Youth Sermon on Persecution

Throughout this past week I worked on preparing my talk for the youth ministry this coming Sunday. I normally have three struggles when I am preparing a sermon: first not knowing what to say; second, after some time spent researching and studying, having too much to say and not knowing what to cut out of the talk; and third, often personal struggles and convictions. It was this third problem that was a continual difficulty for me in preparing my talk for Sunday on the last beatitude: blessed are the persecuted. As I began to research this beatitude, as I have been during my previous teachings on the beatitudes I read Gregory of Nyssa’s sermon on this eighth beatitude and according to his writing early Christians threw themselves headlong in eagerness toward persecution. This of course did not originate with Gregory for we also find it in Hebrews: “Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection” (11:35). As an American with implanted cultural values such as the utmost importance of human life above all other things (humanism) and production, at first thought it seems to me that the wiser choice would be to flee persecution, preserve your life and then spread the gospel to others. Does that not seem like a much more sensible choice? Yet both Jesus and the author of Hebrews commends those who are persecuted. And so I wrestle.

Here is my talk:

MESSAGE

Beatitudes: Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, because great is their reward in heaven (Matthew 5:10-12)


INTRODUCTION

(While adding ice and salt to a five gallon bucket of water and then stirring say) I am creating an incredibly cold bucket of water, with not only ice, but salt which lowers the temperature at which water freezes, thus creating extremely cold water. I have here twenty marbles (drop them in the bucket) I also have twenty one dollar bills of which I will give you one dollar for every marble that you take out of the bucket—with your toes. Now this is going to hurt—BAD! Who is willing to go for it?


Why was _____ willing to go through the pain of sticking his foot into freezing cold water? Because he was no thinking about the pain of the water, but about the reward. That is what Jesus was saying when he said “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:10-12). I have only two points: Persecution and Reward.


PERSECUTION

So onto number one: Persecution: Just a few months ago Chinese Christians were attempting to build a church for about 5,000 parishioners. “Witnesses told TIME that at about 2:30 p.m., thousands of uniformed police and plainclothes security officers appeared at the construction site. The police cleared a way through the crowds for a few drill-equipped backhoes, and the authorities then demolished the church. Witnesses say police bludgeoned people indiscriminately with nightsticks. "They were picking up women--some of them old ladies--by their hair and swinging them around like dolls, then letting them crash to the ground," says a man who watched the clash from across the street.” [1] Yet even with all of this persecution there are currently there are 65 million Chinese believers and thousands more converting every day.[2]


By the time he was fourteen years old Richard Wurmbrand had became an atheist and believed that notions toward religion or believing in God were harmful toward humanity. Yet, for some odd reason he was continually drawn toward churches and would often listen to sermons, yet nothing changed in his heart. One day he prayed, “God, I know surely that you do not exist. But if perchance you exist, which I contest, it is not my duty to believe in You; it is Your duty to reveal Yourself to me.”[3]


During this same time an old builder who lived high up in the village also prayed that God would give him his reward here on earth as well as in heaven and prayed that his reward would be bringing a Jew to Christ since Jesus was born to the Jewish people. Now this was an odd prayer for him to pray since there were no Jews in his village. Interestingly, Richard Wurmbrand was a Jew and he said that for no reason at all he felt drawn to that village. There were twelve-thousand villages in Romania, yet he went to that one. Richard Wurmbrand went on to tell that that when he went to the village that old builder went after him like never a young boy went after a beautiful girl and he gave him a Bible to read. Now Richard Wurmbrand had read the Bible before out of cultural interest, but this was different. The old builder would later tell Richard Wurmbrand that he and his wife had prayed for hours and hours for his conversion to Christ. “The Bible he gave me was written not so much in words, but in flames of love fired by his prayers.”[4] He could barely read, but rather cry as he opened the pages and compared his life with Christ’s. He soon came to the faith and became a wildman for Christ spreading the gospel and pasturing those who had come to the faith.


