Easter 2 - "Seized by a great Hope!"

Easter 2

April 3, 2016

Fr. Phil Eberhart

"Seized by a Great Hope"

As I was considering the sermon for this morning, a quote came into my field of view in a post from our brother, Oakley.

A quote from our favorite theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer just shortly before he died in Flossenberg Prison:

"The liberating thing about Good Friday and Easter is that one's thoughts are swept far beyond one's own personal fate to the ultimate meaning of all life and suffering, and of whatever occurs, such that one is seized by a great hope."

Seized By A Great Hope!

That is the ultimate meaning and result of Easter.

I was captivated all week by the passage we just read from the book of Acts.  The disciples are transformed from the cowardly band of abandoners and deniers of Jesus Christ, into this fearless group of special forces commandos who quickly infiltrate the whole of society,  just as Jesus sent them to do - like "Leaven in the Lump of dough" or like light into the darkness.

Within weeks of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, the disciples have experienced something that completely radicalized them!  That's not a good word today is it?  radicalized!  But in this case, the disciples were radicalized with and by the Good New - Jesus himself, his presence with them post-mortem!  And by his words spoken to them over three years together; by his example of humility and servant-leadership; by his cross and crown of thorns!  They were radicalized by LOVE and gripped by HOPE!

Remember our passage from last week?  1 Peter 1

Just v. 3: 
^"3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,"

Born Again to a Living Hope -  Seized by a Great Hope !!

Now look with me at our Acts reading:

  The accusation just weeks after the Resurrection and Pentecost:  "You have filled Jerusalem with your teaching!" 

   The disciples response is an outline of our commission:

1.  It's basis:  We must obey God, rather then man! 

The good news is that the God of the Universe has come among us, has become one of us, and has in fact, opened a way back to a lost relationship with himself through an atoning death at the end of an exemplary, sinless life!  How can we ignore such a great salvation?  We cannot!  Therefore, we must obey God, not human authorities who would set themselves up against Him!

2.  It's ultimate end:   You are determined to bring this man's blood on us!

Precisely!  How prophetic of the ultimate aim of the Christian message and of the evangelization of the world!  ... to bring the blood of Christ ON the WHOLE WORLD!  Amen!  They had a clear understanding of the goal of the disciples and of Jesus Himself! 

3.  It's purveyors and perpetrators:   Peter and the other disciples...

The one who denied Christ is now the ring leader, his name mentioned, the others not.  Just remember the words to Mary at the tomb:  Go tell my disciples, AND PETER...  and remember the walk on the shore of Galilee -  Peter, do you love me?  Three times asked.  Three times affirmed.  Peter is the Rock.  What a change!  How do you account for the change?  Just take Peter only, never mind the others among the 12,

all but one of whom, including Peter, died martyr's deaths on account of this message.  How do you account for the change?

The Good News and Hope of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is best illustrated in the changed lives of His followers, from then to now!  I once was blind, but now I see!  What is YOUR story?  I once was _______,

but now I'm ____?_____.   How do you fill in the blanks?

Here is the Good News that Peter and the Disciples were telling:

4.  The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus...

This 'man' was the Son of God:   John 3:16!  God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son;

John 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God!  v. 14 and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory...

5.   Whom you had killed by hanging Him on a tree!

This death on the cross was no mere mistake - it happened with the full foreknowledge and ordination of God - Jesus came for this purpose - to be a sacrifice of propitiation - the atoning sacrifice, once for all time.  Anything that lessens the impact of Jesus on the Cross, lessens the Gospel and Good News.  And it lessens our basis for Hope in the midst of our own suffering.  If we deny the Cross, we deny the meaning in our own suffering and trials.  But as we embrace the Cross of Jesus, we embrace His Work in our lives through our sufferings and trials.

6.  God exalted Him at His right hand as Leader and Savior...

The message of Jesus exaltation is in the forefront here!  He is the Leader - the word that Luke chooses here is one that was chosen by the writer to the Hebrews:  He is the AUTHOR of your salvation. Heb 12:3

He is the originator and forerunner of your faith!  Paul speaks of this exaltation on the heals of his Kenotic passage, we talked about that a few weeks ago.  Philippians 2:9-11

9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of [things] in heaven, and [things] in earth, and [things] under the earth; 11 And [that] every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ [is] Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

7.   That He might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.

"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."   Isn't that so true of all of us?  We know not what we do!  We go through life injuring and being injured by each other, because 'we know not what we do.'

But like our own legal system, which like it or not is based on the legal system of Moses the Lawgiver, "ignorance of the law is not an excuse!"  Anyone ever heard that from someone with a flashlight in your eyes."  I didn't know that was the speed limit!  Oh well! 

Part of the end game of Jesus - of his stated mission group - of His target audience in modern speak, was His own people, the Jews.  The chosen of God - God's holy people - the Kingdom of priests !  There is still agony today over the waywardness of God's Chosen People!  Our prayer is that he might give Israel repentance and forgiveness... and that they might accept it and Him!

8.   And we are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit...

Do you remember Jesus words just before the Ascension?  In the upper room in Acts 1:8 ... But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses...  This is the Jerusalem phase of that promise!!  We are the "ends of the earth" phase of that promise!!  and Jesus is the same, "yesterday, today and forever!"  The promise is unchanging from beginning to end.  The commission is unfading and unfinished, my friends!

