The Unchanging Church

Sexagesima Sunday

2012-02-12T14:30:00.000-08:00

The Propers for today are foundon Page 120-122, with the Collect first:

TheSunday called Sexagesima, or the

secondSunday before Lent.

TheCollect.

LORD God, who seest that we put notour trust in any thing that we do; Mercifully grant that by thy power we may bedefended against all adversity; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Ryan Hopkins read the Epistle, which came from theEleventh Chapter of Saint Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians beginning atthe Nineteenth Verse. Paul remindsus salvation, honor and glory come not from what we do or have done, but ratherfrom God. Paul, who as Saul, hadbeen a super star on his way to being the number one rabbi in the Hebrewnation, he was more learned, more vigorous in following the law, more vocal inall things. When he “saw thelight” and converted, he took that same approach to Christianity. No one was more in any thing thanhe. He had been the best of theworst and the best of the best. Now he was aware of how short he himself fell. More importantly, he was keenly aware of the savingperfection of Christ.

No one did more than Paul, yet he counseled all totake comfort and pride in God, not themselves. Do your best and look towards God.

E suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise.For ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a mantake of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face. I speak asconcerning reproach, as though we had been weak. Howbeit whereinsoever any isbold, (I speak foolishly,) I am bold also. Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are theyIsraelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I. Are they ministersof Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripesabove measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five timesreceived I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was Istoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils bymine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perilsin the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; inweariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, infastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without,that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. Who is weak, andI am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not? If I must needs glory, I willglory of the things which concern mine infirmities. The God and Father of ourLord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not.

Deacon Striker Jack Arnold read the Holy Gospel fortoday which came from the Eighth Chapter of the Gospel of St. Luke beginning at the Fourth Verse andtells the well known Parable of the Sower, which might be better referred to asthe Parable of the Four Soils, for the seeds were all alike.

A sower scatters seed on to four different types ofsoil.

· Hard ground

· Stony ground

· Thorny ground

· Good ground

Hard ground “by the way side” prevents the seed fromsprouting at all, and the seed becomes nothing more than bird food. Stony groundprovides enough soil for the seeds to germinate and begin to grow, but becausethere is “no deepness of earth,” the plants do not take root and are soonwithered in the sun. Thorny ground allows the seed to grow, but competingthorns choke the life out of the good plants. Good ground receives the seed and produces much fruit.

Jesus explains the seed is The Word.

Hard ground represents someone so hardened by sin thatthough he hears he cannot understand the Word. Thus, Satan can pluck the message away, keeping the heartdull and preventing the Word from making an impression.

Stony ground represents those who hear and expressdelight in The Word, but do not change to live The Word. When trouble arises, they abandon theirfaith.

Thorny ground represents one who hears and receivesThe Word, but who does not connect to it and whose heart is full of riches,pleasures, and lusts. The effortthat should by rights given The Word are given to the things of this world andhe has no time for The Word.

Good ground represents he who hears, understands, andimplements The Word. Thus, TheWord can work its wonders in his life and that person gains salvation.

The Word is there. We may hear it. We may take it in our heart. The benefit comes only when we take it in our heart and act on it. At that point, The Word is acting inour lives and salvation is in hand.

HEN much people were gathered together, and were cometo him out of every city, he spake by a parable: A sower went out to sow hisseed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way-side; and it was trodden down, andthe fowls of the air devoured it. And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as itwas sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture. And some fellamong thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. And other fellon good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he hadsaid these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And hisdisciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be? And he said, Unto youit is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others inparables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might notunderstand. Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by theway-side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the wordout of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. They on the rockare they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have noroot, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away. And thatwhich fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, andare choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruitto perfection. But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest andgood heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit withpatience.

Sermon – Timeand Action

Today’s sermon brought theCollect, Epistle and Gospel together and is partly contained in the forewords above.

Consider these words from the Collect:

…put not our trust in any thingthat we do; Mercifully grant that by thy power we may be defended against alladversity …

In the Collect, we tell God we put our trust foreternal life not in our actions, but in His Power. If we do this, then we must do as He asks us. For, to make trust in His Powerrational, we must follow His Direction.

This squares with what Paul tells us, that issalvation, honor and glory come not from what we do or have done, but ratherfrom God. Paul, who as Saul, hadbeen a super star on his way to being the number one rabbi in the Hebrewnation, he was more learned, more vigorous in following the law, more vocal inall things. When he “saw thelight” and converted, he took that same approach to Christianity. No one was more in any thing thanhe. He had been the best of theworst and the best of the best. Now he was keenly aware of how short he himself fell. But even more importantly, he waskeenly aware of the saving perfection of Christ. Thus he counseled all to take comfort and pride in God, notthemselves. Do your best and looktowards God.

This brings us right in to the well known Parable ofthe Sower, which might be better referred to as the Parable of the Four Soils,for the seeds were all alike.

Like the seed sown by the sower, The Word is spreadthroughout the world for all to hear and act on:

· Yet, some will not even hear The Word (Hardground);

· Others will hear, act quickly and abandon God’shelp at the first sign of adversity (Stony ground);

· Still others will hear The Word, but The Word isovertaken by the “pleasures” of this world and is choked out by them. Like the line from the Bible, whereyour money is, that is your worldly effort, there is the evidence of yourheart. The temptation of thisworld is great, the reward from God should be greater, but you have to looklong term;

· Finally we come to those who accept and act onThe Word, like the one seed planted growing into a great plant bearing itsfruit, the rewards are manifold, though the effort is also great, the endreward far greater. For the seedto grow to full fruition and glory, with its manifold blessings, it must havethe ground prepared, carefully tended against encroachment of the evil weeds,it must be continually watered by the life blood of those around it. There is much effort required on ourpart, but the ultimate reward is so much greater.

While we are on the subject, consider the issue ofweeding. Is this not part of thereason for the Church, that is to say the body of believers, to exist. We cannot often pull our own weeds, butwe can help others and they can help us. Christianity is not a religion of hermits, it is a social religion wherewe can help each other.

So, think about this, we need to understand eternallife and indeed on a shorter term, happiness in our life here, comes not fromour self directed actions, but those of God and our action following Hisdirection. We put our trust in Himand follow His commands. Do yourbest and look towards God for the Light to illuminate your path. If you prepare your heart, as thefarmer prepares the field, root out the forces of this world as the farmerroots out weeds, cultivate the good given by God, water your heart with HisWater, your life will be manifold.

Bishop Ogles’ Sermon

We are oft fortunate to getcopies of Bishop Jerry’s sermon notes. Today is one of those Sundays. Today we get a brilliant and inspiring sermon based on the Collect forthis week:

SexagesimaSunday

12February 2012 Anno Domini

TheSunday called Sexagesima, or the

secondSunday before Lent.

TheCollect.

LORD God, who seest that we put notour trust in any thing that we do; Mercifully grant that by thy power we may bedefended against all adversity; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The COLLECT for today focusesour attention on the ultimate power in all of Creation – The Lord of Heaven.Our hands are slowly wrenched by God from those concerns that are penultimateof the physical existence to those that have their ultimate residence in Him.The moment that our souls inhabit a body of flesh and blood, we fall victim tothe curse of Adam and begin to die. Our footing is tenuous and incapable ofsustaining us for more than a fleeting second of eternity.

As we grow and mature, werealize more and more that we have no power at all to live apart from thatsustaining Hand of God that continuously preserves us, body and soul, from theinevitable demise to which flesh is heir to. Life itself is a time of decision.It is the Valley of Decision, and the duration is always uncertain. So wegradually let go of those confidences that seemed to satisfy us in our youthand look to that great Savior who is every whit deserving of the title to saveus from our hopeless circumstance.

We look about the swirlingwaters of life and realize that we are without help in the arm of flesh. It isas if we were in the Niagara River headed for the Falls. Every branch and limb,every other human soul, in that Flood is alike headed for the precipice todestruction. We do not profit by grasping a floating bit of deadwood, for itsuffers the same fate and is headed for the same doom. So is life. But lifecomes from life, and Life Eternal is the grant of our Father in Heaven. Whenour last earthly hope is gone, there He stands at the Gate ready to grantpardon and forgiveness. He will save us from the impending death if we willcall upon Him in our time of trouble.

The Collect reminds us thatour works are nothing but cinder wood and ashes. We can do no good at all apartfrom Christ working in and through us. If we cannot trust our own solitaryheart, how can we trust that of another? "It is better to trust inthe LORD than to put confidence in man." (Psalms 118:8) This same truth is repeated in the New Testament: "Weought to obey God rather than men." (Acts 5:29)

So, in the final analysis, wehave no hope but that hope which springs eternal in Christ alone. We areready to admit that there is only One Power, and that Power resides in God whocreated heaven and earth. Being unworthy in our own right, we must plead amercy from One who can both grant the mercy, and is willing to grant thatmercy. Resting on His grace and mercy, we shall be defended against everyadversity (and every adversary). God is just and will not abide sin; however,we have a Mediator with the Father – the Son Jesus Christ who died for ourRedemption. Now that we are IN Christ, the Father looks upon the righteousmerits of His Son when He looks upon us and we are admitted to His Kingdom ofeternal life and joy.

1 Cast thy bread upon the waters: forthou shalt find it after many days. 2 Give a portion to seven, and also toeight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth. 3 If theclouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth: and if the treefall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the treefalleth, there it shall be. 4 He that observeth the wind shall not sow;and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap. 5 As thou knowest notwhat is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of herthat is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all.6 In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand:for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whetherthey both shall be alike good. (Eccl11:1-6)

This morning I picked up aphoto from a pile of old photos on my desk and it was one taken of me when Iwas in the first grade. The photo was black and white and somewhat faded (ithas every right to be after sixty-two years. That photo is perfectrepresentation of me when I was so young and full of life. Compared to photo ofmyself today, the differences are not all that complimentary. Age is a processof dying. The photo will float around my office, to be seen only by friends andfamily, until that body which it depicts will be dust and ashes. It will thendisappear somewhere on the ash heap of history – forgotten by man – but not byGod.

How fragile is life! Howtemporary and uncertain. We sometimes sink into moments of despair incontemplating the coming tragedy. But for the Christian disciple, life does notget forlorn or hopeless. We look forward to seeing the Face of our dear Fatherin the same way we anxiously awaited the home coming of our earthly fathersfrom a long trip. When our fathers returned from battle during the Second WorldWar or some other great endeavor, we knew all was well with the world, and….with us. We had a provider and a protector. We still have a Father far greaterthan that earthly father to provide our every need and protection. But wemust know Him to Love Him.

What have we done in our Father'sdelay in coming to make Him happy with us as His cherished children? Have webeen silly and wasteful of our time? Have we been good scholars of His Word andstewards of His blessings to us? Or have we squandered away our time andblessing so that there is no difference between us and orphan children of thestreet?

We may have fallen very shortin the labors of our hands, but He is yet our Father, and He will forgive us ifwe call on Him. But how much greater blessing to hear that magnificent voicespeak "Well done my good and faithful servant."

1. Cast thy bread upon thewaters: for thou shalt find it after many days. This is a fullrepresentation of faith and charity. In casting our bread upon the waters, weknow not where their benefit will be enjoyed, nor the beneficiary of the bread.We do it in a great general love that mimics that Love of God in providing forall of His Creation. He makes it to rain upon the wicked as well as the just."45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven:for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain onthe just and on the unjust. 46 For if ye love them which love you, whatreward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 47 And if ye saluteyour brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven isperfect." (Matt 5:45-48)

Have we made our charitiesinvestments instead of freehold grants? Do we look, perhaps subconsciously, forsome benefit to ensue to us from our giving? We must give out of a joyful heartfor a joyful heart expects no recompense.

The waters are free flowingand always descend down to the lowest part. If we are abundant blessed, or evenscarcely so, all blessings flow DOWN to us from the Father of Lights. Shall webe the Dead Sea of Souls and therefore retain every refreshing water that flowsinto us? Or shall we be as the Sea of Galilee in abundance of life because weshare the same waters we have received from the heights of Mt Hermon?

2 Give a portionto seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon theearth. (Eccl 11:2) This means that we must notlimit that which we give while we still have the ability to give. A fountaincontinues its flowing because the water it provides is shed about the head aslife-giving waters. If it flows into a jug or bottle, it can flow no more oncethe bottle is stopped. Let us not be stopped bottles. The Dead Sea givesup none of the waters it receives. The waters are precisely the same as thatwhich feeds into the Sea of Galilee. So why is the Dead Sea dead? Because itgives nothing and takes all. If water is not moving, it becomes putrid andsedimentary. Our souls are the same. If we hoard every blessing solely for ourown sake, we will become dead and unfit for man or beast.

3 If the clouds be full ofrain, they empty themselves upon the earth: and if the tree fall towardthe south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there itshall be. (Eccl 11:3) It is the principle innature to always give when full. Clouds do, rivers do, seeds do, etc. Itis natural for clouds to give up their waters. Why is this so? God madeclouds, and God made the science of meteorology. As the warm clouds pick upmore and more moisture, their warm nature causes them to rise. As they rise,they grow cooler. Cool air cannot hold as much moisture as warm air, so theclouds release their moisture upon the earth. As our souls, full of blessings,are lifted up higher and higher to God, it will be natural for us to share theblessings God has given us.

Once the rain is given, itfalls where it may. Once given, it cannot be called back. Let us not be thoseclouds that promise water for a parched earth and then withhold the promise:"These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you,feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried aboutof winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up bythe roots; 13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame;wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. Jude 1:12-13 (KJV)

No man has ever spoken with suchbeauty and imagery as the Almighty in His Word!

4 He that observeththe wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap. No one stops or starts thewinds. They come at go at their own pleasure. If we delay our sowing until theconditions are perfect, the season will be past ere we get the seed into theground. The same is true of watching the weather with inordinate anxiety. If wewait for days of cloudless weather, it may be the winter of our harvest.

We are to offer our charityin faith not evaluating always the means and gratitude of reception. AtChristmas of 1972, my wife and I, who used to drive a desolate rural highwayfrom south Alabama to Ft. Benning, Ga regularly, had often commented on an oldwooden cabin off the road and among the trees. The yard was always full ofchildren. There was no paint on the walls, and no care in the yard. There wasan older couple who always seemed to be on the porch watching the childrenplay. My wife and I had no Christmas plans. So we decided to take a TV,several bags of groceries (including a turkey), candies and fruits, and somesmall gifts for children. I had not the nerve to go to the door for embarrassment.But my wife did go. She took the groceries and children came out to help. Thelight in their eyes and on their faces told the whole story. I shall neverforget that one Christmas when we took ten minutes to make a family so veryhappy. The waters of blessing gushed back upon us and we still drink of thosewaters.

5 As thouknowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in thewomb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God whomaketh all. Yes, our charities are without discretion! God hasformed us in our mother's womb and according to His perfect plan. Our DNA isevidence that God designed us from conception. If our dependence was totallyupon His loving Fingers in the womb, at what point did we become independent ofHis Favor?

