Home | About Us | Directions| Calendar | Prayer | Gallery | News

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Good Shepherd Sunday

Dear Friends:  Over the generations, the Universal Church has called this upcoming Sunday "Good Shepherd Sunday"; the Gospel passage is John 10:11-16.  This is the passage where Jesus calls Himself the Good Shepherd.  He is the one who takes care of the sheep, guides them, feeds them, gets them out of trouble, heals their illnesses, and watches over them.  Several times in the Old Testament, God is called the Shepherd over Israel, and Jesus expands on that theme in John.  But Jesus expands on this theme, saying that He will even die for the sheep!!  Obviously a reference to the Crucifixion and Resurrection.  And Jesus contrasts Himself as the Good Shepherd with the "hireling"; the bad shepherd doesn't command the loyalty of the sheep, and doesn't have their interests at heart.  Jesus, the Good Shepherd, does.
 
One could glean a lot from this passage.  First of all, it is a passage on leadership in the Church.  If we are to lead like Jesus, that means we have to be servant leaders.  We have to love and tend to God's people.  Like Jesus, we have to sacrificially serve the needs of the local and greater Church.  And, of course, we have to fend off "wolves", or bad teachings that can lead believers astray.
 
But perhaps the direction I would like to go in is to suggest that the sheep have a responsibility to be sheep, just as the Good Shepherd has a responsibility to be a Good Shepherd.  If we are a sheep in God's flock (and we all are!), then we have the responsibility to try to stay close to the shepherd.  Oh sure, we can wonder way off, in search of grass that seems tastier than that which the Good Shepherd gives us.  We can seek after broader horizons and tempting possibilities.  But these lead us out of sight of the Good Shepherd, and into the domain of the Wolf, that is, the Devil.  So our responsibility as sheep is to stay close to the Shepherd, under His watchful eye, and in the joy that only Christ can give.
 
This Sunday we're going to talk about that.  And hopefully, after we study this passage a little more closely, we'll actually be glad that we are sheep in the Lord's pasture!

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Luke's version of Jesus' Resurrection

Dear Friends:  This Sunday we will be looking at Luke's version of Jesus' Resurrection appearance to that same group of doubting and disspirited disciples that we found last week in John's Gospel.  You might want to check out Luke 24:36b-48 before we get together for worship at 10 am!!
 
The difference here is that Thomas, or anyone else for that matter, is singled out for special attention.  They all receive Jesus with "joy and disbelief".  They all think they are seeing a ghost.  Jesus eats a piece of fish in front of all of them, so they might believe that it is He, and that He is alive and well and with them.  And Jesus opens all their minds to the transforming power of Scripture, which explains God's wonderful plan of salvation for all people through Jesus Christ.
 
But here, there is no Pentecost, no action by Jesus to "breathe" on the disciples, so they might receive the Holy Spirit.  No, for Luke, the disciples spend forty days with the Master, learning what they need to know for their future ministry.  In Luke, Jesus ascends into the clouds, to go back to Heaven to be with the Father.  And in Luke, volume II, also known as Acts, we find the gift of the Holy Spirit given to the disciples on Pentecost.  It is the Spirit who equips them, transforms them, and sends them out to evangelize the world.
 
Now for my money, I suspect that Luke's account is more historically accurate.  But this doesn't make John's account inaccurate.  Just different.  John had a different point to make.  And in the long run, the message is the same.  Jesus has given us of His Spirit, who gives us spiritual gifts to use in ministry, and He has given us mission to fulfill in His Name, with the constant presence and aid of the Holy Spirit.
 
You know, the message of the Gospel is the same, even if the way of telling the story is different.  For different people respond positively to the message when it is delivered in different ways.
 
This Sunday we will celebrate the "bridging" of our children from one grade to another.  And so the sermon will be directed especially to them, through the words of C.S. Lewis.  I am going to share a passage from vol. 6, "The Silver Chair".  It is perhaps one of the best telling of the story of the Resurrection I have ever heard.  It stars Aslan the lion, who as we all know represented God/Jesus in the Chronicles.  But adults, don't worry -- you're going to find much in this story that speaks to our situation today as well!  See you Sunday!!

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Easter 2009

My Dear Brothers and Sisters of the Anglican District of Virginia,

Let me begin with an understatement: We are living in uncertain times – economically, politically, culturally, relationally, and spiritually. Sometimes I catch myself worrying about what it is all going to come to. People have been known to worry themselves to death in uncertain times. So how do we get out of this worry trap?