Jesus is still alive today, and as such is still the source of a Living HOPE that is able to take ahold of us in such a way that we are fearless in the face of ungodly opposition.  We must obey God rather than men.  Although increasingly, like the rest of the world, the Cost of Discipleship is coming to be a reality in America too, we are called to stand for the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ and his Authorship of our Salvation, and Leadership of our lives.

To quote again from Bonoeffer's Letters and Papers from Prison:
"The liberating thing about Good Friday and Easter is that one's thoughts are swept far beyond one's own personal fate to the ultimate meaning of all life and suffering, and of whatever occurs, such that one is seized by a great hope."

May we be "seized by a great hope" these days ... a living hope that we have been born again into.  May we live in that hope in the face of trial or suffering, especially that which may come because we name the Name of Jesus Christ in our world and in our nation.

Shall we pray?

Lord our God, give us the faith, the courage, the HOPE that gripped the disciples of Jesus as a result of His resurrection - give us the hope that captured Professor Bonhoeffer as he awaited his fate in the prisons of Nazi Germany.  Give us a fearless boldness, like that You gave to your disciples when they prayed and the place was shaken.  Shake our land and use us, Lord Jesus Christ, as your witnesses to Hope - in the power of the Holy Spirit, and through the Name of your Holy Son Jesus, we pray it.

Amen and Amen!

Easter Sunday: A Living Hope!

Easter 2016

March 27, 2016

Fr. Philip Eberhart

A Living Hope!

Recently Valerie and I got to go to see RISEN.  How many of you have gone to see this movie.  It's still in theaters and I highly recommend it.

It is the story of a roman centurion who is placed in charge of finding the body of Jesus after the crucifixion.  His quest takes him further and further away from the many gods of the Roman pantheon and toward the God of the Hebrews, and to His perfect image and Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

Two scenes in the movie are really amazing: 

the first is his interview with one of the soldiers who was present at the tomb, now pardoned and drunk in the back of a bar.  But in relating what happened at the tomb that morning, he suddenly becomes lucid, staring off into an experience that he cannot fathom.  "The stone flew away from the tomb like a leaf!"  "I was looking at a light - like the sun - shining from the tomb"  "...so bright I could not look at it."

the second scene, is when the centurion, bursts in on the hidden disciples and Jesus is there with them.  He recognizes Jesus from the cross and is stopped in his tracks. He drops his sword and edges over to the side of the room and slides down the wall to sit on the floor, a few feet from the Savior, who is showing his wounds to Thomas (and the centurion, by the way.)

One of my favorite verses in the NT is a verse that I used as a text on the day I preached my father's funeral:  It was the verse I was preparing for a sermon during the week he was in the hospital, unresponsive to either I or mom.  It is from First Peter 1:

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶ In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, ⁷ so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. ⁸ Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, ⁹ obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Friends, 

the event we commemorate and celebrate today is more than just something that happened, a long time ago and far far away!  It more than the stuff of movies, though it certainly is that!
It is the stuff of life change!

If we fully grasp the significance of this day, the "weight of glory" that it holds for us who believe and indeed, for all persons; 

If we take ahold of its meaning for us and for others;

If we take the time to ponder the questions it poses to us, especially in our modern world:
                  Who is this Jesus?
                   What is the meaning of this death?
                   What happened to the body?
                   If Jesus rose from the dead, then what?

If we can simply conclude, as the centurion did, that ITS ALL TRUE,
THEN it changes everything!

It changes our whole life!  Our past, our future.  Our brokenness, our success!  Our loneliness, our relationships, our friendships, our companions.  Our eating, our drinking...  the bread and the wine.

It changes everything... if it's true.  But is it?

Have you come to the conclusion of your quest?  I presume if you are here this morning that you are at least on the quest!  The quest to find the answer to those questions for you.  To find the thing that changes everything about our existence on planet earth.  That explains it all and gives it meaning and purpose.

Peter calls it A LIVING HOPE!  Alive indeed!

Can you imagine the scene in the Upper Room that first night after that morning.  The news had come from the women, from Mary, who had been told to go tell "the disciples AND PETER."  Isn't it interesting that Peter was singled out by the Risen Jesus for the news.  Why?  Not because Jesus didn't consider him a disciple anymore, but because Peter himself probably didn't.  He was in the room, but can you imagine the shame - no leadership here anymore!  Just shame.  Along with the whole crew who abandoned their Lord in His time of need.

And suddenly Jesus is standing there.  Peter hears the corporate gasp of the other disciples and slowly turns to meet the Risen One, face to face. All the color - all the life flows from his body and he falls to his knees, his face buried in the robe of Jesus for shame.

Jesus reaches down and lifts him up with nail scarred hands. He lifts his shamed face to look into the face of His savior.  And he says,

What do you hear Jesus say to you?

We are all Peter!  We have all betrayed and abandoned him at times in our lives, from day to day.

What do you hear Jesus say?
"I told you so!"   "You're a sorry disciple!"   "Wha'd ya learn?"
None of the above.  What were Jesus' first words to the disciples?
"PEACE BE WITH YOU!"

Is there anyone here who would sign up for "Peace"?  Peace I leave with you, My peace I give you. Not like the world gives, give I unto you.

We have been born anew into a LIVING HOPE.  A hope that is rooted in the empty tomb and the living Jesus, who encounters us, in our room or on the way.  The stories of the Resurrection and the encounters of Jesus with His disciples are our stories.

