All Things Seen & Unseen

In this season of Advent as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus, it i s often forg otten that the season is a sharp reminder that Jesus will come one day 'to judge the quick [l iving] and the dead' (old form of Apostles' Cre ed) . The Creed draws th ese words and idea from a t least f our different scriptures of general judgement ( Acts 10.42; Rom 14.9,12; 2Tim 4.1) plus two scriptures on the specific judgement of Christians (2Cor 5.10; Jas 5.9).   We recoil at that thought that we Christians will be judge d but scripture makes this clear beyond dispute.

One of the popular, modern beliefs about Christian worship is that it primarily occurs when the congregation is led in singing by a band of musicians and singers. That view is unfortunate and takes us back to the days when the laity came to church not to sing but to listen to the beautiful cathedral choirs do the singing.  For sometimes, the use of 'worship teams' with bands' and sing ers' efforts amplified can inhibit congregational partic ipation . The 'worship te am' can become a unit set apart by its skills and volume from the congregation leading to congregants becoming passive in their invo lvement in the service.

'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me' (Phil. 4.13).   All sorts of nonsense unfortunately have been inferred from these words of the apostle Paul in Philippians. One bit of silliness is the preaching that every saint of God 'can do all things they wish to do' in Christ.  I suspect that th is teaching comes from the 'health and wealth' theological quarter but wherever it comes from, that type of m otivational preaching that seeks to use this verse to encourage God's people to 'reach for the star s ' and 'fly like eag les', etc. is unsound.

The sending out of God's people into the world to work and witness for him is the last movement of the drama involving the people of God hearing the Word and receiving the s acrament which are at the heart Anglican Sunday worship. Fi ve short subsections comprise this main movement which are numbered §21 to §25. . . . . . . . . . . . . . §21    Priest: Gracious God, thank you for fee d ing us, with the spiritual food of the body and blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ. Thank you for assuring us of your goodness and love, and that we are living members of Christ's body. [ How do we k now that we are 'living members of Christ's body' (Rom 12.5; 1Cor 6.15; 1Cor 12.12; Eph 5.30 & etc.) ? An important question because some Anglicans at least seem to waver on whether they are destined for God's presence or not. Yet, the apostle John in his 1st letter said that he had written in order that his he arers might know that they had eternal life (1Jn 5.13 ). The whole...

I don't know how many countries celebrate this odd evening but it hasn't traditionally been part of Australian life and therefore, most Australians I think, still find it foreign and macabre.  Our American and Canadian friends seem to be wholly into it with all its paraphernalia, even Christians. The church I grew up in frowned upon it and thought it all of the devil! Last year we had some high school pupils come to our door unexpectedly 'trick and treating' but I just ignored them. They turned our outside light fixtures upside down as a punishment for not responding to them and then left us alone. This year I didn't know what to expect but I had my wife bring inside anything outside the front door that could be interfered with. She thought I was unduly anxious about a non-event but I asked her nicely anyway. Being a dutiful wife she complied.

Reigning With Christ by F J Huegel (1963) is a book of only 88 pages yet it is filled with crucial truths of the Christian faith organised around the theme of the enthroned believer . It's fair to say that the theme he concisely addresses in this small book is much neglected today. For the press of technological life with its bustle and speed is such that we can forget that present life, so ' real' to us, is temporary (2 Cor 4.18) and as in the first century, 'the form [Greek, "schema"] of the world is passing away' (1Cor 7.31). It's easy to read this work and though it has 20 chapters, they are short and pithy. However, reading it requires a meditative attitude so as to allow the Spirit to work on our hearts.

I have been reading the above title written by a Paul E Billheimer. It's a book about prayer, praise and the Church's place in the world. However, it's unlike any other book I've read on the subject because of the framework in which he places prayer. (If you look it up on Amazon you can get a reasonable idea of the contents at least.) The major thesis of this work according to the author is that: 'The one purpose of the universe from all eternity is the production [?] and preparation of an Eternal Companion for the Son, called the Bride, the Lamb's Wife'. Her creation comes by way of the new birth (Jn 3.3), a regeneration brought about by 'spiritual water' (Jn 3.5). Her preparation, a weighty matter, is the core of the book's message. Part of the preparation is learning to wage spiritual warfare which involves conquering.

On another blog I have been dealing with the Lord's Supper and its meaning within the Anglican Church. I'm fully aware that not all Anglicans understand the Supper alike but I fully embrace Article XXVIII of the Articles of Religion (1562) Of The Lord's Supper which rules out transubstantiation, 'reserving' of the sacrament, lifting it up, carrying it about, or worshipping it. The Article says clearly among other things that: 'The Body of Christ is given, taken, and eaten, in the Supper, only after an heavenly and spiritual manner. And the mean [sic] whereby the Body of Christ is received and eaten in the Supper is Faith.' This last sentence is one of the planks of John Calvin's view of the Supper (as opposed to Rome and to Luther) for it is affirming that the bread and wine do not act upon us because of their inherent sacredness (or divinity as in Catholicism). They convey grace only in the presence of faith in Christ. This point about fait...