Going back to basics, let's think of the final days of Jesus' earthly life. He found himself in much the same situation in which we find ourselves today. His world was one of uncertainty – economically, politically, culturally, relationally, and spiritually. In those last few weeks leading up to His death, He watched His world collapse around Him. Some of His followers were expressing doubt about His mission; the religious leaders of the day were obviously out to get Him; the tug-a-war between the Roman Government and the Sanhedrin was heating up and He was in the epicenter of that war; He had no money except what some faithful women were able to dedicate toward His little band of followers; His own brothers thought He was crazy; the whole culture was divided between allowing Roman ideas and customs to flourish beside time honored Jewish standards. In a short sentence: IT WAS A MESS down there in Jerusalem as Jesus and a donkey made His triumphal entry into town.

And so He rode into the mess of what we now call Holy Week. He caused a ruckus in the temple; He taught anyone who would listen; He milled around; He had one last supper with His close followers; and then He was betrayed by His treasurer, was found guilty of blasphemy and was brutally executed. Sort of makes being sued for church property look like a cake walk, doesn't it?

Do you think Jesus worried about what it was all going to come to? As well as being FULLY GOD, He was also FULLY MAN.  He had to deal with the same emotions we do. He may have caught himself worrying a bit. But there was something else…Trust in His Father. Even as He sweat blood in the Garden of Gethsemane and poured out His worries to His Father, he ended with a trust statement, "But not my will, but Thine be done."

Have you noticed some Trust issues in your life lately? Are they beginning to take control of your mood and even your relationships? I have a suggestion to get break through to freedom. Let's all talk privately to Jesus about our worries. Let's pour out our hearts to Him about the uncertainty of our days. Then, let's rededicate ourselves to Him as our Savior and Lord. I have found that when I do that, something magnificent happens. The worries fade away as I gaze on Jesus and the Big Picture. This too shall pass. Try it.

You see, when you and I look in the side view mirror of our lives, we not only see Jesus dying on a cross for us, WE SEE HIS BODILY RESURRECTION! Jesus was risen from the dead in order to bring us a certainty of our own resurrection. Worries about uncertain times will have much less power over us when we tuck in closely to Jesus – for today, for eternity.

May your Easter Sunday this year be one of the most wonderful Easters of your life. "See you in church."

Bishop Dave Bena
CANA Suffragan and ADV Contact Bishop

PS – just a reminder to sign up for the Anglican District of Virginia newsletter to keep track of all that is happening in our part of Anglicanism in North America at www.anglicandistrictofvirginia.org.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Palm Sunday

Dear friends:  This Sunday is Palm Sunday, and we all remember the pageantry and pomp of the celebrations for this the start of Holy Week.  The cheering crowds, the branches laid upon the road before Jesus' procession as it enters Jerusalem, the excitement of the coming Messiah!!  So many times this is captured in the Church today by the distribution of palm fronds, either in branches or looped into crosses.  Did you know that palm branches are only mentioned once in the Gospels, and that is in John, even though the triumphant entrance into Jerusalem is mentioned in all four Gospels!
 
It is in celebration and eager anticipation that we start Holy Week.  But it doesn't last.  For instead of raising up an army to defeat the Romans, this Messiah goes into the Temple and starts teaching!!  Soon the crowds become disillusioned.  They thought they had followed the new King David.  But this Messiah does not ride into town on a warhorse, but on a donkey.  This Messiah' s coronation in on a Cross.  This King conquers the world through the power of the Holy Spirit, not the power of armies.
 
It may seem funny that the shouts of "Hosanna" by the crowds on Palm Sunday turn so quickly into shouts of "Crucify Him" by Good Friday.  But they are one and the same, because both are correct.  Jesus is the King.  But Jesus is also the Crucified One.  And that is how God planned it all along, for the salvation of all people.
 
There are really three reasons why the crowds turned against Jesus, and it is these three reasons that we are going to discuss this Sunday:  1) Jesus talked more and more about commitment.  2) Jesus dared to suggest that all people are worth loving, and 3) Jesus said that the way to relationship to God is through the Cross.  None of these can be very welcome to modern ears, either.  But they are essential.  And we're going to talk about this on Sunday.  See you at 10 am this Sunday morning!!