A Season of Rebirth, Renewal, and Peace or (The Meaning of the Nativity and Christmas to a Young Episcopalian)

Almighty God, who hast poured upon us the new light of thine incarnate Word: Grant that the same light, enkindled in our hearts, may shine forth in our lives; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ wasn't just a physical visitation. It was a spiritual coming of Majesty. With the Incarnation and Nativity God's Light was shone. His Light was shone on dark hearts. It was necessary for darkness to dwell in our hearts so God's Light could find a dwelling to rest, shining forth Light on our entire beings. Remember, our hearts, in Hebraic poetry is our ENTIRE being, not our physical hearts.

And not only was that Light to shine forth in our entire lives, it shines forth FROM our lives.

Our light is ignited by THE Light!

Paul encourages his partner in the Faith, Titus, in chapter 2, verses 1-14, " For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly, while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ. He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds" (Emphasis mine).

This season to me is a time about births, our Savior's own humble birth and the humble birth and re-birth we experience as His followers through the gracious work of the Holy Spirit.

Notice that Salvation came to bring about TRAINING!

That means it is a on-going process. Salvation, rebirth, and renewal on on-going and continuing throughout the entirety of our Christian journey. The Spirit's training brings about the piety that God desires of His followers.

The Light is manifested within us already. Shining through all the darkest depths of our hearts to change and develop them into areas illuminated by the strength of Salvation and the Light of Love

This is all taking place because in this season we celebrate the time of our Savior's birth.

Without the grand design of God's plan of salvation we would still be in wondering darkness filled with impiety and sin.

But God's manifestation has come!

Our Light has been born!

Our hearts have illuminated!

God is purifying us in this time of renewal and rebirth to be His people, a people ZEALOUS for good works!

You know what I notice about that last verse in Titus?

The word people!

A PEOPLE!

We are God's chosen. We are in community!

At Ascension's Christmas Eve Holy Eucharist, we had candles at the end of the service that we all held. We started singing "Silent Night" and the usher walked down the nave's main aisle and lite the person's candle on the end who in turn would light the candle of the person on their right.

I find it a funny coincidence that those verses in Titus were also read for the public reading of Scripture for this service this night.

We were there to celebrate the coming of Light to darkness.

All the while it never hit me how powerful the image of our lighting each other's candles were!

What a powerfully strong physical metaphor and reminder of what God's Light does in our own lives.

Our lives have been taken from darkness into Light. God has walked down the aisle of our hearts and ignited our candles!

What are we to do in turn?

We are to turn to our neighbors and light theirs. We are A PEOPLE, COMMUNITY!

Jesus commanded us, "Be a light to the world" (paraphrase).

He also told us that we would do greater things then He! Why? Because we have the strength and promise of the Holy Spirit.

We are to, by the guidance of the Spirit and through prayer, go forth and light the candles that lay in darkness in the hearts of the world bringing the Peace of Heaven to those in the dark.

We have been touched by Peace in Christ's birth. Our candles have been lite.

That Peace came into our hearts to bring serenity and salvation, truth and strength, and piety and righteousness.

We are to share this Peace, which by now you know IS Christ with the world.

Father Howard and Father Backus both spoke at the Christmas Eve Eucharist. They both made a point that this birth and renewal is accompanied with signs. That the narrative of the Advent and Christmas are filled with characters experiencing signs.

Father Howard made it strongly clear that those signs come from within community.

Community shining light on each other, lighting each other's candles.

Community going forth to the world to light candles that lay in darkness as our own once did.

Community being zealous for good deeds, social justice, peace, reconciliation, and love.

But the warning we must follow is to not get trapped into the mentality that it is our own essence or our own light that does this lighting of other's candles.

Our candles once laid in darkness too!

Our candles sometimes glow dimly!

The Light in our candles is the Light of Christ shining forth from the time of the Nativity.

I like Saint John's writing in I John 4:7-15 because it is a fitting passage for this time of rebirth and lighting of candles in darkness:

"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God" (ESV, emphasis mine).

We are to be MANIFESTATIONS OF LIGHT for a world laying in the dark as the Love and Light of God was made manifest among us.

This song by Chris Rice, "Go Light Your World", is a fitting example of what this time in the liturgical calender and Church year is about:

Go Light Your World
There is a candle in every soul
Some brightly burning, some dark and cold
There is a spirit who brings a fire
Ignites a candle, and makes his home

Carry your candle
Run to the darkness
Seek out the helpless, confused and torn
And hold out your candle
For all to see it
Take your candle and go light your world
Take your candle and go light your world

Frustrated brother, see how he's tried to
Light his own candle some other way
See now your sister she's been robbed and lied to
Still holds a candle, without a flame

Carry your candle
Run to the darkness
Seek out the lonely, the tired and worn
And hold out your candle
For all to see it
Take your candle and go light your world
Take your candle and go light your world

Cause we are a family
Whose hearts are blazing
So lets raise our candles and light up the sky
Prayin to our Father in the name of Jesus
Make us a beacon in darkest times

Carry your candle
Run to the darkness
Seek out the hopeless, deceived and
Hold out your candle
For all to see it
Take your candle and go light your world
Take your candle and go light your world

Hold our your candle
For all to see it
Take out your candle and go light your world
Take your candle and go light your world
Take your candle and go light your world

By Chris Rice

To drive the point further, David Crowder proclaims in SMS (Shine), "Shine your light so all can see it. Lift it up cause the whole world needs it. Love has come, what joy to hear it! He has overcome, he has overcome!"

With Christ light we CAN and SHALL overcome our own darkness and that of the world.

O God, who didst wonderfully create, and yet more wonderfully restore, the dignity of human nature: Grant that we may share the divine life of him who humbled himself to share our humanity, thy Son Jesus Christ; who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

Let Us Lift Up Our Hearts Unto the Father or (The Sursum Corda)

Psalm 134 (A Song of Ascents)

"Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who stand by night in the house of the Lord! Lift up your hands to the holy place, and bless the Lord. May the Lord, maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion."

