Lent 2004

	Rev. Mark Tusken The Baptismal Covenant Celebrant: Do you believe in God the Father? People: I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. Today, I have a lot of things to say, and I brought some things with me. First, I want to show you all something, especially you boys and girls. I brought this for you. Isn't this ugly? This is a precious thing to me, and maybe no one else! This is a special lampstand that is called a menorah. You can see that it has the star of David, which is a sign for Jewish people. This was given to my grandmother's great grandfather. That's a long way back. He worked on the Transcontinental Railroad, and some Jewish businessmen gave this to him because he was a very devout Christian. He had started a church, and his name was Jacob Blickensdurfer. This has been in my family for generations. How old do you think this is? [one boy suggests "100,000 years"] No, it's not that old! But it is very old. Someday, I will pass this on to my children. I would say that in all of our lives, and certainly in our home, there are things that are precious to us that we will pass on to our children and grandchildren. Some such things in our house are very old, like this menorah. Some of the things are very young -- things that the boys have made, like the little plastic casts that they put their hands in to make a mold. We'll probably pass those on some day. My point would be this: When you're in a family, one of the privileges you have -- in fact, one of the responsibilities you have -- is to make sure you are passing on from generation to generation those things that are precious to you and make you a family. One of the ways we do that, in the Christian family, is to pass on Christian truths from generation to generation. During Lent, for hundreds of years, it's been a time of preparation in which believers who were coming into the church were instructed in the faith and then baptized on the Saturday before Easter at an Easter Vigil. Then on Easter morning, they received their first communion, and were full members in the family of the church. During this Lent, I want us to talk about that treasure that we call the Apostles' Creed, and what we believe, as has been passed on to us in the Christian family down through generations. Now, boys and girls, and maybe you parents too, I apologize, because some of this needs to be dusted off a little. Not just the menorah, but also the things we believe. Turn with me in your Prayer Books to page 304. This was said either by us at our baptism, or was said for us if we were baptized when we were small boys and girls. Today we'll just think about the very first question. "Do you believe in God the Father?" "I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth." I want us to think about the creed from three perspectives during Lent. First, I want us to understand what the words mean. I don't want it to be just something we say, like the Pledge of Allegiance, without ever giving it another thought. Do you boys and girls start every day of school with saying the Pledge of Allegiance? [all answer yes] Do you ever think about what it means? [Some say yes, some say no. One girl mentions their class did a worksheet about it on Friday!] I want us to think about who authored the Creed. And I want us to see that the Creed is grounded in the scriptures, that every word of the Creed comes from the Bible, or is inspired through the Bible. Then I want us to see how these words affect our lives today. So, just think about that very first part of the first question. "Do you believe in God?" I suspect that if I asked all of us that question, all of us would raise our hand. But you know something, in our own modern world, and in our own culture, if you were to just go out on the street and ask people, not everyone would say that they believe in God. Some would say, "No, I don't think there is any God." Some would use a big word by saying, "I'm agnostic," which means, "I don't know if there's a God." Let me say this: To be agnostic ultimately is the same thing as saying that you don't believe there is a God. Work it through, and you'll see that. I want you all to understand that what we wrestle with today when we ask that question, is something new culturally. Down through time, most peoples everywhere have always believed in God. It's only modernists who have the presumption to say "No; I am all there is." Disbelief is a new and modern idea. In fact, Psalm 14 would remind us: "The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God.'" I would agree with the Psalmist today. It's foolish to say that God doesn't exist. And so we say every Sunday, "I believe in God." In Romans chapter 1, Paul reminds us that if we watched the sun rise this morning, or if you were to see the majesty of a mountain range, if you were to be at the ocean and feel the thunder of the waves at your feet, Paul says that you've been given enough to know that there is a Creator-God. I would say that to construct a world in material or economic terms -- which is what a lot of modern grown-ups want to do -- is really rampant individualism. It's saying, "I will take for me; I will live for me; I will enjoy for me." And ultimately, an individualism that says there is no God, is idolatry, that makes the person himself their own private God. We reject that, when we say "I believe in God." Then we go on and say, "I believe in God, the Father." Do you know that in Matthew's gospel, every single time that Jesus speaks about God, he talks about his in terms of being our heavenly Father? Listen to just a few of these places. In the Sermon on the Mount, when Jesus is reminding us that we should love our enemies, he says, "Love your enemies; pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons and daughters of your Father in heaven." Or when he talks to us about offering alms or doing good things, he says, "Be careful not to do your acts of righteousness for