Sunday after Ascension Day - Propers with explanation – Bishop Jack’s Sermon – With Video

 

Bishop Jack’s sermon is below the propers and can be viewed on video HERE ->https://youtu.be/yGYTCoBzlqk

 

Bishop Jack’s sermon looks at the unifying message of the Collect, Epistle and Gospel and examine how they share a common message of action as we see Jesus ascending back to Heaven and begin to learn to live with Him in Heaven and us here on earth.  How little different we are than the Apostles left behind.  On the other hand, it is different today than two thousand years ago.  We actually have the real presence of the Holy Ghost, here and now.  He does not ebb and flow with the liturgical year; where would we be if He did? He is a constant presence within our lives.  It all comes together.

The Propers for today are found on Page 179-180, with the Collect first:

 

The Sunday after Ascension Day.

The Collect.

 

O

 GOD, the King of glory, who hast exalted thine only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph unto thy kingdom in heaven; We beseech thee, leave us not comfortless; but send to us thine Holy Ghost to comfort us, and exalt us un-to the same place whither our Saviour Christ is gone before, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Holy Ghost, one God, world without end.  Amen.

 

 

The Collect for Ascension Day, found on Page 177, is also read due to the rubric:

 

The Collect for The Ascension Day.

The Collect.

 

G

RANT, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that like as we do believe thy only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ to have ascended into the heavens; so we may also in heart and mind thither ascend, and with him continually dwell, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end.  Amen.

 

¶ This Collect is to be said daily throughout the Octave.

 

 

This morning’s Epistle is written in the Fourth Chapter of the First Epistle of Saint Peter beginning at the Seventh Verse.  Peter reminds us of the shortness of our lives, the eternity of the next world and implores us to live as if we were eternal now, not wait until we die. For the, eternity will be a bit late. 

 

T

HE end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer. And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.  Use hospitality one to another without grudging. As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

 

Today’s Holy Gospel came from the Fifteenth Chapter of the Gospel according to Saint John beginning at the Twenty-Sixth Verse.  The Gospel talks about the origin of the Holy Ghost and the reason for which He is being sent.  It also foretells the enmity that Christians will find from those of this world who do not share their understanding of God and His Will: 

 

W

HEN the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: and ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning. These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them.

Jack Arnold

Bishop of the Diocese of the West – AOC USA

Church of the Faithful Centurion

Anglican Orthodox Church Worldwide

Director of Education and Training

Bp Jack brings the Collect, Epistle and Gospel together because as is always the case there is a unifying message in the Scripture for this Sunday.   Bp Jack’s sermon can be viewed on video HERE ->https://youtu.be/yGYTCoBzlqk

 

Good morning! I hope you are all doing well. In today’s sermon we will be looking at the unifying message of the Collect, Epistle and Gospel and examine how they share a common message of action as we see Jesus ascending back to Heaven and begin to learn to live with Him in Heaven and us here on earth.  How little different we are than the Apostles left behind.

 Once again the propers for this week come together very well, their focus is narrow, thus powerful.

 

Let’s start by reading the Collect for today:

 

The Sunday after Ascension Day.

The Collect.

 

O

 GOD, the King of glory, who hast exalted thine only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph unto thy kingdom in heaven; We beseech thee, leave us not comfortless; but send to us thine Holy Ghost to comfort us, and exalt us un-to the same place whither our Saviour Christ is gone before, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Holy Ghost, one God, world without end.  Amen.

 

Consider these words from the Collect:

 

… leave us not comfortless; but send to us thine Holy Ghost to comfort us, and exalt us unto the same place whither our Saviour Christ is gone before …

 

In some ways, today is no different than the very First Sunday after the Ascension.  Jesus is in heaven, we are alone and physically separated from God who gives us the strength we need to do His Will.  Like Peter and the other apostles, the further we are from God, the weaker we are.  Thus, we are looking towards Pentecost and the arrival of the Holy Ghost who will strengthen our connection to God. 

