A Prayer for the Feast Day of the Extraordinary Anglican Priest, George Herbert

Our God and King, who called your servant George Herbert from the pursuit of worldly honors to be a pastor of souls, a poet, and a priest in your temple: Give us grace, we pray, joyfully to perform the tasks you give us to do, knowing that nothing is menial or common that is done for your sake; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

George Herbert: Love

I am not a big poetry fan, but this poem speaks to me. George Herbert was an Anglican priest in 17th century England and he is one of my heroes. He is one after whom I try to pattern my own ministry. May his work speak to your heart and mind too.

From here:

LOVE bade me welcome; yet my soul drew back,
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning
If I lack’d anything.

‘A guest,’ I answer’d, ‘worthy to be here:’
Love said, ‘You shall be he.’
‘I, the unkind, ungrateful? Ah, my dear,
I cannot look on Thee.’
Love took my hand and smiling did reply,
‘Who made the eyes but I?’

‘Truth, Lord; but I have marr’d them: let my shame
Go where it doth deserve.’
‘And know you not,’ says Love, ‘Who bore the blame?’
‘My dear, then I will serve.’
‘You must sit down,’ says Love, ‘and taste my meat.’
So I did sit and eat.

—George Herbert, Love

An Account of How Catechumens Were Prepared for Baptism in the Fourth Century

Fascinating. The season of Lent has always been a time when the Church prepared new converts to become full members by instructing them in matters of the faith and preparing them for baptism. Here is a description from how this was done in the 4th century in Jerusalem. Clearly it is no light thing to prepare for baptism and be instructed in matters of the Christian faith.

I must also describe how those who are baptized at Easter are instructed. Those who give their names do so the day before Lent, and the priest notes down all their names; and this is before those eight weeks during which, as I have said, Lent is observed here. When the priest has noted down everyone’s name, then on the following day, the first day of Lent, on which the eight weeks begin, a throne is set up for the bishop in the center of the major church, the Martyrium. The priests sit on stools on both sides, and all the clergy stand around. One by one the candidates are led forward, in such a Way that the men come with their godfathers and the women with their godmothers.

Then the bishop questions individually the neighbors of the one who has come up, inquiring; “Does this person lead a good life? Obey parents? Is this person a drunkard or a liar?” And the bishop seeks out in the candidate other vices which are more serious. If the person proves to be guiltless in all these matters concerning which the bishop has questioned the witnesses who are present, the bishop notes down the candidate’s name. If, however, the candidate is accused of anything, the bishop orders the person to go out and says: “Let such a one amend their life, and when this is done, then approach the baptismal font.” He makes the same inquiry of both men and women.  If, however, some are strangers, such people cannot easily receive baptism, unless they have witnesses who know them.

Ladies, my sisters, I must describe this, lest you think that it is done without explanation. It is the custom here, throughout the forty days on which there is fasting, for those who are preparing for baptism to be exorcised by the clergy early in the morning, as soon as the dismissal from the morning service has been given at the Anastasis. Immediately a throne is placed for the bishop in the major church, the Martyrium. All those who are to be baptized, both men and women, sit closely around the bishop, while the godmothers and godfathers stand there; and indeed all of the people who wish to listen may enter and sit down, provided they are of the faithful. A catechumen, however, may not enter at the time when the bishop is teaching them the law. The bishop does so in this way: beginning with Genesis and going through the whole of Scripture during these forty days, expounding first its literal meaning and then explaining the spiritual meaning.  In the course of these days everything is taught not only about the Resurrection but concerning the body of faith. This is called catechetics.

When five weeks or instruction have been completed, they then receive the Creed The bishop explains the meaning of each of the phrases of the Creed in the same way as Holy Scripture was explained, expounding first the literal and then the spiritual sense. ln this fashion the Creed is taught.

And thus it is that in these places all the faithful are able to follow the Scriptures when they are read in the churches, because all are taught through these forty days, that is, from the first to the third hours, for during the three hours instruction is given. God knows, ladies, my sisters,  that the voices of the faithful who have come to catechetics to hear instruction on those things being said or explained by the bishop are louder than when the bishop sits down in church to preach about each of those matters which are explained in this fashion. The dismissal from catechetics is given at the third hour, and immediately, singing hymns, they lead the bishop to the Anastasis [the cross], and the office of the third hour takes place. And thus they are taught for three hours a day for seven weeks. During the eighth week, the one which is called the Great Week, there remains no more time for them to be taught, because what has been mentioned above must be carried out.