A Song of Ascents is a sacred song, or a sacred hymn. Fifteen of the Psalms are given the title "A Song of Ascents". I particular want to focus on Psalm 134, which is one of those fifteen. And further more I want to focus on the verse two of Psalm 134, "Lift up your hands to the holy place, and bless the Lord".

In The Great Thanksgiving, which is the Eucharistic Prayer, or Anaphora ("Anaphora" is a Greek word "ἀναφορά" meaning a "carrying back" hence its meaning in rhetoric and linguistics or a "carrying up", and so an "offering" hence its use in reference to the offering of sacrifice to God), for those of us in liturgical traditions begins with this responsive reading called Sursum Corda started by the Celebrant:

Celebrant: The Lord be with you.
People: And also with you.
Celebrant: Lift up your hearts.
People: We lift them to the Lord.
Celebrant: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
People: It is right to give him thanks and praise.

I have a good friend named Zack that attends St. James Episcopal Church here in Knoxville, which is where Courtney and I attend Wednesday night Holy Eucharist/Healing. Zack is a very very reverent young man. I admire his reverence and view it as a role model for my own; He has been an influence for my spiritual life. One night while reading the liturgy I just posted above I noticed Zack lifted his hands towards the heavens while saying responsively, "We lift them to the Lord."

That has really been something on my mind here lately coupled with the Song of Ascents found in Psalm 134.

Lift your hands to the holy place and bless the Lord!

Could there be a connection between that sign of reverence and the command to lift our hands to the holy place and bless Yahweh?

I believe there is a connection....................................THE HEART!

The heart is the bridge to those two. Because the Celebrant instructs lift your hearts to the Lord and we respond saying, "We lift them to the Lord."

Now, we cannot actually lift our physical hearts in our hands to the Lord, nor is that what the author of Psalm 134 and of The Great Thanksgiving meant.

The heart is so much more then what we here in Western culture give it credit for. The heart to the Ancient Hebrews was the center of one's ENTIRE being. All emotions, feelings, and thoughts originated not with the mind as they do with us in the West, but in the heart.

One author put it this way: "The heart is the centre not only of spiritual activity, but of all the operations of human life. 'Heart' and 'soul' are often used interchangeably (Deu 6:5; Deu 26:16; compare Mat 22:37; Mar 12:30, Mar 12:33)".

Jeff Benner said it this way: "We often associate the heart with emotions such as love and kindness as in 'He has a good heart'. This is also true with the Hebrews who saw the heart as the seat of emotion. But unlike us they also saw the heart as the seat of thought whereas we see the brain as the seat of thought. To the ancient Hebrews the heart was the mind including all thoughts including emotions. When we are told to love God with all our heart (Deut 6:5) it is not speaking of an emotional love but to keep our emotions and all our thoughts working for him".

Even more ironic is that our very theme this year on Johnson Bible College's campus is Proverbs 4:23, "Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life" (They actually have the NIV verse, but I prefer the NRSV for the wording, and that I hate the NIV).

Keep your heart with vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

There is something more to the heart that we tend to overlook.

This begins to paint a very beautifully poetic portrait of worship.

If we are lifting our hearts to the Lord then we are in essence lifting ALL of ourselves in honor to the King.

We are lifting our hearts, our entire being, our essence, our all to Jesus Christ.

If we are lifting ALL of our being, that which is our hearts, then we are lifting ALL that comes with our hearts: fear, dread, worry, anger, frustration, lust, bitterness, burdens, joys, strengths, loves, hopes, passions, and goodness.

For it is in worship that we can lift our hearts and worship our Lord.

For it is in worship that we can lift our hearts with all the weaknesses that are causing them to rupture at the seams and be strengthened by Jesus' presence in the Sacrament of His Body and Blood. And we exalt God with the goodness that our hearts may contain having them strengthened by His presence and accepted as gifts of spiritual worship.

Lifting our hands while reciting the "Lift your hearts. We lift them to the Lord," is such a strong symbolic and reverent sign of worship.

There is such beautiful imagery there; think about it.

In lifting our hands and hearts to the King of Kings in the prayer beginning Holy Eucharist we also acknowledge that the Sacrament's contain Jesus Christ's own presence. So in lifting our hands and hearts in worship Jesus' presence comes down to dwell with us in the Sacrament of His Body and Blood.

He meets us there in our worship and surrender! Our depravity collides with His divinity, as David Crowder would say.

We exchange the burdens of our hearts in our spiritual act of worship for the Grace of His Blessed Heart.

I do not know about you, but that is some POWERFUL imagery.

And that's what makes the Anaphora such a powerful part of the Holy Eucharist. Because Anaphora as we discussed meant "carrying up" or "offering". We are offering our hearts, our ENTIRE being as an offering unto the Lord.

Last night in a meeting for our weekend of prayer here at JBC, Lauren Mills read John 4:23-24, "'But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.’"

Lifting our hearts and hands to the Holy Place, lifting them to the Lord, is our participating in worshiping of the Father in Spirit and in Truth.

Lifting our hearts to the Lord in spiritual worship is what the Father desires from us. And this is not without a promise:

"Let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water," urges the writer of Hebrews.

And even Psalm 134 has a two-way street with it. The Psalm says to bless the Lord that God may bless us out of Zion.

So therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, our Father beckons us to come forth lifting our hands in symbolic gesture of lifting our hearts, our all, our entire being, giving it ALL to Him.

In your worship, in your prayers, and in partaking of the Holy Eucharist, I urge you to pause and remember that we lift our hearts in worship of our Father.

Give the Father ALL you have.

WORSHIP!

SURRENDER!

COLLIDE!

BE CONSUMED!

MEET THE LORD THERE IN YOUR WORSHIP!

LIFT YOUR HEARTS UNTO TO THE LORD!

"Let us lift up our hearts as well as our hands to God in heaven." -Lamentations 3:41


Amen.