6 In the morning sow thyseed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whethershall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good. We sow in the morning, andcontinue in the evening of our lives – both while we are young AND old. "Sowto yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: forit is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.13 Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten thefruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thymighty men. (Hosea 10:12-13)

As God has loved and bless us, we must love and blessone another.

BishopDennis Campbell’s Sunday Sermon

Asis oft the case, we are honored to present Bishop Dennis’ Sunday sermonpresented to his parish. Dennishas an excellent command of scripture and is able to present it in a mannerwhich is completely understandable to the rest of us. This year’s sermons are being drawn from the book ofPsalms, or, as it is known by Anglicans, "The Psalter" which begins on page 343 of the Book of CommonPrayer. But, today he moved todrawing the propers together in a far different sermon than Hap’s and adding inthe psalm for this Sunday, Psalm 71. We think you will really enjoy it!

SexagesimaSunday

12February 2012

LESSED Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for ourlearning; Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, andinwardly digest the, that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we mayembrace, and ever hold fast, the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thouhast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ."

Psalm71. In te, Domine, speravi.

N THEE O Lord, have I put my trust; letme never be put to confusion, * but rid me and deliver me in thy righteousness;incline thine ear unto me, and save me.

2 Be thou mystronghold, whereunto I may alway re- sort: * thou hast promised to help me,for thou art my house of defence, and my castle.

3 Deliver me,O my God, out of the hand of the ungodly, * out of the hand of the unrighteousand cruel man.

4 For thou, OLord God, art the thing that I long for: * thou art my hope, even from myyouth.

5 Throughthee have I been holden up ever since I was born: * thou art he that took meout of my mother’s womb: my praise shall be alway of thee.

6 I am becomeas it were a monster unto many, * but my sure trust is in thee.

7 O let mymouth be filled with thy praise, * that I may sing of thy glory and honour allthe day long.

8 Cast me notaway in the time of age; * forsake me not when my strength faileth me.

9 For mineenemies speak against me; * and they that lay wait for my soul take theircounsel together, saying,

10 God hathforsaken him; * persecute him, and take him, for there is none to deliver him.

11 Go not farfrom me, O God; * my God, haste thee to help me.

12 Let thembe confounded and perish that are against my soul; * let them be covered withshame and dishonour that seek to do me evil.

13 As for me,I will patiently abide alway, * and will praise thee more and more.

14 My mouthshall daily speak of thy righteousness and salvation; * for I know no endthereof.

15 I will goforth in the strength of the Lord God, * and will make mention of thyrighteousness only.

16 Thou, OGod, hast taught me from my youth up until now; * therefore will I tell of thywondrous works.

17 Forsake menot, O God, in mine old age, when I am gray-headed, * until I have showed thystrength unto this generation, and thy power to all them that are yet for tocome.

18 Thyrighteousness, O God, is very high, * and great things are they that thou hastdone: O God, who is like unto thee!

19 O whatgreat troubles and adversities hast thou showed me ! and yet didst thou turnand refresh me; * yea, and broughtest me from the deep of the earth again.

20 Thou hastbrought me to great honour, * and com- forted me on every side:

21 Thereforewill I praise thee, and thy faithfulness, O God, playing upon an instrument ofmusic: * unto thee will I sing upon the harp, O thou Holy One of Israel.

22 My lipswill be glad when I sing unto thee; * and so will my soul whom thou hastdelivered.

23 My tonguealso shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long; * for they areconfounded and brought unto shame that seek to do me evil.

Aswe saw last Sunday, Septugesima Sunday is the third Sunday before Lent and theninth Sunday before Easter. Sexagesima Sunday, then, is the second Sundaybefore Lent and the eighth Sunday before Easter. It is the Sunday nearest tothe sixtieth day before Easter. So we are reminded again that we are beginningto leave that part of the year in which we celebrate the Saviour's birth, andentering the time in which we remember that tremendous Sacrifice by which Heaccomplished His great work of the forgiveness of our sin and the Redemption ofour souls.

SexagesimaSunday emphasizes trust in the work of Christ alone, rather than in our ownattempts to be good or to please God. The Collect clearly declares thatwe trust not in anything that we do, but cast ourselves on the mercy of God todefend and keep us by His power. The Collect is already looking towardthe fasts and prayers of Lent. It reminds us that these are acts ofself-discipline and dedication, not things that make us worthy of Heaven, andit reminds us that we are not to put our trust in them to make us acceptable toGod. We fast, we pray, and we discipline ourselves not because we thinkwe can make ourselves acceptable to God by such "good works," butbecause Christ has already made us acceptable to God. These things arepart of our response to His mercy, not the cause of it.

TheEpistle recalls the afflictions of St. Paul, who vigorously maintained thateven his work and tribulations in the service of Christ did nothing to make himacceptable to God. Even he received his acceptability as the gift ofgrace through faith, not by anything he accomplished for God (see Titus 3:5).

Today'sGospel reading is the Parable of the Sower, in which Christ's work ofRedemption is the good seed and our hearts are the soils in which it isplanted. As differing soils have different responses to the seed,different people have different responses to the Gospel. So the parableimplies the question, what kind of soil are you? What are you doing tomake your heart ready to receive Christ, and to continue in Him now andforever?

ThePsalm for this morning continues the theme of trust in God. It beginswith a declaration, "In thee, O Lord, have I put my trust; let me never beput to confusion."

Atthe most basic level, it means to trust God with our cares in this life. It means to trust God to provide for our basic needs of food, water, andshelter. St. Paul was often homeless and hungry in the service ofChrist. Sometimes his "shelter" was a prison, sometimes hisonly shelter from heat or cold or rain or snow was a tree beside a road. Often he had nothing to eat or drink. Yet he thanked God for providingfor him, and wrote that if we have enough food, water, and shelter to survivewe have enough. So this thing of trusting God for the things of this lifeincludes trusting Him in the way He chooses to provide them. He may giveplenty at some time and scarcity at another. No matter. Like Paulwe must learn to be content "in whatsoever state I am" (Phil.4:11-13), and "in everything give thanks: for this is the will ofGod" (1 Thes. 5:18).

Oneof the most basic cares of this life is health, and trusting God also meanstrusting Him with it. St. Paul must have had terrible health. Thebeatings, the prisons, the shipwrecks, the hunger and heat and cold he sufferedin his travels must have left him in chronic pain and illness. Yet thePaul who wrote about suffering much affliction, lack of necessities, distress,beatings, imprisonments and hunger (2 Cor. 6:4-5), also wrote, "ineverything give thanks." So, trusting God for our health also meanstrusting Him when He chooses to allow us to suffer illness as well as when Heallows us to enjoy good health. So the author of Psalm 71 professes greatboldness of faith that trusts God in all of these things. He trusts Godwhen evil people wrong him. He trusts God in the adversities of life(19), and he trusts God in old age and weakness (8, 17).

Thereis another way in which we must trust in God. We must trust Him for thelife of the soul. Most people will think I am talking here about Heaven,and, in a sense I am, for that is the ultimate life of the soul. Heavenis only gained by trusting in Christ to forgive your sin and dress you in Hisrighteousness so you are fit to be in that Holy place which is the immediatepresence of God. But I am also talking about the life of the soul now inthis world. Many people, including Christians turn to things for theirreal meaning and comfort in the soul. These can be good things, likecommunity service or helping professions. They can be amusements andrecreations we think we need to help us deal with our stress and problems. I have to be careful here, for I do not want you to think suchthings are evil. I think God has given such things to us for ourenjoyment, and they are good things. But even good things can be misused,and we misuse these things when we turn to them instead of to God for the lifeof the soul.

Itis possible to go through life with a belief in God and a certain amount offaith and intention to live a moral life, yet trust in other things to provideyour meaning, purpose, and help in life. So instead of seeking God inprayer and worship and Scripture, you run to your favourite pastime when thingsget tough. Instead of seeking God's help to be content in yourcircumstances, you run to your amusements to help you forget yourdiscontentment for a while. I think this might be especially true of ourover stimulated, over-amused, distraction-addicted generation. We rushfrom one distraction to the next, from TV to cell phones to computers tostereos to malls and hobbies, always looking for another rush, or, at least,another distraction. Have we forgotten how to trust God with our happiness? Have we forgotten how to be still before God? Have we forgotten howto enjoy God who is the life of the soul?

ThePsalmist has not forgotten. He writes about praising God and Hisfaithfulness. He means to honour God with our lips and with our lives byliving in fellowship with God and in loving obedience to His will. Hemeans to live in thanksgiving. This is what the Psalm means in verses21-23, and this is what I mean by the life of the soul, It is not a passingemotional experience, it is a way of thinking and a way of living, to be ableto say what David wrote in verse 4, "For thou, O Lord, art the thing thatI long for; thou art my hope" (4).

Inthe Psalms, and indeed, in all of Scripture, you can hear the story andexperience of Christ. In some places it is shouted from the housetops. In this Psalm it is a low whisper. You can hear it in verses 9 and10, "For mine enemies speak against me; and they that lay wait for my soultake their counsel together, saying, God hath forsaken him, for there is noneto deliver him." How tragically this sounds like Matthew 27:1,"all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesusto put Him to death." Look at verse 19, "O what great troublesand adversities hast thou showed me! and yet didst thou turn and refresh; yea,and broughtest me from the deep of the earth again." How very muchlike the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ this sounds. There ismore, but this is enough to show how we can often see Christ in the Psalms.

Let us close the sermon with a final exhortation to trust inGod. Let us determine in our hearts that we will be able to say withconfidence what Psalm 71 says so triumphantly at its very beginning: "Inthee, O Lord, have I put my trust." Amen.

tR. Dennis Campbell

Bishop of Diocese of Virginia

Rector, Holy Trinity AnglicanOrthodox Church

Powhatan, Virginia

www.HolyTrinityAnglicanOrthodoxChurch.org

www.lifeinthescriptures.blogspot.com

Commentaryon Sexagesima Sunday's Gospel

from Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren

Courtesy of Rev. GeordieMenzies-Grierson, AOC UK

ONE SEED AND DIVERSE SOILS

Luk 8:4 - Luk 8:16.

Luke is particular in dating thisparable as spoken at a time when crowds resorted to Jesus, and the cities ofGalilee seemed emptied out to hear Him. No illusions as to the depth or worthof this excitement beset Him. Sadly He looked on the eager multitudes, becauseHe looked through them, and saw how few of them were bringing ‘an honest andgood heart’ for the soil of His word. Just because He saw the shallowness ofthe momentary enthusiasm, He spoke this pregnant parable from a heavy heart,and as He tells us in His explanation of it to the disciples {ver. 10}, usesthe parabolic garb as a means of hiding the truth from the unsusceptible, andof bringing it home to those who were prepared to receive it. Every parable hasthat double purpose of obscuring and revealing. The obscuring is punitive, butthe punishment is meant to be remedial. God never cheats men by a revelationthat does not reveal, and the very hiding is meant to stimulate to a searchwhich cannot be vain.

The broad outstanding fact of theparable is tragic. Three failures and one success! It may be somewhat lightenedby observing that the proportion which each ‘some’ bears to the wholeseed-basketful is not told; but with all alleviation, it is sad enough. What alesson for all eager reformers and apostles of any truth, who imagine that theyhave but to open their mouths and the world will listen! What a warning for anywho are carried off their feet by their apparent ‘popularity’! What a solemnappeal to all hearers of God’s message!

I. Commentators have pointed outthat all four kinds of soil might have been found close together by the lake,and that there may have been a sower at work within sight.

But the occasion of the parablelay deeper than the accident of local surroundings. A path through a cornfieldis a prosaic enough thing, but one who habitually holds converse with theunseen, and ever sees it shining through the seen, beholds all things‘apparelled in celestial light,’ and finds deep truths in commonplace objects.The sower would not intentionally throw seed on the path, but some would findits resting-place there. It would lie bare on the surface of the hard ground,and would not be there long enough to have a chance of germinating, but as soonas the sower’s back was turned to go up the next furrow, down would come theflock of thievish birds that fluttered behind him, and bear away the grains.The soil might be good enough, but it was so hard that the seed did not get in,but only lay on it. The path was of the same soil as the rest of the field,only it had been trodden down by the feet of passengers, perhaps for manyyears.

A heart across which all mannerof other thoughts have right of way will remain unaffected by the voice ofJesus, if He spoke His sweetest, divinest tones, still more when He speaks butthrough some feeble man. The listener hears the words, but they never getfarther than the drum of his ear. They lie on the surface of his soul, which isbeaten hard, and is non-receptive. How many there are who have been listeningto the preaching of the Gospel, which is in a true sense the sowing of theseed, all their lives, and have never really been in contact with it! Tramp,tramp, go the feet across the path, heavy drays of business, light carriages ofpleasure, a never-ending stream of traffic and noise like that which pours dayand night through the streets of a great city, and the result is completeinsensibility to Christ’s voice.

If one could uncover the heartsof a congregation, how many of them would be seen to be occupied with businessor pleasures, or some favourite pursuit, even while they sit decorously intheir pews! How many of them hear the preacher’s voice without one answeringthought or emotion! How many could not for their lives tell what his lastsentence was! No marvel, then, that, as soon as its last sound has ceased, downpounce a whole covey of light-winged fancies and occupations, and carry off thepoor fragments of what had been so imperfectly heard. One wonders whatpercentage of remembrances of a sermon is driven out of the hearers’ heads inthe first five minutes of their walk home, by the purely secular conversationinto which they plunge so eagerly.

II. The next class of hearers isrepresented by seed which has had somewhat better fate, inasmuch as it has sunksome way in, and begun to sprout.

The field, like many a one inhilly country, had places where the hard pan of underlying rock had only a thinskin of earth over it. Its very thinness helped quick germination, for the rockwas near enough to the surface to get heated by the sun. So, with undesirablerapidity, growth began, and shoots appeared above ground before there was rootenough made below to nourish them. There was only one possible end for suchpremature growth-namely, withering in the heat. No moisture was to be drawnfrom the shelf of rock, and the sun was beating fiercely down, so the feeblegreen stem drooped and was wilted.

It is the type of emotionalhearers, who are superficially touched by the Gospel, and too easily receiveit, without understanding what is involved. They take it for theirs ‘with joy,’but are strangers to the deep exercises of penitence and sorrow which shouldprecede the joy. ‘Lightly come, lightly go,’ is true in Christian life aselsewhere. Converts swiftly made are quickly lost. True, the most thorough andpermanent change may be a matter of a moment; but, if so, into that momentemotions will be compressed like a great river forced through a mountain gorge,which will do the work of years.

Such surface converts fringe allreligious revivals. The crowd listening to our Lord was largely made up ofthem. These were they who, when a ground of offence arose, ‘went back, andwalked no more with Him.’ They have had their successors in all subsequenttimes of religious movement. Light things are caught up by the wind of apassing train, but they soon drop to the ground again. Emotion is good, ifthere are roots to it. But ‘these have no root.’ The Gospel has not really touchedthe depths of their natures, their wills, their reason, and so they shrivel upwhen they have to face the toil and self-sacrifice inherent in a Christianlife.