Now when seven weeks have gone by and there remains only Holy Week, which is here called the Great Week, then the bishop comes in the morning to the major church, the Martyrium. To the rear, at the apse behind the altar, a throne is placed for the bishop, and one by one they come forth, the men with their godfathers, the women with their godmothers. And each one recites the Creed back to the bishop. After the Creed has been recited back to the bishop, the bishop delivers a homily to them all, and says: “During these seven weeks you have been instructed in the whole law of the Scriptures, and you have heard about the faith. You have also heard of the resurrection of the flesh. But as for the whole explanation of the Creed, you have heard only that which you are able to know while you are still catechumens. Because you are still catechumens, you are not able to the those things which belong to a higher mystery, that of baptism. But that you may not think that anything would be done without explanation, once you have been baptized in the name of God, you will hear of them during the eight days of Easter in the Anastasis following the dismissal from church. Because you are still catechumens, the most secret of the divine mysteries cannot be told to you.”

—Egeria, Abbess (late 4th century), The Pilgrimage of Egeria, 45-46

An Account of Polycarp’s Martyrdom on His Festival Day

From here.

ISIS doesn’t have anything over these guys. And I love the way Polycarp turned the use of “atheist” back on his enemies. Either the man was a lunatic or there’s a power here that we’d better pay attention to.

UnknownAs a very old man, probably in his 90s, he was burnt to death in front of a frenzied crowd in a sports’ stadium in the city of Smyrna, then in the Roman proconsular province of Asia, now Izmir in western Turkey. He had been Bishop of the Christian church in Smyrna.

The 4th century church historian, Eusebius, reproduced a contemporary Christian account of Polycarp’s martyrdom:

‘As Polycarp was entering the stadium, there came a voice to him from heaven, “Be strong, Polycarp, and play the man.” The speaker indeed no one saw, but the voice was heard by those of our friends present. Then he was brought forward, and great was the din as they heard that Polycarp was arrested. So he was brought before the Proconsul, who…tried to persuade him to deny his faith, urging, “Have respect to your old age…Swear by the genius of Caesar; change your mind and say, ‘Away with the Atheists!’ ”

‘Then Polycarp looked with a stern countenance on the multitude of lawless heathen gathered in the stadium, and waved his hands at them, and looked up to heaven with a groan and said, “Away with the Atheists.” The Proconsul continued insisting and saying, “Swear, and I release you; curse Christ.” And Polycarp said, “Eighty-six years have I served Him, and He has done me no wrong; how then can I blaspheme my King who has saved me?” ’ (New Eusebius, ed. J Stevenson, SPCK, 1957, p21).

Almighty God,
who gave to your servant Polycarp
boldness to confess the name of our Saviour Jesus Christ
before the rulers of this world
and courage to die for his faith:
grant that we also may be ready
to give an answer for the faith that is in us
and to suffer gladly for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Theophan the Recluse on What It Takes to Bear Fruit

It must be realized that the true sign of spiritual endeavour and the price of success in it is suffering. One who proceeds without suffering will bear no fruit. Pain of the heart and physical suffering bring to light the gift of the Holy Spirit, bestowed in holy baptism upon every believer, buried in passions through our negligence in fulfilling the commandments, and brought once more to life by repentance, through the ineffable mercy of God. Do not, because of the suffering that accompanies them, cease to make painstaking efforts, lest you be condemned for fruitlessness and hear the words, ‘Take the talent from him’ (Matthew 25.28)

Every struggle in the soul’s training, whether physical or mental, that is not accompanied by suffering, that does not require the utmost effort, will bear no fruit. ‘The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force’ (Matthew 11.12). Many people have worked and continue to work without pain, but because of its absence they are strangers to purity and out of communion with the Holy Spirit, because they have turned aside from the severity of suffering. Those who work feebly and carelessly may go through the movements of making great efforts, but they harvest no fruit, because they undergo no suffering. According to the prophet, unless our loins are broken, weakened by the labor of fasting, unless we undergo an agony of contrition, unless we suffer like a woman in travail, we shall not succeed in bringing to birth the spirit of salvation in the ground of the heart.

