Ethics & Religion   By Michael J. McManus   Forty-six evangelical Christian leaders have signed a letter to President Bush urging him to send "massive humanitarian aid" to the Darfur region of the Sudan where Congress charges a genocide is going on, and to consider "sending troops...to stop the killing."   This is a distinct shift of emphasis for the National Association of Evangelicals, who represent 30 million Americans most likely to support the President.   In the past, the NAE successfully pushed the Administration into ground-breaking human rights initiatives such as $15 billion of AIDS relief, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act and to halt violence between Muslims and Christians in southern Sudan.   However, the victims in Darfur are Muslim. "We view this as an opportunity to reach out to Muslims in the name of Jesus," said the Rev. Ted Haggard, NAE president.   Secretary of State Colin Powell visited Sudan recently to urge the Khartoum regime to halt its arming of a civilian militia called Janjaweed who have destroyed Darfur villages, raped tens of thousands of women and slaughtered 30,000 men, women and children. The terrorism has so frightened residents that 1.2 million have fled their homes to isolated tent refugee camps on the Sudan-Chad border.   The U.S. Agency for International Development characterizes the crisis in Darfur as the "worst humanitarian crisis in the world today" that could lead to the deaths of 300,000 Sudanese refugees due to starvation, disease or ethnic cleansing violence. So far, few aid agencies have been able to penetrate the region due to continuing violence.   The few groups who are there — CARE, World Vision, AID — have sent back alarming reports of impending starvation and mass death.   Evangelicals wrote to the President, "We agree with the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum which has named the Darfur crisis a 'full-fledged genocide emergency,' the first such warning in the museum's history.   "Your Administration's goal — to redefine our national interest not as power but as values and to identify one supreme value, what John Kennedy called 'the success of liberty' could be jeopardized by not taking a strong enough position on Sudan's genocidal behavior. The World Health Organization estimates that ten thousand people are dying each month and that a catastrophe equivalent to what occurred in Rwanda a decade ago could unfold within weeks."   What has been the Administration's response? It has increased its relief assistance to $146 million, but has failed to enlist other nations to help. The entire European Union has pledged a niggardly $13 million. Last week prodded by America, the UN Security Council sent Sudan a warning that it might face sanctions if it did not stop the Janjaweed militia within 30 days.   Golly. Khartoum sneered at that failure to take serious action by mobilizing 100,000 Muslim demonstrators on Sunday against the "Crusaders" threatening their holy land.   That action galvanized the evangelicals to demand that the U.S. government take a more decisive role to prevent further "slaughter and death."   NAE urged "massive humanitarian aid," of at least $100 million more, if the Europeans won't pony up. More important, NAE urged "active exploration of all available interventions options — including sending troops to Darfur as has been proposed by the United Kingdom and Australia." It noted one option short of military intervention "would be dramatic expansion of the efforts of the African Union Protection Force by providing its soldiers and monitors with much-needed equipment and resources, toward the goal of securing humanitarian relief corridors." Today those troops lack walkie talkies, let alone significant troops or arms.   The heads of such denominations as the Assemblies of God, the Christian Reformed Church, Free Methodists and the Evangelical Free Church joined seminary and college presidents and the editor of Christianity Today in demanding that Sudan be kicked off the UN Human Rights Commission, that Sudan grant visas to aid workers, and that it arrest and prosecute Sheif Musa Hilel, a former bank robber and killer who leads the Janjaweed militia.   NAE concluded, "If...the United States government cannot end all evil in a large and complex world, it can nonetheless immediately adopt policies that limit today's persecutions and ensure greater fulfillment of inalienable and internationally recognized rights to freedom of belief and conscience....We vow never to commit the sin of silence whenever we learn of persecution."   America could earn new respect among the world's Muslims by standing up to a bully who is slaughtering them.

By Alan Hamilton The Times August 4, 2004 AN EVANGELIST who considers homosexuality an "abomination" has been arrested after police and passers-by in Salisbury, Wiltshire, objected to the tone and the volume of his preaching. John Holme, 44, a computer software salesman, was released without charge on police bail pending further inquiries, after his car and trailer were seized as he bellowed his divine message through the streets of the cathedral city at the weekend. Mr Holme, who is married with two children, was asked to tone down the volume of his sermon as he drove through busy streets in his car and trailer berating homosexuality as a wicked perversion. He declined, pleading his human rights, but was arrested when a police officer noticed that his trailer bore the slogan: "God says; if you reject Him you may become homosexual." Wiltshire police confirmed yesterday they had stopped a man after complaints from the public about his method of preaching, and about a sign on his trailer which many found offensive. He had declined to withdraw the sign and was arrested under the Public Order Act. He continued preaching in his cell at Salisbury police station. Yesterday Mr Holme, free but fuming at his arrest, continued to preach his message. "The Bible teaches that any form of sex outside of the marriage bed between a male man and his female wife is an abomination to God." He said he wished people "delivered from the bondage of sexual perversion", but emphasised that he did not intend any violence or evil towards homosexuals. Last month Mr Holme incurred the wrath of shopkeepers and customers in a Salisbury shopping centre who presented him with a formal request to curb the excessive noise of his oratory, which they claimed could be heard half a mile away. Six years ago Salisbury magistrates fined Mr Holme £1,050, plus £250 costs, for attempting to preach to a local housing estate from a motorised hang-glider equipped with a megaphone. The case was brought by the Civil Aviation Authority, who claimed he had been flying too close to a populated area, even though his ill-starred flight was at times barely 6ft off the ground. After his 1998 flight, which narrowly missed bird tables, trees and an electrified fence, Mr Holme said: "I thought that maybe if they heard this voice booming out from the sky, they would think it was God. I wanted to get through to kids on council estates, and I needed some cred." Mr Holme, who is an elder at his parish church in Coombe Bissett, Wiltshire, said yesterday: "The purpose of my preaching is to see people come to believe in God and put their trust in Jesus Christ for salvation. We are not born homosexual; that is logically impossible."

A pastoral and theological perspective on the dilemma in ECUSA from the point of view of a parish priest. A submission to the Lambeth/Eames Commission By the Rev. Ian Montgomery August 3, 2004 I write as a parish priest, ordained in 1975 in England. I was a curate in London from 1975 - 1978 and moved to the USA in 1978. (I have been rector of three congregations in different parts of the USA and a college chaplain.) I wish to focus on what has happened and what may happen to the congregation that I currently serve. Following the passing of the General Convention 2003 votes related to human sexuality it was as if a knife had been stabbed in the heart of our congregation. A choice between "yes" and "no" was forced upon us. No longer could pastoral discretion make some sense of our sexual confusions. No longer could we as a more evangelical/catholic congregation ignore the theological innovations and actions of our national leadership. The issues in relation to our own bishop were not in doubt as he has consistently and bravely resisted these innovations. His passion is mission and ministry, to lead people to a transforming relationship with Jesus Christ. I issued a pastoral letter to the congregation stating my grief and opposition to the actions of the convention. This had the effect of stemming some significant departures from our congregation and ECUSA. I begged the congregation to await the October meeting of the primates. Following the meeting of the primates I distributed copies of their statement and gave a personal address, followed by a forum after services. The congregation was divided into four components. First, there were a few who were adamantly in favor of the actions of the convention. Several others favored ignoring the whole matter as not that important. Several more were opposed on grounds of traditional morality. But the majority was opposed because of the violation of Scriptural teaching reinforced by the resolution of Lambeth 1998. It was noted how the majority of the Anglican Communion had begged ECUSA to pull back from its resolutions and intentions. The Primates warned of dire consequences should ECUSA continue with the consecration on November 2. Our Diocese (Fond du Lac), by a narrow vote decided to reject the General Convention decisions concerning sexuality while seeking to affirm unity and mission. The consecration service on November 2 took place the next day. The effect on our congregation was the loss of some parishioners to either more liberal or more non-involved ECUSA congregations. One family left for a more conservative and Biblical denomination. We gained several families from another more liberal congregation. By