Ἄνω σχῶμεν τὰς καρδίας

Behold the Lamb of God or (The Advent of Love)

"We stand at the head of the Christian year. I am not sure that there is anything quite like it in the world; this composite of sanctities, this interweaving of story and prayer, of song and color, by which Christ is portrayed and brought before us. It is a solemn pageantry which effects association with him whose life is being traced."--Miles Lowell Yates

"We stand at the head of the Christian year. I am not sure that there is anything quite like it in the world; this composite of sanctities, this interweaving of story and prayer, of song and color, by which Christ is portrayed and brought before us. It is a solemn pageantry which effects association with him whose life is being traced."--Miles Lowell Yates


We have entered upon a very special and indeed a very magnificent part of the Church calendar. We have entered into the season of Advent. The season of the Church calendar that we take time to remember our Lord's coming as a baby and to dwell upon what that means. And Mr. Yates description paints a beautiful portrait of the meaning behind Advent.


Over a year ago I joined a liturgical church community that practices the ancient Church calendar and the seasons therein, so I am still getting myself familiar with the reflections of Christ's own life that the liturgical calendar presents. But Advent has always been a very special time of the year for me.


Oddly enough I am reminded of Exodus 12 in this Season of Advent. The Passover. I'm sure we all know the story quite well. Yahweh has sent plague after plague upon Egypt, but the Pharaoh would not soften his own heart. So God is going to send the Angel of Death to destroy the first born in all the land. He instructs his people to take the blood of a lamb and put it over their doors and that death will pass right over.


Andrew Peterson sings it like this in his beautiful song, Passover Us:
"But the Lord, He gave to Moses a word for the people. He said their firstborn sons could live to see another day 'Put the blood of a lamb on the doorway and death will pass right over.' That night all of the children of Israel prayed,
'Lord, let your judgment passover us. Lord, let your love hover near. Don't let your sweet mercy pass over us. Let this blood cover over us here'"


How does Passover have something to do with Advent? Death is a result of the Fall. Even though the first born sons of Israel escaped Death that night they would eventually go on to die. Our sins were more numerous than all the lambs we could slay. That's the consequence of sin, death. Eternal separation from God because of our guilt and sin.


Our sin was so great that animal sacrifices and the blood of animals would not satisfy the holy wrath of God. His judgment was still needing justification. The Advent is the Great High Priest, God the Father, Himself, placing upon the Holy Altar the Body of a Spotless Lamb, Christ His own Son. He chose His very own son as the Perfect Sacrifice to bear the sins of the world and to remove them.


And how even more poetic that Christ's blood destroyed death! Death has passed over us. We are no longer held by it's power. We are no longer held by the power of sin.


And what is extremely poetic is that in Exodus God required the blood of a lamb to be spread on the doorway in order for the first born son to be spared, but in the Advent He sent His Firstborn of All Creation to be that very Spotless Lamb. Christ's blood has been poured out for us.


The Advent is about God placing upon the Holy Altar His own Son in order that death and sin may be eternally defeated. The Advent is about the very love of God, the fullness of God coming to earth as a man.


Think about that for a moment. How vulnerable God made Himself. He made Himself a man. He submitted Himself to human care and nurturing. He submitted Himself to the feeding of Mary's breast, the nurture of her precious motherly love, and the care of her heart. God made Himself dependent upon a human being for survival and care and love.
Does that not make a tingle go up your spine and draw a tear to your eye? That the Creator of All would subject Himself to such vulnerability? What a beautiful picture of the Advent of Love.


Love has indeed come. Love's Advent was fulfilled in the Coming of Christ. The Lamb's Blood has been put upon the doorways of the world and each of our hearts. Death has been defeated. Sin has been crushed. The Father's wrath was satisfied.


In this season of Advent be grateful for the coming of Love. Reflect upon the Coming of Christ to be a sacrifice for our atonement. I want to share with you four prayers, one each for the four weeks of Advent. These prayers are found in The Book of Common Prayer. Pray them on Sunday and reflect upon the Advent.


First Sunday of Advent
Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.


Second Sunday of Advent
Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.


Third Sunday of Advent
Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.


Fourth Sunday of Advent
Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.


I wanted to share with you these thoughts on Advent. I hope that you have a great time in remembering this special time of the Church year while having a great expectation of the Second Advent, which is has yet to happen.


I'll leave you with this quote by Edward Hays: "Advent is the perfect time to clear and prepare the Way. Advent is a winter training camp for those who desire peace. By reflection and prayer, by reading and meditation, we can make our hearts a place where a blessing of peace would desire to abide and where the birth of the Prince of Peace might take place."


Behold the Lamb of God who comes to take away our sin! Come Lord Jesus, Ancient and Strong, gather us beneath Your wing tonight. Amen.

Goodmorning, You Will Find Love

For almost 3 years I was single.....

Very lonely time in my life indeed. During that season of singleness I discovered a song called Goodmorning by the wonderful William Fitzsimmons. The song is very simple:

"Moonlight will fall, winter will end.
Harvest will come, your heart will mend.
Goodmorning, you will find love."

Simple yet extremely encouraging to a young man on the lookout for love.

This evening the morning broke through the dawn and the sun shined brightly. Harvest came in bountifully.

It was a harvest of love.

Moonlight had fallen and the winter had ended. The heart had been mended.

The heart had been granted a desire placed there by the Craftsman Himself.

My heart had found love.....

I have known Courtney Howard since I have been a Johnson Bible College. In September of 2009 I was walking across the campus in front of the P-dub and she was coming out of the PW Building. It was the first time we met. I, like I always do, had my iconic headphones on and was rocking to some lovely Brett Dennen. I told her kindly that she should listen to him and that it was nice meeting her.

Fast forward to December and January and that is when she and I began to chat on facebook a lot more and began getting to know one another. Then in early February we went on our first date to see When In Rome.

A relationship was in the beginning stages :)

I want bore you with every detail between that first date in February and tonight, but I must say that the road has been interesting, amazing, and just a blessing to my life.

I decided I wanted to ask her parents for her hand in marriage about 3 weeks ago after I had purchased the ring the previous week. So I drove up to ask their permission and their blessing to which they said yes. Thankfully, and I'm eternally grateful for their response and their trust in me to take care of and provide for their daughter. They will not regret it. :)

So I finally got all that done. So all that was left was to figure out how.

