Old Sandals

Moreover, when you are exerting yourselves with energy and fervor, whatever you do, whether laboring diligently in prayer, fasting, or almsgiving, or distributing to the poor, or forgiving injuries, “as God also for Christ’s sake hath forgiven us,” or subduing evil habits, and chastening the body and bringing it into subjection, or bearing tribulation, and especially bearing with one another in love (for what can he bear who is not patient with his brother?), or guarding against the craft and wiles of the tempter, and by the shield of faith averting and extinguishing his fiery darts, or “singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts,” or with voices in harmony with your hearts;—whatever you do, I say, “do all to the glory of God,” who “works all in all,” and be so “fervent in Spirit” that your “soul may make her boast in the Lord.” Such is the course of those who walk in the “straight way,” whose “eyes are ever upon the Lord, for He shall pluck their feet out of the net.” 

Such a course is neither interrupted by business, nor benumbed by leisure, neither boisterous nor languid, neither presumptuous nor desponding, neither reckless nor supine. “These things do, and the God of peace shall be with you.”

St. Augustine
Letter XLVIII

By: Micah Evans

Like a puzzle without a complete picture, the Bible can be really hard to understand without an understanding of the big picture. The Bible is one unified story with several key pieces: Creation, Fall, Christ, Response, Reconciliation.

Creation – The Bible’s Beginning
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1). The Bible begins with God. Before anything else was, God was. The Bible’s very opening lines shout of God’s power, his creative beauty, and his incomprehensible glory. As the opening scene continues, it underscores that all of God’s work is “good”
(Gen 1:4; 1:10; 1:12; 1:21; 1:25).  But the opening scenes of the Bible slow down to make obvious that human beings–man and woman–were created with unique dignity and worth. God made man and woman in his image (Gen 1:27). God imprinted his glory in each and every human being. He did this so that we could live joyfully in His presence, in humble submission to His gracious authority. The first man–Adam–and first woman–Eve–had an untarnished relationship with both God and each other…for a time.

Fall – The Problem of Sin
They had complete freedom to live in friendship and trust in God, but they chose to rebel (Genesis 3:1-7).  Because God designed Adam to represent all of  humanity (Romans 5:12), his sin was catastrophic not only for him, but for the entire human race (Romans 5:18). Our rebellion has now brought upon us both
physical death and God’s righteous and eternal wrath. Apart from God’s merciful intervention, eternal separation from God in hell awaits all of us.
(2 Thessalonians 1:8-9)  Through Adam and Eve’s sin, we all died spiritually (Romans 3:1-20; Ephesians 2:1-10) and all of God’s world was affected. As a result, sin is a sickness of the heart that has universally infected all of us: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).  The gravity of sin cannot be overstated. Sin is the reason why evil and sorrow abound in our world. The world is a messed-up place because sin destroys and devastates. The sin we see in the world “out there” shows up “in here”: in our very own hearts. Just like Adam and Eve–we also have chosen to determine good and evil–right and wrong–for ourselves. By doing so we rejected God’s authority, rebelled against God himself, and declared war on the very Creator we were made to enjoy.  Thankfully, God immediately initiated a rescue plan that would reverse the curse of sin (Gen 3:15). He sets in motion a plan to set his people free from sin and judgement. Though God delivers his people out of slavery, gives them His holy law, and leads them into a land of their own, the people continue to sin and rebel. By the end of the Old Testament storyline, the stage has been finally set for God’s ultimate redemptive work.

Redemption – The Work of Christ
Then, “at just the right time” (Romans 5:6), when the “set time had fully come” (Galatians 4:4), “while we were still sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Jesus, the eternal Son of God (John 1:1; Matthew 3:17) and greater Adam (Romans 5:15-17; 1 Corinthians 15:21-22), took on flesh and blood (John 1:14), lived a sinless life (Hebrews 4:15), and “bore our sins in his body on the tree” (1 Peter 1:24). At the cross, Jesus paid for sin–he “wrote the check”–for all of the sins of his people (Romans 3:24-25). And three days later, He resurrected from the dead; demonstrating to the world that the check had cleared. Jesus’ resurrection gloriously thunders this truth: the enemies introduced to us in the garden–sin, death, and Satan–have been beheaded. It is for good reason then, that Revelation 5 simultaneously refers to Jesus as the humble Lamb who was slain for sin and the roaring Lion who has conquered sin.  This is glorious news–the greatest news in all the universe–but it’s not good news unless it is received. A letter containing a million-dollar check isn’t much good if you don’t open the letter. So how do you
receive this salvation God has provided in Christ?