 

We ask for God’s help we might have the true belief, courage, knowledge and strength to follow Jesus to heaven for all eternity.  That help is on the way in the form of the Holy Ghost.  It is quite clear that we cannot succeed in this endeavor without His Help. On the other hand, it is different today than two thousand years ago.  We actually have the real presence of the Holy Ghost, here and now.  He does not ebb and flow with the liturgical year; where would we be if He did? He is a constant presence within our lives. We just have to acknowledge Him and follow the advice that He gives and all will be well with our souls. The key word is that we have to follow the advice He gives and not just acknowledge it and go off and do our own thing. What good would that do us? In order for the Holy Ghost to be able to effect positive change in our lives, we need to listen and then act upon His Guidance.

                                                                                   

The end of the earth and this world may come at any time, indeed for 313,000 people each day, their time here is up.  Thus, in a very real sense as Saint Peter put it, The end of all things is at hand… He is not just talking about the final end of this planet, but each and every one of us is here only temporarily, passing through as it were. Eventually we will end our travels here and if we have done our best to follow Him here, we will journey to our eternal home in heaven. He counsels us to live each day as if it were going to be our last. Thus, we should act as if it was our last day on earth and do our jobs with smiles on our faces knowing our eternal destination is secure as long as we do our best to follow Him.  This puts things into perspective for us and should make us more mindful of what we need to do to follow Him.

 

Jesus left us so the Holy Ghost could come down and dwell amongst us and in us to provide us with the guidance we need to follow God. Without Jesus leaving, the Holy Ghost could not come down and dwell amongst us. On Jesus’s departure, the Holy Ghost was free to descend and enter into our hearts, souls and minds upon invitation. 

 

In order to get the guidance from the Holy Ghost, we have to wait and hear what He has to say before we act. Then once that Holy Spirit has given the answer, we must act upon the answer. This is a continuous cycle and we must always prioritize our lives to put  God, our Country, Family, friends and co-workers first and in that order and things will fall in line. Along these lines, we must strive to work hard, take care of those who cannot and be good stewards of the considerable grace God has given us.  This does not just refer to spending MONEY, but rather to giving of our time and effort to bring the Gifts of God to others. We are called not to hoard love, but to spread it throughout our travels. For as love is of God, then it follows there is an infinite supply of love.  In fact, love multiplies with use, so there is more than infinite amount of love out there.

 

For as Saint Peter says in his Epistle this morning, charity (love) truly does cover a multitude of sins. So, when we do things for others, the driving force behind our actions should be that of charity, or love, for our fellow human beings and not any self-seeking motivation. Charity will cover for our multitude of sins, but we need to be thinking how we can help others. It is the greatest of gifts God and the Holy Ghost gives to us; a gift we find ourselves needing to use more often. The Holy Ghost is key in giving us the desirable thoughts and attributes that we need to carry out His Plan on Earth. He also helps us deal with our less desirable thoughts and attributes and helps us deal with very difficult people and situations. Turning to the Holy Spirit in those very stressful times will reduce the burden on your heart and shift it from you to God, giving you the clarity you need to act for Him, to be able to act in an effective and Christ like manner.

 

The Gospel’s take away is without the Holy Ghost’s presence in our hearts, the needed action on our part is impossible. This explains why those who do not follow Christ cannot comprehend the strength and value of the Good News and Jesus’s death and resurrection. They do not have the wisdom to understand because they refuse to let the Holy Ghost into our hearts. As Jesus said that there are some that will be even so deluded as to think by killing us they are serving God when they are not serving God but the devil. The Holy Ghost is that portion of God who can enter our hearts bringing the needed spiritual resources to help us win the spiritual battle here on Earth.  Those who will not have Him in their hearts can never understand God and His Will.  That is why they cannot understand or fathom the plan He has for us. They cannot understand why we follow God and Christ. They do not believe; therefore, they cannot have Him in their hearts, and therefore they will not understand.   For, there are none so blind as those who will not see, nor as deaf as those who will not hear.

 

The end of time is nearer each day than the day before, of that we can be certain.  But there is a certainty we have in this uncertainly world, the unfailing love of our Lord and Saviour Jesus and the presence of the Holy Ghost in our lives, if we let Him in, and the inerrant Holy Scriptures to guide us throughout the rest of our lives. With this knowledge of an unchanging standard, we can stand fast by this standard and be content knowing we are following the One True Triune God, and though we may physically suffer a while, it is nothing to enjoying eternity with God. This is an advantage we believers have over non-believers is that unwavering certainty of our final destination once we have ran our race for Him here and departed this life.