Last Sunday I asked you to find yourself in the story.  Have you?

Are you Peter, John, Mary? Thomas perhaps.  The disciples on the Emmaus Road? 
Have you found yourself?  More importantly have you seen Jesus?

Listen again to Peter's comments:

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶ In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, ⁷ so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. ⁸ Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, ⁹ obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Amen and Amen!

Hallelujah!  The Lord is Risen!
The Lord is Risen indeed!  Hallelujah!

Let us pray:
Lord Jesus Christ, on this day you have overcome death and the grave.  You have come back to life and brought us with you from the dead!  We who were dead in our sins, worship you.  We who doubted, believe.  We who walked with you without knowing Who you were, have our eyes opened. We hear you say, Peace be with you. 
We receive your Peace - the peace that comes in Your Presence. 
Help us to come fully to believe in You, Lord Jesus.  To have a Living Hope. to be Inheritors of the imperishable.  Make us truly yours, Lord Jesus.  Help us to see in your death, the grace for our whole life.  Restore us to fully walk with you in our day to day, listening to your voice, hearing your words, filled with love for you and for others, and obeying you in every way, because we love you, Risen Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ.
In your Name and for the sake of Your Kingdom, we pray.
Amen.

Palm Sunday: "Let this mind also be in you, which was in Christ Jesus"

Passion Sunday/Palm Sunday

March 20, 2016

Fr. Phil Eberhart

"Let this same mind be in you, that was also in Christ Jesus"

After our march around the sanctuary / parking lot this morning and the reading we've just heard of the Passion Gospel, I want to just do a short meditation this morning, because for the most part, the ACTIONS of Holy Week, that we can all take part in, ARE THE SERMON!!

The power of liturgy and of these readings is in our identification with what was happening -- in our finding our part, our place, in the story.  Throughout this week I urge you to consider that question.  Where am I in this story ... His Story?

But this morning I want to help us find HIS STORY IN OUR MIDST.

If you have your bible turn with me to the book of Philippians, chapter 2.  Our reading this morning from this letter of Paul is perhaps one of the most ancient hymns of the church, set in prose, even in Paul's letter.  It is one of the most beautiful portrayals of Jesus self-giving, His humility and sacrifice that there is in all of Holy Scripture.

It is called by scholars the "KENOSIS" - the Self-emptying of God in Christ Jesus.

Look at your reading in your bulletin for a second:

The description of Jesus found here in three verses puts on display a kind of mindset and character that Paul wants the Philippians and US to emulate:

1.  "who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,"

      What is the mindset on display here?

       Unwillingness to grasp for position, power, prestige - unwilling to compare and compete!

       Jesus actually WAS GOD, not just in the form of God, YET there is the mindset, the 
          willingness to be abased.

         ... to be emptied of rank, of power, of position, of all that made Jesus appear to be God!

2.  "but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness."

      So for Jesus Christ it wasn't just a mindset, but it was an action. 
      He ACTUALLY EMPTIED HIMSELF.  God actually emptied Himself of His God-hood! 

One of my theology profs at ORU, brought an ant farm to class one day and asked us, "How can we make these ants know how much we love them?" At the end of the day, the answer was, "You have to become an ant!!"

3.  "And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death --even death on a cross."

      God, who cannot die, died!  And did so as an act of obedience to His own will! 
      Many of you know Fr. Mike Flynn.  Once when I was kneeling to receive communion
      from him, he handed me the bread and said, "This is the measure of God's Love for you
      and of your worth in His eyes!"

So what was Paul after when he quoted this song to the Philippian church? 
Well to find that out we need to look in our bibles.  Philippians 2: 1-4 hold the answer to that question:

[Phl 2:1-4 ESV] 1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Paul's word picture here is of a fellowship, a church, that displays the kind of mindset that Jesus had!  That is what he was after as he wrote this letter and quoted the song that was being sung at the time about the humility and self-emptying of Jesus Christ. Listen closely to these words...

    Encouragement ...   Comfort ...    Fellowship in the Spirit ...    Affection ...    sympathy/mercy.

    Be of the same mind ...  have the same love ... in full accord ... of one mind. 

Do you think there is a message here?

    Do NOTHING from selfish ambition or conceit.

    From humility - because of humility, --- count others as more significant than you are!

    look out for each other's interests, not just your own!

And then he says:  Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus!

And so here is our story -- the place that we fit in the story of this week of the passion of Jesus!

We fit here in the Body of Christ - here in the midst of His People.  Among a people who have accepted the challenge to live life as Jesus lived life... to encounter and interact with one another on the basis of Jesus example, of "his mind."   Of His humility and selflessness.  Of His lack of striving for position and power.  Of his sacrifice and obedience.  Of his "alongside" encouragement!  Of His comfort that comes from unconditional love; Of being a participant and partaker in the move and power of His Spirit;  Of having the deep gut level compassion He had and holding out that same mercy to others that He gave us!

Does that sound like a church you would like to be a part of?

Does that sound like a church that might experience the same kind of "exaltation" that Jesus did? The kind where God is the one who exalts you, not you yourself!

How different from the world's system!!  How like ... um ... Jesus!

Let's pray!