Response – Repentance and Faith
Jesus’ first words of his public ministry call people everywhere to “repent and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15). Repentance and faith aren’t two separate commands–they are two sides of the same coin. Repentance is about what we turn from,  and faith is about what we turn to. (Acts 20:21)  Repenting from our sin means “agreeing with God” about out sin.  It’s confessing “you are right about my
sin God, and I am in the wrong”. In repentance we confess our sins and wrongdoing (1 John 1:9). In repentance we own our sin and bring it before the Lord knowing only He can cover our guilt (Luke 18:9-14).  In faith, we trust in Jesus’ accomplished work and believe that His is who He says He is.  (Romans 10:9-10;
Matthew 16:16) True faith according to the Bible is resting our confidence not on what we have done, but on what Jesus has done for us (Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:4-6). All who turn from their sin and trust in Christ are a “new creation”
(2 Corinthians 5:17) and no longer under condemnation (Romans 8:1).

Reconciliation  – Present and Future Hope
By trusting in Christ, we are reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:18-19). We are now reconciled ambassadors for Christ; proclaiming the good news of his accomplished rescue mission to the world (2 Corinthians 5:20). We proclaim to the world the good news that there is a mediator–a representative–between God and man: the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5), and there is no other name by which we can be saved (Acts 4:12). Before he ascended into heaven, Jesus commissioned his people–the church–to take this glorious message to the world (Matthew 28:19-20) by the power of His Spirit (Acts 1:8).  The Bible promises that Jesus will return to earth as the conquering King (Acts 1:11; Hebrews 9:28). We
will live in his presence eternally in a world free from sin–in a better Eden–what the Bible calls a New Heavens and New Earth (Revelation 21-22). No more sin, sorrow, pain, injustice, suffering, hurt, or turmoil. Each and every heart longs for this very place. In fact, we were made for it.  This is God’s “big picture puzzle-piece”; His glorious plan of salvation through Christ.

Having such a variety of theologies included in, and therefore in some sense authorized by, the Book of Common Prayer tells us much about the Anglican ethos of striving for unity within diversity.   Such an acceptance and even celebration of theological diversity is really the key to the Anglican heritage. There is something both profound and humble inherent in the tradition.  At least since the time of Elizabeth I, Anglicans have sought ways to navigate between exclusive, either-or modes of thinking by embracing not a wishy-washy middle ground but an inclusive vision in which what unites Anglicans is more valued than what separates them. As that is true in large categories, like seeing the church as both Catholic and Reformed, so it is true in more specific theological controversies, like the nature of atonement.  One does not have to choose the one, official “Anglican theology of atonement” in order to be an Episcopalian.  More than that, the church as such does not have to choose one narrow theology of atonement around which to define itself as a church.

At one point in our lives, for example, we might find the inspiration we need to look more closely at the life of Christ and to consider how we are being called to lives of discipleship and service for the life of the world.  At another time, stumbling across the Rite I Eucharist Prayer and the phrase “by his one oblation of himself once offered, a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world,” we might find ourselves able to rest in the assurance that our sins have been forgiven and to find comfort in the idea that the sacrifice of Christ was complete and sufficient and needs no further work or effort on our part.   In the collect for Palm Sunday (which focuses on “the example of his great humility” and asks that “we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection”), we might find ourselves rejoicing in the glory of the Incarnation, and humbly seeking to follow Christ’s example more closely.  It might even help us in times of suffering to hold fast to the hope of the resurrection, and to give thanks for the companionship that Christ offers.

Lord, it belongs not to my care
Whether I die or live;
To love and serve Thee is my share,
And this Thy grace must give.

If life be long, I will be glad,
That I may long obey;
If short, yet why should I be sad
To welcome endless day?