III. The third parcel of seedadvanced still farther.

It rooted and grew. But the soil hadother occupants. It was full of seeds of weeds and thorns {not thorn bushes}.So the two crops ran a race, and as ill weeds grow apace, the worse beat, andstifled the green blades of the springing corn, which, hemmed in and shut outfrom light and air, came to nothing.

The man represented has not madeclean work of his religion. He has received the good seed, but has forgottenthat something has to be grubbed up and cast out, as well as something to betaken in, if he would grow the fair fruits of Christian character. He probablyhas cut down the thorns, but has left their roots or seeds where they were. Hehas fruit of a sort, but it is scanty, crude, and green. Why? Because he hasnot turned the world out of his heart. He is trying to unite incompatibles, oneof which is sure to kill the other. His ‘thorns’ are threefold, as Lukecarefully distinguishes them into ‘cares and riches and pleasures,’ but theyare one in essence, for they are all ‘of this life.’ If he is poor, he isabsorbed in cares; if rich, he is yet more absorbed in wealth, and his desiresgo after worldly pleasures, which he has not been taught, by experience of thesupreme pleasure of communion with God, to despise.

Mark that this man does not ‘fallaway.’ He keeps up his Christian name to the end. Probably he is a veryinfluential member of the church, universally respected for his wealth andliberality, but his religion has been suffocated by the other growth. He hasfruit, but it is not to ‘perfection.’ If Jesus Christ came to Manchester, onewonders how many such Christians He would discover in the chief seats in thesynagogues.

IV. The last class avoids thedefects of the three preceding.

The soil is soft, deep, andclean. The seed sinks, roots, germinates, has light and air, and brings forthripened grain. The ‘honest and good heart’ in which it lodges has been wellcharacterised as one ‘whose aim is noble, and who is generously devoted to hisaim’ {Bruce, The Parabolic Teaching of Christ, p. 33}. Such a soul Christrecognises as possible, prior to the entrance into it of the word. There aredispositions which prepare for the reception of the truth. But not only theprevious disposition, but the subsequent attitude to the word spoken, isemphasised by our Lord. ‘They having heard the word, hold it fast.’ Docilelyreceived, it is steadily retained, or held with a firm grip, whoever andwhatever may seek to pluck it from mind or heart.

Further, not only tenacity ofgrasp, but patient perseverance of effort after the fruit of Christiancharacter, is needed. There must be perseverance in the face of obstacleswithin and without, if there is to be fruitfulness. The emblem of growth doesnot suffice to describe the process of Christian progress. The blade becomesthe ear, and the ear the full corn, without effort. But the Christian disciplehas to fight and resist, and doggedly to keep on in a course from which manythings would withdraw him. The nobler the result, the sorer the process. Corngrows; character is built up as the result, first of worthily receiving thegood seed, and then of patient labour and much self-suppression.

These different types ofcharacter are capable of being changed. The path may be broken up, the rockblasted and removed, the thorns stubbed up. We make ourselves fit or unfit toreceive the seed and bear fruit. Christ would not have spoken the parable if Hehad not hoped thereby to make some of His hearers who belonged to the threedefective classes into members of the fourth. No natural, unalterable incapacitybars any from welcoming the word, housing it in his heart, and bringing forthfruit with patience.

Septuagesima Sunday

2012-02-05T16:28:00.001-08:00

What is Septuagesima?

Septuagesima Sunday is the name given to the thirdSunday before Lent. The term is sometimes applied to the period of theliturgical year which begins on this day and lasts through Shrove Tuesday (withthe following day being Ash Wednesday, when Lent begins). This period is alsoknown as the Pre-Lenten season or Shrovetide. The next two Sundays are labelledSexagesima and Quinquagesima, the latter sometimes also called Shrove Sunday.The earliest Septuagesima Sunday can occur is January 18 (Easter falling on March 22in nonleap year) and the latest is February 22 (Easter falling on April 25 in leap year).

Septuagesima comes from the Latin word for"seventieth," with Sexagesima and Quinquagesima equalling"sixtieth" and "fiftieth" respectively. They are patternedafter the Latin word for the season of Lent, Quadragesima, which means"fortieth" because Lent is forty days long (not counting the Sundays,which are all considered little Easters). Because a week is only seven days long, not ten, and since even thenonly six of those days might be counted if the pattern of Quadragesima isfollowed, Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima, don't literallycorrespond to the periods of time they imply. It is interesting, however, thatjust about 70 days (68 actually) is the minimum number of days between theoctave day of the Epiphany on January 14 and Easter, implying that a seasonjust about 70 days long can always fit between the two.

The 17-day period beginning on Septuagesima Sundaywas intended to be observed as a preparation for the season of Lent, which isitself a period of spiritual preparation (for Easter). In many countries,however, Septuagesima Sunday still marks the start of the carnival season,culminating on Shrove Tuesday, more commonly known as Mardi Gras. The Gospelreading for Septuagesima week is the parable of the Workers in the Vineyard(Matthew 20:1-16).

The Propers for today are foundon Page 118-120, with the Collect first:

TheSunday called Septuagesima, or the

thirdSunday before Lent.

TheCollect.

LORD, we beseech thee favourably tohear the prayers of thy people; that we, who are justly punished for ouroffences, may be mercifully delivered by thy goodness, for the glory of thyName; through Jesus Christ our Saviour, who liveth and reigneth with thee andthe Holy Ghost ever, one God, world without end. Amen.

Ryan Hopkins read the Epistle for today, which camefrom the Ninth Chapter of the first letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthiansbeginning at the Twenty-Fourth Verse:

NOW ye not that they which run in a race run all, butone receiveth the prize? So run,that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate inall things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we anincorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as onethat beateth the air: but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection;lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be acastaway.

Deacon Striker Jack Arnold read the Holy Gospel fortoday which came from the Twentieth Chapter of the Gospel of Saint Matthew beginning at the First Verse. Often quoted, this is the veryimportant parable of the vineyard. While it appears to be principally directed towards Christians wantingto be “first” in importance and the like, it has a more direct meaning. It is a fine lesson in “buyer’s remorse”or coveting of jobs or similar concepts. If you got a good deal, it does not change because someone else got a“better” deal. Take what you got,go forth and be happy. Othermeanings abound. For a very directapplication, what this means is “cradle” Christians are no more likely to go toheaven than this morning’s convert. They just get to enjoy the Christian experience longer. One note, if you wait until the lastminute to join the gang, your time here might end before you get around toit.

Sometimes people act like being a Christian is anunpleasant experience that they will do when they get a round tuit. It is not. Christians aren’t perfect, they just have more fun beingimperfect and imperfectly trying to improve! Anyway, here is the Gospel according to Saint Matthew:

HE kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is anhouseholder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into hisvineyard. And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sentthem into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour, and saw othersstanding idle in the marketplace, and said unto them; Go ye also into thevineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way.Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. And aboutthe eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith untothem, Why stand ye here all the day idle? They say unto him, Because no manhath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoeveris right, that shall ye receive. So when even was come, the lord of thevineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire,beginning from the last unto the first. And when they came that were hiredabout the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. But when the firstcame, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewisereceived every man a penny. And when they had received it, they murmuredagainst the goodman of the house, saying, These last have wrought but one hour,and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat ofthe day. But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong:didst not thou agree with me for a penny? Take that thine is, and go thy way: Iwill give unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do whatwill with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? So the last shall befirst, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.

Sermon – Timeand Action

Today’s sermon brought theCollect, Epistle and Gospel together and is partly contained in the forewordsabove.

Consider these words from the Collect:

… who knowest us to be set inthe midst of so many and great dangers, that by reason of the frailty of ournature we cannot always stand upright; Grant to us such strength and protection,as may support us in all dangers, and carry us through all temptations …

In the Collect, we ask God who knows we should be “…justlypunished for our offences, may be mercifully delivered by thy goodness, for theglory of thy Name; through Jesus Christ our Saviour …” Eternal salvation is the delivery weare promised by Jesus. This is thereward of the race we run here on earth. Our race is for that eternal prize, not just, as they say, filthy lucre. So how do we run the race? With our eye on the finish line, not onour competitors. And, rememberthis is a Team Effort. We want theChristian Team to win. If anoutsider joins, they join the team fully from then on. A death bed conversion gains the sameprize in the end as a life long Christian. The life long Christian will have had the more rewardinglife, but eternity is a long time after that.

We are all so far from perfect that Holier than Thouis pretty damning praise. Don’teven go there. The best you canreally do is not to be as evil as another, even that is pretty doubtful.

The Gospel for today, the very important parable ofthe vineyard, also gives us very good advice on the conduct of our daily livesand contains a crucial key to happiness

It is a fine lesson in “buyer’s remorse” or covetingof jobs or similar concepts. Ifyou got a good deal, it does not change because someone else got a “better”deal. Take what you got, go forthand be happy. Other meaningsabound. For a very directapplication, what this means is “cradle” Christians are no more likely to go toheaven than this morning’s convert. They just get to enjoy the Christian experience longer. One note, if you wait until the last minuteto join the gang, your time here might end before you get around to it.

BishopOgles’ Sermon

We are oft fortunate to getcopies of Bishop Jerry’s sermon notes. Today is one of those Sundays. Today we get a brilliant analysis of a portion of the Gospel accordingto Matthew for this week:

Septuagesima Sunday

5 February 2012 Anno Domini

St Andrews Anglican Church

TheSunday called Septuagesima, or the

thirdSunday before Lent.

TheCollect.

This Collect prepares our hearts for Grace anddisavows any personal merit we may consider that we have. First, we pray thatour prayer, offered out of a contrite heart, may be heard by the Lord.Secondly, our punishments regardless the severity are all deserved for we haveall come short of the righteousness of God. Thirdly, not claiming any righteousnessnow on our own behalf, but that righteousness of Jesus Christ, we ask only forHis mercy and His Glory.

Matthew 5:1-16

1 Andseeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, hisdisciples came unto him: 2 And he openedhis mouth, and taught them, saying,

3 Blessedare the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall becomforted. 5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit theearth. 6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst afterrighteousness: for they shall be filled. 7 Blessedare the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall seeGod. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall becalled the children of God. 10 Blessed arethey which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom ofheaven. 11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, andpersecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for mysake. 12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is yourreward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

13 Ye arethe salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall itbe salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to betrodden under foot of men. 14 Ye are thelight of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under abushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in thehouse. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they maysee your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

The multitudes always flocked to Christ but only fortheir own benefit. "And seeing the multitudes, he went up into amountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him." Thatis true today as well. The multitudes that flock to churches on Sunday are nottruly seeking Christ, but social, political and financial advantage. Those whocome truly seeking Him are the smaller remnant of the people – the truedisciples.

Jesus, when wearied, often went up to themountain. It is a place where the world is less and heaven is nearer. There Hemay find solitude.

"…when he was set" Unlike manymoderns who love to make a show of jumping about in the pulpit, Jesus often satdown (as one having authority) to preach and teach. Wild gesticulations willnot nurture faith, but Jesus spoke in calm and even words.

The multitudes will come readily on easy terrain, butthey are less likely to go so far as to climb a mountain.

We see now a division between the reward of those whoare blessed (and who they are) and the nature of those who are truly blessed ofthe Lord.

"And he opened his mouth, and taught them,"In the military we would call this an Alert Order – Christ is about to speakwords of surpassing importance:

³ Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall becomforted. 5 Blessedare the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst afterrighteousness: for they shall be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtainmercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall seeGod. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall becalled the children of God. 10 Blessedare they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is thekingdom of heaven.

Thereis one common thread running through all of the Blessed – they are humble andlacking undue pride. If they have pride, it is in Christ and not themselves.

¹¹ Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, andpersecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for mysake. 12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is yourreward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. Herewe have a perfect example of the kind of persecution that takes place from theworld, and often regrettably, the people of the Church itself. The prophets ofold times were not persecuted by the world as much as by the rulers of Israel.The same is true today. If you question their extravagant spending plans, youwill find yourself outside the gate, beaten and tortured by the tongues of men.

Whoare the blessed of God in the final equation? Have you ever heard an honest andgood man or woman described in this way: "That man is the salt of theearth!"?

"Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have losthis savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing,but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men."

What is the nature of salt and who made salt?

All things were made by God. He made salt for ourgood. What are some benefits of salt?

1. Makes food taste better. The Christian makes those about himenjoy his company.

2. Preserves meats and vegetables so that they can be stored forlong periods. The witness of a Christian nation will preserve it in liberty andsafety for long periods.

3. Valuable – salt was used to pay Roman soldiers at the time ofChrist. The Roman name for salt is salarius – this is the origin of our term`salary.'

4. Salt is not found every place. It must be mined at hard laborand then transported to the source of need. God's Word must be studied (mined)and transported to the source of need – a perishing world.

5. Salt creates thirst just as salty popcorn in a theater (toentice us to buy soft drinks). The Christian example of the Church should makepeople thirsty to come and know of our joy.

6. Salt is stored in shakers. If it is kept too long withoutbeing shaken, it will harden and not able to be used on food. The Christian isthe same way. If we stay apart from the lives of others, we will get hardenedand of no benefit to our fellow man.

7. Salt is necessary for life.

Salt is a Compound comprised of two atoms – which arethey? Remember your junior high chemistry class? NaCl

Na = Sodium, a soft, yellowish, poisonous metal neverfound in pure form in nature. It will always be combined with some otherelement such as carbon, sulphur, or hydrogen.

Chlorine is an odorless,colorless gas which cannot be seen, but is so deadly that it was the firstchemical used in chemical warfare in WWI.

It kills without the victim being aware of itspresence. The lost sinner dies not being aware of the presence of God.

But when these two poisonsare combined, they create a compound essential for life!

If we allow sodium torepresent man (a soft yellow medal) we see that man is lost in his naturalstate, always joined to the elements of the world.

If we allow chlorine torepresent God as an invisible Spirit, we find that He is deadly to man if manis not joined to Him as in the case of NACL. But when combined, the result issomething essential for life.

If we place salt in a bag onthe ground and leave it alone for a long while, it will begin to separate fromthe Chlorine and join with other elements of the world. How like a Christianwho is overly close to the things of the world.

If we view common table saltunder a microscope, we will find that the invisible chlorine gas, and softyellow metal have formed perfect cubes of white. These cubes maintain astructural integrity that maintains their form even when beaten into smallpieces. Should not the Christian maintain his integrity and form as well whensubjected to persecution?

We are, if we are committed to Christ, the salt of theearth.

Now let us turn to light. What is light?

Nobody knows, not even ourNASA scientists.

Science can only describe thebehavior and characteristics of Light, but cannot define exactly what Light is.

Light is invisible. Strangeto you? You can only see light in the manner in which it reveals reality to us.We can see each other today because light has revealed our visage to eachother. God is like Light – we cannot see Him, but we can see the Truth andPromise He has revealed to us. We know Him too because we know His Son, Jesus.