This prayer comes from the verses Paul writes in the first chapter as he greets and prays for

the church:

8 ...God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.  Amen!
[Phl 1:8-11 ESV]

Lent II - Our Call and Our Commission

Second Sunday of Lent

February 21, 2016

Fr. Philip Eberhart

Our Call and Our Commission

This past couple of days I've been involved, once again, in the work of the Diocese as we convened a discernment community to work with a potential candidate for Holy Orders that Bishop Bill sent us from West Texas.  Along side of that work, I've been scheduled to preach this morning, and have sensed a call to preach on the Call we have as Christians to share our faith, as a reflection of the heart of God for the world, and the Commission we have to Go and Teach all Nations.

Someone was joking this week that they had seen a sign in front of a church that named the church The NO-Great Commission Baptist Church!  Apparently they had decided that the Great Commission didn't exist - that Jesus actually meant something else - that they could pretend that the words of Jesus, sending us to the World for which He died, simply didn't exist!  In my mind, when I heard that, I thought of a common malady that is found in many churches these days - it is simply characterized as an "US FOUR - NO MORE" mindset.  Completely self-centered and closed society, focusing on its own needs and wants.  The problem today is that those churches can be 4000 people, not just 4!

This morning I want to tell a farmer story - one about seedtime and harvest and the work that is included in that lifestyle.  Turn with me to Mark 4 for just a moment.

“This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk then the head then the full grain in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe he puts the sickle to it for the harvest has come.” -- Mark 4:26-29 

As most of you know, I grew up on a wheat farm in eastern Colorado, a fact that is part of my life story and a proud heritage that I hold close and dear, not just for the roots that it gives me, but for the context and lessons that I take from the knowledge of the land and the process of seedtime and harvest that we engaged in year after year as I grew up.

Let me be clear with you all.  I believe that these Kingdom parables are given to us, in the terms they are given to us, farming terms - to that we can all understand the process, no matter what land we are from or what time we live in.  These parables are UNIVERSAL, across all times and places on our planet !!  We probably, most of all, are at risk of not grasping their reality, because we are not engaged, in our urban and city culture, in the process of growing things, of planting or of harvesting our food.

Throughout the NT, Jesus is using these images and parables to instruct his disciples, soon to be apostles (sent ones) as to the reality of His Kingdom and it processes of growth.

Here are some Kingdom distinctives that Jesus pointed out to his followers:

1.  Seed has the potential of life inside it - by nature!  Peter calls it "eternal seed" or "seed that springs up to eternal life" -  [1Pe 1:23 NASB] 23 for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God."

2. Sowers are those who carry and plant "seed" in the soil of the hearts of men and women they meet.  The parable of the sower is one which teaches us the necessity of following in our Master's footsteps who was and is the Master Sower!   This parable is applicable to all of Jesus' followers, be they local missionaries or global missionaries.  We pray Sunday after Sunday that Jesus would make us a "united, biblical and missionary Anglican Witness in North America."  We are all missionaries. We are all sent to the work of the field - both as sowers and as harvesters.

3.  There are SEASONS which we need to be aware of in this process: 

      a.  The Season of Preparation:   The work is done by the Spirit of God in the hearts of men and women

      b.  The Season of Planting:   The work is done by both the Spirit and Us in cooperation with Him and under His direction.

      c.  The Season of Growing:   The work of God and the natural potential of the Seed in the soil (or the soul)

      d.  The Season of Harvest:     The work of the Lord of the Harvest and the workers He sends in the Harvest.

      Of the seasons, we only have some control over the second and fourth.  God has invited us into the process of the Work of the Kingdom as sowers and as harvesters.  He is the "LORD OF THE HARVEST" and as such, He has invited us to sow into the fields HE has prepared and then to "put in the sickle for the harvest is ripe!  (Joel 2) Multitudes, multitudes are in the valley of decision!"

The question for us this morning is where is your field?  Do you believe that God has sent you in the field?  Do you "pray the Lord of the Harvest to send forth laborers into His Harvest?"  If so, then the natural outcome of those prayers, is that you will become on of the Sent Ones - the Apostolic Band of Jesus Followers who are sent to do the work of the Kingdom of God in the world, field by field.

We Enter a new field,

We Sow into the soil (souls) of the field,

We wait for God's promised growth - that is the potential of the seed - 

And we Join in the Harvest of Souls that God has promised.

I know that many here pray that prayer to the Lord of the Harvest - or at least you pray for greater numbers, here at REZ.  Both are the same prayer, and God is inviting us into the Kingdom work of Sowing and Reaping.

One last scripture that I want to remind you of - and we use this when we are talking about money, from the context in which it is found, but it is a universal principle of the field:  

[2Co 9:6 NASB] 6 Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

The secret of a bountiful harvest is bountiful sowing!  It is a financial principle but it is also a principle of the life of the sower and the seed - a parable of the growth of the Kingdom of God on the earth!!

For a long time I took the parable of the sower and turned it on its head - thinking, as a smart farmer that I was, that the parable was really all about the soil and the preparation of the soils for the seed.

It was as I looked at a life size statue of The Sower in the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, NC that I realized the soils were not the point at all, but the seed - and a sower who would be obedient to fling as much seed as humanly possible, everywhere he went!!

Friends, the SEED as I indicated earlier is the enduring and unlimited, eternal Word of God!  That is what we are planting in the hearts of those around us, - the seed isn't our ideas or opinions about things (we are very willing to plant that stuff almost everywhere as well!) - the SEED is God's ideas and what GOD says about people and circumstances; what GOD promises about our life and our destiny in Him; what GOD says about how to live and how to make our life after His image.