It finally hit me to ask Courtney on her Confirmation day. We are Anglicans. And in the Anglican Communion we have Confirmation into the Church. She was getting confirmed on Halloween, which happens to be one of our favorite holidays.

So I had also ordered this stuffed Cookie Monster that I wanted to incorporate into my proposal because she and I both love him and Sesame Street. Plus, she is a teacher so it works well.

Thanks to one of my best friends, Mike B., I got the idea to cut a whole in the Cookie Monster and sew the ring to a tiny heart from Build-a-Bear. Well, I went to Build-a-Bear to see about this, and they recommended I just buy a little stuffed heart with the words 'i love you' on the front and on the back a velcro pouch to hide the ring. The heart then would wrap around little Cookie Monsters arms to make it look like he was holding it.

The other part of the plan was to ask her to go on a date to Cades Cove after her Confirmation because she and I had been wanting to go for some time.

So the plan was in place. I did that. Now, all there was left to do was wait for Halloween to get here.

So today finally got here. We got to Cades Cove and got about half way through the park when we took the road to go to Abrams Falls.

We got out and I got my book bag out and told her I have my surprise gift for her Confirmation in it and that I want to give it to her.

So we walked over this bridge to the other side of the river where there were some places to sit along the waters edge.

It was so serene. So tranquil. So peaceful.

The perfect spot had come to me without even trying to find one.

So I told her to turn her head that I wanted to give her the gift.

I pulled Cookie Monster out of my bookbag and held it in my arms and told her to turn around.

She was so excited. She loved it. She thought that was all there was.

Now, last night I had texted her pretending to be Cookie Monster. Cookie Monster told her he couldn't wait to see her on Sunday because he had a surprise. She had no idea why I was acting so goofy.

So after she held Cookie Monster for awhile. I told her to check the back of the heart for a cookie. That he had a gift in there for her.

She opened and saw the ring inside the pouch on the back of the heart. She turned to me and said, "Jon, do you have something you want to ask me."

I took the ring from her hand and said, "Yes, I do."

I was very very nervous even though I knew she was going to say yes.

I asked her if she wanted to stand up while I knelt down, but said never mind that I am just going to kneel while she is sitting down. Again, I was quite nervous.

I looked at her while kneeling and asked, "Courtney, will you marry me?"

She said, "Yes!"

I was shaking pretty badly because of the nerves so I put the ring on and said, "Shoot, if I can get it on because I'm shaking so badly, but I hope it fits."

It fortunately did fit.

Perfectly.

So that is the story of our proposal. I'm sure Courtney will blog about it from her perspective, least I hope.

I am head-over-heels in love with this lady. From the bottom of my heart I would do anything for her.

She demonstrates to me everyday a Christ-like love that is so strong that it forces me to examine my own love and if it measures up to that of Christ's.

Courtney came into my life at a time when I was just pass a depressing stage. I was frustrated with the Church and with all humanity.

She restored my faith in them.

I am forever grateful for her healing hands in my life.

She is a wonderfully warm, sweet, and loving person.

As a future priest I never have to look far away to know what a Christ-like love looks like.

William Fitzsimmons says, "Love is wonderfully fragile and yet exceedingly weighty thing. And although we must carry the hurt we cause another, we are likewise able to always retain the love that is given to us and the love that we unreservedly give away."

Wow, that is simply so poetic.

There will be times when we hurt one another in our marriage. There will be times when things go badly, but......

There will be times when we retain all that love we share. We will retain all the love that has enveloped for Christ is the umbrella around us.

He is the Foundation upon which we have constructed our relationship.

The Holy Word tells us, "And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together."

We take that literally. Without Him our marriage and relationship will not hold together. That is our theme for this relationship.

Our love can last if we only let it grow...

So often we do things do hinder love.

But when your love is grounded in Him who holds ALL things together then you can expect that love to grow and flourish.

So yes, love is a wonderfully fragile yet exceedingly weighty thing, but.....

Courtney and I have decided to bear the weight beneath the guidance and foundation of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

I've never been more happy be weighed down.

I love you Courtney Howard. I look forward to bearing that weight and sharing in all that comes with it: pain, trial, hardship, joy, laughter, and blessings.

I wouldn't want to share it with anyone else, my love.

I love you,
Jonathan

Reflections on The Anglican Communion or (Why I Joined the Anglican Communion)

Blessed by God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And blessed be his kingdom, now and for ever. Amen.

Tonight I was confirmed into the Holy Anglican Communion, known to some as the Church of England or the Episcopal Church here in the U.S. I reaffirmed my Baptismal Covenant before the witnesses of my Ascension family and God. I reaffirmed my renunciation of evil and renewed my commitment to Jesus Christ and with His grace I will follow Christ as my Savior and Lord.

The vow to me is a very serious thing. In a society where we tend to neglect the spoken word and not honor our vows I have come to take words very seriously. Here is the Baptismal Covenant:

The Baptismal Covenant

Bishop: Do you believe in God the Father?

People: I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

Bishop: Do you believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God?

People: I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.

Bishop: Do you believe in God the Holy Spirit?

People: I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.

Bishop: Will you continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers?

People: I will, with God's help.

Bishop: Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?

People: I will, with God's help.

Bishop: Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?

People: I will, with God's help.

Bishop: Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?

People: I will, with God's help.

Bishop: Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?

People: I will, with God's help.

That's a pretty serious statement of faith that I happen to believe and take seriously. I have made a vow before men and God that I want to honor with all my power and God's help.

The first time I went to an Anglican Eucharist was on April 11th at St. John's Cathedral here in Knoxville. They are a very high church, but all the rituals and practices at first weired me out. But I felt a tugging at my heart beginning to start. I was really drawn in my the liturgical, Eucharist-centered services. So I want to list a few reasons why I felt lead to join the Anglican Communion and what drew me to the Communion:

1. The Eucharist as center of the service. I had always felt a void in the typical 3 songs and a sermon routine. Not that that is wrong if one feels plugged in, but I did not. I felt plugged into God via the Eucharistic-driven service of the Anglican Church. When Eucharist is the center then what a man preaches or what we sing doesn't matter because it is no longer about us, but about responded to what God has done by the moving liturgy surrounding Holy Eucharist.