—Theophan the Recluse

Such a bargain here. In seeking to grow in our relationship with God, we are promised that we have to suffer. Makes us want to sign right up, doesn’t it? Yet hard as Theophan’s words sound to us, they point us to the plight of the human condition. Humans can only find life in God, through suffering. We have to deny ourselves and take up our cross if we want to follow Jesus and this, frankly, ain’t easy to do. This is one of the challenges of Lent. This is one of the challenges of following Jesus. And you likely won’t do it (or even be willing to try) unless you are firmly grounded in the Good News of Jesus Christ, which means grounding it in the entire narrative of Scripture.

Piety? What Piety?

We often hear the criticism that the Church is afflicted with piety, but the real trouble is that its piety is not deep enough! An important contribution would be the liberation of the term “piety” from its present damaging connotations, reinstating it as a term of respect. We, indeed, have a little piety; we say a few prayers; we sing meaningfully a few hymns; we read snatches from the Bible. But all of this is far removed from the massive dose that we sorely need if we are to be the men and women who can perform a healing service in our generation.

The seat of our disease, says Helmut Thielicke, “is not in the branches of our nerves at all but rather in our roots which are stunted and starved.” The eloquent German points out that Martin Luther prayed four hours each day, “not despite his busy life but because only so could he accomplish his gigantic labors.” Luther worked so hard that a little desultory praying would not suffice. “To work without praying and without listening,” continues Thielicke, “means only to grow and spread oneself upward, without striking roots and without an equivalent in the earth.”

—Elton Trueblood, The New Man for Our Time

How are your roots doing these days? Might this be an area in which you exert a bit of Lenten discipline?

An Ancient Account of How Lent Was Observed in Fourth Century Jerusalem

When the season of Lent is at hand, it is observed in the following manner. Now whereas with us the forty days preceding Easter are observed, here they observe the eight weeks before Easter. This is the reason why they observe eight weeks: On Sundays and Saturdays they do not fast, except on the one Saturday which is the vigil of Easter; when it is necessary to fast. Except on that day, there is absolutely no fasting here on Saturdays at any time during the year. And so, when eight Sundays and seven Saturdays have been deducted from the eight weeks—for it is necessary, as I have just said, to fast on one Saturday—there remain forty-one days which are spent in fasting, which are called here “eortae,” that is to say, Lent.

This is a summary of the fasting practices here during Lent. There are some who, having eaten on Sunday after the dismissal, that is, at the fifth or the sixth hour [11:00am -noon], do not eat again for the whole week until Saturday, following the dismissal from the Anastasis [the cross]. These are the ones who observe the full week’s fast. Having eaten once in the morning on Saturday, they do not eat again in the evening, but only on the following day, on Sunday, that is, do they eat after the dismissal from the church at the fifth hour or later. Afterwards, they do not eat again until the following Saturday, as I have already said. Such is their fate during the Lenten season that they take no leavened bread (for this cannot be eaten at all), no olive oil, nothing which comes from trees, but only water and a little flour soup. And this is what is done throughout Lent.

—Egeria, Abbess (late 4th century), The Pilgrimage of Egeria, 27-28.

Water, Water Everywhere (Even in the Desert)

Sermon delivered on Lent 1B, Sunday, February 22, 2015, at St. Augustine’s Anglican Church, Columbus, OH.

If you would prefer to listen to the audio podcast of this sermon, usually somewhat different from the text below, click here.

Lectionary texts: Genesis 9.8-17; Psalm 25.1-9; 1 Peter 3.18-22; Mark 1.9-15.

In the name of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

On Ash Wednesday you recall that I urged us to believe the gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ, instead of believing in good advice as sadly many Christians do. News, you recall, is about something that has happened and as a result everything changes, either for good or ill. We saw that in the case of the gospel, the Good News is that God has returned to his good but sin-corrupted world to defeat evil, sin, and death on the cross and usher in the beginning of God’s promised new world with the resurrection of Jesus. As a result, we no longer have to live in fear or worry that God has abandoned us. And so this morning I want to continue to work out this theme of why the Good News of Jesus is so critical for us as Christians as we enter this season of Lent (and beyond). Specifically, I want us to examine this theme through the lens of our lessons this morning to see how they can further instruct us.