This is the SEED we have to sow!  Not our good ideas, but GOD IDEAS.  God's Word is the Seed that is eternal, that springs up to eternal life in the hearts of those who receive it.

But the sower sows indiscriminately!  The Sower NEVER judges the soil, he just casts the seed!  

Where are you casting seed these days? What does that even look like in your daily life and work?

You know we can get in trouble for quoting the bible in our workplace.  People have been fired for having bibles and scripture verses visible on their desks!  We are living in a hostile environment.

Just let me point you to two passages:

Gal 5: 22-23

[Gal 5:22-23 NASB] 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

and from 1 Cor 13

[1Co 13:4-7 NLT] 4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

What if the Fruit of the Spirit and the Unconditional Love of Jesus, are a part of the vehicle for the delivery of imperishable seed, into the lives of those around us?  What if?

I just want to challenge you to consider this morning that you are an agent of the Kingdom of God and the task is unfinished!  Does anyone question that?

So let us live in such a way that what we say and do may be a catalyst for the planting of the Seed of the Word of God in the lives around us - so that God may give grown and we may all become harvesters in the field that God is appointed us to.

Amen and Amen.

Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched forth you hands on the hard wood of the cross, that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace;  So clothe us with Your Spirit, that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of You, for the honor of Your Name.

Amen

The State of the Flock - Feb 7, 2016

THE STATE OF THE FLOCK 2015
FEBRUARY 7, 2016
FR. PHILIP EBERHART

Well this morning it probably has to be said first and gotten out of the way, "Go Broncos!"  It's not every State of the Flock that includes this opportunity and we need to mark the day in some way for posterity.  And so we pray for good play by both teams and for no injuries along the way.  

Let's pray:

Father, as we come again to a milestone as we pause to look back and then to look forward, we give You thanks!  We are in a place of extraordinary convergence,  just as for us on this day many things are overlayed as we worship together - in these days ahead many things are coming together as by Your hand.  Help us Lord Jesus, to walk with our eyes wide open, so as not to miss the opportunities you place before us - opportunities to partner with You in the work of redemption; to gather with you in the work of harvest; to be your hands and feet, your eyes and ears and mouth, One Body of Christ, with many members, each doing their work as you direct. Be the Head of this Body of Christ and let us take our place in the larger Kingdom purposes you have for our city and for our nation.  We appeal to Heaven, for Mercy and for Grace; for You Lord, to bring us through these days victorious, just as you were victorious over the grave as you rose from the dead.  You are our Resurrection, Lord Jesus Christ.  

Amen and amen.

This morning I want to look back briefly at some of our gains, and some losses from this past year;  I want to share some personal reflections on what God seems to be doing and how we fit in His plans.  I want to give you a clarion call - the sure blast of a trumpet - this morning as we look forward to what is ahead, not just for REZ but for our land, our One Nation Under God, Indivisible with liberty and justice for all!

2015 has been an extraordinary year, not without its challenges, of course, and its losses.  Perhaps the greatest loss we suffered was that of our dear sister, Sandy Steele.  Her absence has left a hole indeed, and many of us still feel the sting of her loss and the loss of her prayers and advocacy for mission.  Sandy was a truly extraordinary survivor and she lived her life in no uncertain terms, which is probably what we miss the most!  We are grateful that Sandy was given to us, in the language of our prayer, "to be with us as a companion on the way", to challenge us as only Sandy could, and to brighten our lives with her wry wit and with her spectacular painting and eye for God's special beauty.  

+ + +

The year past is a year that has seen our church family lose and gain as well.  As in almost every year, friends have left for other assignments, other places of worship, other work, and other places to live.  We miss our friends and feel the loss of their presence and their contributions, physically and spiritually, to the work in which we engage, week by week.  

We pray for those who have moved on from our fellowship and we welcome those who have come.  In the ebb and flow of our life here at REZ we have the opportunity to touch and heal and empower and engage each person that God sends to us.  So much of our life and mission here at REZ is the work of Being the Body of Christ and of bringing each person to further healing and maturity, in the Spirit of Paul's challenge to the Ephesian church:  

11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.

14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. 15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. 16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

This passage and the one we use as a touchstone from Acts 2:42 and the verses following, are guideposts for our life and journey together. Our work at REZ is to "devote ourselves to the Apostles' teaching (the Word of God), to fellowship (deeply shared life together), to breaking bread (a Eucharistic community, in the temple and extending out from house to house), and to prayer (the abiding conversation with our Father, for ourselves and for others, locally and globally).  More and more these verses prove to be the focused center of our life and direction.