According to Einstein'sSpecial Theory of Relativity, there is only one absolute known to man – thespeed of Light. Christ tells us that He is the Light of the World! He isabsolute and His Truth is unassailable!

Yeare the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under abushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in thehouse. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they maysee your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

The Sun is our great physical light without whichthere could be no life on earth. Christ, to us, is like the Sun. We must beblessed by His warm, life-giving rays daily.

If there is a lunar eclipse, we have allowed somephysical object to come between us and our Sun of Righteousness. "Butunto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing inhis wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall." (Mal 4:2)

"Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: hethat followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." (John 8:12)

Wait! Jesus says that WE are the Light of the World,and here He says HE is the Light of the World. How may we reconcile theseseemingly conflicting statements?

Have you ever basked in thelight of the moon on a warm summer evening? The moon is the brightest light inthe sky at night, but it does not own its light, it borrows it from the Sun andreflects it down to us. We, too, are the only light is a darkened night of theworld, but our light, too, is borrowed and reflected. We get our Light from theSun of Righteousness and it is not ours – but His.

A hidden light is not lightat all. We must be openly burning for Christ. If we are bright lights forChrist, our lights shall be seen at great distances across the Wilderness ofthe World. Are you a shining light for Christ, or is your light darkened?

BishopDennis Campbell’s Sunday Sermon

God Our Help

Psalm 121

Septuagesima Sunday

5 February 2012

Psalm121. Levavi oculos.

WILLlift up mine eyes unto the hills; * from whence cometh my help?
2 My help cometh even from the Lord, * who hath made heaven and earth.

3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved; *and he that keepeth thee will not sleep.

4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel * shallneither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord himself is thy keeper; * the Lord isthy defence upon thy right hand;

6 So that the sun shall not burn thee by day, *neither the moon by night.

7 The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil; *yea, it is even he that shall keep thy soul.

8 The Lord shall preserve thy going out, andthy com- ing in, * from this time forth for evermore.

"From whence cometh my help." These words,like many in literature and music, have a double meaning. So to say, "Iwill lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help" isfirst a statement of confidence that the hills are a help to Jerusalem. Ancient Jerusalem was set on the famous hill known as Mount Zion. Like most cities of its time, it was enclosed by a thick wall upon whichsoldiers could walk and fight to defend the city. The walls weresurrounded by the small valleys of Tyropoeon and Kidron, which, in turn, weresurrounded by another wall, a natural wall of rugged hills of which the Mountof Olives is the most famous. This made Jerusalem a natural fortress. Anattacking army would have to scale the surrounding hills, cross the Tyropoeonand Kidron, under fire from archers on the wall, scale the wall of the valleys,advance further up the hill, still under attack by defending archers, and,finally, climb the wall of Jerusalem itself before it could even begin to fightthe Jerusalem soldiers. So the hills around the city were a naturaldefense, and it is to these hills that Psalm 121 says in confidence; "Iwill lift up mine eyes unto the hills; from whence cometh my help."

Yet, "from whence cometh my help?" is alsoa question. Wonderful as the hills are, they cannot do everything. They cannot comfort those who sorrow. They cannot heal the sick, or givemeaning or hope to life. Only God can do these things; "From whencecometh my help? My help cometh even from the Lord."

One of the points made by the Psalm is that God isable to help. It is hard to describe the help a hill gave to soldiers indays past. It gave those on the hill a commanding view of the enemy'smovements, but it also enabled them to fight better. An arrow fireddownhill had more range than an arrow fired uphill. A large stone rolleddownhill was a danger to all in its path; a large stone rolled uphill was moredangerous to the soldiers rolling it than it was to the enemy. So, thehigh ground was always an advantage, always a help. And Psalm 121 ismaking a comparison; it is saying, as the hills are a help to the physical cityof Jerusalem, God is the help of the spiritual Jerusalem, His people. Hemade heaven and earth. He made the universe. He created the starsand the galaxies. "He telleth the number of the stars; He calleththem all by their names." "Great is our Lord, and of greatpower." "In the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength." If Godhas the power and wisdom to do all these things, then it must be true that, as2 Chronicles 25:8 says, "God hath power to help." This God of powerand strength is like the hills around Jerusalem. He surrounds andprotects us. He is a wall of defense. Can any enemy harm us if God is ourdefense? "If God be for us, who can be against us?" asks St.Paul. It is God who justifies us, and it is God who makes us to be morethan conquerors so that "neither death, nor life, nor angels, norprincipalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love ofGod, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 8:31-39). Daniel 3:17sums this up very well. Faced with death in the fiery furnace, Shadrach,Meshach, and Abednego say plainly, "our God whom we serve is able todeliver us."

But what good is power to help if it is not used? What good is the ability to do good without the will to do it? Thereforeit is important that our God is able and willing to deliver us. "Hewill not suffer thy foot to be moved" according to verse 3. When youlive in a city set on a hill, there is always someone who wants to knock youoff. The city of Jerusalem had many enemies who would have gladlydestroyed it. But God would not let Jerusalem's "foot" bemoved. Secure footing is essential to making the high ground an effectivehelp in battle. You can't fight if you can't stand, and you can't standif the footing is not secure. The Psalm pictures Jerusalem standingsecure and firm on Zion, because God upholds the city. God holds the feet ofthe city, so that instead of standing on loose sand and rocks that can slideout from under it, Jerusalem stands on the unmoving and powerful hand of God.

It is easy to see the spiritual meaning here. God's Church is always surrounded by enemies. They attack in wave afterwave, and we see their numbers and power, and our faith almost fails us becausewe know we are no match for them. It is true, as Martin Luther wrote;

Did we in our own strengthconfide, our striving would be loosing.

Were not the right Man onour side, the Man of God's own choosing.

Dost ask who that may be?Christ Jesus, it is He

Lord Sabaoth His Name,from age to age the same,

And He must win thebattle.

God is on our side. More importantly, we are onGod's side, and He will not allow His church to be vanquished. And Hewon't allow you to be either. If you truly are in Christ through Biblicalfaith, He has promised you that He will keep you by His power in this world andin the next. He does not say you will not have to fight. He does not sayyou will not grow weary or weak. He does not even say you won't bewounded in the battle. He does promise that "He will not suffer thy footto be moved." In other words, after all the battles are over, by Hispower, the Heavenly Jerusalem will still stand, and so will you if you are a citizenof that city.

Verse 5 tells you, "The Lord Himself is thykeeper; the Lord is thy defence upon thy right hand." The Psalm imaginesthe hills around Jerusalem as soldiers standing guard. They are alwaysthere in the burning sun and deepest night. On a moonlit night you cansee them standing there, but even in the darkest night you know they are thereprotecting you. They never take a vacation. They never sleep. Whata wonderful symbol of God watching over His people. He is there in theheat of the day and the cold of the night. The sun shall not burn thee byday because God is on guard so you can rest in the shadow of His wings. The moonlit winter night will not harm you because God is on duty, allowing youto rest in the warmth of His love. You can sleep and take your restbecause He never does. He never sleeps on duty, never deserts Hispost. He never quits. He never takes a day off, or a vacation or arest. He is always on duty, ever vigilant.

The Psalm does not mean to say you will neverexperience hardship or trials in this life. It does not teach that youwill always prosper, always enjoy good health, or always have things and peoplego the way you want. It is not so much a promise of good things for theflesh as it is a promise of good things for the soul. This is brought outin verse 7, "The Lord shall preserve thee from evil; yea, it is even hethat shall keep thy soul."

It is often very difficult to remember that God ismore concerned about the health of your soul than the comfort of yourbody. You, if you are like the rest of us mortals, are busy with thethings that contribute to your physical comforts. You work and plan andplay and rest, and, even pray to God to increase your comfort in thisworld. There is a sense in which this is right and good. I believeGod wants you to enjoy life, and that He gives good things to be enjoyed. There was a time in the history of the Church when many people thought Godwanted them to be miserable. So they joined monasteries and conventswhere they starved themselves, slept in the snow, and even beat themselves withwhips while rejecting even the most basic comforts of the flesh. Manydied of their self inflicted sufferings; others were perpetually worn andsick. Thanks be to God we now understand the Bible better and do notmurder ourselves thinking we are pleasing God. But, I wonder, have wegone too far in the other direction? Today you rarely hear a call toperseverance, self-discipline, or self-restraint. You hear instead thatGod is going to give you health and wealth and indulge all your wants, likeSanta Clause, only better. Both of these views are heresies. Youneed to remember that God is investing in you for the long term. Hisconcern is about fitting you for Heaven rather than giving you luxury and easeon earth. It is your soul that concerns Him most, and He is not afraid toprune a few branches to make your soul produce fruit.

We close today's message remembering that it is tothe grace of God in Christ that we ultimately look for our help. He isthe hill that surrounds and protects us. He is the one who makes our feetto stand firm upon the mount. He is the one who overcomes our foes anddelivers us safe to the Mansion of Heaven. Everything promised in the 121stPsalm is accomplished by Christ for us on the cross. We only receive itby faith as His gift to us. It is through Him that you can say, "Myhelp cometh from the Lord."

tR. Dennis Campbell

Bishop of Diocese of Virginia

Rector, Holy Trinity Anglican OrthodoxChurch

Powhatan, Virginia

www.HolyTrinityAnglicanOrthodoxChurch.org

www.lifeinthescriptures.blogspot.com

Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany

2012-02-05T08:59:00.000-08:00

The Propers for today are foundon Page 114-115, with the Collect first:

The Fourth Sunday after The Epiphany.

TheCollect.

GOD, who knowest us to be set in themidst of so many and great dangers, that by reason of the frailty of our naturewe cannot always stand upright; Grant to us such strength and protection, asmay support us in all dangers, and carry us through all temptations; throughJesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Dru Arnold read the Epistle for today, which came fromthe Thirteenth Chapter of Saint Paul’s letter to the Romans beginning at theFirst Verse:

ET every soul be subject unto the higher powers. Forthere is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoevertherefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God; and they thatresist shall receive to themselves condemnation. For rulers are not a terror togood works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do thatwhich is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: for he is the ministerof God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for hebeareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to executewrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not onlyfor wrath, but also for conscience sake. For for this cause pay ye tributealso: for they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom towhom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.

Deacon Striker Jack Arnold read the Holy Gospel fortoday which came from the Eighth Chapter of the Gospel of St. Matthew beginningat the First Verse.

HEN he was come down from the mountain, greatmultitudes followed him. And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him,saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth hishand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately hisleprosy was cleansed. And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but gothy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded,for a testimony unto them. And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, therecame unto him a centurion, beseeching him, and saying, Lord, my servant liethat home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, Iwill come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthythat thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servantshall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: andI say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; andto my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, andsaid to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so greatfaith, no, not in Israel. And I say unto you, that many shall come from theeast and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in thekingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outerdarkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And Jesus said unto thecenturion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. Andhis servant was healed in the selfsame hour.

Sermon – Timeand Action

Today’s sermon brought theCollect, Epistle and Gospel together and is partly contained in the forewordsabove.

Consider these words from the Collect:

In the Collect, weacknowledge that God knows the dangers, toils and snares with which we mustcontend, which so often keep us from the upright acknowledgement and defense ofthat which is true and correct. With these infirmities, our only hope is that certain hope of his helpto support us, not to get out of the problems, but to make our way through themto His Glory.

Christianity is not asolitary religion, one all about the individual, though it certainly depends onindividuals as part of the Team lead by Christ to carry it out. God has given each of us varyingtalents and varying capabilities. We must each of us do that for the Church that which we do better thanothers and respect those who we work with. No power comes from God, leaders who lead with His Will in mindmust be accorded the respect they are due by virtue of their position. They must also lead with His Will inmind, for a leader following the Prince of Darkness is not worthy of respect orfollowership. We must put faith inthose to who faith is due.

Faith, and acting onit, is what Christianity is all about. Christ’s faith accounts us as perfect before God because of HisActions. The centurion of thisweek’s Gospel is a symbol of faith and what appears to be inaction is hisaction. He is also the person forwhom our parish draws its name. The centurion was the basic leader symbol of the Roman Empire. A group of eight to ten soldiers waslead by a Contubern. TenContubernium formed a Centuria, which was lead by a Centurion. Six to ten of these formed a Cohort,also led by a Centurion. He was animportant man, able to reward or punish at will. He knew power and how to wield it.

When the centurion cameto Jesus, he knew who He was and His Power. When the centurion to Jesus of his servant’s illness, thecenturion knew all Jesus had to do was will the wellness and it was done.

There was no questionin his mind, the centurion knew Jesus. His action was the seeming inaction ofacknowledging his unworthiness and telling Jesus, “I am not worthy that thoushouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall behealed.”

We are allunworthy. The best of us is noworthy that He should come under our roof; yet we know if He will speak TheWord only, our souls shall be healed and all will be accounted well beforeGod. That is all He asks, “Let Mespeak The Word only.”

BishopOgles’ Sermon

We are oft fortunate to get copies of Bishop Jerry’ssermon notes. Today is one ofthose Sundays. Today we get abrilliant analysis of a portion of the Gospel according to Mark for this week:

Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

29 January 2012 Anno Domini

"Andstraightway he constrained his disciples to get into the ship, and to go to theother side before unto Bethsaida, while he sent away the people. And when hehad sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray. And when even wascome, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land. And hesaw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about thefourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and wouldhave passed by them. But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposedit had been a spirit, and cried out: For they all saw him, and were troubled.And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: itis I; be not afraid. And he went up unto them into the ship; and the windceased: and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered.For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart washardened. And when they had passed over, they came into the land of Gennesaret,and drew to the shore. And when they were come out of the ship, straightwaythey knew him, And ran through that whole region round about, and began to carryabout in beds those that were sick, where they heard he was. And whithersoeverhe entered, into villages, or cities, or country, they laid the sick in thestreets, and besought him that they might touch if it were but the border ofhis garment: and as many as touched him were made whole." (Mark6:45-56)

The Collect

The FourthSunday after the Epiphany

The Collect forthe 4^th Sunday afterEpiphany is a model prayer constructed in the manner in which we should allpray. Acknowledging the fact that God knows our present circumstances in trialsand temptations, He allows us to struggle against the elements until we areforced to petition His intercession. The prayer states our case but does notplead that we be spared trials and temptations but, to the contrary, imploresonly that God will strengthen us for the trail and fortify us against everytemptation. This will make our souls grow muscle in enduring the abuse of theworld and in overcoming the temptation of the devil. The text fitsperfectly the attributes of the Collect as the disciples find themselves in agreat mess at Sea. In the darkest hour, Jesus comes to them and calms the angrybillows. He demonstrates His Sovereignty over His Creation in defying thenature of the water upon which He walks.