2. The liturgy/Book of Common Prayer. One thing that just stirred my heart almost to the point of tears is hearing a cathedral full of believers praying in unison and out loud. The liturgy is what connects all of us Anglicans. Because when someone gets up and just prays we may or may not like what they are praying, but with liturgy it is all agreed upon. We'll unified by it. Drawn in by it. It's "beautifully mysterious and mysteriously beautiful" as one once said. Communal prayer is a very deeply spiritual thing, it's very moving. The saying of the Lord's Prayer out loud together gives me goosebumps every time.

3. The reverence towards God. The Anglican Churches have a practice of standing to sing, sitting to be taught, and kneeling to pray. I like the holiness that is practiced through piety in the Anglican Church. Coming in and genuflecting towards the alter and honoring the presence of Christ there with us. The crossing of one's self for me is symbolic of Christ coming down from Heaven to the belly of the earth to drive Satan away from my heart and to protect it. I also like to bow at the name of Christ to show respect and honor to His name.

4. Unity in Difference. In the Anglican Church the motto is "Unity in difference". And that goes back to the liturgy. We can all disagree theologically or have our own opinions about things, but in the end we're followers of Christ. This is both a blessing and a curse at times. The high call of unity in the Anglican Church, despite our flaws, is essential and really drew me in.

5. Their use of Sacred Scripture, Tradition, Experience, and Reason.

6. Their theological doctrines and the Creeds of the Holy Church. (The Catechism: http://www.anglicansonline.org/basics/catechism.html and the Articles of Religion: http://www.anglicansonline.org/basics/thirty-nine_articles.html)

7. The governing structure of the Episcopal Church. Episcopal comes from Episcopate, which means governed by a bishop basically. The hierarchy was a point of interest for me because I think the NT makes it clear on having a since of authority within the Church.

I could think of many more things which drew me to the Anglican Communion. We in no way pretend we have it right especially here in the Episcopal Church of the U.S. We have our problems. There's fractions and splits and fights and disputes, but for the most part I see a great sense of unity within the Communion.

I want to share with you part of Christopher Webber's view of Anglicanism:

The Anglican Vision
"Uniquely among the churches, the Anglican vision from the very beginning has been not centered so much on organizational unity or doctrinal unity as on a community united in worship. At first, Anglicans looked back to the early centuries of the church to find the essentials around which Christians could be united, but increasingly Anglicans have come to understand that the early church was not united and that the unity God wills for the church lies in the future. As the church moves through history, new challenges arise and old answers become inadequate. Jesus did not tell his disciples that he had left them with all the answers, but rather, 'When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth' (John 16:13). So the discovery of truth is a continuing journey guided by the Holy Spirit, and the answers we find are always provisional answers. They may have been satisfactory in the past but that offers no guarantee that they will be equally satisfactory in the future. Jesus himself, is the truth, but statements about Jesus will not necessarily be able to capture the whole of that truth in terms that a changing society needs to hear. Likewise, the structures of the church that have been vastly different in different periods of the church's history may need to be further changed to meet the needs of a new millennium. Bishops have been pastors in the Celtic church, administrators in the Roman church, democratic leaders in the American church, yet always symbols of unity across time and space. Episcopalians are confident that bishops will be at the center of any further steps toward unity, though their exact function in a reunited church must still be explore.

Above all, Anglicans have never claimed to be THE Church. On its title page, the Book of Common Prayer say that it contains forms for the 'Administration of the Sacraments and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church...according to the use of The Episcopal Church.' We do it this way, in other words, but we are only a part of the whole church and make no claim that this is the only way. In the words of Canon Edward West, 'There are other ways of holiness, but this is the only way I understand.' It is, Episcopalians believe, a good way. It is a way, as former Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey once said, that 'converts sinners and creates saints.' Until God shows us a better way, that is all we can ask."

I hope this has given you a good, basic explanation of why I joined the Anglican Communion. I was confirmed on September 29, 2010, and I can't wait to see what God has in store for the future. My plans are to graduate from JBC and enter into seminary at Sewanee University to obtain my Masters in Divinity then one day be ordained into the Holy Priesthood of the Anglican Communion. But that's up to God to open those doors, I must simply trust.

This explanation by Father Joseph Fort Newton is by far the most profound and concise explanation of the Episcopal Church I have yet to hear:

"Something deep in me responds to the sweet and tempered ways of the Episcopal Church. Its atmosphere of reverence, its ordered and stately worship, its tradition of historic continuity, linking today with ages agone; its symbols which enshrine the faith of the past and the hope of the future; its wise and wide tolerance; its old and lovely liturgy — like a stairway, worn by many feet, whereon men climb to God — and, still more, the organized mysticism of its sacraments — all these things of beauty and grace move me profoundly.

More vital still, if possible, is the central and strategic position which the Episcopal Church holds in the confused religious situation of our time. It is the roomiest church in Christendom, in that it accepts the basic facts of Christian faith as symbols of transparent truths, which each may interpret as his insight explores their depth and wonder. Midway between an arid liberalism and an acrid orthodoxy, it keeps its wise course, conserving the eternal values of faith while seeking to read the word of God revealed in the tumult of the time. If its spirit and attitude were better understood, it would be at once the haven and the home of many vexed minds torn between loyalty to the old faith and the new truth. After all, there is one church of Christ. It may wear many names, but its faith is one, and finally, soon or late, it will be one fellowship, drawn together by creative desire or driven together by sheer necessity of facing the forces of destruction in our day, which, if they have their way, will end in materialism and futility. Each man should labor where he can do his best work in behalf of our common Christian enterprise; and I look forward to happy and fruitful service in a great and gracious fellowship."


Thanks for listening and reading.

"Let us go forth into the world, rejoicing in the power of the Spirit. Thanks be to God."

May the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Amen.

The Endless Pursuit of Perfection or (Already Perfect, But Being Made Holy)

Luke writes in Hebrews 10:14, "For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified." He also speaks of being made perfect with the saints that went before us in Hebrews 11:40. Hebrews 10:14 can be a very confusing verse. How can we be perfected yet still be in the process of being sanctified?