It was during this time that Russians took over Romania and brought communism to power. Richard Wurmbrand considered this to be a great opportunity to spread the gospel since many Russians are raised from childhood as atheists. One day Richard Wurmbrand went into the Russian army barracks and pretended he wanted to buy a watch, but instead he began asking the Russians “Are any of you named Paul or Peter?” some were and he began telling them about the Apostles Peter and Paul. Soon a group of men gathered around him. Returned often to the barracks to talk to the men and many would soon take up the Christian faith. The Russians loved children and he would often send his children to give the solders Bibles and other books about the faith. Soon many Russians came to the faith and Richard Wurmbrand became their pastor. The communists however saw this as a threat to the political system they were trying to build and threw Richard Wurmbrand into prison.


While in jail, the communists wanted him to tell them who and where the rest of the Christians were, but Richard Wurmbrand refused. So they put handcuffs on him that has sharp nails and poked inward toward his wrist. If he remained perfectly still the nails would not hurt. But because it was cold he would began to shake and soon the nails were digging into his skin. Or other times they would put him into a freezer and just before he felt as if he were to die, they would take him out and allow him to become warm and then they would put him back into the freezer again. They did this repeatedly. Or they would make him and the other prisoners stand in boxes with sharp nails and other sharp objects poking inward. As long as you stood perfectly still you would not get poked, but since you were required to stand for hours, standing still was impossible and the objects pierced his sides. Other times in order to get him to deny his faith they would burn him with red hot irons, yet Richard Wurmbrand would not give in.


While he was in prison he preached the gospel to his fellow prisoners. He said we had a deal: we preached, they beat. They were happy beating, we were happy preaching. He told of one man who was caught preaching and sharing his faith and the guards grabbed him, hauled him off and beat him so badly that he could hardly stand and then threw him back into the cell. The man struggled to get up off of the floor and as he pulled himself up he said, “Now brothers where were we?”


Another Christian was burnt with red hot pokers and cut with knives until he had open sores all over his body. Then they forced starving rats into his cell through a pipe, which he had to constantly fight off to keep from attacking him. Even worse when he would not give up the names and locations of Christians he knew outside of the prison they began beating his own son in front him, until finally he could not take it any more and he said, “’Alexander, I must say what they want! I can’t bear your beating anymore!’ The son answered, ‘Father, don’t do me the injustice of having a traitor as a parent. Withstand! If they kill me, I will die with the words, “Jesus and my Fatherland.”’ The Communists, enraged, fell upon the child and beat him to death, with blood spattered over the walls of the cell. He died praising God.”[5] The man who watched was never the same after seeing this.


The author of Hebrews wrote “Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated--the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground” (11:35-38).


St. Gregory of Nyssa wrote of early Christians: “Thus Paul receives the cross, James the sword; Stephen the stones, the blessed Peter is crucified head downwards. All the later fighters for the faith suffer many forms of torture, being thrown to the beasts and into pits, being burned with fire or frozen with cold, having their sides flayed and their heads transfixed by nails; or their eyes are put out, their fingers cut off, their bodies are rent in two by their legs beign pulled apart, or they suffer starvation. . . Thefore, Blessed are those who suffer persecution for my sake.”[6]


The current rate of martyrdom is 100,000 to 200,000 killed each year and this number is growing as more folks become Christians—even through these horrible persecutions, Christianity continues to grow and thrive.


REWARD

Which brings us to number two: Reward. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:10) Here on earth those who are persecuted have the honor of becoming part of a kingdom where Jesus is king. Yet not only are we rewarded here for suffering for Christ but also in heaven. We are to rejoice since Jesus said “great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (5:12). Many times while Richard Wurmbrand was in prison he told of Christians who with smiles and excitement on their faces, were actually happy about their persecutions because they were to be counted among those great prophets of old, heroes of the faith. Isaiah who was sawn in two, Jeremiah who was reviled and thrown into a cistern, and Daniel who was thrown to lions and God delivered him. Our lord and savior Jesus Christ was persecuted, as was the Apostles Peter, who was nailed upside down to a tree, James who was thrown off of the temple and clubbed to death and John who they put inside of a pot of boiling oil. Those who are persecuted get to be part of the group of the great men and women of the faith. Though we do not know exactly what it is, the reward in heaven is great—truly great. The reward will be so great that the sufferings will almost be forgotten as nothing in comparison. Saint Teresa said that an entire life of pain can be compared to one night in an inconvenient hotel, that is how great our reward. Paul said “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).