I have wonderedhow any man could question the existence of God in light of all evidence innature, in history, in science that screams that such doubters are liars. I truly doubt that there are genuine atheists. I believe the wicked know thereto be a God but refuse to acknowledge the fact because they wish to continue intheir self-wills to travel by their own darkened lights. Many years ago, an oldman lay desperately ill in bed. He was a wicked old man who did not believe inGod. Over his bed he had written `God is NOWHERE!' One day a littlegranddaughter came into the bedroom to see him. She was just learning to readso he asked her to try to read what was written over his bed. Slowly she began,and what she read was: "God….is…NOW HERE!" God is now here. In herinnocent and childlike mind, there was no possibility for the sign to readotherwise. The old man trembled. For the first time he had to admit that thereis a God. This points to our first cardinal principle in Creation – "Inthe beginning, GOD!" We should not be surprised that the Onewho created the waters should also WALK upon the waters!

Jesus has beenspeaking to the multitudes that He miraculously fed with bread. They nowattempt to take Him by force and make Him their king. We are not frankly toldthat the disciples were also complicit with the desires of the multitude in acommon response to mob rule, but there is some hint that at least something hadcaused Christ to send them across the Sea apart from the multitudes. We aretold in the middle of the text today: "For they considered notthe miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened."Men will most often opt to the blessings of the `here and now' to the detrimentof the blessings of the `yonder and eternal.' The multitudes considered theguarantee of bread without labor as the ultimate goodness. History has proventhat even the wealthy that labor not end in gluttony and die in misery. "Foreven when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work,neither should he eat." (2 Thess 3:10) – a fitting rebuketo the welfare mentality pervading our land.

"Andstraightway he constrained his disciples to get into the ship, and to go to theother side before unto Bethsaida, while he sent away the people."After the tumult with the multitudes, Christ sent His disciples apart to crossthe Sea of Galilee (Tiberius). He perhaps did so for two reasons: 1) He sentthem intentionally into a brewing storm to test a faith which may have beenlacking in the attempt of the multitudes to make Him an earthly king. 2) Hedesired to separate them from the passions of the world manifested in thedesires of the crowd. "Wherefore come out from among them, and be yeseparate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receiveyou," (2 Cor 6:17) Have you, as well, separated yourselffrom the crowd mentality being influenced in the styles and labels of even theclothes you wear, the places you go, the friends you keep, and the wickednessin which they call you?

"Andwhen he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray."When I was a child, I grew up in the shadow of a great mountain (FortMountain). It struck a stark contrast to the surrounding terrain, and wassometimes obscured by clouds. During the heat of the summer months, I wouldlook to the mountain and hope that I could go to the top where the air was cooland pristine. It would have been a place apart from the heat and throbbing's ofeveryday life. As you ascend that mountain, the entire world begins to recedeto a distant blur. The higher you climb, the less human traffic surrounds you.You feel closer to God as you stand there on top of Fort Mountain and, indeed,you are. To be apart from the body of civilization is to be a step closer toGod. And so Christ sought the solitude of the mountain for the purpose ofprayer. He could have prayed below among the people, but He sought a PLACEWHERE His prayers would be a personal Communion with His Father. He alsowould have a commanding view of the Sea and all who travelled in ships acrossthe Sea.

"Andwhen even was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on theland." When we begin to be too self-righteous ordoubtful, God will often send us into peril, seemingly apart from Himself, sothat we may learn of our complete dependence upon Him. He may send storms intoour lives to challenge our faith and, once overcome by faith, made stronger. Inthe text before us, He has sent His disciples across the Sea and into a stormof His making. He withholds the terrifying winds until the ship is in the verycenter of the Sea, yet, His watchful eye, as that of a mother eagle, is on usall along from the mountaintop. He is alone in His solitude, while we areon our own strength in the center of a storm together with our company ofdoubters. "And he saw them toiling in rowing."It would be akin to a father watching his young child, the apple of his eyes,toiling to build a sand castle but using dry sand, and becoming all the morefrustrated with each collapse.

"….forthe wind was contrary unto them." When we sail the seas oflife under our own strength, the winds of the world will always be contrary tous. As Christian has no power to control the winds, but he certainly has thepower to adjust the sails so that he travels a good route and not one intodestruction. Quite normally, we must sail against the wind!

"….andabout the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea,and would have passed by them." Not only was the littleship in the very midst of the sea, it was also during the very midst ofdarkness. The fourth watch would have been three o'clock in the morning. Thegreatest darkness is just before dawn. "….weeping may endure for anight, but joy cometh in the morning." (Psalms 30:5) Thereis a beautiful morning coming whose splendor shall rend the eastern sky as weshall behold the Sun of Righteousness arise on the Sea of our Storms. When theperil of the disciples seemed greatest, and their power to overcome that perilthe very least, along comes a sight that should have cheered them, but,instead, it struck terror in their doubtful hearts – Jesus walking on the Sea.He was not walking with great care, but casually as a pedestrian on theseashore. Would they know the object of their salvation as He passed by? Have you always recognized His guiding and helping hand in the midst ofyour own storms? What would have happened had the He simply passed them by? Mymother used to sing a beautiful old hymn that made me wonder about its meaning.Now I understand:

Pass me not, Ogentle Savior, 

Hear my humblecry; 

While on othersThou art calling, 

Do not pass meby.

Refrain

Savior,Savior, 

Hear my humblecry; 

While on othersThou art calling, 

Do not pass meby.

Let me at Thythrone of mercy 

Find a sweetrelief, 

Kneeling therein deep contrition; 

Help myunbelief.

Refrain

Trusting onlyin Thy merit, 

Would I seekThy face; 

Heal my wounded,broken spirit

, Save me byThy grace.

Refrain

Thou the Springof all my comfort, 

More than lifeto me, 

Whom have I onearth beside Thee? 

Whom in Heav'nbut Thee?

Refrain

The hymn was written bydear Fanny Crosby, blind from childhood, but full of the vision of theLord. Unfortunately, we not only fail to seek the face of the Lord in ourhard troubles, but do not even recognize Him when He draws near.

"Butwhen they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, andcried out: For they all saw him, and were troubled."Are we in the same boat with King Herod who was troubled at the news of HisComing? Do we mistake God to be a malevolent spirit? Does He often "get inthe way" of our own `free wills?' He is the very source of the salvationof those men in the midst of a storm, in the midst of the Sea, and in the verymidst of darkness – yet, His coming terrifies them. They "cried out"in terror. Men are often willing to believe in ghosts that do not exist, anddeny the God that DOES! "For they all saw him, and were troubled."There shall come a Day when "every eye shall behold Him"– some in fear and trembling, and others with joy. Which shall it be for you,friend?

Christ will notleave us to fester in our fears. He speaks to us out of the midst of the storm:"And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be ofgood cheer: it is I be not afraid " If itbe Christ, there is always cause for us to be of good cheer and not possessedof fear. Fear is unbecoming of a Christian. Though `fear of the Lord is thebeginning of wisdom' (Ps 111:10), we are not to make our beds in fear.When we have reached the security of the Ark of Christ, our fears of the floodshall cease.

"Andhe went up unto them into the ship; and the wind ceased: and they were soreamazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered."Yes, it is amazing how soon the storms subside when Christ steps into thelittle ark of our hearts. The storm ceased immediately when Christ stepped in. They still wondered at the miraculous event. "For theyconsidered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened."This verse remains somewhat of a mystery to me, but I believe it does suggesttheir complicity with the multitudes in making Christ an earthly king. Theirhearts were hardened at the miracle of bread. The result of that miracle wasthat the crowd wanted to take Him by force and make Him king. Jesus separatedHis disciples at that time from the crowds and sent them into a storm. I believethis is the right explanation for their hardened hearts. Have you, too,hardened your heart against the Lord when you did not follow His Will butinsisted on your own free will (that is never the will of God)?

"Andwhen they had passed over, they came into the land of Gennesaret, and drew tothe shore." We are given further description of this moment inthe Gospel of St John: "Then they willingly received him into theship: and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went."(John 6:21) When Christ is with us, we are immediately at the place weare supposed to be!

"Andwhen they were come out of the ship, straightway they knew him,"that is, those people on the shore. Often it is the profane and lost who mayrecognize Christ more readily than those who should know Him best. At firstsight, the people on the shore KNEW Him!

"And ran through that whole region round about, and began tocarry about in beds those that were sick, where they heard he was.And whithersoever he entered, into villages, or cities, or country, theylaid the sick in the streets, and besought him that they might touch if it werebut the border of his garment: and as many as touched him were made whole."The faith of these people on the shore was a shallow faith that extended onlyto the physical needs of their diseased, but even a shallow faith is far betterthan no faith at all. That kind of faith will, in the least, profit them inthis world, but may fall short of profiting them in eternity. They desired toonly touch His garment to be healed – and they WERE healed thereby. Their faithin His power to heal was not in His garment, but in Him alone – and that iswhere our faith should be centered – not simply for blessings in the life, butmore so for blessings in the life to come. At every petty need, do you troubleGod for relief? How often do you simply pray a prayer solely to thank Him forHis grace and benefits and ask nothing more than that His Will be done? TheLord's Prayer is a good place to start if you are unaware as to form.

BishopDennis Campbell’s Sunday Sermon

Joyful in theLord - Psalm 66

Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

29 January 2012

Psalm 66

MAKE a joyful noiseunto God, all ye lands:

2Sing forth the honour of his name: make his praise glorious.

3Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works! throughthe greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee.

4All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee;they shall sing to thy name. Selah.

5Come and see the works of God: he is terrible in his doingtoward the children of men.

6He turned the sea into dry land: they went through the floodon foot: there did we rejoice in him.

7He ruleth by his power for ever; his eyes behold thenations: let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah.

8O bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of his praiseto be heard:

9Which holdeth our soul in life, and suffereth not our feetto be moved.

10For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, assilver is tried.

11Thou broughtest us into the net; thou laidst afflictionupon our loins.

12Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we wentthrough fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthyplace.

13I will go into thy house with burnt offerings: I will paythee my vows,

14Which my lips have uttered, and my mouth hath spoken, whenI was in trouble.

15I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings, withthe incense of rams; I will offer bullocks with goats. Selah.

16Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declarewhat he hath done for my soul.

17I cried unto him with my mouth, and he was extolled with mytongue.

18If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hearme:

19But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voiceof my prayer.

20Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, norhis mercy from me.

Psalm 66 is a beautiful and generous invitation fromGod. Its theme is well stated in its very first words, "O Be joyfulin God." It is an invitation to enter into the source andbeing of all that is real and true and beautiful, and joyful in this life andforever; God I said God is the source of all the is beautiful. Most of ushave noticed that as Western culture gets further from God its art becomes moreugly. It is no accident that a culture attempting to base itself onChristian values gave the world Handle's "Messiah", while a cultureattempting to "free" itself of Christianity gave the world"Purple Haze." Debussy was not a Christian, but he lived in a culturestill shaped by Christian values, and you can hear that in his music. Much Rap is the unmusic of a culture that has no memory or desire for Christianvalues, and you can hear that in it. We see this pattern followedthroughout culture, from economics to interpersonal relationships. Ineconomics, people are reduced to wage slaves making useless products peopleonly want because they have been told to by manipulative advertisments. Work, in this kind of setting, becomes ugly because there is very little beautyin working on an assembly line to make overpriced toys that will soon break,wear out, or need to be replaced due to planned obsolescence.

Let's look at interpersonal relationships. Our culturelikes to congratulate itself on the way it values people, yet interpersonalrelationships are shallow and fluid because people are not willing to makeserious commitments to other people. Commitment is viewed as inhibitingpersonal freedom, meaning, and self fulfillment. We can't let otherpeople get in the way of our self fulfillment, so we drift in and out ofrelationships on the basis of whether we find them useful or not, based on thequestion, "do they meet my needs." In this system peoplebecome tools and toys for our own amusement and use. That's ugly. Thereis no beauty in it. It is selfish and abusive and cruel. But whatelse can we expect in a culture that teaches us to love ourselves rather thanto love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and our neighbor as ourselves?

In contrast to what we see in this fallen world, Scriptureteaches us work can be meaningful and relationships can be happy and lastingsources of joy, when pursued according to God's wisdom given to us in theBible. His ways are the ways of life, His laws are more valuable than gold, Histruth sets us free. We can "Be joyful in God" because in thethere is joy in God.

Psalm 66 is especially appropriate for the Fourth Sundayafter Epiphany because we continue to celebrate the revelation of Christ to theGentiles, and Psalm 66 invites all people, Jews and Gentiles, into the joy ofthe Lord. "O Be joyful in God all ye lands." Wesee this invitation repeated several times in the Psalm. "All theworld shall worship thee." "O come hither and behold the worksof God." "O praise our God, ye peoples." There isnot one person who is excluded from this invitation. It is not for Jewsalone; not for "religious" people alone, not just for"good" people, or rich people, or poor, or male, or femalepeople. It is for all people in all places in all times. Thus, ourLord Himself said in our reading from Matthew, "many shall come from theeast and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in thekingdom of heaven." It was Christ Himself who commissioned HisChurch to send His invitation around the world, saying, "Go ye thereforeand teach all nations." "Nations" does not refer topolitical entities. It refers to groups and families of people. InGreek, it is the word from which we get our English word, "ethnic,"so the invitation is to all people of every ethnicity, every race, tribe,language, nationality, and identity. It is a major part of the Church'smission to invite them to receive the forgiveness of sins in Christ, and peacewith God through the blood of His cross. Christ invites all to dwell inGod and to walk with others in a new Kingdom and a new humanity that is aforetaste of the oneness with God and each other we will enjoy forever inHeaven.

Verses 5-11 of the Psalm recount what God has done for Israelas an example of what God wants to do for all people. Specifically, theyretell the story of God delivering the Hebrews from their slavery in Egypt, andbringing them into the land of Canaan. Yes, God allowed ancient Egypt tooppress Israel for a while. He allowed men to ride over their head; theywent through fire and water (vs. 11). But He also parted the sea so theycould go through on dry land (5) and brought them into a place where they couldlive life as God intended all mankind to live, in peace and freedom andrighteousness. Verse 11 describes this place as a "wealthy"place, meaning a place of joy and wealth in the soul.

The Church has always seen the Exodus as a picture of thespiritual freedom purchased for God's people in Jesus Christ. We also seethe work of Christ implied throughout Psalm 66. We rejoice in Godbecause Christ is our joy. He parted the water for Israel and He baptizedus into Himself as He baptized Israel in the sea. He is the Passover Lambwhose blood saves His people from the destroyer. He brings us out of theslavery and oppression of sin into a wealthy place that is not defined bypolitical or geographical boundaries, but by His love and peace and grace, forHe Himself is our dwelling place now and forever. Had this Psalm beenwritten in the New Testament era it would have explicitly recounted Christ'slife and death and resurrection. As it is, these events are impliedthroughout the Psalm. We may always find this Christological meaning inthe Psalms.

