What's in a Name?

Ascension Sunday

May 17, 2015

Fr. Phil Eberhart

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

Well, you can tell by looking that I'm a different guy from the one printed in the bulletin.  Fred, texted me yesterday to let me know that his elderly mother had been taken to the ER in Colorado Springs and was in decline.  He asked to be released from this commitment to speak, which I reluctantly, and sadly gave.  At some later date you will hear this extraordinary man share about the great things that the Name of Jesus is accomplishing around the world.  But for today, you are stuck with me!

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As you know we are embedded today in the midst of the 10DaysTogether events and prayer times, and I want to say how grateful I am for your support and for your presence along the way.  So many from here have been a part of the evenings and especially, the mornings and noonday prayers and communion we have been having.  I am frankly blown away by you people!

I saw that our gospel was from John 17 this morning and I had to chuckle a bit, because that chapter is really the linchpin of all that we are doing - it is both the challenge of Jesus and the Prayer of Jesus for his church that has captured our hearts - to live in Oneness with each other in the same way as the Father and the Son are one!  How impossible!  Indeed!

It cannot be done apart from HIM - as Jonathan Friz said when he spoke here just 3 weeks ago now, the prayer is audacious and impossible - it doesn't take into account any of our humanity, our foibles, our selfish natures - even our preferences, which we hold so dear.  It is just a bald-faced ... TRUTH!  We cannot get to the answer to Jesus prayer ...  WITHOUT HIM!

There is NO doing this in our own strength.  There is NO power in sentimentality, or in sticky-sweet human effort

to be NICE to one another.  NO!  We have to fall helpless at the feet of Jesus, begging for His mercy - made new every morning - to accomplish what He has prayed we will accomplish IN HIS NAME.

And that is where I want to go this morning, because our reading this morning stops short of the prayer for unity that Jonathan was talking about a few weeks back, where we love to read and love to camp.  This reading this morning, however, give us the key to the door we must walk through to be the fulfillment of Jesus High Priestly Prayer for the oneness of His Church.

Look with me back at the reading of the Gospel for just a moment:

Just from the middle of the reading:

Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled.

Listen to the phrasing:

Protect them in YOUR NAME;  I Protected them IN YOUR NAME

and

SO THAT THEY MAY BE ONE, AS WE ARE ONE.

Friends, here is the key to answering the prayer of Jesus Christ!

The protection that we have is the power of the Holy Spirit, but the place of protection is IN THE NAME:  JESUS!

Not just any name, but THE NAME - the NAME given by the Father to the Son;  the NAME, by which we must be saved;

the NAME, except through which NO ONE comes to the Father!

Remember the old song?   

"Jesus,  Jesus,  Jesus !!  There's just something about that Name!

   Master ... Saviour ... Jesus!  Like the fragrance after the rain!

 Jesus,  Jesus,  Jesus !!  Let all heaven and earth proclaim ...

   Kings and kingdoms may all pass away ... 

     But there's something about that Name!"

What is it about that Name?  What is the power ... in the Name of Jesus ... that breaks every chain, breaks every chain, breaks every chain?

Friends, that NAME is our refuge,  The Name of Jesus is a strong tower to keep us safe.  It is a refuge in the time of trial.

when trouble come, and it will, the Name of Jesus is our comfort, it is our stonghold, it is the inner court - the utmost -

the inner most place - inside the curtain.

This is how Eugene Peterson puts it in The Message, from Hebrews 6:18-20

"We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It’s an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God where Jesus, running on ahead of us, has taken up his permanent post as high priest for us, in the order of Melchizedek."

Now listen again to the phrasing from our reading:

Protect them in YOUR NAME;  I Protected them IN YOUR NAME

and

SO THAT THEY MAY BE ONE, AS WE ARE ONE.

It is in the NAME JESUS (YESHUA) 

                  that we have protection from the world, the flesh and the devil!

It is in the NAME JESUS (YESHUA) 

                  that we are set free from sin and death, and given a new eternal life - IN HIM.

It is in the NAME JESUS (YESHUA) 

                   that we exchange our sin for His righteousness - the great exchange!

It is in the NAME JESUS (YESHUA) 

                   that we find our rest - from which we work!

The list can go on and on and on - we would be here all day and into the night and tomorrow!

The riches that are found IN THE NAME OF JESUS - HE is the treasure, hidden in the field!  HE is the treasure where your heart is, and all else follows!  HE is the NAME ABOVE EVERY NAME, at which NAME every knee will bow and every tongue confess!

We must bow now or we WILL bow later!  We must confess HIS NAME, as KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS ... NOW ... or we WILL confess later!!

THIS NAME is where our unity is found... it is where our ONENESS is found which Jesus prayed for in the later verses of this High Priestly prayer.

Friends, the bible is crazy about names from the time God revealed Himself to Moses in the burning bush as the I AM to the many times that JESUS used the same words as a description of himself and of his character.  Paul was knocked off his horse by the revelation of Jesus, literally!  So bright was it that Paul was blinded, that he might come to true sight.

NO WAY can I cover this topic in the 20 or so minutes I'm allotted here this morning.  YOU MUST GO and look this up.  Many of you have electronic versions of the bible on your phones or ipads or computers.  Start typing!

search IN HIS NAME;  just NAME has 200+ instances in the NT - but get specific.  search NAME OF JESUS ... and see for yourself what that NAME carries for you.  Allow the Spirit to knock you off your horse!