CONCLUSION

Jesus said, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:10). “All Christians are persecuted, but some more than others for two reasons. Either they live in an unusually evil environment or they are unusually good Christians. Most of us aren’t good enough to be persecuted much by the paganism of one of the most Christian nations in the world. Since most of us are lukewarm, we are therefore safe, for the world persecutes mainly great saints and great sinners.”[7]


However, for those of us who are willing to do whatever it takes to live righteously as Christians there will be persecution. Yet we take comfort in knowing that “The very worst the world can do is kill us, and all that does is send us Home. There is simply nothing left to fear, “neither death nor life, nor angles nor principalities nor powers, nor any other created thing” (Rom 8:38-39).”[8] The apostle Paul stuck his tongue out at death and said “O death where is your sting? O Hell, where is your victory?” (1 Cor 15:55)


In your life you may be persecuted at school for living righteously: Maybe it is because your refuse to cheat on a test. Perhaps you have decided to keep yourself sexually pure. Or guys, when everyone else is looking at porn you turn away. Maybe you will be persecuted for refusing to fight someone who is angry at you—and this does not mean simply physical fighting, but also choosing not to fight back with your words. Perhaps you will be made fun of for hanging out with that kid who always has a booger hanging half out of his nose. I do not know what it may be, but my question to you is do you have what it takes to stand up to persecution for doing the right thing. Are you willing to go the distance no matter what the cost?


I would encourage you to find out more about what is going on in the church around the world. You can read more about Richard Wurmbrand’s incredible story, some of which I have shared with you today, in his book, Tortured for Christ which has sold millions of copies and been translated into 65 languages. There is also this series put out by dc Talk called Jesus Freaks and is filled with incredible stories of Christians and their extreme faith and the classic text of great men and women who have been killed for their faith is this book, Fox’s Book of Martyrs. If you are up for some incredible and inspirational stories I would encourage you to buy one of these books.


There was a young Christian girl who communists were intending to arrest because of her faith, yet to make her arrest crueler they waited until her wedding day. As she was standing at the altar getting married to her husband, the secret police burst into the room, grabbed her and put chains on her wrists. The young bride leaned down and kissed the chains and said, “I thank my heavenly Bridegroom for this jewel He has presented to me on my marriage day. I thank Him that I am worthy to suffer for him.”[9]


May we also be willing to suffer for the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[1] Simon Elegant / Nangjing "The Ware for China's Soul" Time: From the Magazine (Sunday, Aug. 20, 2006), http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1229123,00.html.

[2] Richard Wurmbrand, Tortured for Christ (Battlesville: Living Sacrifice Book Company, 1998), 12.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid, 13.

[5] Ibid, 34.

[6] St. Gregory of Nyssa, The Beatitudes, “Sermon 8”

[7] Peter Kreeft, Back to Virtue: Traditional Moral Wisdom For Modern Moral Confusion, (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1992), 184.

[8] Ibid, 187.

[9] Ibid, 38.

Bishop Donald Harvey

Today I drove with some friends to the Church of the Holy Trinity in Marlborough to watch some friends of mine be confirmed. Afterward I had the pleasure of having lunch with Bishop Donald Harvey who is the retired Bishop of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador, which as you know is in Canada. I highly admire the passion of this man and his depth as a minister of the gospel.

C.S. Lewis

I was given the opportunity to preach today at Christ Church for two of the services. Below is my sermon.