God brought Israel out of Egypt to invite all people to learnof Him through the Jews. Christ died on the cross "that whosoeverbelieveth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." These things are for all people. These things are for "whosoeverbelieveth." But Psalm 66 also tells you what He wants to do for you individually,what He wants to do for your soul (14). He hears your prayers accordingto verse 17, which is the same as saying He welcomes and receives you. Hedoes not cast out your prayers and He does not cast you out of His presence.Some of the greatest words ever heard by human ears or read by human eyes arethe words of Christ found in John 6:37, "him that cometh to me I will inno wise cast out." This MAN, Christ Jesus, who is God incarnate, whocreated and sustains this vast universe and also the unseen spiritual worlds wecan only glimpse in Scripture but which are more vast and real and solid thanthe one we see, wants to hear your prayers, wants your love, wants yourfellowship, and wants to bless you in ways that go exceeding abundantly beyondall that you are able to ask or think (Eph. 3:20). He has invited you tocome to Him, and has promised that He will receive all who come to Him. He willhear your prayer.

He will not turn His mercy from you. David, for all hisaccomplishments and success, was a sinner whose only hope was the mercy ofGod. He was just like the rest of us, for all humanity is united in sin,and the only hope for receiving anything good from God is to receive it as afree gift from Him. A few moments ago I quoted the words of Christ, "himthat cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." Now I turn yourattention to the last verse of Psalm 66, "Praised be God who hath not castout my prayer, nor turned His mercy from me." God does notturn His mercy away from those who come to Him in Biblical faith. He isalways ready to receive penitent sinners. He is always ready to forgive,always ready to bless, always ready to pardon and absolve "all those whotruly repent and unfeignedly believe His holy Gospel." He died onthe cross to bring His mercy to you. He will never take it away fromthose who truly want it.

"Wherefore let us beseech Him to grantus true repentance, and His Holy Spirit, that those things may please Him whichwe do at this present; and that the rest of our life hereafter may be pure andholy; so that at the last we may come to His eternal joy; through Jesus Christour Lord. Amen."

tR. Dennis Campbell

Bishop of Diocese of Virginia

Rector, Holy Trinity AnglicanOrthodox Church

Powhatan, Virginia

www.HolyTrinityAnglicanOrthodoxChurch.org

www.lifeinthescriptures.blogspot.com

Third Sunday after the Epiphany

2012-01-22T15:07:00.000-08:00

The Propers for today are foundon Page 112-113, with the Collect first:

The Third Sunday after The Epiphany.

TheCollect.

LMIGHTY andeverlasting God, mercifully look upon our infirmities, and in all our dangersand necessities stretch forth thy right hand to help and defend us; throughJesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Ryan Hopkins read the Epistle for today, which camefrom the Twelfth Chapter of Paul’s letter to the Romans beginning at theSixteenth Verse.

The Epistle shows the way to Christian action inlife. Paul lays out a hard path,but one that goes where we want to be in the end.

E not wise in your own conceits. Recompense to no manevil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it bepossible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved,avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written,Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemyhunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heapcoals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil withgood.

Deacon Striker Jack Arnold read the Holy Gospel fortoday which came from the Second Chapter of the Gospel of St. John beginning at the First Verse.

ND the third day there was a marriage in Cana ofGalilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: and both Jesus was called, and hisdisciples, to the marriage. And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesussaith unto him, They have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I todo with thee? mine hour is not yet come. His mother saith unto the servants,Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. And there were set there six water-pots ofstone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkinsapiece. Jesus saith unto them, Fill the water-pots with water. And they filledthem up to the brim. And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto thegovernor of the feast. And they bare it. When the ruler of the feast had tastedthe water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servantswhich drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom,and saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; andwhen men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the goodwine until now. This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, andmanifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.

Sermon – Timeand Action

Today’s sermon brought theCollect, Epistle and Gospel together and is partly contained in the forewordsabove.

Consider these words from the Collect:

… mercifully look upon ourinfirmities, and in all our dangers and necessities stretch forth thy righthand to help and defend us …

In the Collect, we areasking God to set aside our failure and protect and aid us in all we do withHis strong hand. God is perfect,thus so is His counsel. When weacknowledge our imperfection and ask Him for help, we should look to thewritten record of His Son, our Savior. We should do our best to follow His example, to be honest, hard working,peaceful and helpful. When we dothis, we will prosper, not only in this world, but in our hearts. When we pray for His Help, we need tolisten for the answer, then act on it, not ignore it because it is not theanswer we wanted.

Why the continuousemphasis on action? Simple. The line of time stretches from the fardistant and unknown past to the far distant and unknowable future. Yet, God is there, He has always beenthere and He will always be there. Where His finger touches that line of time is today. That is where we live; it is the onlyplace where action can happen in our time space continuum. Today.

God, our God, is a Godof Action. No less is His Son oneof action. All throughout theBible, you find Jesus doing things, not just talking about them. His faith, shown in the action of Hisgiving His Life that we might live, speaks through His actions. No matter where you turn while readingthe Bible, what you find is Action, not Diction. Recall the second half of the Book of the Acts of theApostles. It is known as Acts, notthoughts, not prayers, not meditations, not wishes or anything else; TheACTS. He expects us to act in ourlives, not talk.

So, when we act, howshould we act? To the extent youare able attempt to do good to all. We are not Christ, but if we do our best emulate His earthly actions, wedo well. If you treat your enemieswith respect and kindness, you oft make them your friends. We have the right of self-defense, notof vengeance. Bring them up, don’tlower yourself.

Like Jesus at the well,remember that your purpose is to help bring people to salvation. Any step youtake today may have future consequence. Your witness, your testimony, your actions can bring people to the pointthey accept the Holy Spirit or not. Your interface may only be one small step; but do your best to make it astep towards God, not away.

Error is error, wrongis not right. But, a person’sfinal destination is up to God, not us. Fortunate for each of us, it should be considered. During the journey of life down thattime space continuum, we need to do our best to keep ourselves and those aroundus moving towards God, not away from Him. The direction is always clear, sometimes we just do not want to read thesigns.

If we understand we areless than perfect, actually far less than imperfect, we have a good start. We know we need God in our lives togive us direction. We need Hisguidance to direct our ACTION.

Read the Bible, findout what He wants you to do, then Do It. What can you do today to carry out His Will? There are a multitude of things you canDO to carry out His Will, but the question is, “Will you?”

BishopOgles’ Sermon

We are oft fortunate to get copies of Bishop Jerry’ssermon notes. Today is one ofthose Sundays. Today we get abrilliant analysis of the Gospel for this week:

Third Sundayin Epiphany

22 January 2012, Anno Domini

St Andrews Anglican Orthodox Church

"When therefore theLord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized moredisciples than John, (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,) Heleft Judaea, and departed again into Galilee. And he must needs go through Samaria.Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcelof ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesustherefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it wasabout the sixth hour. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesussaith unto her, Give me to drink. (For his disciples were gone away unto the city tobuy meat.) Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, beinga Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have nodealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift ofGod, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest haveasked of him, and he would have given thee living water. The woman saith untohim, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whencethen hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gaveus the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? Jesusanswered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: Butwhosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; butthe water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing upinto everlasting life." (John 4:1-14)

Though the Gospel text today coversonly the first fourteen verses of chapter 4 of the Gospel of St John, we maynot do justice to the text without covering the first 42 verses.

Thirst is apowerful hunger – a hunger for water. A man or woman cannot live more than afew days, or even hours, without the benefit of water. Water is necessary forlife. This principle holds true across both the physical and spiritual realms.Men will run, walk, and finally crawl across the desert sands to find water.The desire for physical life is quite strong. Should the desire for thatspiritual life that is eternal not be more so?

Water is a compoundcomprised of two elements – Oxygen and Hydrogen. Oxygen is essential for fire(combustion) and hydrogen is an explosive gas, yet, when combined as H20, wateris capable of extinguishing fires. Spiritual Water can extinguish the fires ofHell itself.

You may recall poor Hagar,the concubine of Abraham, being sent out alone with her young son into thedesert Wilderness with only a bottle of water upon which to survive. "AndAbraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water,and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent heraway: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. Andthe water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of theshrubs. And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, asit were a bowshot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And shesat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept. And God heard thevoice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and saidunto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice ofthe lad where he is. Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand;for I will make him a great nation. And God opened her eyes, and she saw awell of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the laddrink." (Gen 21:14-19)

It is noteworthy Hagar wasoblivious to the well of water until God opened her eyes to see it though itwas there all along.

In today's text, we see thatJesus has made it a particular point to divert the journey from the usualcircumvention of Samaria to go directly to a city at the base of Mt Ephraim called Sychar (Sheckham in the Old Testament) . This is the burial placeof Joseph and the city of Jacob to whose Well Jesus arrives at the noon hourand sits upon the stone casing of the Well. He came to this place wittingly forHe knew that He would meet a particular Woman here today. "And hemust needs go through Samaria. Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which iscalled Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey,sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour."

A Samaritan Woman ofill-repute approaches at the unusual hour of noon with her water bottle to drawfrom the Well. Jesus asks the Woman for a drink of water. The woman is takenaback by the request of Jesus because He appears to be a Jew and the Jews hatethe Samaritans. But this man seems somewhat mysterious. She wonders at His appearance."There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith untoher, Give me to drink. (For his disciples were gone away unto the city tobuy meat.) Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, beinga Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have nodealings with the Samaritans."

Have you ever wondered whyChrist, the Lord of Heaven cares for you and will request your love? Have youwondered why He would bother to give you the time of day?

We may learn from theapproach of Christ to this Woman in personal evangelism which resulted later inbroader evangelism to the entire village at Sychar. We may sometimes feel`uncomfortable' in raising the subject of Christ to a stranger. Here, Christ pointsthe way. Put the person at ease with a casual remark as Jesus' request forwater. We all want to share the blessings of Heaven. Here is our best exampleof personal evangelism.

There seems to be sevenprinciples of personal evangelism represented in this exchange with the Woman:

1. We must have face-to-facecontact with the sinner. Though the Jews had no contact withSamaritans, Christ harbored no such prejudice or resentment. He traveled acrossa great distance and over dry and dusty roads for this meeting. If Christ didnot go to the place where the Woman was, she would never have received Him orknown Him.

a. If we are to be fishers of men, we will catch few in abarrel. We must go to the Sea of Life.

b. Our problem in planting seed may not be the lack of goodground, but that we have left the seed in the silo. "Is the seed yetin the barn?" (Hag 2:19)

c. Do not equate separation with isolation. Christ talked tosinners far more than those who were Godly .Even in war, we must mix with theenemy in battle. However, "Be ye not unequally yoked together withunbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? andwhat communion hath light with darkness ." (2 Cor 6:14)

d. Our contact must be across age considerations as well as socialconcerns. Jesus said in Mark 16:15 – "Go into all the world."

2. Establish a commoninterest. See how Christ does so with the Woman. She came desiring waterto quench her thirst. Christ also indicates a desire for water. "Give me to drink." This demonstrated tothe Woman a common interest shared by the two of them.

a. Christ immediately built a bridge which connected theinterest of the Woman with His own. Once a bridge is built, muchtraffic may cross thereon.

b. One common interest may expand into others of greater import.Jesus has a special kind of water – the Water of Life. It is precisely the kindof water this Woman thirsts after even without knowing.

3. Emphasize the spiritual overthe physical. Every human needs temporary benefits for life but, to a greaterextent, we need everlasting provision for eternal life. We may accomplish thisthrough

a. Our example – Jesus speaks with courtesy to the woman and shecan detect His great sincerity.

b. Our actions – Christ treated even abject sinners withcompassion and respect. The words of Christ drew at first on the physical, buttransitioned smoothly to the spiritual (from physical water, to water of life).

4. Measure your pace – do notget ahead of the understanding of your party. See how Jesus teaches from theknown to the unknown: Well Water to Heavenly Water; Worship at Mt. Ephraim toJerusalem; the perfect means of worship (Spirit and in Truth)

5. Do not be judgmental.

a. Jesus did not dwell unnecessarily on the fact that this womanwas an adulteress. He came to save and not tocondemn.

b. Preach against sin, but do not close the door to salvation tothe sinner. The Door belongs to Jesus. The emphasis must be on the seriousnessof sin, but also the availability of forgiveness.

6. Keep the Main Thingthe Main Thing! Be persistent in adhering to the point.

a. The Samaritan Woman tried to turn the conversation from hersins and need of forgiveness to worship

b. Christ answered her question but went straight back to herneed of Him as the Savior.

7. Be Direct – people appreciatehonesty. If we try to be politically correct, we will not be good witnesses ofChrist. He is exceptional and exclusive (not common and inclusive). Direct is not the same as mean.

a. Do not argue over issue beyond the party's ability tocomprehend (ie prophecies of Revelations).

Please consider the result of Jesus' encounter withthe Woman at the Well: it led to many of the Samaritans accepting Christ. OneSeed planted begets much fruit.

Remember, sharing the Gospel releases us from personalliability for a soul. We plant the Seed. Leave its germination to God and HisHoly Spirit. We may witness to one today and seemingly lose that person to thedevil, but years later, the seed sprouts and that person comes to Christbecause of that word you shared years ago.

Have you shared with one at the Well of Christ lately?

BishopDennis Campbell’s Sunday Sermon

A Thirst for God

Psalm 42

Third Sunday after Epiphany

22 January 2012

Psalm 42. Quemadmodum.

IKE as the hart desireth the water-brooks, * so longeth my soulafter thee, O God.

2 My soul is athirst for God,yea, even for the living God: * when shall I come to appear before the presenceof God?

3 My tears have been my meat dayand night, * while they daily say unto me, Where is now thy God?

4 Now when I think thereupon, Ipour out my heart by myself; * for I went with the multitude, and brought themforth into the house of God;

5 In the voice of praise andthanksgiving, * among such as keep holy-day.

6 Why art thou so full ofheaviness, O my soul? * and why art thou so disquieted within me?

7 O put thy trust in God; * for Iwill yet thank him, which is the help of my countenance, and my God.

8 My soul is vexed within me; *therefore will I re- member thee from the land of Jordan, from Hermon and thelittle hill.

9 One deep calleth another,because of the noise of thy water-floods; * all thy waves and storms are goneover me.

10 The Lord will grant hisloving-kindness in the day- time; * and in the night season will I sing of him,and make my prayer unto the God of my life.

11 I will say unto the God of mystrength, Why hast thou forgotten me? * why go I thus heavily, while the enemyoppresseth me?

12 My bones are smitten asunderas with a sword, * while mine enemies that trouble me cast me in the teeth; 13Namely, while they say daily unto me, * Where is

now thy God?

14 Why art thou so vexed, O mysoul? * and why art

thou so disquieted within me?

15 O put thy trust in God; * forI will yet thank him,

which is the help of mycountenance, and my God.

Psalm 42 is the cry of a soul indeep sorrow. Many believe it waswritten when King David's son, Absalom, raised an army and attacked Jerusalem,forcing David to flee for his life. It certainly expresses the kind of thoughts and feelings a person wouldhave in that kind of situation. Listen to the grief in the words. "My tears have been mymeat." "My soul is vexedwithin me," "all thy waves and storms are gone over me.""My bones are smitten asunder as with a sword, while mine enemies thattrouble cast me in the teeth," "when shall I come to appear beforethe presence of God?"