The first thing we notice in our readings is the presence of mysterious and unseen dark powers and forces actively at work in God’s world to corrupt it and God’s creatures. We don’t like to talk about this dimension of reality much these days because we are afraid that we will be labeled as some kind of weirdo losers who are ignorant or “prescientific” or superstitious or worse. After all, we really have no way to directly observe or measure these forces other than what our bones tell us and so we’ve been told to discount them. But we shouldn’t because as our readings warn us, they are real and they are often the real power behind the human agents of evil. Peter talks about Jesus making proclamation to the spirits in prison. Who are those spirits and where is this prison? More about that in a moment. Mark talks about the Spirit driving Jesus into the wilderness for 40 days where he is tempted by Satan himself, with the wilderness, of course, being a common biblical metaphor to describe all that is desolate and evil and threatening to God’s people (think Exodus). And while the writer of Genesis does not mention the dark powers and principalities explicitly, the context of the story of God making a covenant with Noah and his descendants certainly does. The whole reason God brought a flood to destroy the inhabitants of earth in the first place is because of the increasingly wicked behavior of his image-bearing creatures as outlined in Genesis 4.1-6.8 as well as the mysterious wicked angels we read about in Genesis 6.2ff who took human wives for themselves and mated with them. All this helped corrupt God’s good world and its creatures so badly that God looked at the evil humans had done to his world and was grieved to his heart that he had made his image-bearing creatures in the first place, probably the most terrifying statement in all Scripture.

All this should make us stop during this Lenten season and reflect soberly on evil. When we dismiss the reality of the dark powers in our world and their influence on us, it makes it much easier for those powers to operate in God’s world to corrupt and sicken us, and to use us as their unwitting agents to commit evil. This, combined with the innate human wickedness that led to the flood, should remind us that our own sin and rebellion also help to corrupt and defile God’s good world as well as ourselves. As I have said before, every time we sin it makes us sick.

So far there’s not much Good News to be had here. It’s news all right, but not of the good kind. And we get that. We look at the world around us with its wondrous beauty and see all kinds of evil being perpetrated. We look at our own bodies as we grow older and more infirm and realize that growing old isn’t for the faint of heart. We know in our bones that things should not be this way but we also know that we do not have it in our own power to fix it.

Having been confronted about the reality of evil, the corrupt nature of the human heart, and the effect each has on God’s good world (and us), we are now ready to look at the Good News found in our lessons this morning. We see it first in Genesis. While God regretted that he had created humans, the good news is that he did not destroy our race entirely and in our OT lesson we see God graciously making a covenant with Noah to never again judge the world with a flood. Despite human wickedness and rebellion against him, despite being grieved to his heart over us, God remained faithful to his creation and the human creatures he made to rule over his good world. Notice too that in making the covenant with Noah, God did not require anything from humans. The promise stemmed from the very heart and love of God. Think carefully about this amazing love and faithfulness of God during the 40 days of Lent. It will do your heart good.

The psalmist also recognized the wondrous love of God for his sinful and rebellious creatures. In our lesson this morning from one of my favorite psalms, David almost desperately relies on the love, mercy, and faithfulness of God to forgive his sins and rebellion against God so that David could find healing and hope and freedom to live as a truly human being. The good news is that God acts decisively in David’s life (and ours) to make known his love for and forgiveness of David (and us) so that David’s life (and ours) will be changed forever.

And in Mark we see the Lord himself announcing the Good News that the time to repent had come because the kingdom of God was breaking into the midst of God’s people Israel to free them (and ultimately the entire world) from their captivity to sin and evil. And as all the gospels make clear, Jesus showed what happens when the kingdom of God breaks in on earth as in heaven. People are healed of all kinds of illness and released from all kinds of slavery. Relationships are healed and restored. Forgiveness is offered to one and all who have the good sense to accept it. The dead are raised and justice is restored. This is what happens when the kingdom of God breaks through to confront the evil and sin that corrupt and destroy us. This is why believing must always accompany repentance. If we don’t really believe that in Jesus God has broken the power of evil decisively, freed us from our slavery to sin and death, and ushered in the beginning of his new creation, there is little reason for us to change our lives and pattern them after Jesus with his cross and suffering, which both our Lord and Peter call us to do.