According to the church calendar, today as you know, is the feast day of C.S. Lewis. When I first discovered the Anglican Church and learned of feast days I thought, "What a great church! We get to eat and have all of these grand feasts throughout the year!" However, I quickly learned that feast days simply refer to the days of the year that we remember those saints who have come before us and today we do so for Lewis. Clives Staples Lewis or "Jack" to his friends was ruddy apologist with baggy tweeds, a booming voice, bald head, and horne-rimmed spectacles. Many view him as the most well read Christian author of the 20th century. However his journey to Christianity took the first thirty-one years of his life. It is this story that I would like to share with you today as he recorded in his autobiography, Surprised By Joy.

As a child Lewis was rather withdrawn from what he viewed as a repressive life-a worldview that would quickly lead to atheism. He was not a popular boy. "I was big for my age," he wrote, "a great lout of a boy, and that sets one’s seniors against one. I was also useless at games. Worst of all, there was my face. I am the kind of person who gets told, ‘And take that look off your face too’"1 even though I was not trying to reveal any certain emotion. He did not really have any friends apart from his brother and he could often be found thumbing through the various stacks of books which his father and mother left scattered throughout the house and creating a written world he called animal land. After the death of his mother his father never really recovered. He was gone most of the time, thus leaving Lewis and his brother home alone and when his father was at home, he was quite absent minded, very emotional and had a horrible temper. Lewis and his brother were always looking forward to the next day when he would again leave for work. Lewis hated school and vividly remembered his first day when his mother dressed him in an outfit of stiff irritable clothes and sent him off. The teachers were cruel and beat him. Through these experiences he learned to hate the world in which he lived and God for creating such a place. He wrote, "I was at this time living, like so many Atheists or Antitheists, in a whirl of contradictions. I maintained that God did not exist. I was also very angry with God for not existing. I was equally angry with Him for creating a world"2. He would go on to study under a man who he called the Great Knock, who would open up his intellectual world and allow him to fully and mindfully enter into atheism.

However as he grew and learning he began to discover difficulties in the beliefs which grounded his atheism. As a college students he began to lose his chronological snobbery, his belief in realism and he realized of the depth Christian authors. First, to go was his chronological snobbery-the belief that the latest and greatest scholarly work was correct and ancient works such as the Bible were outdated. It seems that here in the west many of us have this same view. The lastest and the greatest is the best of all. Just this week people were standing in lines for up to thirty six hours to obtain the latest Playstation 3 video game system. In the quest of the latest and greatest some were trampled, others shot and one person was even stabbled over in Manchester, Connecticut! We worship youth and revile old age by making jokes about older folks in our birthday cards. In the scholarly world, many scholars from the two most recent century have proposed that the Gospels and Epistles were not written by those who claimed to write them, such as Mathew, Mark, Luke, John and Paul, and therefore are not credible. Yet over 1,800 years of careful study has shown the very opposite. All of a sudden it is as if we are smarter than all of those who have come before us. When Lewis was forced to think about past wisdom he had to ask himself, had that information been refuted and by whom and how conclusively or did it simply die away in the scholarly world as often fashions do? Second, Lewis lost his trust in realism-the belief that only that which can be touched and which can show forth evidence is to be believed. In our culture is seems that imperical science carries this great prestige above and beyond theology and philosophy and all of the other sciences. It seems that people automatically assume that that which we can touch and physically prove must be the truth and all else is false--completely forgetting that even imperical evidence has to be interpreted. Lewis realized that there were all kinds of things which he held to that had no physical evidence: he trusted his own thoughts, he trusted his moral judgements as valid, and his aesthetic experience as valuable. Third, Lewis discovered that some of the smartest people he knewindividual believed in God. At Oxford clearly one of the most intelligent and best informed men in his class was a Christian-a thoroughgoing supernaturalist. He would go on to discover that all the books were turning against him--his favorite authors which had had a great effect upon him: George MacDonald, Johnson, Spenser and Milton, Plato, Aeschylus. And those others which held to his theories of atheism, Shaw and Wells, Mill and Gibbon and Voltaire all seemed thin and lacking in depth. As his intellectual base for atheism began to crumble so also did his journey begin to the belief which would change his life forever.