springtime this year our average Sunday attendance had grown from 245 to 285. Our budget had increased by over 8%. However about 60% of our income is restricted by its givers from the "National Church." In many ways we are thriving. Our relationship with the Presiding Bishop and those who either voted for the consecration, or participated in it, is functionally and irretrievably lost. We are betrayed in our trust in these bishops. The Presiding Bishop has proven himself duplicitous in signing the Primates statement and then being the chief consecrator on November 2. The presiding Bishop has been the chief advocate of these innovations and offenses. Under the surface and in our ecumenical relations things are still difficult and we are in a temporary "holding pattern." Several churches have come to our aid in prayer support. We are partnered in a feeding ministry with a large Bible Church that considered severing its links with us because of the convention votes. Once our and my stance was made clear they have become even more supportive. On a local level the name "Episcopal" has become an embarrassment and a point of disgusted comment from outsiders. Though our signs include the word "Episcopal," this designation has been quietly dropped in conversation. Within our congregation there are at least 52 families patiently awaiting the decisions of the Lambeth Commission in October and the Primates in February. They are determined to leave ECUSA but would prefer to be Anglican. In fact they and I have already left, in our minds. Communion is effectively broken within the USA, not simply impaired. What are we hoping for? We hope for a complete restructuring of the Anglican Communion in the USA. ECUSA must be declared no longer Anglican (with the hope of repentance and restoration). We seek recognition and support as we seek to continue to be loyal to Christ, the Scriptures, the Creeds and the Anglican formularies as they are adhered to by most of the rest of the Anglican Communion. Ideally our congregation would affiliate with some continuing Anglican community such as the Anglican Communion Network. It would then remain largely intact, stay in its buildings and continue its ministry in the local and larger community. We would hope to continue to be in communion with our bishop whom we support and love. In the absence of such a solution the 52 families above mentioned are likely to leave. They are likely either simply to disperse to other denominations and churches or to leave and form a new church entity. That new church would seek to be in communion with some part of what may be left of the Anglican Communion. I say the latter because it is clear to me that a numerical majority of the Anglican Communion has clearly indicated that they would not tolerate continued communion with ECUSA's leadership. ECUSA's disdain of the rest of the Communion is legendary. The likelihood of the breakup of the Anglican Communion is clear if no action is taken to discipline ECUSA. Certainly this congregation's future would be in doubt. Why not reconciliation? For the last twenty years in which I have been involved in dialog on either a local or national level there has been one goal. That goal has been the conversion from a biblical, orthodox and traditional view into a more liberal and revisionist one. Coupled with this we have seen increasingly intolerant and totalitarian rule by bishops who bring all their canonical authority to intimidate and force out clergy and congregations whose only "sin" is to conform to the doctrine and teachings of Scripture and the Anglican Communion at large. Dialog effectively ended on November 2, 2003. ECUSA has not simply made decisions that separate it from the Anglican Communion, but ECUSA has steadily been moving away from doctrines of apostolic and biblical salvation in favor of a gospel of affirmation that is married to the spirit of the age and enforced by a type of canonical fundamentalism and tyranny. Those clergy who seek with diligence "to banish and drive away from the Church all erroneous and strange doctrines contrary to God's Word" risk discipline deposition if they speak or act contrary to the will of their tyrannical and monarchical bishop. Many have already left ECUSA for alternate Anglican communities - often at great personal cost. Those of us who remain have one hope left. It is to be given a choice, to remove to another church entity, preferably in communion with Canterbury. We desire to keep our churches intact because we are a local manifestation of the body of Christ and we do not wish it "by schisms rent asunder." This has nothing to do simply with property. It is because to leave our church building would be an impossible wrench for many in the flock. The connections are not simply theological or doctrinal they are family connections. In our congregation it is not unusual to see four generations of one family in the pew. Not to both discipline ECUSA (always with the hope of repentance and restoration) and to give our people a choice as to where to go will be to abandon us. So far as ECUSA goes it is as fragmented as Humpty Dumpty. So far as this priest and this congregation is concerned we are first Christian and second Anglican. The leadership of ECUSA has abandoned us. I know that this congregation is but a tiny part of the Anglican Communion. We treasure it and beg you not to abandon our hopes or us. The Rev'd Ian Montgomery, FCA, LLB, DMin is Rector, St. Thomas, Menasha, Wisconsin.

By Herbert Thompson I have received The Rev. Richard Terry's letter of resignation as Rector of St. Paul's, Chillicothe. I regret both his resignation, the manner in which it was tendered and the course that Mr. Terry has charted for the days ahead, notably the proposed establishing of an "Anglican" congregation in Chillicothe. This action amounts to a gross exploitation of Mr. Terry's relationship with St. Paul's Church and the congregation with which I entrusted him when I instituted him as Rector in March of 1993. I am at pains to understand Mr. Terry's problem with the Diocese of Southern Ohio and with me as Bishop. It cannot be the issue of human sexuality. As Bishop for 16 years I have made it clear in the Diocese and the National Church, that I will not bless or countenance the blessing of same sex unions in the Diocese, nor ordain any person living in a sexual relationship with another person. I believe and have taught that, for those who have sworn allegiance to Christ, sexual relations are to take place only in the context of Holy Matrimony between a man and a woman. I taught and teach the same in the Diocese and beyond. At the 1998 Lambeth Conference in England on the human sexuality resolutions I voted with 570 Bishops from around the world against changing the Church's teaching on this matter. Last year at the General Convention in Minneapolis on the matter of confirming the election of Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire, I voted "no." However, from the day of my ordination, I have never wavered from my defense of and work for the Unity of the Church or my affirmation of God's love for all of His people. I am convinced Mr. Terry needs to examine his conscience and recall his own ordination vows. For it is clear to me that his actions have nothing to do with human sexuality, nor me. Rather they spring from Mr. Terry's tragic misunderstanding of Anglican Christianity and polity. In my pastoral directive, I stated that I believe the Anglican Communion Network to be a threat to the unity of the Church. The directive clearly stated that while individual members, lay or ordained might affiliate with the Network, congregations under my jurisdiction could not. Subsequent to my letter to Mr. Terry, Bishop Duncan, Convener of the Anglican Communion Network, called and then wrote to me to say that in response to my position and that of other Bishops of the Episcopal Church he would not accept the congregational affiliation of St. Paul's. I expressed my gratitude for it meant that there was no action for Mr. Terry to take regarding the directive. I do not presume to know Mr. Terry's motives, only God knows and I am content to leave the judging to God. I do know that his actions have precipitated turmoil and tragedy. In his letter to you and to the Chillicothe Gazette, Mr. Terry says, "I have decided to leave quietly." How quiet is it to publish to the entire town of Chillicothe a matter that properly belongs between a priest and his Bishop? In so doing Mr. Terry has not only abandoned the trust of the people of St. Paul's, but the Communion which ordained him and instituted him as Rector in that place. He has also abandoned the trust of the people who chose him as pastor, priest and teacher. On the night before he died, Our Lord Jesus did not pray that his disciples would be right, good or even holy. He prayed that they would be one as He and the Father were one, that the world might believe that He was sent by the Father. It was out of that clear understanding that I as Bishop issued my pastoral directive to Mr. Terry and now write to call you to work for the unity of the Church and resist Mr. Terry, or anyone else's attempts to divide the body, for such division would grieve Our Lord and distract us from the sacred mission for which the Church exists, to preach the Gospel to all nations and to witness to Jesus as Savior and Lord. That task calls us to a future. I have asked Archdeacon Hanisian to be with you on Sunday August 8, 2004, to answer any questions you may have and to begin the work which will ultimately end in the calling of a new Rector for St. Paul's. Throughout this period my staff, Bishop Price and I will be working with you committed Episcopal Christians to strengthen the witness of this congregation in Chillicothe. Yours in Christ, The Rt. Rev. Herbert Thompson, Jr. Bishop of Southern Ohio