Christ leads me through no darker rooms
Than He went through before;
He that unto God’s kingdom comes
Must enter by this door.

Come, Lord, when grace hath made me meet
Thy blessèd face to see;
For if Thy work on earth be sweet
What will Thy glory be!

Then I shall end my sad complaints
And weary sinful days,
And join with the triumphant saints
That sing my Savior’s praise.

My knowledge of that life is small,
The eye of faith is dim;
But ’tis enough that Christ knows all,
And I shall be with Him.

Richard Baxter

Glory be to Jesus,
who, in bitter pains
poured for me the lifeblood
from his sacred veins!

Grace and life eternal
in that blood I find;
blest be his compassion,
infinitely kind!

Blest thro’ endless ages
be the precious stream
which from endless torments
did the world redeem!

Abel’s blood for vengeance
pleaded to the skies;
but the blood of Jesus
for our pardon cries.

Oft as earth exulting
wafts its praise on high,
angel hosts rejoicing
make their glad reply.

Lift we, then, our voices,
swell the mighty flood,
louder still and louder
praise the precious blood!

St. Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787)
Trans. Edward Caswall (1814-1878)

O, welcome all ye noble saints of old,
As now before your very eyes unfold
The wonders all so long ago foretold,
God and man at table are sat down,
God and man at table are sat down

Elders, martyrs, all are falling down,
Prophets, patriarchs are gathering ‘round
What angels longed to see now man has found,
God and man at table are sat down,
God and man at table are sat down

Who is this who spreads the victory feast?
Who is this who makes our warring cease?
Jesus, risen savior, prince of peace,
God and man at table are sat down,
God and man at table are sat down

Beggars, lame, and harlots also here,
Repentant publicans are drawing near,
Wayward sons come home without a fear,
God and man at table are sat down,
God and man at table are sat down

Worship in the presence of the Lord,
With joyful songs and hearts in one accord.
Let our host at table be adored.
God and man at table are sat down.
God and man at table are sat down.

Here He gives Himself to us as bread.
Here as wine we drink the blood He shed.
Born to die, we eat and live instead.
God and man at table are sat down.

When at last this earth shall pass away,
When Jesus and his bride are one to stay,
The feast of love is just begun that day,
God and man at table are sat down,
God and man at table are sat down.

Robert Stamps

“Decisional regeneration is a lie from the pit of hell!”. This rather jarring statement in a recent sermon prompted an internet search, which led me to this blog post by Tim Challies:

https://www.challies.com/articles/decisional-regeneration/

I forwarded it to my “blue-collar” preacher-son with this comment:

“I guess this is what the pastor was referring to. What struck me was the way he ended the post, after condemning “decisions” for Christ, he encourages readers to “turn to Christ, to repent of their sins and to beg Him for mercy“, which all, to my mind at least, imply a decision. As the line from one of my favorite hymns puts it, ‘I sought the Lord, and afterward I knew…'”

This was my son’s response:

“Such holy women as Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Judith, and Esther kept alive the hope of Israel’s salvation. The purest figure among them is Mary.”

The Catechism is dogmatic with regard to Mary. She is the purest among them all, both men and women.

But should we indeed regard Mary above the other holy women of both the Old and New Testaments?

Undoubtedly, Mary has been venerated from antiquity. The oldest extant Marian devotion, the Sub Tuum Praesidium (Latin: Beneath Thy Protection), is a hymn that dates from the third century, and may be even older:

We fly to Thy protection,

O Holy Mother of God;

Do not despise our petitions

in our necessities,

but deliver us always

from all dangers,

O Glorious and Blessed Virgin. Amen

“The covenant with Noah remains in force during the times of the Gentiles, until the universal proclamation of the Gospel.”

The covenant with Noah was God’s covenant with the created order that “while the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease”. (Genesis 8:22) The phrase, “while the earth remains”, implies a bounded perpetuity, as does the phrase, “during the times of the Gentiles”. The end is reached when there has been a “universal proclamation of the Gospel”, according to the prophetic (albeit mysterious) word spoken by our Lord: “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations and then the end will come”. ?(Matthew 24:14)

Amen.?