He would go on to write these words: "In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England. I did not then see what is now the most shining and obvious thing; the Divine humility which will accept a convert even on such terms. The Prodigal Son at least walked home on his own feet. But who can duly adore that Love which will open the high gates to a prodigal who is brought in kicking, struggling, resentful, and darting his eyes in every direction for a chance of escape? The words compelle intrare, compel them to come in, have been so abused by wicked men that we shudder at them; but, properly understood, they plumb the depth of the Divine mercy. The hardness of God is kinder than the softness of men, and His compulsion is our liberation"3. This was the begining of his move to truth. And so after 31 years during a motorcycle ride to the zoo with his brother he would come to believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and from there become the most well known Christian author of the 20th century. Amen.

1. C. S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy (London: Geoffrey Bles, 1955), 95.
2. Ibid, 113.
3. Ibid, 215.

After a long day of studies at the seminary, my lonely car awaits to carry me home while silently and patiently enjoying the incredible brushstrokes of creation in the distance.

Dinner at the Lemons

We had an excellent meal of Thai food and even better company at the home of Cameron and Jenelle Lemons along with their two young boys.

This picture just does not capture the essence

The rainy day should have stifled my spirit and disengaged my enthusiasm. However the rain had not yet started and a thick fog was lifting all around creating a visibility of but a few hundred feet. I wanted to simply give up my studies and walk amongst the trees and absorb the beauty forever like that of a childhood memory immediately recalled upon a wafting smell. I felt as though there were an entirely new world seeping through the mist that I had yet to discover. Adventure, mystery, excitement, splendor.

A Few Pictures from Youth Group

Every Sunday evening I have the pleasure of working with the youth ministry at Christ Church. The evening is always full of energy and crazy games as well as music and teaching.

Chasing after the Books

I woke up at 5:30 today to join Joe, a fellow seminarian and Jeff, an engineering student to alight, along with hundreds of others upon the semi-annual CBD (Christian Book Distributors) sale. The company is predominately an online retailer, but every so often they have a sale to pass on their damaged books and such to the locals, so us poor seminarians love the opportunity. We stood in line outside the building and then entered into this massive warehouse with thousands of books laid out across table after table after table. Here we are below with our boxes full of “finds.”

Beauty in the Garden

Another day in the garden. Hour after hour. Though the work is tiring, the sights are often full of delights for the eyes.














I could not help but post once more the beautiful view that engulfs me each day I arrive at work.














Cameron Lemons, a fellow seminarian, husband and the father of two young boys. I highly respect him as a thoughtful and passionate friend and enjoy working with him in the garden. Though he will be graduating soon and leaving with his family to return to California, it is my hope that this short time God has given us as friends will not be the last and that perhaps we will once again walk the same path.










Fall colors, this late into the season? Do not the colors simply mesmerize you?

Working in the Garden

A couple of days a week I motor up this winding drive and work alongside the birds, the grasses, trees and flowers at Spike and Libby Thorne's--a well to do couple who have been a rich blessing in my life by allowing me a secure place of employment working in their garden and on their property.









Here I am (with Alex in the background) hard at work attempting to pick up the seemingly endless leaves that I spent nine hours picking up today. Where do I work? I work for Spike and Libby Thorne, an older couple who value a well taken care of lawn and garden.










This is my friend Alex, hauling our "leaf vacuum." He and I often work together and I thoroughly enjoy his company. He is a great conversationalist and extremely intelligent. The man amazes me: as a husband and father of three young boys, one of whom is autistic, he still finds time to take classes at the seminary and work an incredibly amount of hours to support his family.

Fortunately, the place comes equipped with a beautiful view of which the sun often compliments late into the evening--one of the pleasures of life.

Credibility of the Gospels

The Meaning of Jesus, a chapter by chapter dialog between two well respected scholars. Borg understands a majority of the gospels to be taken metaphorically, unlike Wright who holds to the orthodox conservative position of understanding the gospels as historical narratives. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, much more than the one above. If you would like to read from some of the best and yet easily followed debates concerning the Jesus Christ, the Son of God and whether or not what is written about in the gospels can be trusted as truth, this is your book.