men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven." Or when he talks about forgiveness and how we are called to forgive one another, he says, "If you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you." Or talking about our prayers, that we should seek, and knock, and ask, he says, "If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts?" And finally, talking about heaven, he says, "Not every one who says to me "Lord, Lord" will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." Every time Jesus talks about God in the book of Matthew, he speaks of him as our heavenly Father. When you pray the Lord's Prayer, how does Jesus teach us to begin? "Our Father, who art in heaven." Paul continues that thought, when in Romans 8 he says that we all come to those times and places where we're not even certain how to pray. Our souls are sick, or we are at a place of desperation. It's at those very moments, Paul says, that the Holy Spirit speaks and prays through us. "The Spirit of God cries out, 'Abba, Father' for us." When we say on a Sunday morning, "I believe God the Father," we are saying that our God loves us with great intimacy. He knows us all by name. Jesus said it this way: God knows the number of hairs on every one of our heads. Now, I do want to make a disclaimer, that as people grow up, sometimes along the way, fathers hurt them. And sometimes along the way, especially some women have felt that men have been very mean to them. And so it's hard for some people to think in terms of God as our Father. The Bible has an answer to that, that I think we need to grapple with. In Ephesians chapter 3, verse 14, Paul says that we understand true fathering because the way God is Father, not the other way around. We don't get to understand God by looking at our earthly fathers. We understand what it really means to be a father by looking at our heavenly father. Ephesians 3:14 says, "I bow before the Father, from whom all fatherhood, in heaven and on earth, takes its name." Next, we say, "I believe in God, the Father almighty." The Latin word there is omnipotence. It means all-powerful. It's interesting to me, that if you read the Rite I service, again and again and again, you hear God identified as "God almighty." We lose some of that in the later services that have been translated. I wonder why that is? All through the Bible, we know that God is almighty. Paul, quoting the book of Exodus, says this. God is speaking of the time of the Exodus to the people of Israel, and he speaks this really to all of us. "'I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters,' says the Lord almighty." Or in the book of Revelation, again and again, speaking, God says, "'I am the Alpha and the Omega,' says the Lord God, who is, who was, and is to come." The almighty. Or in heaven itself, as people are worshiping, they cry out, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God almighty." Jesus knows that the Father is all-powerful. Even in the garden of Gethsemane, as he's praying that the cup would pass from him, he says, "With you, Father, all things are possible." When the angel Gabriel greeted Mary, she asks, "How can I possibly have a baby? I've not been with a man." The angel Gabriel responds, "With God, nothing is impossible." You know, every time you offer a prayer, you are assuming that God can make a difference. The premise of prayer is that God is almighty. Prayer is only worth making if God is all-powerful. And so, every Sunday we say, "I believe in God, the Father almighty," who can make a difference. Finally, we describe his as, "Creator of heaven and earth." Those are the very first words of the Bible, in Genesis chapter 1 verse 1. It really makes an acknowledgement of this: That our God is the God of everything that is seen and everything that is unseen. In fact, think of the order of the words there. The maker of heaven, which will last forever, and the maker of earth, which will one day disappear. What we are really saying, when we acknowledge that God is the maker of heaven and earth, we are saying that it's not a work of creation that was started eons ago, and then God walked away from it. Sort of like a watchmaker, who makes a perfect watch, who winds it up and then goes on ticking without the help of its creator. We are not saying that. We are saying that our God is the creator and keeps on creator. He is the maker, and keeps on making all things new. You know what the supreme proof of that is? Jesus' resurrection. That's something completely new, someone coming back from being dead. That's what God promises to do in you and I, when we believe. The scriptures say, "If any one is in Christ, he is a new creation." My sense would be, that when you and I believe, and we stake our faith in the Creed, we are saying that no matter where we are, no matter what is happening in our lives, no matter what challenges might lay ahead, God can be there forever to make things new and to make a difference. There's a lot more I'd like to say! I'd simply say this, that in our family we have things that go back about 140 years. I think the oldest thing in our family is 150 years old. It's a platter. One day, we could drop that platter. What would happen to it? [kids answer "it would break"] Yes, it would break, and it would be gone, even though it's 150 years old. Everything in our house could one day be gone, and in fact, when time ends, it will be gone. But we have a treasure -- every one of us in this room -- that will last forever, and that is God's truth. And so, for the last 1,800 years, sometimes in Latin, sometimes in Spanish, sometimes in German, sometimes in Russian, sometimes in Chinese, but for the last 1,800 years, believers have been asked these questions and have answered them. That is a treasure that we can pass on to the people we love forever. Heavenly Father, we ask that you would make your truth so real, that as we walk through life, we know that you are the Maker of heaven and earth. Amen.