The ESV Study Bible's notes say, "Perfected for all time does not mean that believers are now already sinless, but that Christ has fully earned their perfection. which will certainly be applied to Christians in God's good time. The eternal perfection (see 11:40, 12:23) of the saints stems from the once-for-all-nature of Jesus' sacrifice. Hence, believers look to Christ and not to themselves for a cleansed conscious, full forgiveness of sins, and total flawlessness in the future." As for those who are being sanctified or being made holy it says, "The Greek present participle allows for the idea of progressive sanctification in this life and/or present positional sanctification of the believer as one who from the start is deemed perfectly holy."



Now, I think that to begin to truly comprehend and get a decent grasp on what it means to be made perfect we must go to Hebrews 2:10 which says, "For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering." The Founder of our salvation is Christ Jesus. If He, Himself, was made perfect through suffering, not that he was sinful, but that He fully obeyed then shouldn't we expect as His followers, whom He is sanctifying, to suffer? Shouldn't we expect to endure things that will cause us to suffer in some sort of fashion? Isn't suffering a bi-product of being made perfect and holy?



James writes in his epistle, "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."



But I also love how St. Paul says it in Romans 5, "We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."



We all have sufferings and burdens to bear. Christ Himself has called us to bear our crosses.



There's a connection between the suffering and the sanctifying.



When we endure trials, sufferings, and tribulations we can identify with the One who was perfected by suffering on the Cross.



Maybe, too often, we look at our suffering as something bad, just another part of fallen humanity.



But maybe, perhaps, suffering is a sacrament.........



That suggestion may be ludicrous, but perhaps there's truth in the pain.



The Catholics call a sacrament "a rite in which God is uniquely active".



The Anglican Book of Common Prayer speaks of sacrament as "an outward and visible sign of an inward and invisible Grace".



If suffering brings about our perfection and sanctification then isn't that a sign of something holy taking place within us. Yes, suffering is usually the external things of life, but that outward suffering leads to a inwardly perfecting of who we are in Christ.



Suffering is a sacrament.



It



Is



HOLY!



We are suffering like the Founder of our faith suffered. We, by our suffering, are being spurred on towards sanctification and holiness.



Christ death brought upon us the inward and invisible Grace of which The Book of Common Prayer speaks.



GRACE



SUFFERING



SACTIFICATION



PERFECTION



They all tie together. It's by that grace that we are allowed to be perfected and made holy. And by that suffering we are spurred on toward refinement in Christ.



It is in suffering that grace is most active....



The activeness of grace brings about holiness and perfection.



I think this poem by an unknown author says it all:



Stepping Stones



The Lord came to me like a dream one day and asked, "Why do you sorrow?"

I answered, "Lord, my life is so full of pain, I can't face one more tomorrow."



The Lord sat down beside me, and gently took my hand.

He said, "Let me explain to you and then you'll understand.



Each sorrow is a stepping stone you must surmount each day,

And every stepping stone you climb is a sorrow that's passed away.



The road of life is a mountainside, with crevices in which to be caught,

But as you struggle on your way, I, the Rock, will lend support.



Every stepping stone you climb, makes spirit and heart grow strong.

Exercising character and faith this road seems painful and long.



The way is paved with stepping stones, to uplift your heart and soul,

Though difficult, they aid your way, to a City paved with gold.



I know that you are tired, for I too have walked this way,

My sorrows did they multiply, but I cleared the stones away.



I left my rock to lift you up, I left behind my story.

To give you strength to make your climb, to that special place in glory.



And never fear, the Rock is here, You'll never climb alone

Surmount life's sorrows, continue on, For they are but stepping stones.



If you are currently involved with a trial or time of suffering, take heart from the words of our dear brother Saint Paul:



"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation, who consoles us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction with the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are abundant for us, so also our consolation is abundant through Christ. If we are being afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation; if we are being consoled, it is for your consolation, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we are also suffering. Our hope for you is unshaken; for we know that as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our consolation."



Move forward knowing that our Lord, The Suffering Servant, fulfilled His complete perfection through His suffering.



May we always seek to count it all joy in hard times and know that it makes us perfect and complete...



Lacking nothing!



Shalom,

Jonathan

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

The dawn of yet another year of educational endeavors is upon us. Johnson Bible College had its first day of classes today, the first day of my Junior year. I was walking back from class this afternoon and was listening to Brett Dennen's song World Keeps Turning. Brett sings, "Everything you have today soon could be gone away. Yesterday I had no sorrow, here today and gone tomorrow."

Everything we have today soon could be gone away! That prompted me to become very philosophical and to ponder upon this life that is but a vapor. Life is indeed short. The ignorance of youth is that we tend to ignore this very profound and very true scenario.

We don't see that life is so fragile, so short. Everything that means something to us, everything that is dear to our hearts, and those we love could be gone tomorrow. We could be gone tomorrow.

Life is short.

But Brett's lyric prompted me to examine more closely the philosophical side of what he is saying. He mentions how EVERYTHING can be gone today then mentions how he had sorrow that was here today, but gone tomorrow.

There's a tie between that.

We can as quickly lose the things that hold us back in life, that tie us down, that burden us. And shouldn't we want to lose those things? If life is temporal shouldn't we want to throw off all that hinders us from living the abundant life that Christ came to give us (John 10:10).

Sorrow, sadness, worry, death, struggles, sins, heartache, or anything that holds us down from living life fully and enjoying the kind of abundant life Christ gives MUST go!

The life that Christ came to give is not a life in the physical, not by what I gather. It is an abundant spiritual life which then in turn effects the physical, emotional, mental, and social.

The world keeps turning....

Are we going to live life abundantly as it turns? Or are we going to be weighted down by things that prevent us from obtaining an abundant life?

God is faithful. Even though we are struggling in this life there is hope always. He insures that the world does indeed keeping turning. Life goes on. What we are enduring today can be gone tomorrow. Genesis 8:22 says, "While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease."

It's a earthly portrait of God's faithfulness to bring about the seasons.