Friend's for Dinner

We had a lot of fun with Brian and Jackie Barry, who joined us for dinner at our place. Brian is finishing his first year at the seminary and would like to become an Anglican priest, though he is currently working in a CMA (Christian Missionary Alliance) Church as the youth pastor. His wife works at Starbucks and as an assistant kindergarten teacher.

October - A Month in the Life of a Seminarian

Greetings from quickly cooling Massachusetts. This past weekend was one of tempestuous winds and driving rains, otherwise known to the good folks in New England as a Nor’easter. You should have seen the look on Melissa's face when the wind mangled into a creation of modern art the umbrella she had purchased within the last hour. It was a sorrowful experience.

This month has been an array of ancient language exams, sermons and papers, but somehow I am still alive. I preached at Christ Church a couple of times, the first of which was on proper 22, Jesus teaching on divorce (Mark 10:2-9). I thought the gospel reading looked challenging and was a subject toward which I feel strongly and an issue which touches the lives of so many, both those who are directly involved as well as family members and friends. However, as I further prepared the sermon I began to feel somewhat fearful with the thought of preaching the conviction of biblical truth yet communicating love to those in the pews who have been or are currently in the midst of divorce. When the day arrived, I sat in the pew as the service drew closer to the sermon and felt terrified—not nervous but terrified. Like the time when I was on a mission trip to the country of Panama and we went swimming with naked Indian kids who were jumping off of thirty, forty and fifty foot cliffs into the water. I remember thinking to myself, if these seven and eight year old kids can do this surely I who am triple their age can take this challenge. I remember feeling a rush of terror as I looked over the cliff and backed away and then suddenly, in a surge wild foolishness ran over the edge and was sucked down through the air and swallowed by the water below. So it was with this preaching engagement. Though I had preached multiple times in the past, never before had I preached on a subject that could seemingly be this controversial or even hurtful. After all, who am I, this young kid who has been married not even two years, to speak on such a great and ancient truth as the sacrament of marriage? However I made it through (go hear to read the sermon: http://philipmayer.blogspot.com/2006/10/divorce.html) and Father Jürgen actually said I did well. Two weeks later I preached again, but this time with no notes whatsoever. In the days before I had written out my sermon and practiced multiple times until I felt I could complete the talk without notes. I felt much better when I stood to preach this time and by the second service I was even able to think on my feet and was beginning to feel a hint of confidence in my speaking ability. After the service I felt that I had conquered. The road to note-less speaking was no longer wobbling like a rope bridge on a child’s playground, but has begun to steady as I progress to the other side.

Youth ministry has been moving steadily forward. Our fall retreat took place without any problems and this past Sunday we went to St. Peters Episcopal Church in Beverly to assist with their weekly soup kitchen and it was a great time with the students.

One of the biggest things that I miss at the seminary is being in a tight-knit group of men who challenge one another and are there for one another during difficult times. I spoke with an acquaintance about this longing and he agreed and then went on to tell of a group that he was involved with at his undergraduate college. Each week they would meet for lunch and then go off and climb up into this old abandoned tunnel. There they would sit in silence until everyone arrived at which point they would pray for one another and through this bonding they became very close. I thought it sounded like an excellent idea and said that we should go for it. We prayed together for God’s leading and then agreed to meet every Tuesday for lunch and prayer. I began talking to some of my other friends on campus and on Tuesday six of us got together for lunch and then we went outside and using the form for Noonday Prayer, prayed for one another. It was great! I am very excited about continuing this group.

Life at the “Mill Street House” is also going well. For those of you who did not know, a few months ago Melissa and I moved into a neo monastic community a few months ago. Mother Beth, one of our former priests at Christ Church and her husband spent a year traveling the globe and visiting intentional Christian communities, both para-church organizations and monasteries here in the states, in Europe and Africa. In following God’s leading they returned to the states and purchased a triple decker house in the worst neighborhood in the city with the intention of building relationships and reaching out to the many poor and rejected people living in the neighborhood. Melissa and I were completely sold on the vision for the house and after much prayer and seeking counsel, we moved into the third floor of the house. Now every morning at seven we gather together in the chapel with the other folks that life here for Morning Prayer and then again then night at ten for Compline. Once a week we have a meal together as a house. We are thoroughly enjoying the experience.

