Daily Archives: May 24, 2015

Fr. Ron Feister: Dry Bones No More

Posted on by

Sermon delivered on Pentecost Sunday B, May 24, 2015, at St. Augustine’s Anglican Church, Columbus, OH.

If you prefer to listen to the audio podcast of this sermon, click here.

Lectionary texts: Ezekiel 37.1-14; Canticle based on Ezekiel 36.24-26, 28b; Acts 2.1-21; John 15.26-27, 16.4b-15.

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

The story from Ezekiel has always been one of my favorites. Perhaps this stems from an old song I learned in my childhood but probably because it is so rich in images. The prophet is in the middle of a valley that is just full of bones – he is walking around through these bone and they are not just any bones but the bones of fallen warriors. It is a desert place, a place with little if any life. The bones are dried out and picked clean by the scavengers. God asks the question, can these bones live? The obvious answer is No, but the prophet being a prophet is wise enough to turn the question back to God as he says only you O God know. The Lord then commands the prophet to speak for Him, to prophesy in God’s name. At first the bones start to knit together and then muscle and flesh attach to the bones. Still the bones do not have life. They have no breath within them. Once again the prophet is commanded to speak forth for the Lord this time calling forth the “breath” from the four winds. As the breath came into the bones, they stood up and lived. God then instructs the prophet that this was vision for the prophet of how God’s people, the House of Israel, who had been decimated by war and had many taken into exile, would again be restored. They will be a people in whom God’s spirit dwells.

This story assures me that no matter how bleak our situation, the “breath of God” is there to renew us, to strengthen us, and if necessary, bring us to new life. But why might, you ask, do we have this story in our readings for Pentecost? The answer is to be found in our reading from the Book of Acts. The disciples have just a short while ago seen their master and friend crucified. Then they experienced the Risen Lord, only to have him depart from them. They are in many ways like the dry bones in Ezekiel’s valley. They have knitted together, they have put on some muscle or courage and yet they do not have any real life in them. They are as powerless as the dry bones until the very “breath of God” —we know it better as the Holy Spirit comes upon then with such power that it can be compared to the rush of a violent wind. With this in—filling of the Holy Spirit, they, like the dry bones, are able to stand up. They are strengthened in their faith. These disciples cannot and will not restrain themselves in sharing the message and person of Jesus Christ.

So strong is the power of the Spirit that the human limitation of language is for a time no longer a hindrance to the spread of the Good News. People from all over the world would pass through Jerusalem, with many different languages, and yet all heard the message in their own language. When people are filled with the Holy Spirit there is life. With the Spirit there is Power and even miracles.

As we become part of the Church though the Sacrament of Baptism and later are strengthened by the Confirmation we each receive this in-filling of the Holy Spirit. This means that we also have the fullness of life. Not just the ability to exist but the power to live a full life in Christ.

As I have often pointed out and will continue to point out it is obvious that this is a community that is not made up of dry bones. Where the Holy Spirit is there are found the fruit of the Spirit – love, peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. This fruit grows very well in the rich soil of this Church. It can be seen in its many ministries and the way that it takes care of both its members and those outside its doors. But the Holy Spirit does not want to only see the fruit blossoming forth but wants the members of this Church to experience, to enjoy, the many Gifts of the Spirit. Some of these Gifts are ones that we are all familiar with, not the least of which is the sacrament of Holy Eucharist by which are spiritual bones and flesh are being continually renewed and energized. The Scriptures and the Bible studies through which we grow into a closer relationship with God through understanding the journey of God’s people in both the Old and New Testaments and in a sense have the chance to walk along with Jesus and are thus able to better travel through our own faith journey.

Another wonderful gift for which with which we are blessed is the gift of songs, hymns, and inspired music that help us turn our hearts and minds to the Lord. What set of bones can remain unmoved when touched by such joyous sound.

There are other gifts that we hear about in the Scriptures that we are familiar with although the form of them may have changed from time to time. There is the gift of apostleship seen most clearly in the Office of the Bishop whose duty it is to insure that the apostolic faith is held firm, there are those called to be prophets, members of the faithful, who not unlike Ezekiel, are called to speak the Word of God to both call to repentance and to encourage in times of despair. There are numerous Christian writers who have and are using this gift for the betterment of the Church. There is the gift of pastoral care. This gift is primarily found in the service provided by the clergy but it is also a gift shared by those in lay church leadership. The gift of teaching, not just doing it because it has to be done by someone, but because the teachers have hearts for sharing a knowledge of God especially to the young.