But of course the ultimate victory over evil, sin, and death was accomplished with Jesus’ death and resurrection. It was on the cross that Jesus, the very embodiment of God, allowed all the forces of evil, both spiritual and human, to do their worst to him. And when they did, an astonishing thing happened. It wasn’t Jesus who was defeated. It was the powers who found themselves defeated because they no longer had any real power over us. In Jesus’ death, our sin and the evil behind it was also condemned so that God would not have to condemn us. And in Jesus’ resurrection, the power of death, the ultimate enemy, was broken and will be fully destroyed when our Lord comes again to finish his rescue operation of us and his world (cf. 1 Corinthians 15.20-26). This was the proclamation Jesus made to the spirits in prison that Peter talks about in our epistle lesson. They are the dark powers behind all the evil that corrupts our world. And after his resurrection, Jesus made the definitive announcement to them that by his death they had been judged and their power broken (thus their imprisonment), thanks be to God! He could do this because as Peter reminds us, Jesus is now Lord of all.

To believe this, of course, takes great faith on our part because while the powers are defeated they are not yet vanquished. But that is part of what it means to grow up as Christians. We must first learn to develop eyes to see as best we can the reality of heaven and earth, much the way Jesus saw the heavenly reality open up to him at his baptism, and then have the faith to access this power in and through the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Think about it. Jesus’ didn’t run from the wilderness. In fact, the Spirit drove him into it where he was desperately tempted. But Jesus didn’t face his temptations alone. He did so in the power of the Spirit and because he knew he had the help of angels to assist him in his fight against Satan. None of this made Jesus’ struggle with Satan any easier. But it gave him the power he needed to prevail. God grant us the grace and mercy to avail ourselves of this same help as we confront the evil in our world and ourselves with eyes wide open, and focus this Lenten season on putting to death the body of sin that weighs us down and keeps us from enjoying God’s peace and reconciliation that is ours in and through the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ shed for us.

This repentance and turning from our ways to God’s can be tricky business and it involves us dying. This is hard to do and we will possibly face scorn and ridicule from others when they see us turning away from our old self and turning toward Christ. But we can take heart because Jesus has overcome the forces that hate us and want to destroy us, and he is now Lord of the cosmos to help us in our struggle against evil. Suffering is indeed hard and nobody likes it. But the whole point of our epistle lesson is that it is better to suffer for doing good than for doing bad. You won’t believe this one second if you don’t believe in the Good News of Jesus’ death and resurrection. But if you do, well that’s an entirely different story!

And if we really do believe the Good News that Scripture proclaims but wonder just how God can possibly love us and want to include us in his kingdom to the point where we begin to lose heart, let us pay attention to Mark’s and Peter’s focus on baptism. By the waters of baptism we are brought into God’s family and made Jesus’ people. So listen closely to the voice Jesus heard at his baptism because what God said to Jesus he says to us, precisely because we are Jesus’ people: You are my beloved in whom I am well pleased. Let that really sink in. Believe it. Rejoice in it because strictly on our own merit none of us would ever hear God say he is well pleased with us. But we are not our own. We are the Lord’s. And because we are, this is our present status and future hope. This is why we must embrace the Good News—because it is a life-changer when we finally believe it. Our faith and trust in Christ opens us to the power and presence of the Spirit so that we truly can live as people of power, even when we are weak.

Whatever it is you need to turn away from or confront this Lent, whatever it is you are working on, remember God’s words to you as you do. You are my beloved in whom I am well pleased. Let God’s love for you made manifest in Jesus and the Spirit strengthen you and encourage you as you do the hard work of dying to yourself. Yes, the work is hard. But the reward is so much more fantastic. God’s kingdom has come, ushered in by God himself in Jesus Christ. Evil and sin are defeated, even if they are not yet fully banished. Jesus is with us now in the Spirit to help and guide us, and life, wholeness, healing, health, and happiness are our future, all because of God’s great love for us made known in Jesus our Lord. That, folks, is Good News, now and for all eternity. To him be honor, praise, and glory forever and ever.