A Day in the Park

 

Hiking in New York

During labor day weekend we were able to go hiking in this park in the state of New York. Is not it beautiful? 

Bishop Thomas Shaw of the diocese of Massachusetts

Here I am along with the bishop of Massachusetts, Thomas Shaw. He is a wonderful man with a very humble spirit. His true heart's desire is to see the church come together in love and unity. Theologically we have some strong disagreements, such as our view of Scripture and more specifically, homosexuality-one of the difficulties of the church here in the west.

Here is Melissa and I, along with our priest, Father Jürgen Liias. He as a wonderful Christian and mentor and has helped me tremendously as I attempt to follow God's leading toward holy orders. He is also one of the best preachers here in the northeast. I admire him greatly. 

Here is Melissa and I at Russel Orchards. We visited the farm over the weekend to enjoy the fall weather, a hay-ride and of course, hot cider and donuts.

Divorce

Divorce is a difficult subject. The word probably brings strong feelings into each of our lives. My aunt, right now is going through divorce and it is emotionally very difficult for me to watch. In preparing to speak to you today I have spoken with a variety of different people concerning divorce and was quickly reminded how opinionated the subject can be.Circumstances were not much different during Jesus day. It was nearing the time for Passover and there would have been great crowds around Jesus when the Pharisees decided that they would attempt to discredit and further than that, destroy Jesus by asking him about divorce. You see despite the prophet Malichi’s proclamation that God hated divorce, like in our culture, divorce was quite common. There were two influential teachers, according to the Mishnah, over the word, “davar aroth,” which Moses wrote in the law as reason for divorce. One teacher taught that the word meant adultery. You could only divorce your wife because of adultery. However, the other, much more popular teacher taught that you could divorce your wife for any reason—if she burnt your supper or if you found another more beautiful than her.

From the framing of this passage, it seems that Pharisees had thought long and hard about this question and they knew exactly where Jesus stood on the matter for he had spoken of these things before. They also knew that Jesus cousin, John the Baptist had recently been thrown into prison and eventually beheaded for preaching about matters surrounding divorce in this same region—surely their hopes were that through their question Jesus would find himself in the same situation.

When Jesus was asked this question about divorce, instead of becoming involved in an argument over the interpretation of the Mosaic law, he took them back to the very beginning when the sacrament of marriage was instituted by God to show to them God’s purpose for marriage and he said:

“From the beginning of creation, 'God made them male and female.' 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate."

No Option

Tertullian, one of the early Church fathers taught from this passage that when God created the first male and female, he created them in relationship without option. God did not have to create just two people so? He could have created six or seven or eight. He could have created Adam and Eve, and Jill, and Sally, and Patty, and said, “Well Adam if it doesn’t work out with Eve, here are these other ladies from which to choose.” No! There was no one else on the planet to which Adam could go. Eve was his only option! Adam was Eve’s only option. It is clear from creation, from the very beginning that God intended marriage to be a non-optional, non-dissolvable union.

One Flesh

Jesus also taught from Holy Scripture that two would come together and become one flesh, “no longer two, but one flesh.” When two people physically come together in the consummate act of marriage there is some type of mystical connection that takes place—a sacramental act of God, whether Christian or non-Christian. The Apostle Paul cited this same verse and wrote, “He who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her.” Even when non-believers get divorced they are ripping apart something that God had put together. Perhaps this is what Jesus was saying: “what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

An Un-encouraged Exception

However, as you know in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus says that God allows adultery as reason for divorce. Yet, I would urge that we follow the biblical example of marriage by going to the utmost lengths possible to show forgiveness and make every attempt possible to heal broken relationships no matter what the trouble. God himself remained in his marriage relationship with the adulterous Israel for seven hundred years, according to the prophet Jeremiah before issuing her a divorce. And yet even when Israel had turned completely away do you think God gave up? Never. He still urged, “Return, faithless Israel, I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful.” He was willing to go the distance and do whatever it took to win back his people even though they failed him again and again.

