

COLLECT
Almighty God, it is your great joy and desire to be glorified in the lives of your saints. You raised up your servant Gregory to be a light in the world, and to preach the Gospel to the people of Armenia. Shine, we pray, in our hearts, that we also in our generation may show forth your praise, who called us out of darkness into your marvelous light. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Jerome (born Eusebius Hieronymus Sophronius) studied in Rome and was baptized there. He traveled for a time, eventually settling down to live as an ascetic among fellow believers in Aquileia. In 374, he moved to Palestine where he learned Hebrew while living in the Syrian Desert. He was ordained as a presbyter and, working in a rock-hewn cell, he translated the Bible into Latin. While not without its faults, Jerome’s translation, commonly known as the Vulgate, was the standard scholarly translation for well over fifteen centuries. Jerome died on this date in the year 420, and was buried in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

COLLECT
Lord God of truth, your Word is a lantern to our feet and a light upon our path. We give you thanks for your servant Jerome, and those who, following in his steps, have labored to render the Holy Scriptures in the language of the people; and we pray that your Holy Spirit will overshadow us as we read the written Word, and that the living Word will transform us according to your righteous will. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.