In 2015 we have discovered more and more depth in our study of God's Word, as we meet week by week, in our homes and in our Adult Forum class.  Through bible and book study this past year we have drawn closer to Jesus and to one another, moving more and more toward fulfilling a vision of being "mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full stature of Christ."  That work will never be completely done, but we are more together than we can be separately in God's Kingdom.  Sharing of life is a reality at REZ, as we live together in the ups and downs, in the good times and bad times.  REZ is not afraid of suffering or broken people - as we look around we jokingly call ourselves the "land of broken toys!"  But we believe that God is in the redemption business, as we've recently heard again.  Life transformation is a part of our DNA here, "growing in every way to be more and more like Christ."  A large part of that shared life is a gift of hospitality.  As God welcomes us to His Table each week, we welcome each other to our own tables and we welcome those whom God brings our way.  This is called Eucharistic Hospitality and it is inherent in the words describing our devotion to "the breaking of bread."  And last but never least, we pray.  We don't talk a lot about it - we actually pray.  If you've been in a service you know we pray!  Our service is drawn from the Book of Common PRAYER!  But more than that we pray in genuine concern for one another, and for the world; we pray for healing regularly; we pray over those who have a broken spirit - who have wounded lives. In fact fully 1/3 of our membership is involved in some kind of prayer ministry at REZ, from healing prayers to intercessory prayer, week by week. We will pursue these four foci further this year as we press into all that God has for us and we begin to see the fruitful manifestations of that life:

>  A deep sense of awe and wonder among God's people as we see God answer prayer in miraculous ways...

>  A radical generosity, characterized by love and sacrificial giving to each other as needs arise...

>  Worship that is filled with God's presence, in Word and Sacrament, daily "in the temple and from house to house... 

>  Real shared life where real problems and challenges meet real hope and real help...

>  Loving community characterized by joy and praise to God for His good gifts ... and finally

>  An atmosphere of God's favor, drawing new people into the Kingdom of God each and every day!

+ + +

Looking back at this year I cannot but mention the grace of God that has been manifested among us in our Reverend Ladies, Rev. Margie and Rev. Barbara.  How God has gifted you both in extraordinary ways and how we are blessed to receive and host, and we pray, continue to empower you for all that God has.  Our fellowship is in a context in the Anglican Church in North America and in the International Diocese that is, like us, growing in our knowledge of and response to God.  In these days, we are all precariously balanced on the tight rope, walking across the Grand Canyon!  More and more churches are finding themselves either compromised or swallowed up in the crisis which is our culture today, but I believe that crisis is a mix of danger and opportunity.  We must resist the temptation to go in our own power, instead relying on God's power and His timing, as it is manifested in our bishops of the ACNA, in the Global Fellowship and in our own, Bishop Bill Atwood.  There has been questions of timing for ordinations, or receptions, and other advancements of those among us who are ordained or seeking the work of Holy Orders.  All I can do is urge patience and prayer.

As you will read in Deacon Michael's letter this morning, God is faithful and will, as Paul prayed, "open doors for effective ministry" in His time and in His ways.  Rev. Barbara and Rev. Margie are being used here and in the wider community according to their giftings in teachings, preaching and counsel.  I am sure that Deacon Michael will be priested at our Bishop's visitation this year. We are seeking a date from his office even now.  And our lovely Ethel is in the process, having sucessfully completed her discernment phase, both locally and at the diocesan level, and she is experiencing an amazing advancement not from our processes but from God's favor as she teaches and is entering into Spiritual direction across the city and taking her place among the Statewide Intercessors, as a leader in her own right.  I am proud of all that are and have been in the REZ Ministry Mill !!  God has chosen us, not just me, but us - as a place where ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ are raised up, healed up, filled up and sent out.  Some are used by God here, some are on their way - I name Jacques Kustritz, now a Deacon in the Diocese of Cascadia - Joshua Dixon, soon to be ordained Priest there as well - and Darren Johnson, whose letter to the parish will be available afterwards, who is a Chaplain (Missionary) in Missouri.  That is not to mention others who have come through or spoken here to us or been mentored among us.  And more are coming!

Friends, this is a unique ministry that we have, of building into the leaders and pastors of the future.  We get the benefit of their lives among us for a time, but they are, as we all are, destined to GO.  Which brings me to the Mission Portion of my address.

+ + +

Along with being Super Bowl/Annual Meeting Sunday, and Last Sunday of Epiphany / Transfiguration Sunday, today is World Mission Sunday for the ACNA.    Our prayer hand out reflects this in our midst this morning and I point you to a video you can find on the Anglican Global Mission Partners website, along with a letter from me, in my role as the new President of the Board for the New Wineskins Missionary Network. See the following:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOz7risFiTo

or go to http://www.agmp-na.org/

As a parish we are a constituent member of the Anglican Global Mission Partners, which our own Ray Howard was instrumental in leading in many ways for many years.  I am proud to serve, as of last November, as the new President of the Board for the New Wineskins Missionary Network, which will have is triennial conference this April 7-10, an event which I hope some of you will be able to come to with me in North Carolina.

Friends, Mission is at the core of our DNA.  Mission is why we exist.  It is at the center of the existence of the Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit!  Our church not only exists for each other, but for God's world.  We must never forget that, and we endeavor not to here.  We value and nurture our relationships with our partners in the Gospel around the world.  From Rwanda and Uganda, to Kenya, to Russia and to Israel; in Turkey, Armenia and Iran, in Tunisia and Ghana, Congo and S. Africa.  I tell people that we are a church that is like a Hobbit - we're small in stature but have a very big footprint!

This coming year we will have a summer visit from Jacob and Ruth Dolinsky, our pastor partners from Nazareth, Israel and we will visit them in their home in September.  Al Throckmorton and myself have also been invited by Dr. Vitaly Voinov of IBT, who visited REZ this past summer, to attend the convocation of IBT partners at the Institute for BibleTranslation headquarters in Moscow.  We are praying about that opportunity in mid-September.