Application/Conclusion

Divorce is a very difficult thing. I do not claim to have all of the answers. As I mentioned before my aunt right now is going through a divorce. She and her husband were married before I was born and I watched them together my entire life. I loved both of them and spent many days at their house playing with my cousins as a child. I have many great memories of holiday celebrations, birthdays and camping together. I never gave a second thought to their marriage. To me as a kid and on into my adult years it was something that always was and always would be. When I received news that my aunt had moved out of the house into an apartment because of hurtful difficulties within the relationship I was shocked and I did not know what to think. I felt as though my heart were ripping apart and I was not even the one getting the divorce. It is a very difficult and complicated situation. Had I been a pastor involved in the situation I too would have counseled her to separate until these dire problems in the relationship were taken care of. Today, even as the marriage seems to be hurderling closer than ever to divorce I still pray that healing would take place.

All of us are affected by divorce whether it is in the relationship of someone that we know or maybe in our own lives. May we be reminded that God is a loving and merciful God—one who understands the pain of broken relationships in a far more severe way than you or I ever will. We serve a God who loves those who have been through this horrible experience.

Perhaps you have an excellent marriage or maybe you are having difficulty in your relationship. I would urge you to go the distance, giving the relationship all that you have—following the example that Christ gave, “Husbands, love you wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” Go the distance and be willing to give up your life.

In our marriages may we for better, for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, worship Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—the one almighty God. To him belongs all glory and honor forever and ever. Amen.

The Laughable Gospel of Judas

After hearing all of the hype on the Gospel of Judas and how this new information was going to change what was thought to be the truth of Christianity I decided to go to the website of the Discovery Channels, who is promoting the document, download it and read it for myself (the pdf file is only eight pages long and I would encourage you to check it out). It's rather funny to read. It begins by saying "The secret account of the revelation that Jesus spoke in conversation with Judas Iscariot." That's an awfully odd start to a book. If this was the truth, why would it need to be secret?

The author then goes on to say that Jesus "began to speak with them about the mysteries beyond the world and what would take place at the end. Often he did not appear to his disciples as himself, but he was found among them as a child." What does he mean by that? Did Jesus morph into a child and then back into an adult again? Was he some sort of image changer? It sounds like an X-Men spoof or something.

The author of this gospel then goes on to describe a conversation between Jesus and his disciples in which Jesus laughs at the disciples prayer and then they become infuriated with Jesus. Everyone is afraid to speak to him except Judas (apparently the great hero of the story) who turns to him and says "I know who you are and where you have come from. You are from the immortal realm of Barbelo." I almost laughed when I read that. It sounds like some kind of sci-fi talk doesn't it?

Later in the book Jesus goes on to explain to Judas about Cosmology in which he describes Self-Generating Angels which came into being and who go on to create other angels. I quote: "He said, ‘[Let] an enlightened aeon come into being,’ and he came into being. He created the second luminary [to] reign over him, together with myriads of angels without number, to offer service. That is how he created the rest of the enlightened aeons." From there he describes the creation of man with these words "Then Saklas said to his angels, ‘Let us create a human being after the likeness and after the image.’ They fashioned Adam and his wife Eve, who is called, in the cloud, Zoe."

The book ends with Jesus talking with Judas about his betrayal by saying "Truly [I] say to you, Judas, [those who] offer sacrifices to Saklas [here the document is missing some lines] . . . But you will exceed all of them." And so it ends with Judas somehow being the hero. Interesting how the one dark character becomes the great one at the end.

I completely understand why the Gospel of Judas was condemned by Bishop Irenaeus during the second century as heresy. This gospel is very difficult to take seriously. I laughed while reading it. All of the hype is just a great marketing tactic that the Discovery channel has successfully used as free advertising to promote its special on Judas’ Gospel. That's all. There are lots of books like this out there: The Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Peter and a bunch of other gibberish that wasn't included in the Bible for obvious reasons.