We are the humanly portrait of God's faithfulness to bring His people through the tough seasons of life. We are His magnum opus, His most epic masterpiece.

If He is faithful and just to bring about the seasons of the earth how much more so would He be faithful and just to bring us through the winters of life into the spring that is erupting with polychromous life?

All the sorrows and struggles of this life are here today, gone tomorrow.

God is faithful to bring us through the winter.

He doesn't long for us to live in winter, but winter serves a purpose for growth and formation.

We endure it for but a season.

So I wanted to right this not only as a general encouragement, but also for the new year of academia that has begun for those of us at JBC. With school comes many stresses, worries, pains, and struggles. So to those who read this remember that when it gets hard and sorrow comes to the door to shake it off and let it go. The world keeps turning. God's faithfulness is reliable. He will bring us through.

And for those I wrote this towards as just encouragement and for the students we all must remember the same concept:

"Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning," as Psalms 30:5 reads.

What's here today is gone tomorrow!

Shalom,
Jonathan

The Myth of Legislative Morality

The Myth of Legislative Morality

Greetings, I have decided to title this The Myth of Legislative Morality in honor of one of my favorite theologians and writers, Dr. Greg Boyd. To begin let’s define morality. I prefer these two definition of morality:

1. The quality of being in accord with standards of right or good conduct.
2. A system of ideas of right and wrong conduct: religious morality; Christian morality

Now, I am approaching this blog from the view point of definition number 2. Christian morality or also known as righteous or holiness. I am not talking about the standards of right and good conduct from a worldly standpoint.

So can we legislate righteousness and holiness? Let’s explore it a little.

All laws are based on some sort of code of ethics or on a higher transcendent Being. Here's a great quote by writer Gary Burger to address this that I found in doing some research on legislating morality:

"We must then ask what system of ethics and morality is the best one to base our laws on. We have two broad choices. One is a system that says moral values are created by people in their own context of community, culture and time period. In other words, moral values are relative to the situation or group or time period. The other one is a system that says moral values come from one source that transcends all individuals, cultures, communities and time-periods. The major battle going on in our legal system today is over which of these two systems should be the basis of our laws. Therefore, we should be asking, which system is the right one to impose on people through laws?"

I think that when it boils down to it that we all agree that morality, whether it is a standard of right and wrong or the religious system, does indeed come from a transcendent being, which we know to be God. As CS Lewis says, "My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust?" Burger says of Lewis:

“He realized that there was not only a transcendent law to which every man appeals but also a transcendent Law-giver. This Law-giver had to be perfect in every way in order to know what perfect justice is. This Law-giver also had to be a living and intelligent personal being with perfect knowledge of all things. Why? No impersonal force could think up what perfect justice means.”

Burger goes on to clarify that when wronged even an atheist will appeal to moral absolutes. He says:

“It is telling when we observe people to see which system they really believe in regardless of what they say they believe in. What happens when the person who says he believes there are no moral absolutes is the victim of a crime? If they are consistent with their stated belief they would really have no right to complain. The judge should say, "The suspect believed he was doing the right thing in robbing you to support his drug habit, and you believe he was wrong to do it. To what standard of right and wrong outside of yourself are you appealing to when you say he is wrong and you are right?" Merely by stating he thinks the suspect is wrong he has confessed that he really does believe in an absolute standard of right and wrong that transcends him and the suspect. The fact that everyone does this reinforces our conclusion that moral values come from one source that transcends all individuals, cultures, communities and time periods.”

So we got that out of the way. We know that the morality comes from something higher. Morality, holiness, and righteousness all come from God. But I think where we Christians all differ is our approach to introducing people to that transcendent Creator of morality and His commands for holiness and righteousness.

Now, I could be wrong about this, but for the most part Christians advocate legislation that is in direct agreement of their morality, their sense of righteousness and holiness that comes from God. Because laws are designed to control a person's behavior from the outside? So if we legislate with what we find to be true righteousness and holiness we are doing what is right and good.

Lets get theological if we may.

We all know that with Christ the fulfillment of the OT Law was complete, and we no longer have any adherence to the Mosaic Law; at least I think theological we are all in agreement about that. If not, I dont' want to argue that. BUT what I'm saying is that even the Mosaic Law was set up by God to control from the outside and show what sin was. It operated much like laws of society and of a nation do. In fact it was the laws of a society and nation. The nation of Israel.

But with the Mosaic system there was no changing of the hearts. The Law operated from a external stand point, but there was no factor operating from the internal standpoint.

Now comes Christ....

With the fulfillment of the OT Law complete and Christ dying for our sins, since the Law showed us what sin was, Christ can now give the promise of that internal Prompter of good, the Holy Spirit. He even gives the promise of Himself coming inside of our hearts to transform us from within to do what is good and right by the Holy Spirit. I John 3:24 says, “This is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.” That transformation is something the Law was never able to do, which Paul makes very clear in his first letter he ever wrote, Galatians. He wrote in Galatians 3, “For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law.” He also said in Galatians 2:21, “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.”

So by grace through faith Christ comes to dwell within us. Charles Finney says:

"The Spirit of Christ, then, or the real Deity of Christ, dwells in the truly spiritual believer. But this fact needs to be spiritually apprehended [understood], and kept distinctly and continually in view. Christ not only in heaven, but Christ within us, as really and truly inhabiting our bodies as we do, as really in us as we are in ourselves, [this] is the teaching of the Bible, and must be spiritually apprehended by a divine, personal, and inward revelation, to secure our abiding in Him.”

And we find that once we invite Him into our hearts by the Spirit that we are to be conformed to the Image of His Son, which Paul address in Romans 8.

I wrote a previous blog about the sanctification we endure as believers. Hebrews 10:14 says, “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”

So it is very clear that the OT Law did not bring about righteousness, but that only Christ dying, coming to dwell within us by the Spirit to transform us and continue to sanctify us is the only way to bring about righteousness and goodness.

We also have the promise of the work started in us being completed in Philippines 1:6.