 

The current world climate, even in this country, is less hospitable than in many centuries to Christians.  There is a reason for this which only God understands and not us. God has a plan for all of this. We do not need to understand God’s plan, we just need to follow His Directions to the best our ability. And in the end God’s plans always work out, even if we do not understand it at the time. In time, we will realize what the plan is. But for now, we are unaware of His plan in the greater scheme of things. But what it is doing is solidifying the faith of true believers around the globe, forming the Army of Light together, ready to battle against the malicious forces of Satan. We cannot make this journey alone.  We must have the close and continuous presence of God.  That presence is the Holy Ghost.  That is why He is here.

 

Pray for His continual presence in your heart.

 

Heaven is at the end of an uphill trail.  The easy downhill trail does not lead to the summit.

 

The time is now, not tomorrow.  The time has come, indeed.  How will you ACT?

 

It is by our actions we are known.

 

Be of God - Live of God - Act of God

Fifth Sunday after Easter - Propers with explanation – Bishop Jack’s Sermon – With Video

 

Bishop Jack’s sermon is below the propers and can be viewed on video HERE ->https://youtu.be/aXPWZoFF6DI

 

Bishop Jack’s sermon looks at the unifying message of the Collect, Epistle and Gospel and examine how they share a common message of action as we continue to celebrate Jesus’ delivery of the promise of life eternal with Him in our life to come.  As we near the Ascension and thus Pentecost and the arrival of the Holy Ghost, we ask for God’s “holy inspiration we may think those things that are good.”  The collect is pointing out that we are in sore need of help from the Holy Ghost to direct our souls to the things we cannot see as good without His Help.  Like many concepts found in Christianity, backing up our faith with actions will be very difficult sometimes, but it must be done. .  We need help.  We pray for help. Pray for help that we might act, and that is how we keep on the straight, narrow and uphill path.  So, what about prayer?  Let’s start with to whom do we pray?  Jesus is pretty clear.  Don’t pray to Him, pray to God.  It all comes together.

The Propers for today are found on Page 175-176, with the Collect first:

 

The Collect for The Fifth Sunday after Easter, 

commonly called Rogation Sunday.

The Collect.

 

O

 LORD, from whom all good things do come; Grant to us thy humble servants, that by thy holy inspiration we may think those things that are good, and by thy merciful guiding may perform the same; through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

 

The Epistle for today came from the First Chapter of the General Epistle of Saint James beginning at the Twenty-Second Verse. Saint James tells us not to just talk about being Christians, but to act on those beliefs and do things.  We act in accordance with the principles set forth by Christ.  We gain our salvation through the freely given gift of Grace by our Lord Jesus Christ.   Once given, and accepted; if we truly accept the gift, it will be evident in our actions.

 

Saint James reminds us we not only must:

 

Ø  Talk the Talk;

       but

Ø  Walk the Walk.

 

We do not gain eternal life and salvation by our good works here on earth, but only by the Grace of God, through His Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ.  Through Christ our sins are atoned for that we might go to heaven.  True enough, but we demonstrate our attempt to follow his instructions by our works here on earth.  Remember, it is by only by our actions we are we truly known.

 

B

E ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

 

Today’s Holy Gospel came from the Sixteenth Chapter of the Gospel according to Saint John beginning at the Twenty-Third Verse. Jesus told his disciples tat when they pray to the Father, they should ask in His Name and what they asked for would be given.  But, you must ask to receive.  Jesus told us not to ask Him to pray to the Father, but rather that we pray directly to the Father, asking for what we will in His name, because God loves us because we love Jesus.  This explains why most of our prayers end in, “we ask all this in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” or similar words.  So, if we are to if we are not to ask Jesus to pray for us, why would we ask “saints” and such.   We can talk directly to God and we are supposed to!

 

Jesus went on to say the forces of this world would scatter the disciples, they would be alone in the world.  Yet like Jesus, they would not be abandoned by all; He would be with them, as would the Father.  For as always, the Father is with them, as He is with Him; as He is with us.

 

V

ERILY, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father. At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: for the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father. His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God. Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe? Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. 