All these are gifts of the Holy Spirit with which we are comfortable and accustomed, but there are other gifts which the Holy Spirit has made present to the Church which are not part of our usual experience. One of those is the gift of Tongues – a strange name for a spiritual gift if you ask me. One form of Tongues is the speaking or praying in a foreign language not known by the speaker but understood by the listener. An example of this is found in the reading from Acts. This appears to be a special gift that occurs only sporadically. Another form of Tongues is the praying with various sounds that do not make up normal words. The Spirit prompts the one using this gift to pray either quietly or out loud – sometimes in a form of singing, depending on how the gift is being used. Many believers who have experienced this gift will use this as a form or type of personal prayer. Many of us who do intercessory prayer will find ourselves praying this way. There is also the occasion when someone will pray in such sounds for the purpose of prompting another to be free to share a word of the Lord. (Share my personal experience with Tongues.)

There are other word Gifts as well. Among these are Words of Wisdom which are spoken to give a revelation of Divine purpose – they may concern a person or thing. The Word so spoken often makes known God’s purpose to the one he is going to use and brings as assurance. There is the giving of a Word of Knowledge. Words of Knowledge are words spoken by someone that share some small portion of God’s knowledge in order to meet a human need.

Some of the purposes of such a Word of Knowledge are to reveal a persons true identity, help overcome some doubt in another’s mind or to reveal a person’s need for Christ or maybe simply to reveal a lost item.

There is the gift of Prophesy. It is a gift that is as real today as it was in the time of Ezekiel. Prophesy, in the Holy Spirit sense is not fortune telling or the fore telling of the future. It is God’s way of speaking through a person in a particular situation. In some cases the person will say something like : “I feel that God would say” and other times the person, like Ezekiel, will be lead to say “I the Lord…” This may seem strange at first, but it is not much different than the hymn or song writer who speaks for God through the lyrics of the song like “Here I am Lord” in which the composer first talk about directly hearing God and then voices God’s word or direction and encouragement.

A gift given to whole church, but exercised in a specially powerful way by some, is the gift of healing of diseases and injuries. The Church has always been encouraged to pray for healing the elders of the church are even commanded to anoint the sick and pray for the forgiveness of any sin. In the gift of Healing an individual or group is blessed one to make present God’s healing touch in a very powerful and effective way. ( Personal Sharing)

This Gift has the effect of bringing deliverance to the sick and oppressed, causing people to see that Jesus has both the power to forgive sin and to heal and in a very human way to show that Jesus is still alive.

There is the Gift of Miracles, which while rare, allows a person to manifest God’s glory in a supernatural way. There is the Gift of Faith in which some one has the ability to demonstrate in their lives a faith that exceeds and human expectation.

There is the Gift of Tears and Gift of Holy Laughter (or Giggles). By now you an see the picture. At Pentecost, God gave his gift of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit continues to give an almost endless supply of gifts to both the Church collectively and to individuals, but why now do we reflect on these and other gifts. It is because like Ezekiel we are walking around in a desert. A society in which many people, some of whom even attend church, have been stripped of all of their hope and many of their values. They are like dry bones. The Lord gives to the Church these gifts so that it, giving witness to the presence of the Risen Lord, can speak for the Lord and say to those who will listen: “I will put my Spirit in You and you shall live.” No longer will you be dry bones. Amen

Christ is Risen, Alleluia. In the name of God: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Remembering John Wesley’s Aldersgate Experience

Posted on by

John WesleyToday marks the 277th anniversary of Fr. John Wesley’s Aldersgate Experience, in which his heart was “strangely warmed” and which changed the course of the Methodist movement forever. Appropriately it falls on Pentecost Sunday this year. I was a Methodist for the first 50 years of my life and am proud of that heritage. It is a sad testimony to the human condition that Wesley’s followers eventually split from the Church of England. But that does not take away the fact that Wesley and his movement came from the great umbrella that is the Anglican Tradition and we are the better for it.

Wednesday, May 24, [1738]. I think it was about five this morning, that I opened my Testament on those words, “There are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, even that ye should be partakers of the divine nature.” ( 2 Peter 1:4.) Just as I went out, I opened it again on those words, “Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.” In the afternoon I was asked to go to St. Paul’s. The anthem was, “Out of the deep have I called unto thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice. O let thine ears consider well the voice of my complaint. If thou, Lord, wilt be extreme to mark what is done amiss, O Lord, who may abide it? For there is mercy with thee; therefore shalt thou be feared. O Israel, trust in the Lord: For with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption. And He shall redeem Israel from all his sins.” 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. I began to pray with all my might for those who had in a more especial manner despitefully used me and persecuted me. I then testified openly to all there, what I now first felt in my heart. But it was not long before the enemy suggested, “This cannot be faith; for where is thy joy?” Then was I taught, that peace and victory over sin are essential to faith in the Captain of our salvation: But that, as to the transports of joy that usually attend the beginning of it, especially in those who have mourned deeply, God sometimes giveth, sometimes withholdeth them, according to the counsels of his own will. After my return home, I was much buffeted with temptations; but cried out, and they fled away. They returned again and again. I as often lifted up my eyes, and He “sent me help from his holy place.” And herein I found the difference between this and my former state chiefly consisted. I was striving, yea, fighting with all my might under the law, as well as under grace. But then I was sometimes, if not often, conquered; now, I was always conqueror.