Lord may your revelation be so bright that we will have to shield our eyes.  May your revelation - the revelation of YOUR NAME< JESUS - YESHUA, cause us to be filled with hope and joy and wonder and awe.  Come, Lord Jesus Christ and fill your church with the GLORY OF YOUR NAME! 

It is in the GLORY of the NAME OF JESUS, that our UNITY - our ONENESS is found?  Why?  Because we are IN HIM and when we are all IN HIM we are all ONE, because we are IN HIM - TOGETHER!

What I'm discovering in the 10DaysTogether is that there is NO MAGIC in all this!  There is no magical formula for Unity, for oneness in the LORD - in HIS NAME !  It's not mystical, its not mysterious, it not magic.  When I was installed as the Rector of this church, way back in 1997, the preacher was Canon Burt Womack, and the message he brought was pretty plain and simple.  My friend, he said to me, 90% of the work is done, when you show up!

Friends, the magic happens when we come together - there's the word:  Together- Together- Together.  Shall I repeat myself?

T O G E T H E R !  The disciples were ALL TOGETHER, in ONE PLACE, and in ONE ACCORD when the Day of Pentecost came, but I assure you, they would not have been any of the later if they had not obeyed the Lord Jesus on Ascension Day, and stayed TOGETHER IN ONE PLACE for the 10 Days.  There is something about being together.  There is something about the touch and feel of friends, at meals together, in worship together, living a life together, loving one another, as HE LOVES US.

Jesus other name was what:   EMMANUEL - GOD WITH US!  Did you hear that?   WITH us.  Jesus knew the value of TOGETHER. There was no redemption possible without him interrupting his heavenly life and coming among us - making his dwelling among us - tabernacleling WITH US.  Likewise we are to be WITH one another and WITH the world we live in, as we are His hands and feet, His eyes and ears and mouth.  The WORD BECAME FLESH AND DWELT AMONG US.  The secret of Unity and oneness is IN HIM - IN HIS NAME - but it is NOT rocket science!  To be a partaker of His body and His blood, you have to present - in attendance in the flesh - eyeball to eyeball- cheek to cheek - hand to hand and heart to heart.

So the invitation is sent -  the welcome mat is out.  Will you come?  TOGETHER!

ALL TOGETHER - ONE PLACE - ONE ACCORD

What a Pentecost awaits us, if we are ... willing, available and obedient!

Amen and Amen

Following the Moving Green Line

Following the Moving Green Line

Fr. Phil Eberhart

5th Sunday of Easter

May 3, 2015

Most here are probably familiar with a couple of commercials that are airing currently or have recently, by Fidelity - an investment account provider and, lately, GO automotive has a similar commercial.  The main feature of both ads is a moving green line, that takes them from where they are to where they want to be - or where the ad maker wants them to be!

Do you ever wish for a moving green line that would guide you through the tough decisions of life?  Its kind of crazy, right?   To think that something might be at work to lead us in a specific direction in our life!  

Some of you may remember the talk that we had during the ALPHA Course with Nicky Gumble about How Does God Guide Us?

In it he talked about 5 C.S.'s.  Now this is a pop quiz that really isn't fair because most of us haven't listened to an ALPHA tape in almost a decade!  I racked my brain and could come up with 4:

Commanding Scripture; Circumstantial Signs; and Common Sense, Community of the Saints.  Close after so long.  That means it was a good teaching:  So to get the last one I had to look in the book!  Questions of Life.

Sure enough it was.

COMMANDING SCRIPTURE -  When it comes to questions of guidance, God has already spoken on a whole range of subjects and we don't have to question what He wants for us.  We have to search it out - and sometimes wrestle with it. But its pretty plain for those who seek God's wisdom and ways with humility.

COMPELLING SPIRIT - The one that I missed in trying to remember the 5 was the one that I kind of take for granted. This is the moving green line!  The One who is poured out on all flesh to glorify Jesus!  The One who actually does the washing and making us new! The One who moves toward us if we are willing - who moves into us if we are available - and who moves through us, His wonders to perform, if we are obedient.

COMMON SENSE -  When you become a Christian you don't leave your brain on the altar.  John Wesley said that mostly when God guided him to act He did it by presenting reasons to his rational mind to act in a certain way.  God gave you a brain - use it!  That is not to say that God cannot take you into strange directions - or counter-intuitively lead us.  We'll come to that in just a minute again.

COUNSEL OF THE SAINTS (OOPS, NOT COMMUNITY) -  Life is repleat with opportunities to seek wisdom from others, from parents, from friends, from elders in the faith, from those who have done what you want to do before you.  Now that I have grey hair, I get a lot more questions like these from younger men, pastors around me, even from strangers sometimes.

God gave you two ears for a reason - listen twice as much as you talk!

finally, CIRCUMSTANCIAL SIGNS - Open doors and closed doors.  This is where a great deal of trust must come into play.  What we pray for our daughters and their husbands is "Lord protect them from what they cannot see."  I think God does that a lot.

Now turn back with me to the lesson from ACTS this morning.  I want to look at Philip's encounter with an eye toward the 5 CS's and the moving green line!