  

Rogation Sunday

The fifth Sunday after Easter is commonly called Rogation Sunday from the words in the Gospel appointed for the day: "Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give to you". (The Latin is 'Rogare' - to ask.)  In the strictly biblical context, the chief thing to ask for is the spirit of God to enable us to be true children of God.  

 

In the Western Catholic Churches, including the older Anglican traditions particularly before the Reformation and in some higher churches afterwards, processions to bless the crops and to include "beating the bounds", developed from the o1d Roman rites of "Robigalia" ("robigo": Latin for "rust" or "mould"), when prayers would be offered to the deity for crops to be spared from mildew.  

 

Today the emphasis has shifted.  Asking for God’s blessing on growing crops in fields and gardens, and on young lambs and calves remain.  In the agricultural cycle, the main themes are seed sowing and the tending of the young plants and animals. This does not pre-suppose that all sowing takes place around Rogation.  Sowing is done all the year round, as does the birth and rearing of the young.  It is convenient to fix on one particular festival the time to remember these before God in a public way.

 

In the Northern Hemisphere, Rogation Sunday takes place in the springtime, when there is a renewing of the earth. In this country, it follows Easter, the season of resurrection. Renewal and resurrection therefore are also underlying themes of this occasion.

 

But, there is far more to the day than that.  The real meaning is in rogare.  If you don’t ask, you won’t get.  You have to ask God in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for what you want so that you can get what you need.  You have to ask.  Then, once you get what you need, act of the gift and thank God for that gift.

 

The main thing to remember is “Ask and ye shall receive.”  For, if you do not ask, you cannot receive.

Jack Arnold

Bishop of the Diocese of the West – AOC USA

Church of the Faithful Centurion

Anglican Orthodox Church Worldwide

Director of Education and Training

Bp Jack brings the Collect, Epistle and Gospel together because as is always the case there is a unifying message in the Scripture for this Sunday.   Bp Jack’s sermon can be viewed on video HERE ->https://youtu.be/aXPWZoFF6DI

Good morning! I hope you are all doing well. In today’s sermon we will be looking at the unifying message of the Collect, Epistle and Gospel and examine how they share a common message of action as we continue to celebrate Jesus’ delivery of the promise of life eternal with Him in our life to come.  Easter, perhaps better referred to as the Day of the Resurrection is when the promise of eternal life is delivered. 

Let’s start by reading the Collect for today:

 

The Collect for The Fifth Sunday after Easter, 

commonly called Rogation Sunday.

 

The Collect.

 

O

 LORD, from whom all good things do come; Grant to us thy humble servants, that by thy holy inspiration we may think those things that are good, and by thy merciful guiding may perform the same; through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

 

We are in the Easter Season which consists of Easter and the following four Sundays, through Rogation Sunday.  This is a time we should work on centering our lives on the central figure in our religion, Jesus Christ.  

 

Consider these words from the Collect:

 

… by thy holy inspiration we may think those things that are good, and by thy merciful guiding may perform the same …

 

As we near the Ascension and thus Pentecost and the arrival of the Holy Ghost, we ask for God’s “holy inspiration we may think those things that are good.”  The collect is pointing out that we are in sore need of help from the Holy Ghost to direct our souls to the things we cannot see as good without His Help.  It is very clear that we cannot think those things that are good without the guiding force of the Holy Ghost entering into our hearts, souls and minds. Once we think those good thoughts, we need His “merciful guiding” so we “may perform the same…”.  After all, what good is it to know what we should do, if we won’t, can’t or don’t do it? It is not good enough just to think those good thoughts, we need to back up those good thoughts with actions! The collect is calling us to perform actions for Him, to translate those good thoughts into actions, which are physical evidence of our belief!

 

In short we need God’s help to think good thoughts and then to act upon those good thoughts which when translated into action are good deeds. The point of the Collect is without God’s help, we cannot think or do anything that is truly righteous. Only by having God help us are we capable of any righteous actions.

 

In his Epistle, James makes the point we gain our salvation through the freely given gift of Grace by our Lord Jesus Christ.   Once given, it must be accepted.  If we truly accept the gift, it will be evident in our actions. James makes the point that if you are going to be a Christian you have to ACT like a Christian. We are not just to think good and Christian thoughts, we are called to live out those thoughts by our actions to make our faith known to other believers and the world. A person who calls themselves a Christian can and will talk the talk or portions thereof, but will they walk the walk? That is the real test if they are a Christian or not. That is how you can tell also if a “Christian” minister, bishop, or priest is a Christian or not. If their actions do not match that of Scripture, then you can be fairly well certain that they are not Christian.  We have to back up our faith with actions in order to show that we do indeed have faith. As the tag line to my sermons goes, action and not diction is what counts in the very end. 