Here is a man who feels desertedby God. Here is a man who prays,but feels like his prayers aren't reaching God, as though God is notlistening. He even says, in verse11, "Why hast thou forgotten me?" There is here a warning about trusting our feelings. We may feel something is right when itis actually very wrong. We mayfeel good about something we should actually feel very bad about. We may feel like we are very close toGod when we are actually very far from Him, and we may feel like He is very farfrom us when He is actually here with us, dwelling in us by His Spirit. We must trust the Scriptures ratherthan our feelings, and I think this is one of the great lessons of Psalm42. Notice that a refrain appearstwice; once in verse 7 and again in verse 15. "O put thy trust in God; for I will yet thank him,which is the help of my countenance, and my God." This refrain is adeclaration of faith over feeling. David is making a conscious decision here to trust God instead of hisown feelings. He is deciding totrust the Word of God, not his own fears or emotions, or even hiscircumstances. It is so importantfor us to remember that our God will never desert us. "I am with you alway," Jesus said, "even untothe end of the world." You may feel alone, but God is with you. You may feel deserted, but God is with you. In the deserts and caves, God was withDavid, and He is with you always if you are His by faith. He dwells in you, whether you feel itor not, and you know He is there because He said so, not because you have afeeling He is with you.

It is the same in other areas oflife; we must trust the Scriptures rather than our feelings. When tempted we can easily makeourselves "feel" something is right. We tell ourselves "it can't be wrong if it feels soright." It's O.K. for me tobe rude because I've had a hard time. It's O.K. for me to drive like a maniac because everyone elsedoes." It's O.K. for me to beselfish because I'm worth it. It's O.K. for me to..., and you can fill in the blank with the thingsyou talk yourself into, because..., and you can fill in the blank with your ownlame excuses. And you can convinceyourself, your friends, and even your minister, that it's O.K., but you can'tconvince God. When He says,"Thou shalt not," thou shalt not! We must obey Scripture, not our feelings.

In David's case, it is hiscircumstances that make him feel far from God. A large number of his own people have turned againsthim. His own son leads therebellion and desires to kill him and become king in his place. He has been forced out of his palace tolive in the fields and wastelands. The attack by enemies is stated plainly in verses 11 and 12; "theenemy oppresseth me," "enemies that trouble me cast me in the teeth." It is stated more poetically in verse9; "One deep calleth to another, because of the noise of thy waterfloods." The deeps aretroubles, specifically enemies that trouble David and they are pictured asmighty waves tossing him about and threatening to drown him. It is as though the waves of the seacall to one another and counsel together on how to destroy a small and batteredship. The Bible often uses waterand bodies of water to represent the unGodly, especially when they attack ortrouble the Church. Thus, thebeast of Revelation 13 rising out of the sea, means it comes from the pagannations and cultures; it rises out of the unGodly people.

When David cries out that hethirsts for God as a hart thirsts for water in the desert, he means he wantsGod to change his circumstances. He wants the good old days back. He remembers when he lived in the palace and led the people into thehouse of God in worship, and his land was at peace, and things were good, andhe wants it to be that way again. And he has a question; where is God? Or, more to the point, why doesn't God do something? Why does He allow my enemies to causeme so much trouble?

Is there anyone who has not askedthis question at some point in his life? Haven't we all wondered where God is when we hurt, and why He doesn't dosomething about al the pain and suffering of life, and why He allows His ownpeople, we who seek Him in faith, and who strive to live according to Histeaching, to be trouble and oppressed by those who care nothing about Him? Truly it is not only our enemies whotaunt us in our trials asking, "Where now is thy God?" For we ourselves ask, "Where nowis my God?"

The Bible addresses thesequestions in many places, but not in Psalm 42. The Bible gives answers, which are the only possible answersto these questions, but not in Psalm 42. Psalm 42 gives no answers. It only issues a call to trustGod. "O put thy trust inGod." I think this issignificant. We like to have allthe answers and know the plan. Welike to have input into the plan. We want to know the destination, the food stops, and the motelsreservations, and the cost all aid out in front of us before we start thejourney. In many ways and in manythings, that's good. But with Godit is not always possible. Sometimes He calls us to follow Him "unto a land that I will shewthee," as He said to Abraham. Sometimes He just calls us to trust Him. "O put thy trust in God," He said to David, and Hesays the same, the very same thing to us. We can never know all the answers in this life. We see through a glass darkly. There is much about God that ismysterious, even hidden from us because our finite human minds cannotcomprehend the infinite God. Athimble cannot contain the Atlantic no matter how long you pump water into it. But we can trust Him whom we have metin the Word and Sacrament, whose Spirit dwells in us, who promises to give allthat He has "declared "unto mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord" to "all those who trulyrepent and unfeignedly believe His holy Gospel." And He promises that nothing in Heaven or earth can preventHim from fulfilling His promise.

tR. Dennis Campbell

Bishop of Diocese of Virginia

Rector, Holy Trinity AnglicanOrthodox Church

Powhatan, Virginia

www.HolyTrinityAnglicanOrthodoxChurch.org

www.lifeinthescriptures.blogspot.com

Second Sunday after the Epiphany

2012-01-15T13:40:00.000-08:00

The Propers are found on Page111-112 with the Collect first:

The Second Sunday after The Epiphany.

TheCollect.

LMIGHTYand everlasting God, who dost govern all things in heaven and earth; Mercifullyhear the supplications of thy people, and grant us thy peace all the days ofour life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Ryan Hopkins read the Epistle for today, which camefrom the Twelfth Chapter of Paul’s letter to the Romans beginning at the Sixth Verse. As Paul often does, he givesguidance on what God would have us do. He notes that each of us have differing talents, skills and resources. What God wants us to do is use all ofwhat He gave us to further His will and His way, so that we might be truly happyhere on earth. To be gracious andhospitable to those around us, to remember each of us are equal in God’s eye.

AVING thengifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy,let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; or ministry, let us waiton our ministering; or he that teacheth, on teaching; or he that exhorteth, onexhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth,with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness. Let love be withoutdissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. Bekindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring oneanother; not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality. Bless them whichpersecute you: bless, and curse not. Rejoice with them that do rejoice, andweep with them that weep. Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not highthings, but condescend to men of low estate.

Deacon Striker Jack Arnold read the Holy Gospel fortoday which came from the beginningof the Gospel according to St. Mark, the First Chapter, beginning at the FirstVerse. This is the very first ofthe New Testament, a New Covenant or agreement with God. It tells the story of “the beginning ofthe gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” It talks of John the Baptist, who God sends as His“messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. The voiceof one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his pathsstraight. John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism ofrepentance for the remission of sins.” And the people came to John “and were all baptized of him in the riverof Jordan, confessing their sins.” But, as a harbinger the One to come, John told them of the One coming “the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.” He told them of the Holy Ghost. When Jesus, in His submission as a manto God came to John for baptism, as he came out of the water, “the heavensopened, and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him: and there came avoice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

HEbeginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; as it is written inthe prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall preparethy way before thee. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye theway of the Lord, make his paths straight. John did baptize in the wilderness,and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. And there wentout unto him all the land of Judæa, and they of Jerusalem, and were allbaptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins. And John wasclothed with camel’s hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and hedid eat locusts and wild honey; and preached, saying, There cometh one mightierthan I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down andunloose. I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you withthe Holy Ghost. And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came fromNazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. And straightway comingup out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit, like a dove,descending upon him: and there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art mybeloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Sermon – Timeand Action

Today’s sermon brought theCollect, Epistle and Gospel together and is partly contained in the forewordsabove.

Consider these words from the Collect:

… hear the supplications of thypeople, and grant us thy peace …

In the Collect, we areasking God to listen to us and give us His peace in our hearts. God is perfect. He hears us when we pray, God hears uswhen we call Him. This Collect isreally to remind us that when we pray to Him, we need to listen to Him. To often we ask Him what to do, when Hetells us what He wants us to do, it is not what we want, so we don’t hear. After all, there are none so deaf asthose who will not hear. So, thequestion is not, Does God hear our supplication? Rather the question is, Do we hear His answer and abide byit? Do we listen when His answeris not what we want but what we need?

We all have sometalent; each has something they do better than others. Paul reminds us for the church, on anyorganization for that matter, to succeed, we must do what needs to be done,working hard, honestly, cheerfully, looking for no public praise, being kind toall. Sometimes, we fail toremember that for the team to be successful, each person needs to do the jobthey do best to the best of their ability; not necessarily the one they likebest the way they want to do it at the pace they enjoy. The reward of a job well done in and ofitself should be sufficient. Weshould not be giving of ourselves to God, so that we can get praise andrecognition. That is not giving,it is selling.

At the same time, thoughwe should not look for praise for our work, we should look for reasons topraise. We need to recognize hardwork, sacrifice, thoughtfulness and talent in others, remark on it and praisethe use thereof! That which isrewarded is that which grows.

Even God Himself, looking on His Son’s baptismremarked for all to hear, “Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

How oft do we praise the actions of others? To often we are quick to criticize thefailings of others. We must understandthat while it is valuable to know when we fall short, people strive the mostfor praise of those whose opinion they value.

When you hear those words, “Thou art my beloved Son,in whom I am well pleased,” remember to use them yourself. Lead others to God, don’t point theway.

BishopDennis Campbell’s Sunday Sermon

A Call to Faith

Psalm 29

Second Sunday after Epiphany

15 January 2012

Psalm 29. Afferte Domino.

SCRIBE unto the Lord, O ye mighty, * ascribe unto the Lordworship and strength.

2 Ascribe unto the Lord the honour due unto his Name; *worship the Lord with holy worship.

3 The voice of the Lord is upon the waters; * it is theglorious God that maketh the thunder.

4 It is the Lord that ruleth the sea; the voice of the Lordis mighty in operation; * the voice of the Lord is a glorious voice.

5 The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedar trees; * yea,the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon.

6 He maketh them also to skip like a calf; * Lebanon also,and Sirion, like a young unicorn.

7 The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire; thevoice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness; * yea, the Lord shaketh thewilderness of Kadesh.

8 The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to bring forthyoung, and strippeth bare the forests: * in his temple doth every thing speakof his honour.

9 The Lord sitteth above the waterflood, *and the Lordremaineth a King for ever.

10 The Lord shall give strength unto his people; * the Lordshall give his people the blessing of peace.

Psalm 29 describes a powerful storm raging through the land ofIsrael. Lightning bolts flash, thunder shakes the earth, and damaging windssplinter stout and strong trees. To David the storm is a symbol of God's powerand grace, and a demonstration of God's power and grace is always a call tocome to God and enjoy His blessings. It is an invitation to:

"Ascribe... untothe Lord worship and strength. Ascribe unto the Lord the honour due unto hisName; worship the Lord with holy worship."

To those who knowChrist as Saviour, this Psalm is a reminder of grace received. Thanks be toGod, He is the Father of all mercies whose essence is Love and whose propertyis always to have mercy. He is gracious to those who love Him, and He evendefends His people from those who would harm them. Cedars and waters representenemies who oppose God and oppress His people. Breaking and ruling themsignifies God protecting and blessing His people. They show God punishingenemies for their treatment of His Church. They mean God keeps our enemies incheck; He keeps them from overcoming us. Cedars and waters also represent thetemptations and burdens of "the world, the flesh, and the devil." Inthis world you will have tribulation. You will often be tried, tired, andoppressed, but these things are the fire that refines your soul. God will notallow them to destroy you.

Rather than allowingyou to be overcome by enemies or sorrows, God promises to make you prosper likethe hinds. I do not mean God is going to make you wealthy, as the world countswealth. He never promises to make you monetarily rich, though the Biblicalprinciples of hard (and smart) work, living below your means, and saving muchwill generally allow you to have the essentials of life. But the realprosperity God wants to give is the prosperity of your soul. He wants you to bewhat St. Paul describes in Ephesians 3;

"strengthened with might by his Spirit in the innerman; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted andgrounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is thebreadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ,which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness ofGod."

This kind of prosperitycomes to you through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. There He bore thewrath of God for your sin. It is only by His life, death and resurrection thatyour sins are forgiven and you are pronounced righteous in the sight of God.Through the storm of the cross you are brought to peace of God.

It is because of thisgrace of God, the grace you have received by faith, the grace by which Godovercomes your enemies and guides you safe at last to His Mansion of Mansions,that you are able to "ascribe to the Lord worship and strength" andto "worship the Lord with holy worship."

To those who are notChristians, Psalm 29 is an invitation to grace offered.

It is not unusual forbusy and intelligent people to ask why they should even care about a God theycan't see or hear or know in any way other than by faith; a God they havealready written off as irrelevant. Why should they bother to worship Him withholy worship? The answer is simple; becauseHe is worthy. In Revelation, among all the saints and angels, no one isfound worthy to open the scroll until Jesus Christ, God the Son, the Lion ofJudah, the Lamb that was slain steps forward. And when He comes forth allothers kneel in worship before Him saying, "Thou art worthy, O Lord."It is the same God, the same Christ, the same Creator and Sustainer of Heavenand earth who reveals Himself in Psalm 29, and is found worthy. He speaks inthe thunder. His voice is upon the waters (3). He ruleth the sea (4), breakeththe cedars of Lebanon, and shakes the wilderness (7). He can make the hinds tocalve, that is, give prosperity and blessing; or He can strip bare the forest,meaning to send disaster and wrath (8). You exist in Him, and He has the choiceof dealing with you in mercy or dealing with you in wrath.

A God of mercy is worthy of your worship.

There is a warning inthis Psalm. It says to you that if you are not in Christ by faith, you are oneof the cedars He will break and the water He will subdue. There is no peace foryour soul. There is no hope for the eternal bliss of Heaven. As you have livedapart from Him in this world, you will also live apart from Him in the next.Your good works will not cancel out your sins. Even outward forms and works ofreligion will not get you into Heaven. Many will attempt it. On Judgment Day,many will remind Christ that they have done good things, even good things inHis name. But Christ will say, "I never knew you; depart from me, ye that workiniquity." They have done some good things, but the whole direction of theirlives has been toward self-pleasure and self-exaltation rather than towardChrist. Like the cedars in the Psalm, their end is to be broken and cast intothe fire. This is the warning of Psalm 29.

But, thanks be to Godthere is also an invitation here. Those who are His by faith, "who trulyrepent and unfeignedly believe His holy Gospel," are forgiven of their sinand have peace with God. "The Lord shall give strength unto his people;the Lord shall give his people the blessing of peace."

The Epiphany or the Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles and The First Sunday after the Epiphany

2012-01-08T14:06:00.000-08:00

The Epiphany, or theManifestation of Christ to the Gentiles

What a long title for a simplethought. The Epiphany is the titleof the feast recalling the arrival of the Magi to pay homage to the LordJesus. Epiphany means revealing orbecoming aware. Our Lord wasrevealed first to the Hebrews through the shepherds. The first gentiles (non-Hebrews) to whom He was firstrevealed were the Magi or Wise Men who came from afar to pay Him honor.