Ready?  Someone read the first 8 words...

"An angel of the Lord said to Philip"

So what do you make of that?  Anyone here ever had an angel of the Lord speak to them?  The number even in Scripture is fairly small - but it happened a lot around the times when God was moving in power and favor and as God wanted to move the Gospel to new nations.  Peter had a dream, just before meeting with Cornelius, the Centurion.  Paul had a vision of Jesus himself - got knocked off his horse!  Blinded.  Of course Mary and Joseph had this experience as well. 

So not many experience an angelic visit, but they do happen!

OK ... what did he say?  Anyone?

"Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." (This is a wilderness road.)

I get a kick out of Luke here (the parentheses) - How counter-intuitive is the instruction?  Why go out into the wilderness, if you are an evangelist?  Wouldn't you want to go somewhere where there were people in abundance, not rabbits in abundance?  Go there and preach to the cactus plants?

But Philip was willing, available and _________________?  Obedient.

Out he goes and the story goes on:

"So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah."

Well it just so happened, that someone was on the road!  Wow, what a coincidence!  And what a coincidence that he was reading from the scripture that spoke about Jesus.

And what a coincidence that Philip was there.  But it wasn't the coincidences that got Philip's attention.  He was paying attention to another voice!  The COMPELLING SPIRIT.

Another six words anyone?

Then the Spirit said to Philip,

He was listening not to the signs - the coincidences, but to the Spirit of God.  As we said earlier, the Scriptures are replete with examples of God's personal guidance - through dreams, angelic visitation, prayer, or a kind of inner knowing.  We aren't sure how Philip experience the Voice of the Spirit, but we are sure that he did!  When God speaks to you clearly, there is no mistaking it and no escaping it.

And so Philip, goes near in a very bold obedience to God's voice of instruction.  It wasn't something that you just walked up to and hopped on!  This was a very powerful person - we are told of his exact position and the extent of his power.  But we are also told, what he was reading at the time.  As I said - what a coincidence!

Just happens to be reading from Isaiah, and not just anywhere in Isaiah, but Isaiah 53 - in direct reference to Jesus and his suffering.  Something that the Ethiopian was probably familiar with having spent from Passover to Pentecost in the holy city.

Now I want you to note that Philip begins how?  By listening and asking a question?  So often that could be our role as well.  Just listen and ask a question!

Do you understand what you are reading?  God had prepared a way for Philip to come alongside.  This is what we need to have our ears open to, friends.  Where is God acting to bring you alongside someone who has these same kinds of questions?

When God puts us into the paths of people, God intends that we have our ears open and our mouths shut!  We will hear the cry of a human heart, if we listen long enough.  People are desperate to share their questions, especially where the Bible and God and Heaven and the afterlife are concerned.  All people have are question!

Are you listening?

Are you willing?  Are you available?  will you be obedient to His voice - his leading?

The commercials have a moving green line that leads you to financial security or to a new car or to something that you desire.  But what I offer this morning is a moving Spirit of God - always moving like the wind.  A leading Spirit of God who directs us into places and circumstance - into jobs and workplaces - where people are - people who are hurting and questioning - who need someone to listen to them;  someone to come and change the atmosphere of the place they work.

Like Fr. Edward in the University!!  The atmosphere in that place changed over the 8 months he was there.  He had a lot of time to listen and to speak accordingly. In that 8 months 12 men gave their lives to Christ and many are still walking with the Lord - for them and for Fr. Edward that cell became a crucible.  The refiner's fire burned hot in that place and transformed both the messenger and those to whom he was sent.  Dare I say that?  

Edward was sent.

Philip was sent.

You and I are sent, friends.

Get your ears on.  Listen to God and to others.  The doors for effective ministry will open up for you along the way.

Many of you already have such testimonies - many of them.  We are a sent people.  And where ever we are, God will use us to effect this kind of transformation.  Shall we pray?

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

Lord use us as instruments in your hands.  Send your Spirit before us and lead us.  Give us boldness to ask questions and to speak of what we know to be true, among those we work with and play with.  Let us bring Your Kingdom near - your peace present - and your love and grace to bear on the real life situations that people face every day.  Use us, Jesus, to be your hands, your feet, your gentle words to those around us.  Send us, Jesus.  Send us.  Here we are.

Amen.

Rev. Michael Smith - The Body of Christ

THE BODY OF CHRIST

A.  Why did Christ stay in the body?
    1. Thomas examines the nail-pierced hands
    2. The abuse that the Body had endured
    3. Christ’s commitment to the Body --- a witness to the miracle

B. Why wasn’t Thomas with the body?
    1. Thomas the doubter…or Thomas the missing?
    2. Where was Thomas during the first meeting?  Why didn’t Jesus seek him out?
    3. Jesus was establishing a new body, the Church, and Thomas was called to be a part of it.

C. Why should we stay with the Body?
    1.  The distinctives of the body – worship, discipleship, evangelism
    2. Worship –  it makes us who we are, giving us strength, energy, purpose
    3. Discipleship – learning from each other
    4. Evangelism – The ministry of reconciliation is our witness to the world.

D. Call to action/call to unity
    1. Kumbaya?  Let it be!
    2. How good and how pleasant it is…
    3. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord

==============================================


Despite the scars, the resurrected Christ remained in his physical body.