The priest breaks the bread and says, We who are many are one body, (1 Cor 12.27) for we all share in the one bread.  (P rayer Book has various options.)  Come let us take this holy sacrament  of the body and blood of Christ in remembrance that he died for us, and feed on him in our hearts by faith with thanksgiving. The sacrament is given to individuals with the following words,   The body of Christ keep you in eternal life. The blood of Christ keep you in eternal life.   and the communicant replies, AMEN. The Anglican Church typically uses a common cup but provide s an alternative if that is required . (Some dip their wafer into the communion cup rather than drinking from it directly.) What does it all mean?   Anglicanism is influenced by Martin Luther and by John Calvin without being fully Lutheran or Calvinian. Both regarded the Communion as a sacrament but there the unity ends.   Calling it a sacrament emphasises the work God is doing; calli...

For All Your Blessings, O Lord The Great Thanksgiving is preceded by the sharing of peace and the bringing of the gifts of the people to the Lord's Table at the front of the church building. The offering reminds us that we are one body who are called to be a forgiving body of Christ-believers and in the offering, the onus is on any who are out of fellowship with another in the congregation to make peace before taking Holy Communion (see Matt 5.23). The present 1995, Prayer Book ( A Prayer Book for Australia -APBA) has five different forms of The Great Thanksgiving. Some priests use them by rotation each week, using the fifth one when there are five Sundays in a particular month; others use Thanksgiving 1 predominantly which is the one with which I am most familiar; however, each one of the different forms brings out a different emphasis found in the Scriptures. Again what is noticeable is the call-response structure of this Thanksgiving and the number of allusions to or direct qu...

I don't know how many times I've seen 1Cor 2.9 misused to mean something it doesn't signify.* The text says, 'But as it is written:  "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him" ' (NKJV). This seems to be a composite quote or allusion to Isaiah 64.4; 65.17; 52.15 (as we have no direct OT quote according to Robertson . It may also be that Paul alludes to the rendering of the Septuagint, a translation of the Hebrew scriptures into Greek.)  Verse 9 is often quoted with the speaker finishing at the end of verse 9. The problem with this 'ending' is that it gives us a reading that distorts verse 9 because both the larger and immediate contexts are ignored.

I was raised in a Pentecostal Church (AoG) where we used to practise (sometimes with American preachers) the 'turn around and tell at least five people that God loves them!' ritual with variations. (I never much liked this 'carry on' but then I was socially introverted so that may account for my attitude.) However, one good thing about the Pentecostal American ritual was that it was limited to five or so people. Anglicans who are usually conservative in their approaches to other things seem to go overboard at the Greeting of Peace for some reason. Unfortunately, the Greeting has degenerated into a 'hello' session in services when it was never intended to be so. Some congregants seem to think that it's the right thing to try and shake hands with as many people as possible. Others while doing this don't even look at the people they are shaking hands with! Still others are a delight to receive the Peace from because they do it with a focussed joy. Because t...

To introduce this topic I mention again that idolatry is part of every person's life, every community's life and every nation's life. In fact, the whole human race is involved in a struggle between worship of the living God and worship of dead idols. Worship is natural to the human condition. In the beginning man turned his worship away from God to a god-substitute by changing the truth about God into a lie and resorting to the worship of the creaturely.  Christians cannot imagine that they are exempt from the ravages of idolatry (see 1 Cor 7.14; Col 3.5; 1 John 5.21).  Idolatry involves putting our TRUST in something that is created which can never bear the load of our full trust.  Only the Creator of all things seen and unseen is worthy of our trust.

The Lord challenged me recently about my idolatry with regard to money. A word about Martin Luther (see The Melbourne Anglican ) about money and how we so easily make it an idol was the stimulus for this challenge. What stabbed me in the heart was a reference in the article to the issue of trust. Why do we find it hard to trust our Lord Jesus? The answer to that question is easy but the remedy is not. The answer is that our hearts are conflicted by the competition among good things that have become our IDOLS. If you ever want to know what God thinks about idols read the devastating attack on God's people found in the first 35 chapters of the prophet Ezekiel . No one can come from that book with anything but a clear picture of why God was angry and ashamed of his people who had forsaken him for idols and detestable practices that went with idol worship.

Participation in the Holy Communion (also known as The Eucharist, The Lord's Supper) is the sacrament offered in the service of Holy Communion. Anglicans gather around Word and Sacrament, two highlights of their churchly service to God. The Nature of The Holy Communion The Holy Communion is a contentious subject within Anglicanism (as it is in the broader Church itself) although to be an Anglican no one is required to accept a certain doctrine/practice concerning Holy Communion. How the sacrament is viewed carries with it certain practices: for example, for an Anglo-Catholic who subscribes to the belief that the words of institution bring about a changing of the Communion elements into the actual body and blood of Christ, bowing or genuflecting to the aumbry (a small, lockable safe on the wall of the sanctuary) which holds the reserved sacrament (bread that has been blessed) is common. Evangelicals, on the other hand, would rarely reserve the sacrament and do not usually bow t...