Propers

The Propers are the same eachyear, except if a Red Letter Feast, that is one with Propers in the prayerbook,falls on a Sunday, then those Propers are to be read instead, with the Collectfor the actual Sunday read also. Some days are particularly special, such as the Epiphany, and theCollect is read for eight days (the legendary Octave) The Propers for the Epiphany are found on Page107-109 with the Collect first:

The Epiphany, or theManifestation of Christ

to the Gentiles.

[January 6.]

The Collect.

GOD, who by the leading of a stardidst manifest thy only-begotten Son to the Gentiles; Mercifully grant that we,who know thee now by faith, may after this life have the fruition of thyglorious Godhead; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

¶ This Collect is to be said daily throughout the Octave

Dru Arnold read the Epistle forthe evening, which came from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Ephesiansbeginning at the First Verse of the Third Chapter:

OR this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for youGentiles, if ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which isgiven me to you-ward: how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery;(as I wrote afore in few words, whereby, when ye read, ye may understand myknowledge in the mystery of Christ) which in other ages was not made known untothe sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets bythe Spirit; that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, andpartakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel: whereof I was made aminister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by theeffectual working of his power. Unto me, who am less than the least of allsaints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles theunsearchable riches of Christ; and to make all men see what is the fellowshipof the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, whocreated all things by Jesus Christ: to the intent that now unto theprincipalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church themanifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed inChrist Jesus our Lord: in whom we have boldness and access with confidence bythe faith of him.

Deacon Striker Jack Arnold readthe Gospel for the evening which came from the Gospel of Saint Matthew, theSecond Chapter beginning at the First Verse:

HEN Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judæa, in the days of Herod theking, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where ishe that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, andare come to worship him. When Herod the king had heard these things, he wastroubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chiefpriests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christshould be born. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judæa: for thus it iswritten by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not theleast among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, thatshall rule my people Israel. Then Herod, when he had privily called the wisemen, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. And he sent themto Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and whenye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they sawin the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the youngchild was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. Andwhen they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary hismother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened theirtreasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, theydeparted into their own country another way.

Thoughtfor the Day

The Epiphany service was not muchdifferent than that first Epiphany. Except this time there was one wise woman and two wise guys! Most important, Jesus was there! We had a great time worshipping. Join us some time, it is a lot offun. It seems as if there isalways plenty of room in the inn when there is church service going on. Cold outside, though!

Bishop Ogles’Comment on the Gospel for The Epiphany

The one quality that has defined the Coming of Christ into the world, both atChristmas and beyond, is the coming Light into a world of darkness – and theLord Jesus Christ is that Light of the World and of Heaven itself. There weremen of the East who sat in the darkness of superstition and ignorance for thegenerations of their lives, but they were men, also, whose minds were open tothe evidence of Nature and Reason that there MUST be a God who spanned theHeavens and created all the beauty of the earth. So they studied, perhaps, manydiverse religious notions and fell upon the one God described in the Hebrewprophets. They did not read these prophets with a casual demeanor, but withintense and diligent study. I have read a number of scholarly written theoriesconcerning from when these Wise Men came, but the Bible does not say. Whileliving in Esfahan, Iran, I became familiar with the Zoroastrian religion whichwas still practiced, alongside Islam, in that city. It was the religion ofCyrus (at one point), of Darius, of Xerxes (Ahasuerus of Esther's fame), andArtaxerxes. These people believed in a duality in God – good(AhuraMazda) and evil (Ahriman). They also maintain a perpetual fire ofAhuraMazda which they venerated as light. Their priests, even in thecontemporary era, are called "magi." It seems possible to me thatthese were the Wise Men who studied the lights of heaven, compared them withthe prophetic writings of Scripture, and settled on the prophecy of the ComingLight of Christ. Perhaps these scholars took particular note of the prophecy:"I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh:there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out ofIsrael…….." (Num 24:17) They searched the heavens andconstellations for a sign of His Coming, and they SAW it! I do not believe thisStar was some sort of natural alignment of heavenly bodies to produce anexplainable phenomenon, but a special Star (or Heavenly body) of God's ownspecial creation to answer the need for this great occasion. Why would it notbe when God created all heavenly bodies at the beginning and is still able to createas He pleases?

"Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days ofHerod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem."Please bear in mind that these men saw His Star in the East and followed it toJudea but, as they have drawn near to Jerusalem, they stopped following theStar and began to follow their own wisdom. The Star did not lead them toJerusalem for that was not where the child, Jesus, was to be found. It might besupposed as they drew near to Jerusalem (Bethlehem is only six milesaway), they probably began to reason that the Coming King would not be born ina rural village but in capital city of Jerusalem, and most likely in the palaceof the King Herod. They were wrong, for man's thoughts are not God's thoughts.God places no stock by glitter and glamour, but in the simple things of beautyand truth.

"Saying, Where is he that is born Kingof the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him"There seems to be no question at all in the hearts of the Wise Men regardingthe identity of the Child to be born. They possessed strength of faith thatexceeded that of the Scribes and Priests of Israel. Their faith had beenconfirmed by Light – the Light of the Star – and they had come to WORSHIP Him.

"When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, andall Jerusalem with him." The leadership of a nation,whether good or bad, has a critical effect on the direction of the hearts ofthe people. If our leader is Godly, he will pursue measures to strengthen thefaith of the people. If he is corrupt, the thoughts of the people will beeasily inclined to corruption. Note in our present verse how the King (Herod)was troubled at the news of the birth of Christ. It should not have troubledhim for he was aware that the coming King of the Jews was a prophecy reinforcedby all of the prophets. The amazing fact is that ALL of Jerusalem was troubledwith him. See how blindly men will follow the example of a devious leader? TheScribes and Priests knew well the [prophecies, yet they were troubled alongwith the King and all of his subjects. How sad!

"And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes ofthe people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born." That old snake, Herod, knew well of the prophecy and he demonstrates the sameby summoning the scribes and chief priests together to inquire of the detailsof the Lord's birth. He desired to know the EXACT place of His birth for thesake of taking action to destroy the Son of God. What a vile creature he was,and blight upon the face of the earth!

"And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it iswritten by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not theleast among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, thatshall rule my people Israel." Notice that these scribesand chief priests, who were alike troubled at the news of Christ's birth, knewwell the prophecies of His Coming birth and accurately related them to Herod. It is this attitude that seems to prevail among the religious leaders ofIsrael, not only at this time, but throughout the ministry of Christ, thatconvinces me that their evil hearts always knew who Christ was and rejected Himout of that knowledge and not out of ignorance as is proffered today by manypreachers. These culprits quoted the prophecy well. They also believed theprophecy for they told Herod that the Child would be born in Bethlehem"for thus it is written." The last phrase of the prophecy is thatwhich troubled Herod beyond all measure: "for out of thee shallcome a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel."Herod was concerned for his own power and rule by this last phrase.

"Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, inquired ofthem diligently what time the star appeared." We candeduce the motive of Herod here in asking, privately, when the Star appeared.He obviously wished to know the age of the Child and considered Him to havebeen born at the appearing of the Star. Bear in mind that the Wise Men traveledmany months, if not a year or two, in traversing the desolate deserts of Arabiain following the Star. Moreover the rivers of the Tigris and Euphrates had tobe crossed. So Herod inquired `diligently' for he believed he had a personalstake in the answer.

"And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and searchdiligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me wordagain, that I may come and worship him also." I mustconfess that Herod is worse than a serpent for a snake will not chase us downto murder us, but Herod asks cunningly about the age of the Child and requestedthe Wise Men to report back His exact whereabouts when they have found Him. Headds that he would like this information that he might come and worship Christas well. As you will recall, Herod sent soldiers to Bethlehem later andslew every male child two years of age and younger.

"When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star,which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over wherethe young child was.." I am amazed at the concisemanner in which much meaning is conveyed in Holy Scripture. Observe, not onlythat which is spoken, but that which is implied in this verse. When the WiseMen departed from the false, man-made lights of the city, they again saw theStar which they had stopped following when they entered Jerusalem. The Lightwill always lead us to Christ for all Light knows its source. Christ is the Lightof the World and, like the Sun, generates Light and IS the Light. The Star ledthem to Bethlehem and stood over where the young Child was. The child was nolonger a new-born baby but a young child.

"When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy."That is, when they saw that the Star stopped and stood over the place they knewwould mark the place of the young Child. They have traversed desert, plain,mountain, and great waters for this very moment. Now their expectations will befully satisfied! "And when they were come into the house, theysaw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him."The Great Lighthouse casts its beams across the tempestuous Seas and billows toherald all ships at sea who will respond to its beckon that here is the harborof calm and safety. "Come hither for rest and security." The Wise Menhave followed the warm and radiant beams of a Star Light to Christ. When asinner comes near to Christ, he must not stop at the threshold, but enter in tothe company of Christ. The Wise Men enter into the house without delay.Immediately upon seeing Christ with His mother Mary, they fell down andworshipped Him. These were no beggars, but men of renown and fortune who werehonored in their homeland. But they fall down and worship a little Baby Jesusimmediately upon seeing Him. The battered ship, having weathered the storm tocome to safe harbor must "let go anchor." We have found a place ofconstant abiding in Him.

"……and when they had opened their treasures, they presented untohim gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh." These men were Wise because they employed their faculties in coming to Christ.They went to a great deal of trouble to find Him. How much effort have weexpended to come to Him? They remembered to bring their treasures. Today, webring our talents, our souls, and bodies. The gifts of the Wise men areparticularly prophetic: the Gold signified His royalty, the Frankincense HisDeity (as the smoke of the incense rises over the altar, it represents ourprayers being raised to God), and the Myrrh represents His death. It wasperhaps these precious gifts that provided support for Mary, Joseph and Jesusduring their repose in Egypt.

"And being warned of God in a dream that they should not returnto Herod, they departed into their own country another way." God has taken precaution against that Old Fox – Herod,and warned the Wise Men to return home on another route than that which theyhad traveled in coming. There is a coming terror to the mothers and malechildren of Bethlehem. That dire prophecy, uttered by Jeremiah the prophet, isabout to transpire: "Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah(Bethlehem), lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her childrenrefused to be comforted for her children, because they were not."(Jer 31:15) These precious children, ruthlessly murdered by a power-madruler, became the first martyrs in the cause of Christ. We acknowledged theirDay of Holy Innocents three days following Christmas Day. Their precious littlesouls were also perhaps first to rest in the bosom of another Child, the LordJesus Himself!

The First Sunday after the Epiphany

The Propers are found on Page109-111 with the Collect first:

TheFirst Sunday after The Epiphany.

TheCollect.

LORD, we beseech thee mercifully toreceive the prayers of thy people who call upon thee; and grant that they mayboth perceive and know what things they ought to do, and also may have graceand power faithfully to fulfil the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epiphany, or the Manifestation of Christ

to the Gentiles.

[January 6.]

The Collect.

¶ This Collect is to be said daily throughout the Octave

Ryan Hopkinsread the Epistle for today, which came from the Twelfth Chapter of Paul’sletter to the Romans beginning at the First Verse. Paul asks not only thoselong gone Romans, but us, as well, to “present your bodies a livingsacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonableservice.” He tells us our home isin heaven. Life here is not theend, rather the stepping off point, either to heaven or hell. Thus were are “not conformed to thisworld: but to be ye transformed by the renewing of yourmind, that we ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, andperfect, will of God.” Some of usmay be better than others, but all fall short of the minimum standard. Through Christ we attain eternallife. In the meantime, each of usshould not “think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to thinksoberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” Each of us has a place in the church, areason to be and job to do. “Foras we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one ofanother.”

BESEECH you therefore, brethren, bythe mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed tothis world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye mayprove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. For I say,through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to thinkof himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, accordingas God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. For as we have manymembers in one body, and all members have not the same office: so we, beingmany, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.

Deacon Striker Jack Arnold read the Gospel for today whichcame from the Second Chapter of the Gospel of St. Luke beginning at the Forty-First Verse. It tells the story of when Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalemafter the Passover Feast in his twelfth year. When they were done, the family group, for they likelytraveled with their extended family for safety, left together. After the first day’s travel theystopped for the night and could not find Jesus. So, fearing the worst, they headed back at night for Jerusalem. Braving robbers and worse, they madetheir way back. Afterlooking for three days, they went to the temple, where lo, they found him. He was among the learned men “bothhearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonishedat his understanding and answers.” His parents were amazed and confounded. He asked them why they worried and why they did notunderstand that he was about his Father’s business. It is interesting to see that Jesus at twelve was able to“hold his own” with the learned scholars of Judah. He was able to out reason those who lived to dissect theLaw. “A little child shall leadthem,” Isaiah 11:1-10

OW hisparents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover. And when hewas twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarriedbehind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it. But they,supposing him to have been in the company, went a day’s journey; and theysought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. And when they found him not,they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him. And it came to pass, thatafter three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of thedoctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard himwere astonished at his understanding and answers. And when they saw him, theywere amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt withus? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them,How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’sbusiness? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them. And hewent down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but hismother kept all these sayings in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom andstature, and in favour with God and man.

Sermon – Timeand Action

Today’s sermon brought theCollect, Epistle and Gospel together and is partly contained in the forewordsabove.

Consider these words from theCollect:

…grant that they may bothperceive and know what things they ought to do, and also may have grace andpower faithfully to fulfil the same…

We are asking God tohelp us know what we should do and then help us to do it right. Seems pretty simple. That is the root of almost all ourproblems. First, even if we askGod what He wants us to do, “There are none so deaf as those who will nothear.” Then, if we hear what Hewants us to do, and hear it correctly, we often find it “too hard.” Do you recall this quote from GKChesterton:

· “Christianity has not been tried and foundwanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.”

So once we find out what Godwants, we often rationalize our way around it. Think about the 613 Mosaic laws and the Pharisees who made agood living telling people how to comply with them to the letter and still dojust what they wanted to do. So,then even if we find out what God wants and decide to actually do it instead ofavoid it, we are faced with the often huge problem of where do we get thestrength to accomplish this task. The answer is circular, from God. He asks us to do anything we cannot do good enough for Him if we rely onHim. Never. End of that discussion.

Now, once you have managed toget this far, you can become one of Paul’s New Men, a person who has acceptedGod’s Grace, turning to God and relying on Him for guidance, strength, courageand perseverance. One of the toolsGod gives us to get things done is a Team, that Team is fellow Christians. So, we need to work together as aTeam. Think not of your glory, butthat of God. President Reagan hada sign on his desk which read:

“There is no limit to the amount of goodyou can do if you don't care who gets the credit.”

Paul tells us not toconcentrate on our status, position or grandeur, but to see what we can do tohelp. Just like our body would notfunction if all parts were brains, neither will Christ’s Team function ifeveryone is concerned about their position.

When we look at the Gospeltoday, aside from the historical function telling us that Jesus was in thetemple bringing the light of the gospel to the rabbis, I am reminded there areother lessons. It is not that wewant to micromanage your life, but keep your friends and family informed ofwhat you are doing and where you are going. Jesus’ earthly parents risked life and limb going backup the road to Jerusalem at night. But, that was their duty as parents. A duty which must have been done, no matter the cost.

Duty –

God • Honor • Country • Family