The tableau that we’ve just read makes this undeniable.  Jesus, the crucified one, who had hung
on a cross in plain sight of both his supporters and detractors for the better part of a day, now stood in
front of Thomas.  And he said, “Thomas, put your finger here and see my hands.”  And Thomas reached
out a tremulous hand himself, and his fingers touched the palms of Jesus’ hands, smooth skin suddenly
interrupted by torn flesh yielding to holes in the center of those palms.  Thomas not only saw it, but he
felt it.  And then Jesus said, “Reach out your hand and put it in my side.”  And Thomas reached out his
hand once again, feeling torn skin and blood, exposed nerves and tendons in Jesus’ side.  Jesus said, “Do
not doubt but believe.”  And as I see this, in my mind’s eye I can only imagine that Thomas must have
fallen to his knees with incredulity, feeling his doubt dissolve and surrender to a newly-strengthened
faith as he proclaimed breathlessly, “My Lord and my God!”

It was undeniably the body of Jesus, and it was undeniably Jesus remaining in that body.  Now
did Jesus have to remain in the body?  After all, Jesus, the son of God, the second party in the Trinity,
was in nature God himself.  And as He had proclaimed to the woman at the well in John chapter 4, God
is spirit.  Could He not have somehow made himself known and visible as Spirit?  Why was the flesh
needed?  The Spirit was still alive, why remain in this prison of human form? For indeed, in many ways it
must have constituted continued limitation and a prison to him.  Certainly we’ve all experienced pain, or
age, or limitation in our bodies, and at times wished desperately that we could either trade bodies with
someone else or just get out of them entirely.  And the body of our Lord Jesus had been shredded by
whips.  It had been beaten, broken, bloodied, dehydrated, pierced.  Punctured by thorns.  Torn by nails
and spears.  Mocked by enemies full of hate.

    And yet, the resurrected Christ remained in his body.   Because only in the body could He
demonstrate conclusively that He had broken the power of sin and death once and for all.   Death, after
all, is a physical thing.  We declare a person or an animal to be dead when we can no longer find any sign
of life in their physical bodies.  The soul, we somehow instinctively believe that it lives on, that it still
exists, thinks, experiences, somehow.  We can scarcely imagine otherwise.  But death is a physical thing.
So only in the body could Christ maintain His association with us and still proclaim victory over the
forces of death.   And as for victory over sin, over evil.  Could sin possibly have been manifested any
more strongly than in those forces that sought to tear apart the very body of the Lord himself?  But sin,
too, had been defeated.   Those men aligned with the forces of darkness could find no body in the tomb,
and still can’t today, because it wasn’t there.  But hundreds of people would see Jesus, who had been
conclusively declared dead, alive and well, preaching, cooking, living, breathing, even smiling.  And
Thomas saw him today, alive and well and still in his body.

Thomas….Thomas.  We’ve labeled Thomas as the doubter, but I’m not sure that’s really the
correct label for him.  After all, the other disciples would scarcely have believed that Jesus had indeed
been resurrected until they’d seen him in the flesh.  Nor would Mary.  Nor would the men on the road
to Emmaus, or countless others.  Doubting the resurrection would have been totally natural and
common until they’d seen him with their own eyes.  This was a symptom, but not the cause of Thomas’
misgivings.    Why did Thomas doubt?  Look again at John 20, starting at verse 19, and perhaps, along
with me, you’ll see what I believe was the real issue.  Jesus came and appeared in the Upper Room to
the gathered disciples, and Thomas wasn’t there.  Thomas the doubter was Thomas the missing.
Thomas the truant.  Thomas the deserter?

Where was Thomas? Why wasn’t he there?  Now surely you can see many good reasons why he
wouldn’t have been there.  After all, he had seen the leader who he had pledged his allegiance to
soundly defeated, publicly scorned and hung on a tree.  As for these other disciples, these men who he’d
shared the last three years with, well, he hadn’t really chosen them as his companions.   He may not
even have really liked most of them.  And now, because of his association with them, he was a marked
man himself, a wanted man and a man in danger.  You could scarcely have blamed him for hiding, for
isolating himself, for considering moving on with his life and leaving them behind as part of a sad, foolish
chapter in his history.  And when they found him and told him that Jesus had been resurrected, not only
was this an incredible claim, but in many ways he had probably already set his eyes, his mind, his heart
elsewhere, in another direction.

Now, note that Jesus was there when Thomas made this statement of unbelief to his fellow
companions.  Perhaps not physically, but Jesus seemed to have heard the very words that Thomas had
used, the insistence on seeing the marks on his hands and the hole in his side.  He would echo those
words back to Thomas later.  But Jesus, the great shepherd who actively pursues His lost sheep, in this
instance did not suddenly appear to reclaim Thomas.  He didn’t go off and meet with Thomas wherever
he was, in isolation, away from the others, and fulfill his wish, and restore his hopes, his resolve and his
strength. No, a full week passed, and  Jesus waited to appear to Thomas until He was once again in the
Upper Room, gathered with the others, in the place and time of meeting.  Why?