Mission is not only global in nature, it is local and finds its most practical applications in our every day lives.  In Acts 1:8, as Jesus himself promised the Holy Spirit just days before Pentecost, He said, "When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will receive power to be My witnesses; in Jerusalem, and all of Judea and in Samaria and to the ends of the earth."  Those concentric circles always start from Jerusalem!  Where is your Jerusalem?  It starts at your home and family, with your neighborhood, your workplace or play place or where you do business in the community.  Every time your life impacts in one of these places, the circles begin, like ripples in a pond, and I believe that through that, through you, God's influence will reach every shore!!

Here in Denver, we impact lives through involvement with Alternatives Pregnancy Center, as you heard last week, with the James Resource Network, on which I also serve as a board member.  We are active in volunteer opportunities with those who are choosing life and who are stretched and stressed by that choice!  

We are also active in Kingdom ministries across the city of Denver, in partnerships with other churches, in our own denomination and across denominational and racial divides.  REZ has become known for its Kingdom mindset and leadership in the things that bring the Kingdom, on earth as it is in heaven.  Not the least of those activities is one that began last spring, called 10 Days Together.  Many from REZ took part in daily prayer or evening services of worship and prayer, from Ascension to Pentecost last year.  This event was an ACTS 29 moment for our city, becoming a gateway for a fresh outpouring of God's Spirit on His Church in Denver!  We repeated it in the Fall during the Days of Awe, from Rosh Hashannah to Yom Kippur.  The high Holy days of Israel in the fall were a time of unification and blessing in the city, as our Messianic believers hosted the evenings of prayer alongside our other Christian fellowships.  We look forward to another 10 Days Together series of events this year, beginning on the National Day of Prayer and Ascension Day, Thursday, May 5th.  I hope that you will make plans to come along, as once again we press into all that God has for our church and for our city in the work of His Kingdom.

This brings me to my final call:

I don't think anyone here will dispute with me that we are in extraordinary times - the word "crisis" has been mentioned already, a time of danger and a time of opportunity.  Here I speak of our nation and the task which lies ahead of us in November.  I do not believe that the answer to our crisis lies in politics or Washington DC, but we have an opportunity to shape the future, as no other generation has had in recent memory.  We are on the cusp of seismic changes in identity, as the two sides amass their troops.  We have been watching with horror and dismay, the political "three-ring-circus" as it wends it way toward a culmination in November.  I am convinced that we have not had a more significant time in my lifetime.

Because of these realities, I am more and more willing to show up, to stand up, to speak up, and to put up - because I cannot afford to shut up!  We need to Stand UP!  Many went to the David Jeremiah meeting in Denver this last fall.  About 12,000 were in attendance and we were told to stand up - to stand for Jesus even in the face of unpopularity.  The message of Jesus Christ is not one that people want to hear today but it is more needed now that perhaps ever before in our history!  Its time to show up and to speak up!  We as Christians bring values to the table - God's values - what our Declaration of Independence calls, "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."   All of these are at risk in very real ways in these days.  

But our strongest position, between now and November is "on our knees."  And in November, we stand up and go to the voting booth.  En Masse!  It's time to make a real change in the direction of our culture and nation.  As I said that begins on our knees!  I was invited to attend a conference in December of virtually all the national level prayer leader from around our country.  At that meeting an initiative was announced, rooted in our historic past and the leadership of Gen. Geo. Washington.  As a General he had a small band of ships, a proto Navy to command, and needed a flag.  So he commissioned a flag which was a prayer, flying at the tops of the masts.  Today we are joining that group of ships and flying that flag.  From now till November, we will join hundreds of thousands across America in A National Appeal to Heaven.  I will be getting a book by this title for us to have and we will be using this flag as a theme for the 10 Days in both Spring and Fall this year, as well as a focus for our own prayers for our church, for our nation and for the world.  Resources for prayer at at www.ehc.org as Every Home for Christ is one of the spearhead ministries for this movement.

Friends, we can not longer sit and be silent in our pews.  It is time to stand up, to pray up, to live up, to the calling we have at God's Church, as God's people to be "salt and light" in an increasingly dark and unsavory world!  May God fill us with His power for witness;  may He lead us in paths of righteousness for His Name's sake; may He set a table for us in the wilderness; and may He be our All in All, Jesus Christ, worthy of our Utmost for His Highest!

In Christ Jesus,

    Fr. Phil+

Fr. Phil Eberhart
Rector, Resurrection Anglican Fellowship
Epiphany, 2016

Sanctity of Life Sunday - Fr. Phil Eberhart

Sanctity of Life Sunday

January 31, 2016

Fr. Phil Eberhart

"Before You were born, I knew you!"

This morning is Sanctity of Life Sunday, marking the anniversary of the Roe V Wade decision by our Supreme Court and now of the March for life in Wash DC, which happened just before the snow it last weekend in DC.

We have a 3 min video this morning to introduce the topic for us and Cathryn Terwilliger is volunteering down at Alternatives, who we support with our prayers and gifts.  There are baby bottles on the back table to take and put change or large bills in!!  I encourage you to take one and we will bring them back beginning on Ash Wednesday in 10 days.

[video]

If you would like to see more about the ministry of Alternatives

go to www.youhavealternatives.org.

Turn with me in you bulletin to our first reading from the OT book of the Prophet Jeremiah.