By Ted Schroder, Amelia Plantation Chapel The reason the first Christians changed their day of worship from the seventh day of the week (the Sabbath), to the first day, was because of the resurrection of Jesus. The resurrection was so important to them that it even changed the way they worshipped. The Sabbath, which was so holy to the Jews, became the Lord's Day. For it was on that first day, that Jesus appeared to the disciples in the Upper Room. He came and stood among them, spoke with them, and showed them his wounds. John's Gospel tells us that the disciples were overjoyed when they saw him. He commissioned them in his service of preaching the Gospel of forgiveness of sins in the power of the Holy Spirit. But Thomas was not there. He missed church that Sunday! The other disciples told him what had happened. They gave their first hand testimony: "We have seen the Lord!" But Thomas was not easily persuaded. He wanted proof. "Unless I see with my own eyes the nail marks in his hand and put my own finger where the nails were, and put my own hand into his side, I will not believe it." Have you had the experience with someone who does not share your faith? They want first hand proof that your experience is valid. Or perhaps you have had difficulties believing yourself that the Gospel record is true, and want to see everything tested before you will receive it as valid? Why did St. Thomas doubt? Why do many people find it difficult to believe the testimony of others, the witness of history, the record of his post-resurrection appearances, the claims of Christ to be God in the flesh, the Lord of all, the conqueror of death and Hades, the authority of Holy Scripture? What causes some people to be congenital doubters? Did Thomas suffer from existential angst? Philosophers explore the problem of having a fundamental sense of uncertainty about the reality of existence. Doubt and despair can be the result of a basic pessimism about the human condition. Modern atheistic philosophy, that denies any divine purpose, and defines life in terms of a biological determinism, breeds cynicism. Life that is lived on the surface, that seeks to escape boredom and emptiness through material acquisition and pleasure, is prone to perennial doubt. Doubt cannot be always kept at bay by distraction from anxiety. Perhaps Thomas was plagued with troubling questions that he couldn't ignore. Doubts are often rooted deep in the personality. Did Thomas suffer from emotional mood swings: a manic period when faith was strong, and a depressive period when faith was absent? When we feel good, and life is going well, faith is easy. But when we pass through periods of discouragement, doubts resurface. It is important to distinguish mood swings from genuine doubt. Our feelings have to be offered up to God, to be purified, so that we can experience peace. We can choose to be governed by our feelings or by our daily commitment to follow Jesus. Jesus said, "Come to me all you who weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke (i.e. my teaching) upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30) Was Thomas at a turning point in his development and personal history? Different seasons of our lives affect our faith and our doubts. Changes in life lead to vulnerability which leaves us open to doubt. Transitions, a sense of danger, insecurity, loneliness, which Thomas must have been experiencing, can cause doubt and fear. Adolescence, mid-life crises, menopause, empty nests, illnesses and retirement bring stresses that cause us to doubt. As we age we ask, "Is there nothing more?" and we face the three big D's: decline, depression and death. Did the death of Jesus trigger some emotional connection in Thomas's life? The loss of Jesus may have led him to contemplate other losses in his life, which he interpreted as abandonment by significant people, and consequent feeling of anger, or lack of value. Some doubts can be traced to painful chapters in our emotional history. Deaths of parents, siblings, or close friends in tragic circumstances, may have left unfinished business. The fact that Jesus had appeared to the other disciples and not him may have upset him. Was Jesus avoiding him? Was he not important? Why was he being put on the spot and expected to believe when the others had it easy? It could have looked to him as favoritism. Pressure points and crisis events can shape our doubts. Job losses, illness, bereavements, tragedy of one kind or another, may push us to doubt. Loss of children or other people we love, often cause us to doubt that there is a God of love. Perhaps this is what led to Thomas's doubting. He had undergone the stunning shock and stress of Jesus' arrest, trial, torture and execution. This was a major life crisis for Thomas. All his hopes and dreams had crashed and burned. Parental abuse causes distrust and doubt of any authority figures. New York University psychology professor Paul Vitz, in his book Faith of the Fatherless, studied the childhood of several well-known atheists and saw strong evidence that their rejection of God is directly related to father pain: the death of a father or abuse or abandonment by their fathers. Vitz points out that Friedrich Nietzsche, the philosopher who declared that 'God is dead,' lost his father at age four. Samuel Butler, skeptical British novelist, was often brutally beaten by his 'pious' father. Sigmund Freud said his father was a 'pervert' and built much of his psychological theory around father hatred. Joseph Stalin's father beat him unmercifully. Madelyn Murray O'Hair once tried to kill her father with a butcher knife. Vitz suggests that after studying these and other 'major historical rejecters of God... We find a weak, dead or abusive father in every case.' Consequently Vitz urges great compassion for atheists, because behind their unbelief, in all likelihood lies some painful memory. So as you examine your doubts, you may want to honestly confront the possibility that one of your roadblocks to faith may be some pain from the past. Lynn Anderson in "If I Really Believe, Why Do I Have These Doubts?" claims that the pace of our lives breeds doubts. He calls it cognitive overload. The impact of the media upon us transforms every day into a crisis as we absorb the tragic events in the world through our television screens. We are overstimulated by our environment and overcommitted in our schedule. We keep ourselves busy so that we do not have to find time for reflecting and listening. Activism, no matter how well-intentioned, leaves life shallow. It can also leave us with faith that may appear to be a mile wide but may not be an inch deep. Cynicism and skepticism pours over us from the talking heads, and the experts. As in the garden of Eden, the tempter can stimulate these roots of doubt and encourage their growth so that we question the presence of God. The influence of evil seems more pervasive than the power of the goodness of God when we see innocent civilians and children killed or maimed by terrorists. "Where is God in all of that carnage?" we ask. Henri Nouwen refers to this experience as 'the absence of God.' But some of the times when God seems to be absent may actually be fulfilling his purpose. "His absence... is often so deeply felt that it leads to a new sense of His presence." (Reaching Out, p.127) When we feel that God is absent, he may be more completely and sharply focused in our conscious thoughts, more so than when we take for granted that he is very near. Henri Nouwen writes: The mystery of God's presence, therefore, can be touched only by a deep awareness of his absence. It is in the center of our longing for the absent God that we discover his footprints... In the patient waiting for the loved one, we discover how much he has filled our lives already. Just as the love of a mother for her son can grow deeper when he is far away, just as children can learn to appreciate their parents more when they have left the home, just as lovers can rediscover each other during long periods of absence, so our intimate relationship with God can become deeper and more mature by the purifying experience of his absence. (p.128) When you consider your doubts, look for its roots in your basic temperament, or your particular stage in life, or to a negative experience either long past or recent. Doubt may have more to do with your personality or your personal history than it does with the facts, with the issue of truth, or the conflict between faith and knowledge. Who knows what were the roots of Thomas's doubts about the resurrection? Eventually he came to believe. Some of us take longer to process the information we need in order to experience the presence of Christ. That does not mean that we should give up or summarily reject the evidence we have in hand. It means that we need to be patient and humble enough to be open to what God might want to teach us. A week later, the next Sunday, the first day of the week, the Lord's day, when the disciples were gathered together again (the second Sunday in the Christian era), Jesus came and stood among them, as he does whenever his church gathers. He said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." When Thomas saw Jesus he acknowledged him with words of personal faith, "My Lord and my God." Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." (John 20:24-29) Jesus says to every one of us, "Stop doubting and believe." That means making a choice. Will I consciously believe, or will I choose to continue to doubt? Doubt is a decision, just as much as faith. Feelings of uncertainty or doubt, should not prevent us from making the decision to believe in Jesus and to follow him. Sometimes we have to act on our choices before the feelings will follow. The habit of keeping company with Jesus, will result in a secure relationship of love, which fosters faith. Walking in the way of Christ each day, gradually dispels doubt, until it withers away through lack of attention. Faith needs to be fed, and doubt needs to be starved through prayer, study, service, witness, and worship. In that way the past can be put behind us, and the future becomes an adventure of faith with all the possibilities the kingdom of God promises. It is the only way to live.