With Christ we have a perfect standard. His flawless character is that standard. And with that perfect flawless character He shows us that deep down we want perfect moral goodness. And only by His sacrifice and promise of the Spirit do we receive that. With Christ we receive that internal prompting of what is good and right. Also, known as the Fruits of the Spirit. We no longer need the law to tell us what to do because we have that internalized sense of what is right and good because of the Holy Spirit's dwelling within us helping to bring Christ spiritually transformed within us. (Now, I do think that Nomos, the Law, can still be used to steer us in the right direction at times. Romans 6, 7, and 8 are great chapters about Sarks, Nomos, and Nooma, but that's for another time.)

Now, if we have that internal sense of right and wrong because we have Christ dwelling in us it is our concern that others discover the sacrifice of Christ and come to relationship in him and be baptized into the Holy Communion of the Saints and to invite the transformational Spirit into their hearts.

It seems to be that the Law was concerned about the external, the appearance. But our Gracious Lord is concerned with the heart. Look at how many times he flipped the Law on its head by saying that if you look lustfully at a woman you have committed adultery or that if you hate you have murdered. Our Lord is concerned with hearts.

Which leads me to my point of if we are seeking only to legislate against those things with which we morally disagree then how can that change people's hearts? How can that introduce to them the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ? How can seeking to win a cultural and political war ever really introduce people to Christ and His righteousness when in essence it is forced upon them? A professor at JBC once told me this: "If you want to get rid of something like abortion or gay marriage you must first change people's hearts."

For me seeking to legislate is merely a sweeping under the rug of the real concern, people's hearts. It's like cutting a weed off at the top and not addressing the root.

And this for me is where Dr. Greg Boyd is so amazing. His argument that Christ's message was not to gain the political upper hand nor to win the culture war, but to simply serve. Even Christ Himself said he came to serve not to be served.

So it's in the administration of morality that we Christians disagree I think. Some advocate what Boyd calls the power-over approach which yields the sword (political power).

I, however, advocate the approach that Dr. Boyd and I both believe to be the approach that Christ himself preached and that is the power-under mentality that says I want to come under ALL people in love, justice, peace and service. I want to serve them as Christ would. I want to show them the goodness and love of our Savior through acts of service not through acts of coercion by a political system for acts of coercion have never brought about real change within anyone.

It is in the power-under approach that I believe hearts can indeed be changed. And IF hearts are changed then Christ comes to dwell in those hearts if they invite Him, so making it that those people now have a internal sense of morality and what is right and good in the eyes of God. They have the Spirit dwelling within them now transforming to the image of Christ. Sanctifying them.

So again, the question of can we legislate morality? I think that is too broad of a stroke, but demands a more specific answer. If by the first definition of morality then yes, I think we can legislate standards of conduct and ethics, which one may or may not see as influenced by a higher being. But those standards and ethics, like the OT Law, work only with the external. However, I am not condoning a view that suggests we forsake all laws of the land in order to focus on hearts. That would be chaos. Laws of the land are good and indeed serve a good purpose of protecting us from murderers, thieves, and rapists. I do not condone doing away with laws of the land. We need that first definition of morality whether it comes with the influence of the Divine or not. We cannot exist in anarchy.

But if we are operating under the second definition of morality, which is the holiness of God and His righteousness then no we cannot legislate that. We can influence and instigate holiness and righteousness through loving acts of mercy, kindness, justice, peace, love, and service. It is clear that the only way to have righteousness and holiness is by inviting Christ into your life as your Lord and Savior allowing for Him to send His Spirit to dwell with you transforming you. It is the internal prompting of good.

Christ told us to go and make disciples not win political battles and cultural wars. Winning those things is not spreading the Gospel and winning those things will not make converts of anyone. It is only by becoming more like Christ and being a servant and loving ALL people that the Gospel is ALIVE. And only by that will righteousness and holiness be obtained.

I don't know if that makes any sense at all, but it's the best I can muster to my side of the discourse. You may not agree with my stance, as I dont' with power-over approach. But one thing is for certain, politics will never change people's hearts. Laws will never change people's hearts. It’s a myth that we can legislate the kind of morality that Christ brings when we invite Him into our hearts. But here is a interesting take by Gary Burger on a all too familiar story:

"Christianity offers something that no other religion or philosophy offers. Jesus offers to come live inside of us and change us so we have the internal motivation to do what is right whether or not there is a law about it or not. This is what happened when a guy named Zacchaeus met Jesus (Luke 19). Zacchaeus was a tax collector for the Roman Empire. He was told how much tax to collect from people. He had to collect this amount and give it to the authorities. Now it was typical for a tax collector to bring his ‘friends’ with him to your house and collect more than the official amount. The Romans would look on. As a result they were wealthy and hated. I guess they would rather be wealthy than popular. One evening, Jesus and a large gathering of people were eating supper with Zacchaeus in his house. (Jesus invited himself to dinner.) I wish I could have been in on the conversation Jesus and Zacchaeus were having to know what Jesus said to the man. All of a sudden, Zacchaeus stands up and says, ‘Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.’ What did Jesus say to him, ‘Zacchaeus give back all the money or I'll turn you into a toad’? I don't think so. And it probably wasn't just what Jesus said but who Jesus is. Zacchaeus found himself in the presence of Someone with a flawless character who showed him that deep down inside we really want perfect moral goodness. Zacchaeus internalized the desire to do good. He didn't need a law to force him to do it."

In essence morality is no longer about laws, ethics, or standards from the external prospective. Morality is now, by Christ own doing, an internal matter. No matter how many laws we make or legislate the root of the problem is still someone's heart. We can seek to control by external means, but Christ has called and equipped us to work with the internal. Just think if we spent half as much energy we do on seeking the political and cultural upperhand on actually focusing on the internal issues of the heart what the US and the world would look like. Let's start following the radically beautiful kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the One whose focus is hearts.

A good friend of mine here at JBC summed it up like this:

"True morality can never be legislated: no, a character that truly reflects the heart of the God of infinite holiness must flow out of heart filled with God Himself. As such, a life pleasing to God must flow from Him and to His glory. It's a matter of allegiance, not external piety."

I hope I have justified my arguement coherently. Whether you agree or not I hope you enjoyed reading and were possibly challenged.

May the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you,
Jonathan Anderson