In the name of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Happy Birthday, Mr. President

Today is George Washington’s birthday. To our great detriment, Americans are forgetting about our first president. This is sad, in part, because without him, there would not likely be the USA that we know today. Do yourself a favor and learn about this extraordinary man with whom God blessed this country.

To the world’s amazement, Washington had prevailed over the more numerous, better supplied, and fully trained British army, mainly because he was more flexible than his opponents. He learned that it was more important to keep his army intact and to win an occasional victory to rally public support than it was to hold American cities or defeat the British army in an open field. Over the last 200 years revolutionary leaders in every part of the world have employed this insight, but never with a result as startling as Washington’s victory over the British.

On December 23, 1783, Washington presented himself before Congress in Annapolis, Maryland, and resigned his commission. Like Cincinnatus, the hero of Classical antiquity whose conduct he most admired, Washington had the wisdom to give up power when he could have been easily become dictator. He left Annapolis and went home to Mount Vernon with the fixed intention of never again serving in public life. This one act, without precedent in modern history, made him an international hero.

In the years after the Revolutionary War, Washington devoted most of his time to rebuilding Mount Vernon, which had suffered in his absence. He experimented with new crops and fertilizers and bred some of the finest mules in the nation. He also served as president of the Potomac Company, which worked to improve the navigation of the river in order to make it easier for upstream farmers to get their produce to market.

Read it all or pick up this book and really get to know the Father of our Country.

Brother of Slain Coptic Christians Thanks ISIS for Including Their Words of Faith in Murder Video

Yes indeed.

maher-fayezThe brother of two of the 21 Coptic Christians murdered in Libya last week has thanked their killers for including the men’s declaration of faith in the video they made of their beheadings.

Speaking on a live prayer and worship programme on Christian channel SAT-7 ARABIC yesterday, Beshir Kamel said that he was proud of his brothers Bishoy Estafanos Kamel (25) and Samuel Estafanos Kamel (23) because they were “a badge of honour to Christianity”.

Harrowing scenes of the murders have been seen around the world. The last words of some of those killed were “Lord Jesus Christ”.

Beshir Kamel thanked ISIS for not editing out the men’s declaration of belief in Christ because he said this had strengthened his own faith. He added that the families of the ex-patriate workers are “congratulating one another” and not in despair: “We are proud to have this number of people from our village who have become martyrs,” he told the programme.

Read it all.

Columbus Dispatch: Iwo Jima Images Still with Veteran

One hell of a battle. Be inspired by this story. God bless the Greatest Generation.

iwo-jima-70th-0220-art-ggq10hpim-1war-5-3-jpgThe conflict there was made all the more famous by an iconic photograph of five Marines and a Navy corpsman raising the Stars and Stripes on the fourth day of the engagement on the summit of Mount Suribachi, an extinct, 550-foot volcano at the island’s southwestern tip.

“Many thought it was over, but they hadn’t gotten to the really heavy fighting at that point,” said Sherrill, who went ashore on the island with K Company in the Third Marines, Ninth Battalion, a week after the initial assault.

His unit was there to reinforce two Marine divisions that had taken heavy losses in earlier fighting, and he was among more than 70,000 Marines, Navy corpsmen and Army Air Forces airmen who participated in the five-week assault. The battle eventually claimed more than 6,000 American lives and wounded 19,000. Most of the Japanese on the island died in the conflict.

Four days after Sherrill and his comrades landed on Iwo Jima’s beaches, mortar barrages wiped out two-thirds of his 245-man company.

The survivors spent days dodging grenade attacks and sniper fire. A week after landing, Sherrill, a corporal, was walking near an unfinished airfield, waving his men along, when he locked eyes with a Japanese rifleman.

“The minute I saw him, he fired,” Sherrill said.

There was a sting, and his arm “just dropped.”

A rifleman who was with him shot the Japanese soldier before he had a chance to finish off Sherrill or kill other Americans.

Read it all.