By Ted Schroder Jesus said, "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one." (John 10:27-30) Sheep are helpless creatures. They are not able to protect themselves. They have no weapons, no protective armor, no ability to strategize or to outwit their enemies, no speed to outrun them. Predators have a field day with sheep. Evolution doesn't work for sheep. It is not a question of the survival of the fittest. Having been bred for human convenience the wooly animals are completely dependent on their shepherd. This is the analogy Jesus uses to remind us that we are helpless in the face of those things that prey upon us, those things which threaten our security, those things which frighten us and destroy our peace, those things that seek to snatch us out of the hand of God and destroy our faith, hope and love. Our natural predators are doubt and despair, anxiety and fear, bitterness and resentment. We are vulnerable to financial setbacks, to unexpected health problems, to relationships that disappoint us, to accidents and tragedies. It is possible for us to do something about protecting ourselves from known dangers. We try to secure ourselves against disaster we would be irresponsible and shortsighted if we didn't. But no one can completely control all the circumstances surrounding them. We cannot dictate the conditions of the economy, or the actions of other people. We cannot force other people to fulfill our expectations. We are interdependent. If we place our total and complete trust in what other people may or may not do, in the reliability of companies or politicians, and they prove unable to protect us, we panic. We can't altogether trust in continued, increasing prosperity, in continued good health, in continued peace in the world. Faith in God cannot prevent bad things happening to us. "God causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." (Matthew 5:45) Life can be full of suffering. How we handle it is the test of our faith. Lil Holley was a short, buxom lady who reigned over our kitchen. As a child I spent a great deal of my time in that kitchen with the staff. They were part of my extended family. Lil was given to strong language at times when she was exasperated. One lunch-time, I was home from high school, when, with her head in the oven, she started cussing me out for no apparent reason. I was standing on the other side of the kitchen, minding my own business, and could not understand why she should light into me in such a fashion. She thought I was standing behind her and pushing her into the oven! When she realized that I was on the other side of the room, she started to wonder whether she had suffered a fainting spell. Then we all felt it. It was an earthquake tremor. My mother was sick in her bedroom upstairs at the time. I thought she might be frightened, so I ran out the door and up the back staircase, which kept moving on me, in a strange way. When I arrived at the bedroom I found my mother half out of the bed to unplug an electric heater so that a fire might not be caused. We had all heard about fires following earthquakes and devastating badly damaged towns. I went back down the front staircase, and saw the unmistakable sign of an earthquake the light fixtures were swaying to and fro. Bottles had crashed down from the shelves, making an awful mess on the floors. Then the quake stopped, to be succeeded by a quiet, as everyone caught their breath, and wondered what damage had been caused. For several days aftershocks would occur, but none as violent as the first. The chief question on people's minds was, "Where was the epicenter?" for we knew that the damage would be greatest there. On this occasion the epicenter was found to be offshore in the Tasman Sea. In Florida, a different kind of earthquake can happen. As underground streams dry up in droughts, the limestone aquifer will contract, and a sinkhole suddenly can form. The earth caves in, taking anything that sits upon the surface. Houses, roads, automobiles, can disappear into the sinkhole. Earthquakes are the result of the expansion and contraction of the earth, the shifting of the tectonic plates that make up the surface of the earth. They are completely outside human control. No one can forecast when an earthquake or a sinkhole will happen. It could happen tomorrow, or not for ten years. It could happen where we live, or somewhere else. Jesus tells us that ultimate protection and peace of mind is to be found only in the Lord. We are truly helpless apart from Christ. It is he who gives us the security of eternal life, the guarantee that we will not be snatched from the protective power of God. When Jesus said, "I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand," he is telling us that he will give us a life that is full of the splendor and magnificence of the life of God. He is telling us that he will give us a life that none can ultimately destroy, or diminish, or degrade; a life that is everlasting, that endures into the glory that is heaven. He is telling us that he will give us a life that is secure, in which there is no deprivation of the presence and the power of God, a life that will know the serenity of God even if the world collapses around us. How can this be so? Jesus says: "My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one." We can be confident in the power of God to protect us because he is greater than all the problems that could prey upon us, and that he has given us into the care of Christ, who is one with him in this care and concern. "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ... For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:35,38,39) There are two errors we tend to fall into. First, we tend to over-estimate our own ability to protect ourselves. We think that we have the personal strength to be self-sufficient. There are many people who think that they can survive in their own strength, and beat the system by themselves. The image Jesus uses is telling we are sheep, and ultimately, when trouble looms in our lives, we are helpless on our own. We just don't have the ability to fend off the predatory elements. We are fragile creatures, vulnerable to attack. We are not made to survive on our own. Secondly, we under-estimate the ability and desire of God to protect us. Jesus said, "I know my sheep." God knows everything about us, even to counting the numbers of hairs on our heads. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without him knowing it. Jesus promises us protection. We need not fear. Yet we are often unwilling to admit our need, and to acknowledge that God can take care of us and will if we let him. The message of the Scriptures is, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31) "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13) What is it that is preying upon you, upon your mind? What is it that seeks to snatch you out of the hand of God? What is it that seeks to destroy your peace and assurance of God's love? Jesus said, "My sheep hear my voice and follow me." Listen to the promises of Jesus rather than the voice of your fears. Follow him in faith to the way of safety.

By Ted Schroder The Lord's Prayer is a prayer of liberation. It is the cry of an oppressed people for deliverance from a cruel tyranny. It is the yearning of an enslaved people for freedom. It is the desperate desire of a victim of abuse for safety. It is the plea of the sick for healing, and the rejected for acceptance. It is the longing of the exile for home. All these things Israel experienced as it awaited the coming of the Messiah. That was why Isaiah prophesied, "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, 'Your God reigns.'" (Isaiah 52:7) So when Jesus first began his ministry in Galilee he proclaimed the good news of God: "The time has come. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!" (Mark 1:15) The kingdom of God came with Jesus. In his life and ministry the kingdom of God arrived. Jesus is the king of the whole earth through whom God will rule. God had arrived to deliver his people from bondage, to liberate them, not from foreign oppressors as they thought, but from evil, guilt, fear of death and rebellion against his rule. Therefore the proper response was to repent, to turn one's life around, and accept the freedom God was offering in Christ's salvation and service. This inner turning or process of being turned, accompanied a deep change at the core of one's being. The kingdom of God was ushered in by Jesus in his first sermon in Nazareth: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Luke 4:18) When we pray, "your kingdom come," we are praying that what Jesus proclaimed, taught, and accomplished through his death and resurrection, would become a reality in our lives. We are praying that he would reign in our lives, and give us the victory over anything that would prevent us from living in the fullness of God's life. What does the coming of God's kingdom in our lives through Jesus as Victor, Liberator and Lord mean for us? St. Paul tells us that the "kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." (Romans 14:17) When we pray for the coming of God's kingdom into our lives, we are praying for these three gifts of grace. Righteousness is the gift of being made right with God through the atoning death of Christ. Peace is the gift of access to God by Christ's sacrificial act of reconciliation. Joy is the gift of resurrection hope, as the work of the Christ's Spirit is made a present reality. But despite these gifts of salvation we still experience spiritual poverty and real personal pain. Liberation from a cruel tyranny doesn't eliminate or banish the effects of a long occupation or exile. There is much rebuilding to be accomplished. Recovery takes a long time a life time. That is why we need to pray continually, "Your kingdom come." The kingdom of God comes incrementally throughout our lives. There are stages of recovery we must go through. Our liberation takes a lifetime. We have work to do in our personalities, in our desires, and in our relationships. We continue to be held in bondage by those aspects of our lives that prevent the kingdom of God coming into fruition. Let me list some of them. There are our personality defects: our introversion, our defensiveness, our quirks, our temptation to criticize others, to look at the bad not the good, to tear down people rather than build them up, to be quick to judge before we know all the facts, to blame others or circumstances for our own failings, to excuse ourselves, and be full of self-pity; to be so wrapped up in what we want to say that we don't listen or take an interest in others; to be self-righteous, convinced we know all the answers, that we are better, smarter, richer, prettier, and can therefore look down on others; our proneness to exaggeration, and to say what is not true, to be boastful of our achievements; our disorganization, our unpunctuality and rudeness; our inability to relax, and our need always to be doing something; our lack of imagination and spontaneity, fear of taking risks or leaving our comfort zone; our tendency of wanting to be in control, our gullibility or our skepticism; and our ingratitude. Our personality defects continue to cause us and others pain rather than afford us and them pleasure. There are our desires: we want to accomplish a number of worthwhile goals but we are frustrated by the conflicting demands on our resources of time, money, and health. We complain, and get depressed by our seeming inability to do what we want to do. Our emotions enslave us rather than release us. There are our relationships with others who disappoint us, or who oppose us. We seem at odds with people we expected better from. Instead of being encouraged by them we feel used by them. They do not seem to be interested in us but only in how we can entertain them. These relationships are oppressive rather than liberating. When we pray "Your kingdom come" we are praying that Jesus would liberate us from these so that we can become whole: better, purer people. What are we acknowledging each time we pray, "Your Kingdom come"? We