This third section of Holy Communion is introduced with the words said by the lay reader/minister: Let us pray for the world and for the Church. In most Anglican churches I've been in the prayers are prayed by a congregational member because these prayers are 'the prayers of the people '. Sometimes the pray-er will even stand at the back of the church or in the aisle a little towards the front to emphasise the fact that these prayers come from the congregation. The prayers are supplicatory in nature. Various formats can be used and numbers of formats are given in the Prayer Book and other appropriate sources can also be used. Usually after each area of prayer is finished, the pray-er will say some like,  Father, hear our prayer [with the congregation responding with something like] through Jesus Christ our Lord. Prayer may then begin with   Almighty God, your Son Jesus Christ has promised that you will hear us when we ask in faith: receive the prayers we offer. Four typical...

In Philippians 2.12-13 the apostle Paul counsels the church to 'work out your own salvation with fear and trembling FOR God is at work in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure'. God is at work in us; therefore, we can work out what He has already done within. Ephesians 5.1-2 sets out an important aspect of the conduct of the Christian: walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us (repeated in 5.25 to husbands). In 5.1-2 we are called to be 'imitators of   God' (!): to be like our parent seeing we are his children. We, who have been loved beforehand (even when we were enemies of God, Rom 5.10) are called to walk in LOVE. ('Walk' means 'to conduct your lives' [according to the will of God].)

I want to pause from outlining the Anglican Service of Holy Communion and examine the question of the preaching the Gospel in this service. Sometimes it can be too easy for preachers to re-tell a bible story and with that re-telling intersperse a number of moral exhortations. However entertaining this action may be, it is not preaching the gospel. It is presenting a moralistic discourse with lots of ethical crumbs which don't add up to the solid food of the whole Word of God. Ethical urgings are just a form of law after all. Nor by that comment am I disparaging the law. 'The law is holy and the commandment is holy, righteous and good' (Rom 7.12). To be opposed to the Law is to fall into the error of antinomianism (anti-, nomos [law]). But keeping the law cannot save us. The law simply arouses our sinful desires (Rom 7.5). Hence, although the law is part of the Word of God unless the gospel of free grace (Eph 2.8, 9) is also preached the congregation will go away believing ...

The next major section in the Anglican Holy Communion service is titled, The Ministry of the Word. For evangelicals in particular, this section is the highlight of the service because the Church in this section hears the Word of God read. On a personal note, in the first Anglican service I attended it was this section of the service that amazed and delighted me. Before that service, I had honestly believed that Anglicans could not be classed as biblical Christians at all but as Romanists (Roman Catholics) who rarely if ever opened their bibles. However, I was confronted with four Scripture readings done with such reverence and solemnity that I hadn't heard delivered in such a way before. And this was in a high Anglican service with crossing and genuflecting! Of course, I had heard the Scriptures read in former churches but usually just one passage and often that would be truncated. (Nevertheless, I now know that my background furnished me with a knowledge and appreciation for the S...

One of the great themes running through Anglican worship is the theme of MERCY. Someone has said that whereas John Calvin focussed on the Sovereignty of God which is an important theme of the Scriptures, Martin Luther could never forget the mercy of God particularly as shown in the Incarnation and in Christ's Redemption. For Luther, God's coming to the creation in the Person of His Son and our Lord's dying on the cross was the greatest act of mercy that the universe has ever beheld. (Cranmer was heavily influenced by Martin Luther as is evident in the former's liturgy and preaching. He even married his first wife while in holy orders even though on arriving back in England he was forced to give up holy orders because of this decision!) In a letter to Philipp Melanchthon his closest friend, Martin Luther with characteristic vigour said: If you are a preacher of mercy, do not preach an imaginary but the true mercy. If the mercy is true, you must therefore bear th...

Eleven small (numbered) 'subsections' make up the first section of the Holy Communion Service, titled Gathering in God's Name . The opening four subsections: §1. A hymn § 2. An Invocation--the Name of God is invoked § 3. The Greeting § 4. Prayer of Preparation (Collect of Purity) were referred to in an earlier post. Then follows subsections § 5-7 which is concluded with the Absolution for sin. § 5. The Two Great Commandments , the Ten Commandments or other suitable passages are used As soon as we hear these commandments being said, we are all reminded of one of the purposes of the Law (Rom 7.7). The law makes us aware of sin: of our deep inclination to wander away from God and seek out other gods. Each Sunday Anglicans are made aware of their sinful state before God and of their continual need for divine forgiveness. Thus the hearing of the commandments leads on to a time of silence and then to a § 6. Confession of Sin The confession is prefaced with the words, 'L...