Let's read God's Word to Jeremiah together:

The word of the Lord came to me saying,

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations."

Have you read this before?

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you...

Before you were born i consecrated you;

Have you read similar verses in the Bible?

(Ps 139)

Let me read this to you:

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
    and knit me together in my mother’s womb.Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
    Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
    as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.You saw me before I was born.
    Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
    before a single day had passed.How precious are your thoughts about me,[b] O God.   They cannot be numbered!I can’t even count them;    they outnumber the grains of sand!And when I wake up,    you are still with me!

These verses are all very important to me personally.  Many of you know my story - born of a 16 and 17 year old here at Denver General Hospital.  I was with my mom for a week and then in foster care for 3 months, until I was adopted by the Eberhart's, my farm family in Eastern Colorado.

When I was a youth pastor at Christ Church here in Denver, I did a poll of the leadership volunteers we had working with the Jr and Sr High students that year.  8 out of 10 that year were candidates for being aborted!!

About that same time, I got a call from my birth mother and ultimately, met my whole birth family, now nearly 30 years ago.

So my journey has been ... um ... interesting.  Perhaps enlightening, especially in regard to our course this morning, on a Sanctity of Human Life Sunday.

Here's my question?  How does God use our "mistakes?"

I was a mistake!  I'm not saying that to garner sorrow or make anyone feel guilty, I'm just making an observation about what can happen when we take our broken lives, our messed up circumstances, and let God into the equation?

And so, now as a pastor, I have two passions, when it comes to outreach locally - embodied by the ministry of Alternatives Pregnancy Center and by the work I'm involved with at James Resource Center.  Both are working with those who want to Choose Life!  I want to be and I want us to be the hands and hearts that let people know that they matter - that they are not mistakes - that God can use us, no matter what !

We want to celebrate LIFE in all its forms, with all its ups and downs, crazy turns, screeching halts, - it reminds me of being on the Mind Eraser at Elitches!  Any one else??

There is a lot we could say about the culture of death in our nation and the number of lives that have been shed; we all are familiar with the stats, horrific as they are.  And we have just largely chosen to live with it.  An amount of bloodshed and death that dwarfs the Nazi Holocaust of the Jews by several times.  And we've made it a political hot potato!  Lord have mercy on our nation!

So I want to work together and reward those who choose life - I want to support and facilitate the moms who make these hard choices, and who are seeking to do what I believe God wants, since He is the author of life.  

Even the mistakes, God can take and bless and use for the good of the world, for His plan in the Kingdom of God -- in fact I kind of think He specializes in using people like me!   Broken people,  adopted people,  people who need grace all the time.

Some of you may have seen the poster about some of the one's God has used in the past:

Moses - the murderer

Noah - the drunk

Abraham, was too old to be a dad

Isaac, the daydreamer

Jacob, the liar

Joseph, was abused and abandoned, repeatedly!

Samson was a womanizer!

David was an adulterer and murderer

Gideon was filled with fear

Jeremiah and Timothy were too young

Rahab was a prostitute

Jonah ran from God

Job went broke and got sick, lost his family (and everything else!)

Elijah was suicidal

Isaiah preached naked ( let the scene only be imagined!!)

Naomi was a widow

Peter denied Jesus three times

The disciples slept through the prayer time in the Garden

Thomas doubted the resurrection

The Samaritan woman was divorced, multiple times

Martha was a worrier!

Did I miss anyone?  Everyone included in this list?

All I'm saying is that God is able, no matter what your circumstances are, or were - God  is able to use your life today.

I want us to be the kind of place - the kind of people who celebrate God's ability, not ours.  And certainly not are DIS-Ability!

What's your excuse? Can you match up to the list of the Giants of the Faith, that I just mentioned?

Maybe, just Maybe God can use you to touch a life for Him.   What I do know is that He wants to give you HIS perspective on this life.  And when you get HIS perspective often the mountains you thought you needed moved, become molehills, in the light of day and of His presence.  Seeing as God sees changes things dramatically.  Seeing people, seeing history, seeing into the future!

God wants to bring LIFE, to embody His LOVE in us, to give us a FUTURE and a HOPE - and for us to then turn to the next person

who is living "under the circumstances" and be His hands, His feet, His mouth, His supply!

Friends, God is in the business of redeeming all the He creates.  I believe we will meet millions of new people in Heaven, that we've never known - because these souls are everlasting, when God creates them!  And when they are aborted, I  believe that God takes them in arms and welcomes them into the portals of light.

But until them we are in the same business as He is - the redemption business!  Wanna come along?

Take one of the baby bottles, and make it possible for this ministry to continue.  Volunteer some hours at the Pregnancy Center, or at She She's -  both are looking for help.  Whatever you can do, every little thing, is valuable to God and to the Kingdom.  Pray, and ask the Lord about your part - your assignment and then do it.

Remember:  

Willingness

Availability

& Obedience.

Let pray:

O God, creator and author of all life:  You are the One who breathes life into your creation, even this broken, day to day mess that we've made of our lives.  Come, Lord Jesus, by Your Spirit and give us the power to change our own lives and the dynamic power to change our culture - our nation.  We pray for the President today, and the election process to come.  We pray for Godly leadership in all offices, local, state and nationally.  Let your choice emerge in the months to come and set our nation aright before you.  Use us, Lord, in your work, here and around the world.

In Jesus Name.

Amen