are responding to God's invitation to enter his kingdom. Jesus said we must accept God's invitation when it is given. He told the parable of the man who prepared a great banquet and invited many guests. He sent his servant to those he had invited, "Come, for everything is now ready." But they made excuses, and said they couldn't come. When the servant reported their excuses the master became angry and ordered his servant to invite the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame. He sent him to go to the roads and country lane and invite more people so that his house would be full. "I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet." (Luke 14:15-24) We must not put off the invitation to feast at God's table, to fellowship with him now, if we want to feast with him in heaven. Jesus is telling us to respond to God's call now to become part of his kingdom. If we want God's liberating kingdom to come into our lives we must respond to the invitation. If we don't we will regret it. When we pray, "Your kingdom come" we are desiring that we will put it first. Jesus said, "Seek first God's kingdom and his righteousness." (Matthew 6:33) We have to get our priorities right. Those who were invited had other worthy and important things to do, but they were not as important as responding to God's call. We can miss out on God's kingdom if we don't respond immediately. We all have many things to do in life, but we need to put this first. Results at first will seem infinitesimal. Jesus said that God's kingdom starts small and unnoticed. He told the parable of the mustard seed (Matthew 13:31,32) to illustrate that the kingdom of God begins minutely in a person's life. It begins with tiny acts of unselfish love and gratitude. It begins with humility. It doesn't require grand acts or magnificent gestures. The kingdom of God grows in us secretly and almost imperceptibly when we apply ourselves to prayer and following Jesus. "This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest is come." (Mark 4:26-29) No one would have thought that the life of a Jewish carpenter in an obscure part of the Roman Empire would attract much notice. Yet that seed of God's kingdom grew into the most powerful spiritual movement this world and history has ever seen. The coming of God's kingdom in Jesus has affected more people than we can count. Yet it all starts in the life of one person at a time, beginning with the seed of God's Word. It is hard for us to see the results of our prayers. Jesus reminds us that there is a secret work of God going on in our souls which we cannot see. Just because the farmer cannot see the growth of the seed, doesn't mean that it isn't growing. The kingdom of God grows within us. We facilitate the coming of God's kingdom when we nurture the interior life, and work on our inward attitudes through reflection. It is not what is going on around us that is important but what is going on inside us. Jesus said, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17:20,21) This can also be translated that the kingdom is "among you" even when you cannot see it, just as it was present on earth in the Person and ministry of Jesus. People could not see the kingdom in Jesus when he came. When we pray, "Your kingdom come" we are committing ourselves to doing whatever it takes to give us the victory over anything that is not of God. This involves waging war against the enemy. If we want the kingdom of God to come in our lives we must be prepared to pay the price, to win this battle in the power of Christ. We have to choose sides in this spiritual war. We cannot serve two masters. We must choose between God and mammon, between serving in God's kingdom by following Jesus, or by being a slave to Self's kingdom by following our selfish pride. Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it." (Matthew 13:44-46) We are recognizing the value of what we are fighting for with Christ. We are investing our life, and our future in this conflict. That is why Jesus said: "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." (Matthew 19:23,24) Praying, "Your kingdom come" is acknowledging that everything we have is on loan from God, to be used in his service. When his kingdom slowly comes into our lives we will be gradually liberated, free to enjoy the love he longs for us to experience. ---

By the Rev. Whitey Haugan God in His wisdom has presented us with the two most important questions that have ever been asked, "Where are you?" and "Who do you say I am?" The first was to Adam after he had disobeyed God in the Garden and found himself and his wife in a state of separation, aloneness, confusion and fear. The second was to Peter so that Peter would recognize Jesus was God in the flesh. The first had to do with spiritual location separation and loss of intimacy with God. The second had to do with spiritual relocation recovery of relationship and intimacy with God. The Old Testament is built around the first question and the New Testament Gospel is built around the second question. Both questions are always there for every person in every generation. Both are prophetic questions calling for every heart to question where it is and where it needs to be. Most especially are they questions for those who know Christ and find themselves in the Episcopal Church. The national leadership has chosen to doubt God's Word and substitute human thinking and experience to define faith and morals thus placing itself outside God's Word. This is what happened in Genesis and it's what's happening now. As a result those of us who have been recovered in Christ recognize the spiritual peril the leadership has placed us in. Gen 6:5 records that peril, "The Lord saw how great man's wickedness had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time." "Every, only, all" is descriptive of where we are. Isaiah notes the subtlety that slowly erodes our spirit to where we see our leadership living out his prophetic words (5:20) "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter." Isaiah sums up the condition, the location, of the people of God in 5:30 "...And if one looks at the land, he will see darkness and distress; even the light will be darkened by the clouds." And we hear the Word of God, "Where are you?" Then an amazing thing happens to Isaiah. He sees the Lord, high and exalted, seated with the angels and his only response is to recognize his own sinfulness. "I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty." It is this response God honors and sends an angel with a live coal to touch Isaiah's lips with the words, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for." It is the recognition of God's presence and the need for repentance that God honors. It is here that God asks "Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?" Isaiah responds, "Here am I. Send me." Isaiah knows where he is and opens himself to do whatever God wants. God sends him to the people to tell them where they are and to keep on telling them "...until the cities lie ruined...until the houses are deserted...until the Lord has sent everyone far away...and the land is utterly forsaken (6:11-12). Apply this prophecy to the Episcopal Church. People leaving, churches leaving, not in droves but in a here-and-there way over a period of time. Ask how many have left in the last several decades hundreds of thousands, dioceses dwindling, bishops with their heads in the sand, falling back on the old secular methods of intimidation and legal manipulation, hoping to keep their lands, titles, money and power. Malachi recognized the depravity of clerical leadership when he wrote, "For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, and from his mouth men should seek instruction because he is a messenger of the Lord Almighty. But you have turned from the way and by your teaching have caused many to stumble...So I have caused you to be despised and humiliated before all the people, because you have not followed my ways but have shown partiality in matters of the law (2:7-9). It is all written in the Scripture. "Where are you?" God is asking. This is where we are. But more. God is calling believers, who know their heritage is a holy and faithful one, to be willing to be sent and to respond, "Here am I. Send me." It is not just bishops and clergy He is calling but everyone who bears the name of Jesus in their heart. It is the remnant faithful. Now we come to the second question, "Who do you say I am?" Recovery time is at hand but how will God do it? It is all wrapped up in Jesus and whether or not we trust Him and who He claims to be. Thomas wasn't sure until Jesus told him to touch Him. When he did he said, "My Lord and my God." If Jesus is Lord and God, His Word is our authority. What does His authority say to us? There is a pattern He gives us which contains principles of action that depend totally on Him. If we really answered the first question of location we have said that repentance is our attitudinal position wherever and whenever and we are ready to do whatever He wants. Acts 1 and 2 is a great place to go for that pattern and its principles because that is exactly where we are in relationship to what is happening in the Body of Christ right now. We are waiting for the promise of God to act in His Spirit for His people who have seen their heritage lying in waste and ruins. Let's unpack a few of its passages. 1:4-5 Jesus has been resurrected and for forty days He has been teaching about the Kingdom of God but Luke quotes only two things Jesus said so these must be of extreme importance. They must have been filled with great expectation about what it will look like and what it will do. They want it quickly. But Jesus says "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit." What are the principles involved here? First, Jerusalem is the heart community of the heartland, Israel, in which is the symbol of the presence of God's heart, the Temple. When Jesus wept over Jerusalem He wasn't weeping for the buildings or the geography. As the Son of Man He was weeping on behalf of the people to His Father. As the Son of God He was weeping for what would have to be done for their salvation. He was weeping for where they were and where He would have to go for them (Lk.13:34-35). We need to see the body of believing brothers and sisters as Jesus sees them, His Jerusalem. Our emotions are stirred in so many ways for the 'where.' Jerusalem is not bricks and mortar but the family. Jesus says that we are not leave our family. The institution may fall away but the Body is to stay together. Principle one: "Don't leave Jerusalem." Keep your Jerusalem, the believers, together. Second, when negative events overwhelm us we want immediate action. Again Jesus provides us with wisdom here. He is in charge and wants us to rely on Him and His action. He knows our human condition, instant gratification and right away. He knows we tend to leave God and define His Kingdom in our terms. That is what the national leadership has done and where are they? Sitting at the gates of hell. It's too warm there. So Jesus in His inimitable way says, "Wait..." Important word here. Wait on what God will do in His time and way. But "wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about." Don't run ahead of God. Remember Abraham and Isaac, Joshua on his way to Jericho, Gideon and the 300. They waited on God, listened for His instructions and He delivered for each and to each exactly what was necessary in their situation. Principle two: Stay in the Word for instruction and wait for the leading of the Spirit. Third, waiting is important for us spiritually. We live in an instant gratification culture. The disciples were plagued by the same problem. They asked Jesus, vs.6, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" It sounds like they had it all figured out. It would be a visible kingdom and Israel would have supreme power to replace Rome. It's all about land, titles, property and financial security, just like the errant bishops. And is it going to be right now so we can enjoy it? Jesus has already told them that the Kingdom of God is