My brothers and sisters, Jesus waited because He needed Thomas there.  He needed Thomas to
be a part of the disciples, not apart from the disciples.  Indeed, at this moment, Jesus was continuing to
fulfill His purpose on Earth, and as He had been doing in working with the disciples for three years, He
was preparing to remove His earthly body from this plane and replace it with a new body, a body of
believers, a body that would be known as the Church.  These were His new chosen people.  And Thomas
was indeed meant, selected, chosen to represent Him, not apart from it, but as a part of it.

Jesus didn’t abandon His body.  And he didn’t want Thomas to abandon the body.

Now where does that leave us?  Here we are, the Church.  We are a small body, seemingly
outnumbered and in many ways unwanted in today’s society.  We’re even at that time of year when
members of the church somehow naturally seem to drift.  After all, the excitements and activities of the
Christmas season and the Easter season are over.  I’ve seen busy churches become ghost towns at that
time, as attention and perhaps, in some ways, allegiances are pulled away in favor of much other
personal and organizational busi-ness.   Oh, come on, Michael, are you really going to preach to us about
attendance?  I could hear the outcries even as I wrote this.  Hey, we’re the ones who are here today.
Aren’t you literally preaching to the choir?  Well, yes, perhaps, but remember, Judas had been a part of
the choir.  Thomas had been a part of the choir, and even he sometimes needed reminders that he
needed to be there, both in body and in spirit.  He missed significant things when he wasn’t.  Therefore,
yes, I want to offer you a few reminders this morning of why we need to be here, regularly, consistently,
in heart, mind, spirit and body, in good times and in bad, whether it’s particularly popular to be here or
not.  Jesus didn’t abandon His body, and brothers and sisters, neither should we.

Why should we remain?  First, because our involvement in the church is a major part of what
makes us who we are.  It is a primary tool that Jesus uses to shape us, to form us, to mold us, indeed, to
keep us pliable enough to be shaped, formed, and molded.  Walking away from it, believing that we are
better than it, that we don’t need it, that we can function as Christians without it, flies in the face of
both his command, his intension, and his provision to us.  It is, in fact, the act of exchanging Jesus’
established form and place of worship for a very real self-righteousness, and it seems clear throughout
his teachings that self-righteousness is one of the things that Jesus hates most.  Yes, we can read our
Bibles, pray and worship in isolation, but the danger of succumbing to ones’ own selfish interests, needs
and desires is magnified exponentially if we do these things exclusively in isolation.  And that doesn’t
even begin to touch upon the danger of capitulation to those outside forces which remain violently and
relentlessly opposed to the influence of Christ, the culture wars, the wars against principalities and
powers.  To stand alone is more often than not to set Christ up for defeat, and yourself with Him.  In
many ways the American culture has vilified participation in any organized body, touting the so-called
virtues of independence.   In his book The Prodigal God, Timothy Keller reflects that “a high percentage
of people want to achieve spiritual growth without losing their independence to a church or to any
organized institution.”  Does the culture at large pull people in this direction?  Of course.  Here’s just one
example, in the most modern iteration of Star Trek, who are the villains considered the worst, the most
unstoppably evil, and the most relentlessly powerful?  The Borg!  “You will be assimilated!”  This is
considered a statement of evil.  But why are the Borg so strong?  Because they remain together!
Because they remain united!  Shouldn’t this tell us something?  Timothy Keller goes on to state
conclusively that “there is no way you will be able to grow spiritually apart from a deep involvement in a
community of other believers.  You can’t live the Christian life without a band of Christian friends,
without a family of believers in which you find a place.”

Why should we remain?  Secondly, because the church is a place of discipleship, and we learn
from each other.  We are meant to lean on each other, to protect each other, to grow with each other,
iron sharpening iron. .  As He speaks through us, He also teaches us to speak to each other.   As He
teaches us to listen to Him, He also teaches us to listen to each other.  In his book The Four Loves, C.S.
Lewis wrote that “in each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can fully bring
out.”  I get that.  At the Smith house, we have a cat, because my wife is a cat lover.  Now me, I’m not.
But because of that cat, I get to see a side of my wife that I rarely see elsewhere.  There are affectionate
ways that she responds to that cat, imitations that she does of him, delight that she takes in him that I
don’t see her express in quite the same way anywhere else.  So I tolerate the cat, because he brings out
a side of my wife that I truly love and that I don’t get to see otherwise.  C.S. Lewis applies this thought to
the body of believers, stating that through our friendship and through our continued fellowship, we get
to see sides of God that we may not fully see or understand otherwise.   “For every soul, seeing Him in
her own way, communicates that unique vision to all the rest. ”

And finally, why should we remain?  Because in this we witness to the rest of the world the
power of God’s love.  The ministry of reconciliation referenced in 2 Corinthians 5 isn’t just about men
and women reconciling themselves to God, it’s also about reconciling themselves to each other, and
then reconciling them to God through each other.  Christ says that they’ll know we are Christians by our
love.  That’s not just our love to them, that’s our love to each other.  If we within the body of Christ
cannot be bothered to tolerate, indeed to love, each other, visibly and repeatedly, why would the world
at large ever believe that we could have the strength and the commitment to love them?  We must love
each other.  Even when we disappoint each other.  Even when the Church disappoints us.  Even when
we hurt each other.  Even when we feel that the Church hurts us.  I’ve been there.  I’ve been hurt by the
Church, and by people in the church, even as many of you, even most of you, doubtless have.  But this is,
and remains, the body of Christ.  Christ could only demonstrate the miracle of His triumph by remaining
in that broken, scarred, imperfect body.  Likewise, I would submit, we can only demonstrate the miracle
of His triumph in remaining in the broken, scarred, imperfect body known as the Church.