—John Wesley, Journal

An Account of How Pentecost Was Celebrated in the 4th Century

Posted on by

From here.

But on the fiftieth day, that is, the Lord’s Day, when the people have a very great deal to go through, everything that is customary is done from the first cockcrow onwards; vigil is kept in the Anastasis, and the bishop reads the passage from the Gospel that is always read on the Lord’s Day, namely, the account of the Lord’s Resurrection, and afterwards everything customary is done in the Anastasis [the cross], just as throughout the whole year. But when morning is come, all the people proceed to the great church, that is, to the martyrium [the church], and all things usual are done there; the priests preach and then the bishop, and all things that are prescribed are done, the oblation being made, as is customary on the Lord’s Day, only the same dismissal in the martyrium is hastened, in order that it may be made before the third hour.

And when the dismissal has been made at the martyrium, all the people, to a man, escort the bishop with hymns to Sion, [so that] they are in Sion when the third hour is fully come. And on their arrival there the passage from the Acts of the Apostles is read where the Spirit came down so that all tongues [were heard and all men] understood the things that were being spoken, and the dismissal takes place afterwards in due course For the priests read there from the Acts of the Apostles concerning the selfsame thing, because that is the place in Sion—there is another church there now—where once, after the Lord’s Passion, the multitude was gathered together with the Apostles, and where this was done, as we have said above. Afterwards the dismissal takes place in due course, and the oblation is made there. Then, that the people may be dismissed, the archdeacon raises his voice, and says: “Let us all be ready to day in Eleona, in the Imbomon [place of the Ascension], directly after the sixth hour.”

So all the people return, each to his house, to rest themselves, and immediately after breakfast they ascend the Mount of Olives, that is, to Eleona, each as he can, so that there is no Christian left in the city who does not go. When, therefore, they have gone up the Mount of Olives, that is, to Eleona, they first enter the Imbomon, that is, the place whence the Lord ascended into heaven, and the bishops and the priests take their seat there, and likewise all the people. Lessons are read there with hymns interspersed, antiphons too are said suitable to the day and the place, also the prayers which are interspersed have likewise similar references. The passage from the Gospel is also read where it speaks of the Lord’s Ascension, also that from the Acts of the Apostles which tells of the Ascension of the Lord into heaven after His Resurrection. And when this is over, the catechumens and then the faithful are blessed, and they come down thence, it being already the ninth hour, and go with hymns to that church which is in Eleona, wherein is the cave where the Lord was wont to sit and teach His Apostles. And as it is already past the tenth hour when they arrive, lucernare takes place there; prayer is made, and the catechumens and likewise the faithful are blessed.

And then all the people to a man descend thence with the bishop, saying hymns and antiphons suitable to that day, and so come very slowly to the martyrium. It is already night when they reach the gate of the city, and about two hundred church candles are provided for the use of the people. And as it is agood distance from the gate to the great church, that is, the martyrium, they arrive about the second hour of the night, for they go the whole way very slowly lest the people should be weary from being afoot. And when the great gates are opened, which face towards the market-place, all the people enter the martyrium with hymns and with the bishop. And when they have entered the church, hymns are said, prayer is made, the catechumens and also the faithful are blessed; after which they go again with hymns to the Anastasis, where on their arrival hymns and antiphons are said, prayer is made, the catechumens and also the faithful are blessed; this is likewise done at the Cross. Lastly, all the Christian people to a man escort the bishop with hymns to Sion, and when they are come there, suitable lessons are read, psalrns and antiphons are said, prayer is made, the catechumens and the faithful are blessed, and the dismissal takes place. And after the dismissal all approach the bishop’s hand, and then every one returns to his house about midnight. Thus very great fatigue is endured on that day, for vigil is kept at the Anastasis from the first cockcrow, and there is no pause from that time onward throughout the whole day, but the whole celebration (of the Feast) lasts so long that it is midnight when every one returns home after the dismissal has taken place at Sion.

—Egeria, Abbess (late 4th century), The Pilgrimage of Egeria, 85-90