within, internal not external. It is a kingdom of the heart where Jesus rules and it is eternal. It has nothing to do with times or dates. So in our present situation where we fret over how soon the American church will be realigned and how long we should hold out and we begin to set God's schedule for Him Jesus says, "Don't leave Jerusalem...wait...it is not for you to know times and dates which the Father has set by His own authority..." Remember how we pray 'Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven?' The kingdom already exists and we are part of it. It is here already. Principle three: Trust the Father's timing and His authority. Fourth, there is a wonderful observation that is critical for us now, "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience but spiritual beings having a human experience." It's important to see everything in spiritual context. Vs.8 You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. If the Kingdom is within then we will be given spiritual direction, insight and the kind of nudging that can only come through the Word as He leads. But it will be an activity of the Spirit in the heart and confirmed by the larger Body. Principle four: Rely on the power of the Holy Spirit in the heart and in the Body. Fifth, a new lifestyle is given to us. It is a spiritual lifestyle. Vs.8 You will be my witnesses. Instead of the world's witness which is the exaltation and furthering of the self we are called to live a life that reflects the life of Jesus, His ideas, His actions, His teachings and His attitude. Especially His attitude, "I only do what my Father wills... I and the Father are One." A witness of Jesus is one who does only what Jesus wills because with Him in our hearts we are one. He prayed for that on the night He was betrayed, that we would be one as He and the Father were one and that we and our brothers and sisters would be one as well. Principle five: Jesus has called us to be witnesses to Him. Sixth, the secular world is lost. Its goals and aspirations are from the evil one. They lead to separation from God, self-idolatry, false religion and eternal aloneness. People are lost in the secular society so, vs.8, You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Here Jerusalem is our family, our brothers and sisters in the Body. Judea is our community, where we are in our neighborhood, friends and social circles and also other churches where Jesus is only a name but not a reality. Samaria may be where our job is, the people we work with and the casual acquaintances we meet and across town. The ends of the earth are where we go on vacation, on the job or are transferred and move to. On each level we are called to be witnesses to Jesus. Principle six: The Lord has given us a mission to be a witness to Him wherever we go and where He may lead us. It will be to say, "Here am I, send me." Seventh, in the secular world there is no real home for the heart. No matter what club, church, company or organization we join there is no spiritual home for the heart. The Body of Christ is the only true family where the heart can be reconciled to God and to other hearts. The shadow of the Cross covers the Body and is the means by which we are saved and is the lifestyle of the Body. It is interesting that the word translated into our word witness is the Greek word marturion, martyr. One who lays down his life and lets the Lord live through him. We are witnesses together. Vs.14 They all joined together constantly in prayer. They were vulnerable to the work of the Spirit in each other's presence, each heart given to God together. Principle seven: Meet together constantly and in prayer. So we have had seven principles that we are called to practice while we wait. But there is another leading in His Word and that is about the kind of structure that the Spirit led the early Body of Christ to form. It enabled the believers to measure their effectiveness to keep the Body strong and growing. This structure is an essential one for us to consider as we move forward. One of the caveats we must face is that if we are simply changing names and places and not open to what God is leading us into we can miss the very thing we need to be a vital Body of Christ. If we are just interested in promoting Anglicanism and not what Anglicanism is all about we will miss the boat. A former Presiding Bishop is quoted as having said that his life regret as a clergyman was that he loved the church more than he did the Lord. We can be so enamored with Prayer Books, formal liturgies and heritage that we lose the essence of why they are there. And we have to ask the hard question. What is more important, being an Anglican or being a disciple of Jesus? Here we have the issue of Jesus' teaching about wineskins. Are we pouring new wine into old wineskins or are we willing to let Him shape the skins to hold His new wine as He pours it? In Genesis Adam and Eve fumbled around and tried to make clothes out of leaves. It was God who made clothes for them and we need to remember that. Jesus also gave us a cryptic statement in regard to what needs preserving, "Remember Lot's wife." So how do we let the Lord dress the Body of Christ? The Lord has provided us a pattern in Acts 2:42-48. The Apostles were led to use four basic spiritual materials to guide them as they clothed and formed the Body. If one of them is missing you don't have the Body of Christ. Especially now while we are waiting for God to not only reform us but also re-form us, this passage is our assurance that we are on the right path. Vs.42 They devoted themselves to the apostle's teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. First, apostle's teaching. Here they did as they did with Jesus, studied the Word and His words. They also gave personal testimony as we saw in Peter's sermons and in Paul's travels. They were not only teachers but evangelists as well and lived their witness by example. Vs.43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. Second, fellowship. They operated in small groups, in house churches, prayer groups and shared their lives with one another practicing the gifts of the Spirit as they ministered to one another. Vs.44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. It is this personal home prayer and sharing group that builds the heart of the Body. This is a very special need in most of our present churches. Too much reliance on Sunday and church services breeds an unhealthy institutionalism which is part of our present problem. When hearts are vulnerable to one another in the Spirit then the Body is strengthened. Third, breaking of bread. This was the Lord's Supper in the first century. They remembered His Cross, His death and His Resurrection and listened to His Word. This was how they worshiped. Vs.46 Everyday they continued to meet together in the Temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. Fourth, prayer. Prayer was multifaceted. There was personal and private prayer, shared prayer for one another as they met, extemporaneous prayer, intercessory prayer and liturgical prayer. Vs.47 And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. If these four elements are the measuring rod they will honor God's Word and His Spirit will be the source of incredible blessings. They will always guarantee a healthy Body of Christ. This is the structure by which the remnant of God builds His Kingdom in this world. It is the vehicle for His Spirit to work. It is the structure that will keep us honest as we wait for God to form and re-form us. So the two questions are still there and we need to hear God's voice in them. "Where are you?" and "Who do you say I am?" We need to take stock of where we are as the Word gives us its principles of analysis. Then when He speaks to us are we willing to say "Jesus is Lord, I trust Him and I will wait on Him." But I will also work on building the Body while His reforming is taking place. The summary statement may well be what the kingdom in this world is all about: Acts 4:32-35 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them. From time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need. The Rev. Harold "Whitey" Haugan is a retired Episcopal cardinal rector living in Jacksonville, Florida and is a leading voice for orthodoxy in the Episcopal Church. He is the author of a book on marriage. ---

By Ted Schroder "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else." (Acts 17:24,25) God, who made and supervises everything in the universe, cannot be captured in human shrines which human beings have built. Any attempt to limit or localize the Creator God, to imprison him within the confines of manmade buildings, structures or concepts is ludicrous. God sustains our lives, we are dependent on him for everything. We do not make God. God makes us. God makes us to bear his image, and to be his dwelling place on earth. "You are God's building. Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you." (1 Corinthians 3:9,16) The tabernacle, and later the temple, was central to Israel's worship. Even Jesus when on earth upheld the temple as the father's house. The woman of Samaria, raised the age-old question of the correct location for worship. Jesus primarily answered by saying that the time was coming and it did come on the day of Pentecost, after he ascended to heaven when even the temple would have no real relevance to worship. Instead, the true worshippers would worship in spirit and in truth. (John 4:7-24) We must worship, not simply outwardly by being in the right place and taking up the right attitude, but in our spirit. Jesus is pointing to the need for complete sincerity and complete reality in our approach to God. God is seeking such to be his worshippers. He is actively seeking us out to worship him in this way. This new kind of worship would mean that we would no longer need holy buildings in order to worship the holy God. Instead we ourselves would be made holy by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. The sacrifices which were made in the Old Testament tabernacle and temple would no longer need to be made, since Christ had made the supreme and final sacrifice, and since Christian believers would be offering their daily lives as living sacrifices. (Romans 12:1) The offering of ourselves is holy and pleasing to God because it is our spiritual act of worship. Who we are, what we do, how we relate to God and one another, is part of our worship. A building is no longer the temple or house of God: it is God's people who are now so called. A building is not to be a holy place; rather God's people are called to be a holy people. Wherever God's people gather, that place is holy. Certainly, from a purely practical point of view, buildings are necessary for a meeting place of God's people, but they do not replace them. When we look at the Old Testament, it seems that God deliberately chose a tabernacle as the symbol of his presence among his people because of its mobility. For forty years God's people moved when God moved, and the tabernacle was carried easily with them. From the very start, God intended that his dwelling should be in the midst of his people (Exodus 25:8); but because of the sin and rebellion in their hearts, his habitation had to be symbolically expressed in the tabernacle. Therefore the design of the tabernacle was given in great detail by God to Moses. Even the ark of the covenant, the special symbol for God himself, was essentially mobile: "You shall put the poles into the rings on the side of the ark, to carry the ark by them." (Exodus 25:14) This emphasized the fact that everything about their lives was temporary. Every time they moved they had to put up their tents and then take them down again. Every time they wanted to worship they had to set up and take down again. This mortal life is a time of change, of moving from one day to another. Nothing is permanent. Change and decay in all around I see; O Thou who changest not, abide with me. (Henry F. Lyte) In his book, People-Centered Evangelism, John Havlik summed it up like this: "The church is never a place, but always a people; never