Christ didn’t abandon His body, and neither should we.  If you believe that today, let’s stand
together and join hands.  This isn’t about being an introvert or an extrovert, its about showing our
commitment to the church and to each other.  Some would sneer and call this a Kumbaya moment, but
Kumbaya was just another way of saying, “Lord, come by here,” so if we want Christ here, then let’s  do
this.  He said Himself that where two or three are gathered together in His name, there He will be in the
midst of them.  So feel the connection between us right now.  How good and how pleasant it is when
brothers dwell together in unity…for there will God bestow the blessing, life forevermore.    Remaining
together, remaining in the body, is a choice.  And so I echo along with our true Founding Fathers, choose
you this day whom you will serve.  As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.  And God willing, we
will serve Him together.

Now release hands if you need to, but remain standing, and let us proclaim together what we as
Christians believe as stated in the Nicene Creed.

Entering into Easter JOY

EASTER SUNDAY

April 5, 2015

Fr. Philip Eberhart

ENTERING INTO EASTER JOY!

ALLELUIA!  THE LORD IS RISEN!

                 THE LORD IS RISEN INDEED!   ALLELUIA!

ALLELUIA!  THE LORD IS RISEN!

                 THE LORD IS RISEN INDEED!  ALLELUIA!

ALLELUIA!  THE LORD IS RISEN!!!

                 THE LORD IS RISEN INDEED!   ALLELUIA!

It has felt like a long dry spell without our Alleluia's hasn't it?

Just to explain if your visiting and not Anglican or Catholic in background, part of the discipline of Lent, the weeks before Holy Week and Easter, is to "Put away" our "Alleluia's".  We refrain from saying them, especially in our liturgies, to reflect the nature of repentance and the solemnity that are proper to the season of Lent.

But this morning ends the season, and the Alleluia's are back!

Alleluia!

The origin of the word, Alleluia, is back in the Hebrew word for Praise to God.  In fact our Psalm this morning is the final chapter of the 6 chapters of the "Great Hallel" in the Hebrew liturgical calendar.  Psalms 113 to 118 are read at nearly all the major feast days in the Hebrew calendar!

Why talk about this word on Easter morning!

Who cares about the etymology of Alleluia!

Alleluia -  It's a joyful sound, isn't it?

Over and over again, in our readings and prayers this past week and beyond we've heard that Jesus could see this day before He went through these past 3 days.  In fact, He could see this day from the very beginning.  The writer of the Hebrew letter tells us that "for the joy set before Him, Jesus endured the cross."  One of our prayer on Friday used the phrase, "He entered not into joy, but first He suffered pain."

For just a moment this morning I want you to transport yourself to Jerusalem on early Sunday morning.  Our Gospel reading helps us with that:

Imagine for a moment, the last two days in the upper room.

It's the pit of despair, hopelessness, fear, shame and doom.

What now?  Jesus died!!

Was there anyone in the room that remembered the times that Jesus talked about this.  That He must suffer and be handed over to suffering and death. That he would rise after three days!

Sometimes life obscures our vision of the reality of God's Words.  We are taken up with the realities of our life;  we are run over by our circumstances;  we are treated unfairly at our job, or by our family.

Imagine the air in the upper room:  dank, tense,  no sense of time, no sense of purpose or direction - all alone and without God - the Messiah is dead!  I don't think it was just Thomas who doubted or even forgot outright all that Jesus had said.

Now transition with me to this morning:  fitful sleep; someone blared up the stairway, "The Stone has been rolled away!"

What?  

The race to the side of Joseph of Arimathea's tomb - the stone rolled back- the empty room - the burial clothes laying there - his head cloth rolled up no less.

James believed it, but...!

I still have questions.  Thomas isn't the only one.

How can these things be true?

Then Mary comes to the door and reports that she has actually seen the Lord - alive and well.

WHAT?   He's really alive?   Come on!

If this is some kind of joke or rumor - or someone moved the body, or the authorities are messing with us?

What's going on?

And Peter had the added feature of his own guilt and disbelief.

The shadow of his denial and abandonment of Jesus;  His shame; His self-removal from the band of the disciples... to the point that Peter is singled out in Mark's account of the angel's appearance:  "Go and tell the disciples, and Peter that He is risen and is going before you to Galilee.  There you will see Him, just as He told you."  AND PETER!

Now imagine with me, the moment of reunion.  

Jesus appears that evening to all the disciples.  Peter turns around and sees Jesus there - falls to his knees, his eyes sad with guilt, his fisherman's frame shaking with tears - 

And Jesus - comes over and puts his hand down on Peter's head - and then lifts him up by the shoulders, from kneeling to standing face to face.

 

Peter's eyes are still downcast.  And Jesus says it - "Peter."

 

He lifts his face and their eyes meet, just like three nights ago in the courtyard, right after his denial; but this time, Peter recognizes that familiar lilt in Jesus' voice, and realizes that He - Peter himself, the denier, the coward before the accusation of a teenage girl slave - Peter has been forgiven, and this is all really happening!