 

Like many concepts found in Christianity, backing up our faith with actions will be very difficult sometimes, but it must be done. The diction is almost always easier than the action part, but both have to be performed. Doing both of these is the only way we will have salvation through Christ.  We cannot have salvation if we say we are for Him, but our actions profess otherwise. Fortunately we will have the help of the Holy Ghost to help us walk the walk and talk the talk. It will still be difficult but it will be easier than if we did not have the Holy Ghost within us.

 

We must align our lives to be able to show people we do follow Christ. There are too many people who claim to be Christians, who are clearly not, because their lives do not reflect their stated belief. We must not let this happen. We must show the truth of John 14:6, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. To show this truth we have to live that truth through our actions. It is not just enough to say we know the Word of God, if we truly know the Word of God, we will act upon that Word of God and serve Him in this life. 

 

Without Christ’s guiding light, we are not on the path to holiness and righteousness. We must show this in our lives, by living and breathing His Word, and using His Word to guide us throughout our lives. These are all actions we naturally take which demonstrate we have belief and are acting upon that belief.  This is important to our souls for our spiritual health, and as well as our physical health too. We need all the Help of the Holy Ghost to keep us on this path. How do we keep on this path?

 

We find a lot of help in John’s words, he gives us insight into things which none of the other disciples do.  We need help.  We pray for help. Pray for help that we might act, and that is how we keep on the straight, narrow and uphill path.  So, what about prayer?  Let’s start with to whom do we pray? 

 

Jesus is pretty clear.  Don’t pray to Him, pray to God.  We are not to pray to saints or Mary like the some do, but pray to God. Feel free to use His Name.  Pray to God in His Name.  In effect, we are CC’ing (Carbon Copying, to use an archaic term which as transitioned to an electronic mail (email) term) Jesus in our prayers. We are not to put Him in the To: line, but the CC line. Not addressing Him directly, but to address God directly with Jesus copied, as it were. He tells us God loves us because we love Jesus.   But, pray to God. I think not many people understand this part of scripture, as I have heard people pray to Jesus when he is not the correct person to address your prayers to. He specifically tells us to direct the prayers to His Father who will help us.

 

If we will pray to God, we can be certain He will answer us and provide us with the best counsel. It doesn’t matter if we like God’s answer or not, we still have to listen to it and do it anyway, knowing it will be the right path in the end.  In the end, listening to God and doing what He says will be easier for us in the long run than if we ignore God’s answer and do what we wish to do. We will always have some sort of a struggle with this in our lives, but if we turn to God, He will help us win our struggle. 

 

We have to realize what we truly need is different from what we want, and ask that He will open our hearts, minds and souls to His answer that we might act upon His answer. The critical portion is we act upon the answer that we are given, to do our best for Him so our friends, family and coworkers and neighbors might see the light we shine for Him and see who we follow in word and in deed. 

 

So, pray to God, ask for what you want in Jesus’ Name.  He always listens and He always delivers.  The problem for us is He delivers what we need, not necessarily what we want. Our wants and our needs are oft different, in fact they are seldom the same. But we should want what we need, and God will help us understand if we be a doer and a hearer of His Word. He will always give us what we need, but will we listen to what He wants us to do?

 

Need and want, they are both four letter words, oft used interchangeably, which do not mean the same thing.

 

God’s Will is always done, we just don’t understand.  Accept what happens as acceptable, so long as you have done all you can.  In the end, all that counts is where you go when you leave here.  That depends on your actions in following Jesus’ instructions.  If you believe, you are safe.  Now and forever.

 

Ø  Talk the Talk;

       AND

Ø  Walk the Walk.

 

It is an uphill trail.  The easy downhill trail does not lead to the summit.

 

The time is now, not tomorrow.  The time has come, indeed.  How will you ACT?

 

It is by our actions we are known.

 

Be of God - Live of God - Act of God