a fold but always a flock; never a sacred building but always a believing assembly. The church is you who pray, not where you pray. A structure of brick or marble can no more be a church than your clothes of serge or satin can be you. There is in this world nothing sacred but man, no sanctuary of man but the soul." (p.47) For the first two centuries, the church met in small groups in the homes of its members, apart from special gatherings in public lecture halls or market places, where people could come together in much larger numbers. Significantly these two centuries mark the most powerful and vigorous advance of the church, which perhaps has never since been equaled. The lack of church buildings was no hindrance to the rapid expansion of the church; instead, in comparison to the situation after AD 200, it seemed a positive help. Argentinian pastor Juan Carlos Ortiz closed his church building for a month to see if the church could survive under times of persecution. It continued to flourish in the numerous small cell groups within the congregation, and more money came in during that month than ever before. When a congregation goes through times of dislocation due to a building program it can be the opportunity for growth. We discover whether we are truly excited about the Gospel rather than the building. Do we invite people to visit our worship because we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, or do we say to them to wait and come when we are in our newly renovated quarters? Is the focus on the content of our faith, or on the external meeting place? Christ is both the architect and builder of his church (Matthew 16:18). Each church therefore needs to come humbly to Christ to ask his guidance and direction, and not just to copy the developments of another place. Although the basic principles should be the same, the detailed outworking of those principles will naturally vary. In particular, Christ's timing is all-important. What does Christ want us to be and to become at this stage of our lives, and the life of our congregation? Christ is described as the cornerstone, on which the whole building depends (1 Peter 2:4f.). The Church rests on the total unique Event of which Christ is the center. As soon as a church moves away from the centrality of Christ, it at once ceases to be God's dwelling place. It is Paul who made it quite clear to the Corinthians that he was 'resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.' (1 Corinthians 2:2) All true believers are being built into a holy temple, "for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit." (Ephesians 2:22) The presence and activity of the Spirit is indispensable before the church can ever be a place where God himself dwells. This is one of the greatest needs in the church today. A failure to see this will lead to constant frustration. We may adopt new structures, introduce new services, work hard on new plans and construct new buildings; but unless we are constantly experiencing the new wine of the Spirit, all will be in vain. The first Christians did not start to share their goods in a free and full manner till after the bomb of the Spirit exploded in their souls at Pentecost. Before then, they would be morally incapable of this free and joyful sharing. You quickly lose interest in the church if you have nothing invested in it. It may be helpful to remember that most buildings under construction look a terrible mess, at least to the untrained eye, until the last stage is reached. When our kitchen was recently renovated it seemed almost impossible that we would be eating and cooking there again. The same is true of the church. The dust and dirt, chaos and confusion, of church life may make it hard to believe that a congregation could really be the temple of God. Yet if we have faith and patience, the architect and builder is hard at work, and knows very well what he is doing. On this earth we can never claim to have 'arrived'. The apostle Paul was well aware of this in his own personal life. 'Not that I am already perfect... but one thing I do... I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.' (Philippians 1:12-14) As a community of believers we can never afford to stand still. We can never be complacent. We recognize that the present is temporary, and serves as a preparation for what lies ahead of us. Our mortal bodies are dwelling places of God, yet they are impermanent. We are nomads on a journey. We are here today and gone tomorrow. What keeps us going and making life worthwhile is the knowledge that what we do matters eternally, and that we are going somewhere important. There is a purpose in our journey. We have a clear destination and a compelling reason for traveling. Paul, the tent-maker, puts it this way: "Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come." (2 Corinthians 5:1-5) To our minds this present existence is solid and real, whereas our coming existence seems shadowy and insubstantial. Paul teaches us that the reverse is true. The life which is to come our destination is strong, permanent and real; the present life is lived among the shadows. To assure us that this is so, we have been given the Spirit, to dwell within us. The presence of the Spirit within us is signified by our longing to arrive in our permanent home, where we can unpack for the last time and enjoy what God has planned for us in his presence. The Spirit is the down-payment of what is to come, like an engagement ring, pledging and guaranteeing the wedding day. Abraham, who lived in a tent, once 'looked forward to the city which had foundations, whose builder and maker is God.' He and others 'all died in faith, not having received what was promised, but having seen it and greeted it from afar... Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.' (Hebrews 11:10,13,16) (I acknowledge use of material from I Believe in the Church, chapter 8, The Building of God, by David Watson, Eerdmans, 1978)

By Ted Schroder August 8, 2004 DuPont Company manufactures Kevlar, a bullet-proof material used in bullet-resistant vests. It is rated to stop most 9 mm or .357 caliber bullets. On their website they claim that personal body armor saves lives. And the people whose lives have been saved have powerful stories to tell. Their stories are listed on the DuPont Kevlar Survivors' Club. More than 2,800 law enforcement and corrections officers have survived potentially fatal or disabling injuries because they were wearing their personal body armor. In 1987 the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and DuPont formed a partnership club whose goals are: - To reduce death and disability by encouraging increased wearing of personal body armor. - To recognize and honor those who, because of wearing body armor, survived life-threatening or life-disabling incidents. - To serve the law enforcement community by collecting and sharing this important information. The wearing of a vest often means the difference between life and death. Injuries to our armed forces in Iraq have been reduced by the wearing of body armor. Injuries to our spirit, soul and body would be reduced by the wearing of, what St. Paul calls, "the breastplate of righteousness." "Stand firm then … with the breastplate of righteousness in place." (Ephesians 6:14) The breastplate worn by the Roman soldier covered the upper part of the body from the base of the neck to the thighs: the thorax and the abdomen. Like a bullet-proof vest it protected the essential organs of the body: the heart and the lungs, the kidneys, liver and intestinal system. People in premodern times often believed that these organs were the seat of the feelings and the affections, the conscience, the desires, and the will. Splagchna is the Greek word for the viscera: the heart, the lungs, the liver and the intestines. The Greeks held these to be the center of the emotions, especially of anger, of anxiety, of fear, and even of love. So then in classical Greek the splagchna means the inner parts of man, which are the seat of the deepest emotions. The verb formed from this word means to be moved with compassion and affection the emotion which moves a person from the depths of his being. In the King James Version of the Bible it is translated as "bowels", e.g. "I long after you in all the bowels of Jesus Christ." (Philippians 1:8), or "Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies." (Colossians 3:12) In the NIV it is translated "affection" and "compassion" respectively. St. Paul is asserting that our inner emotions need to be protected from potentially disabling or lethal attacks. Most of us have either experienced such attacks ourselves or have seen the effects of those attacks on people we know. The world is full of people who have become disabled emotionally through being the victims of abuse. They did not know how to protect themselves, and as a result have become casualties, emotional basket-cases. Instead of being healthy and whole people who can enjoy relating to others they are fearful, timid, and phobic, living very restricted lives. Or, at the other extreme they have so hardened themselves against vulnerability that they ride rough-shod over others, and leave behind them a multitude of bruised and wounded sensitivities. The breastplate of which St. Paul speaks, is meant to give a general sense of security and confidence as we enter the marketplace of life. Most of us are aware of how vulnerable we are to being emotionally wounded by the attacks of others or the circumstances of life. The breastplate is meant to protect our conscience, our feelings, our affections, our desires, and our wills. How does it do that? St. Paul explains how it works from his own experience. He contrasts how he formerly protected himself, with how he protects himself as a Christian believer. His former confidence, was in the flesh i.e. his self-confidence, or his self-righteousness. You could say that he used to wear the breastplate of self-righteousness. "If anyone else thinks that he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: [look at my pedigree, my family background, education, religious training, professional qualifications and attainments, my track record, my citations for meritorious service, etc.] But what was to my profit I now consider a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus Christ my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith." (Philippians 3:4-9) Peterson puts it this way: "I didn't want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ God's righteousness." St. Paul found, that religious, and successful as he was, he had, over the years, constructed a straight-jacket of self righteousness. Scott Peck in The People of the Lie, calls such people evil. He says that they project their evil onto others through scapegoating. They feel themselves to be faultless, and that all the evil in the world is the fault of others. "As life often threatens their image of perfection, they are often busily engaged in hating and destroying that life usually in the name of righteousness… Utterly dedicated to preserving their self-image of perfection, they are unceasingly engaged in the effort to maintain the appearance of moral purity. They worry about this a great deal. They are acutely sensitive to social norms and what others might think of them… The words 'image,' 'appearance,' and 'outwardly,' are crucial.. they intensely desire to appear good. Their 'goodness' is all on a level of pretense. It is, in effect, a lie… They cannot or will not tolerate the pain of self-reproach. The decorum with which they lead their lives is maintained as a mirror in which they see themselves reflected righteously." Peck says that such people hide from themselves. "We see the smile which hides the hatred, the smooth and oily manner that masks the fury, the velvet glove that covers the fist." One of the places such people are most likely to be found is within the church. I will never forget meeting with a prominent lady in one of my former congregations who was always charming to me in public, always smiling, and apparently happy. But in a private meeting she tore