Pinch yourself - go ahead, do it!

It's all real.

Jesus wants that reality to sink in here this morning!  Because what happened to Peter and to James and John and all the others will happen to you and to me and to all the whole church.

Almost 60 times in the New Testament alone the word JOY is used.  Just when I look up at you,  insert it in some of the more familiar examples:

[Luk 1:44 NASB] 44 "For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy.

[Luk 2:10 NASB] 10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people;

[Luk 10:17 NASB] 17 The seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name."

[Luk 15:10 NASB] 10 "In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

[Luk 24:41, 52 NASB] 41 While they still could not believe it because of their joy and amazement, He said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?" ... 52 And they, after worshiping Him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy,

[Jhn 15:11 NASB] 11 "These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.

[Jhn 16:20 NASB] 20 "Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy.

[Act 13:52 NASB] 52 And the disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

[Rom 14:17 NASB] 17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

[Gal 5:22 NASB] 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

[1Th 1:6 NASB] 6 You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit,

[Heb 12:2 NASB] 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

And from Peter's own pen:

[1Pe 1:8 NASB] 8 and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,

And from John, the beloved disciple:

[1Jo 1:4 NASB] 4 These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.

[2Jo 1:12 NASB] 12 Though I have many things to write to you, I do not want to do so with paper and ink; but I hope to come to you and speak face to face, so that your joy may be made full.

And finally in the JUDE DOXOLOGY:  (GET YOUR BELLS 

AND KEYS READY AGAIN)  [we're going to do something here that is unusual in church...  did anyone see the Wisconsin vs. Kentucky game yesterday?  What was Wisconsin's response to the win?  Imagine your little league team just won the World Series!  That is the scale we're talking about here!  Get ready -

I want the Great Hallel in your outside voice!]

[Jde 1:24 NASB] 24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, 25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever.

AND WE ALL SAY.  AMEN!

AMEN. Alleluia!

Amen.  Alleluia!

ALLELUIA!  THE LORD IS RISEN!!!

      THE LORD IS RISEN INDEED.   ALLELUIA !!!!!!!!!!

(SUSTAINED STANDING OVATION FOR JESUS!)

(CHEERS AND WHISTLES)

Some here are still feeling like Peter was.

Uncertain.  Lost.  Separated.

Hesitant with the expression of praise to Jesus Christ?

He wants to meet you... Face to face.  Heart to heart.

And you can do that right now.

If I just described you, I want us all to bow our heads.

You can pray a prayer like this:

_________________________________________

Lord Jesus,

Thank you for loving me enough to die for me.  

I'm s

orry for the things I've done wrong and all that spoils

my life.

Please come in to my heart and life.  

I receive You and 

your finished work on the cross. 

Take my life, Lord - 

I call you Lord - I give you my life.

Lead me in all that I say and do from

this day forward.

In Jesus' Name.

Amen.  Alleluia!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Good Friday Message - Archbishop of Kenya

Good Friday statement from the Primate of Kenya
'Now there stood by the cross of Jesus, His mother': John 19:25

My dear Brothers and Sisters,

On this Good Friday we gather in our churches across Kenya in the shadow of a great and terrible evil. People who deal in death have slaughtered 147 people in Garissa, most of them students, and brought wrenching anguish to their families and a deep sadness to our nation.

These young people died because they were Kenyans and they were Christians. This attack was a calculated manifestation of evil designed to destroy our nation and our faith, but on this Good Friday we are reminded that the very worst evil can do is not the last word.

Through spite and blatant miscarriage of justice, Jesus dies the agonising death of the cross, but his last words are 'it is finished'. The cross was not a tragic accident, but the fulfilment of God's purpose to reconcile men and women to himself through the atoning death of his Son, a reality gloriously confirmed by his resurrection from the dead.

But we must not rush on to Easter Day too quickly. Today we stand at the cross with Mary and the other women, heartbroken by loss and suffering and despite the horror before their eyes, not running away.

Horror is fresh in our minds too and let us not run away or deny it, but stay by the cross. We stay with Jesus, the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, we share in the grief of Mary and we share in the grief of those who have been so shockingly bereaved, but as Mary was to discover, we know that this is not the end of the story.

Jesus death upon the cross was not in vain. By his death, death has been destroyed. The stone rolled away and the empty tomb of Jesus assures us that death does not have the last word. As we think of those dear ones who died at Garissa because they were Christians, let us remember the promise of the Lord Jesus that nothing can separate them and us from his love.

Above all, let us resolve today that these deaths, and those of other Kenyans who have died previously at the hands of Al Shabaab, will not be in vain. We call on the government to do all in its power to protect the lives of its citizens and we call on the world community to recognise that this latest outrage is not just an attack on Kenya, but part of an assault on world peace. The time has come for the world to unite as never before in defeating this growing menace.

While governments have a vital role, even more important are the hearts and minds of ordinary people. Let us covenant together before God that we will never ever surrender our nation or our faith in Christ to those who glory in death and destruction. We will not be intimidated because we know and trust in the power of the cross, God's power to forgive our sins, to turn death into the gate of glory and to make us his children for ever.