into me, accusing me of all sorts of ridiculous behavior and motivations. I was stunned by unexpectedness and the ferocity of her attack. Looking back on it I could see how demonic it was. She was a terribly unhappy woman who was looking for a scapegoat for her own problems. Peck writes that, "the evil hate the light the light of goodness that shows them up, the light of scrutiny that exposes them, the light of truth that penetrates their deception." Apparently the Holy Spirit, through some biblical teaching I had been doing, had convicted her of her condition, but the devil persuaded her that I was the problem. Peck maintains that healthy adults submit themselves, one way or another, to something higher than themselves, be it God, or truth, or love, or some other ideal they have a conscience and they follow it. The people of the lie are those who have a strong will, are determined to have their own way, and need to control others. They refuse to submit to anything outside of themselves. Once I was summoned to a meeting with a former church member who asked me, "You don't think that you have come here to teach us anything, do you?" In his arrogance and unteachable spirit he thought that he did not need to learn anything from my ministry of the Word, and that, to the contrary, I needed to submit myself to his direction. Scott Peck calls this attitude, "malignant narcissism." St. Paul calls it "confidence in the flesh." It is a straight-jacket of self-righteousness. If we want to stand in the battle of life, and protect our inner life, we cannot trust in our own righteousness, our own good works, our own pedigree, our own family name, our own success, our own moral goodness, or our own attempts at justifying ourselves in the eyes of God. "All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags." (Isaiah 64:6) We are sinners, and because of that vulnerable to the attacks of the forces of evil. We are vulnerable to being condemned by our guilty consciences, being swept away by our wounded feelings and affections, being trapped by our excessive desires, being slaves to our weak self-centered wills. If we rely on these things we are lost, because we trust in ourselves as our own savior. The only way we can stand confidently before God is by being clothed in the righteousness of Christ. We put on the breastplate of righteousness when we, by faith, accept that Christ took our sins upon himself, and replaces our sins with his righteousness. God imputes Christ's righteousness to us. Christ puts to my account in his ledger, imputes to me, the righteousness of His Son. He clothes me with it. So God sees only the righteousness of His Son covering me, clothing me completely. That is the beginning, what makes me acceptable in God's sight. After imputing to me Christ's righteousness, he imparts to me, as I live into that standing before God, the righteous character of Christ. Sometimes that is called infused righteousness. It is comparable to a blood transfusion, where the blood from one person is put into the circulation and the blood of another. As Christ's righteous character becomes more and more a part of us, we grow stronger and more confident in the face of conflict in our lives. When we put on the breastplate of righteousness in this way, and suffer an assault on our conscience, our feelings, our desires, and our values, and we experience depression, sadness and injury, we call upon the righteousness, the purity, the love of Christ to protect us. Nothing else can. Nothing else can stop the bullet of temptation to defend ourselves, to retaliate, to strike back, and to despair. But by putting on the breastplate of the righteousness of Christ we are safe. We can then join the survivors' club, and have a powerful story to tell to the world, which desperately needs to hear it. ---

BBC News UK 8/7/2004 A Gloucestershire vicar is to launch a nude calendar in his church after a group of 13 women posed naked to raise money for rape victims in Rwanda. The Rev Stephen Earley of St Martin's Church in Horsley said: "As Christians we are taught to help widows and orphans, so I didn't hesitate." The calendar will help Surf, an organisation working for survivors of the genocide and those with HIV. It will be launched at an evening service at the church on 26 September. "Many of the atrocities in Rwanda took place in churches where people had sought sanctuary, so it seems fitting to try and redress the balance," said the Rev Earley. Empowering Women Jo Hofman, 50, who posed for the calendar said: "We wanted to celebrate womanhood to heal a little of the pain suffered by our sisters in Rwanda." A sentiment echoed by Sarah Clifford who also posed for the calendar when she explained her reasons for taking part. "It seemed unbelievable that 10 years after one of the worst genocides in history, the survivors were now having to deal with even more suffering - Aids as a result of rape and children being orphaned for the second time - and we felt we had to act," she said. The vicar also said he was expecting a few complaints about his decision. "Undoubtedly some people will complain but it is important to see it before making any criticisms. "A lot of thought has gone into this and it is about empowering Rwandan women who have been so debased. It is about reasserting women's essential female selves," he said. The calendar has been produced to mark the 10th anniversary of the genocide.

By Ted Schroder I have found that I have needed a renewed encounter with God at different stages in my life. The days and years can roll along without change for some time and then there is the need for a renewed vision. There is a tendency for our energy to run down and our batteries need to be recharged. A crisis can occur which gets us reaching out for help with a new urgency. There are new demands upon us to which we have to respond. New situations arise in which we don't have all the answers. The former responses don't satisfy and we get discouraged. We need a shot in the arm - something to get us going again in the right direction, with renewed vigor. Such was the case with a young nobleman named Isaiah. His beloved king had died, and he was in mourning. He went to his church (the Temple) and there experienced a life-changing encounter with God. (Isaiah 6:1-8) What can we learn from his experience to renew us? 1. Focus on the Presence of God. Isaiah saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted. Above the Lord were the seraphs, heavenly creatures who guarded the throne and led the worship by singing of the transcendent holiness and universal presence of God's glory. The vision was one of sovereignty, power, authority, purity, and omnipresence: "the whole earth is full of his glory." Worship is meant to help us focus on the Presence of God. God is present in worship. God is present in all creation. The whole earth is full of his glory. That is our belief. We need to pray that it will be also our experience when we gather for worship. 2. Get in touch with your need, and the needs of others. Isaiah was convicted of his own unworthiness and the problems of those among whom he lived. "For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty." His vision of the presence of God had awakened him to his own impurity, and the plight of others in his community. While we keep ourselves away from God we can fool ourselves about our own goodness, but when we get near to God, we get a clearer glimpse of our own problems. Self-examination under the bright light of God's gaze can be devastating. There is no way we can hide, excuse, or cover up our shortcomings. But accurate diagnosis or evaluation is necessary before a cure can be applied. 3 Welcome the burning love of God. The seraph touched Isaiah's mouth with a live coal from the altar: "See this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for." A sacrifice on the altar had been offered in his place to atone for his sins. God in his compassion and mercy had acted to cleanse him of guilt, to pay the penalty, and to restore him to fellowship. The love of God came down to us in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus, so that we might be made new, given a new start, and totally purified. The fire of God's Spirit brings the presence of God into our hearts to dwell there with us. 4. Hear and Respond to God's Call God advertises for volunteers to represent him in the world: "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" The Holy Trinity seeks willing individuals to commission as ambassadors for the Gospel. The world has fallen away from God, it exists against his will, and he wishes to have it back. Isaiah finds his vocation as prophet when he responds to the call: "Here am I. Send me!" In order to get this world back again, and in his compassion, God wants the Gospel proclaimed. God is continually calling his people to reach out to others with the Good News of his love. Just as the live coal from the altar touched Isaiah's lips and he became a prophet, God seeks to touch us to become his messengers. We are his lips, his voice to the community. In Silence by Shusaku Endo, which Graham Greene described as "one of the finest novels of our time," the author tells the story of a Portuguese Catholic priest who goes to Japan to spread the Gospel. It is a time of terrible persecution when thousands of Christians, and all the missionary priests, have been tortured and executed. The novel takes its title from the priest's concern that God is not speaking to him and his people to defend and strengthen them. There is a silence of God in a pagan land which is terrifying. But at the end, despite his weakness, and the betrayal of others, the author writes from the point of view of the priest: "He loved him [his Lord] in a different way from before. Everything that had taken place until now had been necessary to bring him to this love. 'Even now I am the last priest in this land. But Our Lord was not silent. Even if he had been silent, my life until this day would have spoken of him.'" This is a powerful truth. God speaks to the world through us. Leighton Ford said, "Jesus was born in a borrowed manger. He preached from a borrowed boat. He entered Jerusalem on a borrowed donkey, he ate the Last Supper in a borrowed upper room, and he was buried in a borrowed tomb. Now he asks to borrow the lives of Christians to reach the rest of the world. If we do not speak, then he is dumb and silent." Who are the people to whom God is calling us to go? The Ignostics: those with no Christian background and no experience or memory to relate to Christianity. The Notional Christians: those who have some memory or notion of what Christianity is, but it is not impacting their lives. The Nominal Christians: those who claim to be Christians but are not active in any church. What are the characteristics of the unchurched? They may not be in a church, but they believe in God. They have legitimate questions about spiritual matters. They want to experience God, not just know something about him. They may be morally adrift but they want an anchor. They are looking for a practical application of faith. They are not loyal to a denomination but want to find a community where their needs are met. What can you do? Make sure that your vision of God is fresh experiential and not just intellectual. Seek that vision in your Sunday and daily worship. Get in touch with your own needs and the needs of others by transparent evaluation. If need be seek counseling, and pray that the Spirit would reveal to you what you need to know about yourself and others. Let God love you with his forgiveness and cleansing. Thank Christ for his sacrifice on the Cross to heal you. Deepen your appreciation of the Cross and the gift of the Spirit. Seek daily to be filled to overflowing with the Spirit of the love of God. Listen to what God is calling you to do for others. Reach out to the people God is putting in your path. Get to know them. Ask them questions about their lives. Earn the right to share with them your faith. Invite them to join you for worship so that they too might experience a vision of God. ---