Amen

Let Our Hearts Be Fixed

Fr. Phil Eberhart

5th Sunday of Lent

March 22, 2015

LET OUR HEARTS BE FIXED...

Every once in a while the collect / the opening prayer that we use for the day captures a phrase or lets us say what it is that we are about in a clear, crisp set of words.  That is the case this morning:

"Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found;"

I don't know who wrote this one, but it captures so much in one or two phrases that I want to spend a few minutes looking at them, and our scriptures and others that take us toward the realization of this prayer.

This morning, as we always should, we start with GRACE!

Some have called grace "God's Riches At Christ's Expense" -- I prefer to think of it in other terms - God's Riches AND Christ's Extravagance!

I don't know if you've stopped in the whirlwind of what the prayer calls the swift and varied changes of the world - in the whirlwind of life - to consider the GRACE of GOD in your life.  If you have, in almost any circumstance you will uncover a well of gratitude.  I can't think of all that God has done in and through my "illegitimate" life without breaking down in weeping and thankfulness for His GRACE and His Love.

We start with God's Grace mediated to us in Christ's Extravagant Love, His body broken and His blood shed for each of us.  Enough for the whole world - and it was the fulfillment of our prophet's word this morning: 

 I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah...

 I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, "Know the LORD," for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

Paul lines out the difference between the old and the new covenants in the early chapters of Romans.  He captures the change in the middle of the third chapter:

[Rom 3:19-23 NLT] Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God. For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard.

BUT NOW, GOD...

Before it was us, But Now... GOD.   GRACE!  It is by grace you have been saved, through faith, Paul tells the Ephesians.  And not even that is from yourself, it is a gift of God. 

But the gift of grace is not a freedom to do what we want!  It is a freedom for the work of God in your life and through your life.  Let's look again at our prayer from the beginning:  Grace "to love what you command."  Where do we find what God commands?

Let's look for a second at our Psalm this morning:

in the first and third verses we have the key, and these verses themselves are memory verses in the Navigators' Topical Memory System. Read  vss 9 and 11 with me...

9

How shall a young man cleanse his way? *
By keeping to your words.

11

I treasure your promise in my heart, *
that I may not sin against you.

I memorized it in the KJV

    Wherewithall shall a young man cleanse his way? 

    By taking heed thereto according to Thy Word.

    Thy Word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee.

Friends, you remember the hand, right?  I want you to remember the hand...

Hear, Read, Mark, Learn and Inwardly Digest. The only way to be able to "grasp" the Word of God is to 'inwardly digest' this book.  The Prophet Jeremiah, in the midst of his wrestling with the nation of Israel says to God:

[Jer 15:16 ESV] 16 Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts.

Do any of you have a favorite food?  One that you call "comfort food"?  Some of you see the recipe posts that Valerie, my wife, puts on Facebook from time to time.  Those are "comfort" food - I'm not sure who is getting the comfort, cause I am sure not!  But if you have a favorite food, you want to eat it ... right?  You want to fill up on it.

How much more this food?  The Word of God!  The Bread of Life. The Living water! all the things that Jesus said HE was!   

What is it that you truly desire?  The Grace of God is given to us to "love what You command"  and to "desire what You promise."

Do you desire what God promises?  Our knee jerk reaction is probably, "Well, duh!"

But can you name some of the promises of God?  What promise are you holding on to right now?

>  I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!

>  He will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus !

>  For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord; plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a hope and a future.

>  Trust in the Lord with all you heart, and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.

How about this one?

>  "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

Oh, I think let's stop there - we kind of flinch at that last "promise" - Isn't it so?  For us in the west "the promises of God" has such a positive ring.  We, even today, know so little of suffering for our faith.  Those times are changing and we need to be prepared to change with them.  God give us your grace so to do.

Let's finally turn to this last phrase:

that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found

Just three quick things:

1.  Swift and varied changes of the world?   Anyone?  Hands?

        ... yeah I thought so.  We are experiencing a world that is changing at an exponential rate right now, and not for the better.  The belief that if we just keep on keeping on that things will get better and better is a lie.  The humanist manifesto is built on sand!  And we can see the hurricane coming!

2.  So where is your HEART FIXED?  Is it fixed WHERE TRUE JOYS ARE TO BE FOUND?

     

      In our Psalm from this morning David repeats this formula:

v. 6 Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.

Or how about the promise of Prov 3 again:

v. 5-6  Trust in the Lord with all your heart;  Lean not on your own understanding;  In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.

Or how Paul expressed the realities of his ministry in 2 Cor 4

[2Co 4:7-11, 15-18 ESV] 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. ... 15 For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. 16 So [therefore] we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Or the writer to the Hebrews, in the face of their struggles:

[Heb 12:1-3 ESV] 1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.

So let our hearts surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found!  Looking to Jesus the Pioneer and Perfecter of our faith.  Consider HIM, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.

Friends, we are given the gift of Grace - God's Riches And Christ's Extravagance - through faith in Jesus, and God even works that faith in our hearts, it too is a gift.  So let us hold fast with a firm grip on God's Word, which is 'fixed in the heavens' and is the place where Jesus Christ reveals Himself to us day by day.  He is the only "source of eternal salvation" and it comes "to all who obey him." 

Let's pray the collect again one more time:

 Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.