	Rev. Mark Tusken *The Baptismal Covenant* Celebrant: Do you believe in God the Father? People: I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. Celebrant: Do you believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God? People: I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. Please turn to page 304 of your Prayer Book. We are considering the Apostles' Creed during Lent. Last week, I brought out an antique that we have in our family, an old menorah, and this week I would remind you that as I finished last week, I was saying for 1800 years, since 215 A.D., believers have recited the Apostles' Creed as a statement of belief. It's the oldest written part of the service that we participate in regularly, that's not literally the scriptures. The other oldest other part of the Prayer Book that you might want to look at sometime is the Ordination service. It comes from that same era. I would say that there's something startling in the Creed when we come to Jesus. First, it's interesting that it's the longest portion of the Creed. That's not by mistake; if there is no Christ, there is no Christianity. Today, let's think through these aspects of Jesus. When we have a newcomer's class, I often ask two questions very early on: Why have you chosen St. Mark's? People audition churches these days. The answer that strikes me most, and the answer I hear quite often, is: "When I come to this place, there's something extraordinary here. Something is happening here like nowhere else I've found." I would suggest to you that that is the reality of us living out the Creed, and our belief in Christ. One of the other questions I ask is: What do we know about Jesus of Nazareth? We always start to write things on the board, and an hour later we find that we are still writing things. There is so much we know about him. That's one of the things that is so startling, that even though this portion of the Creed is so long, it still tells us very little about Jesus. We don't have the vibrant, living person that Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are able to give to us. I want you to notice something. Look what's missing in the Creed. There's not a single word of Jesus' teaching there. There's no summary of all of his wisdom for us. Why is that? Because ultimately, the Creed reminds us that Jesus is not just a good teacher, and he did not come just to show us how to live. What else is missing in the Creed? There's not a single mention of the miracles that he worked. Why would that be? Because ultimately, Jesus is so much more than just a miracle-worker. What's left out of the Creed, helps to underline what is there. Although his teachings are important, and his miracles validate his ministry, ultimately the Creed reminds us that there are four things about Jesus that we must ever hold fast to. Get these right, and everything else falls into place. Miss these four, and you've missed the mark. In fact, I would suggest that if you get the Creed right, everything else falls into place. I would remind you from last week that the Creed, especially the Apostles' Creed, is word for word taken from the Bible. There are four things that we must never forget when we consider our Creedal faith. First, Jesus was born. Second, he suffered and died. Third, he rose again from the dead. Finally, he's coming back. Let's just look at these quickly if we can. The first statement about Christ in the Creed reads, "I believe in Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord," an intimation of Christ's divinity. "He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary," an intimation of his humanity. Right from the beginning, his birth is like no other. Stunningly, always in the scriptures we are reminded that Jesus' birth is just like yours and mine. We are reminded of his humanity. That's unusual in the ancient world because the gods of those time were sort of like "superheroes," almost comic book-like figures that were invincible. They seemed like a flat veneer, because they weren't flesh and blood. From the beginning of the scriptures, and into the Creed, people acknowledge that Jesus is a man. When you and I face a struggle, a challenge, or a dilemma, when were not sure what direction to take, we can know that he has experienced all of those challenges and trials and dilemmas. He was born of a virgin, but even there, there's something unique. None of us were born of virgins. God is present in him like no other. 150 years later, the Creed added on to this in a sense by saying he is "God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God." God couldn't just rearrange the system. It was too broken. He had to enter into it, and as a part of the human world, with his humanity and his divinity, Jesus fundamentally changes your world and mine. I often have to remind my friends that there is that inner play of the Creed that always holds up a tension between Jesus being born of a virgin, and his divinity. Conservative friends want to emphasize his divinity, because he is God from God, light from light. Some of my liberal friends want to underline his humanity -- his teaching and his wisdom. I would say that they both err, if they only focus on one side of the equation. Jesus said it this way, at one point when he was asked a question: "You do err, because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God." The Creed always brings us back to ask, "Who is Jesus, and what difference does that make in our lives, that he was born?" The second part of the Creed that we can never get away from: "He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried." By the time the Nicene Creed was written, decades later, it's made a bit more personal: "He died for us, and for our salvation." You cannot read the New Testament and miss the reality that Jesus didn't come just to teach and work miracles; he came to die. Listen to this, from Romans 5: "Christ died for us." Again in that chapter: "Christ died for the ungodly." 1 Cor 15: "Christ died for our sins." 2 Cor 5: "For our sake, he who knew no sin became sin for us." Eph 5:2: "Christ loved us, and gave himself for us." A Creedal believer can never get away from that difficult fact that Jesus died for that believer, for you and me. Jesus knew that himself. He says in Mark chapter 10: "The Son of man came to give his life as a ransom for many." After having seen the Mel Gibson version of The Passion (and remember, the word "passion" in the Greek means "suffering"), I would say that you cannot see that movie and ever receive communion in the same light or from the same perspective again. Listen to what Jesus said, in relating his suffering for us: "This is my blood, which is shed for you." "I am the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep." Never take for granted the reality that he was born, yes; but he also suffered and died for you and me. He died a violent, but legal, death. It's important to say that. He could not have been killed if Pontius Pilate had not given permission. It was not possible for the Jewish authorities to arrange the death of any person. In the Creed, there are two people mentioned -- two humans, like you and me. Mary, who accepts the claims of God ("may it be as you have said,"), and Pontius Pilate, who rejects the claims of God (washing his hands and saying "I am innocent of this man's blood"). From the beginning of Christendom, there has been a tension between Christians and Jews. But, both must always come back to the reality that there is so much more that unites us, and that believers are never given the option of anti-Semitism. Even in the Creed we find, "He suffered under Pontius Pilate." Next: "He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again." First we have that reality that he was buried. In 1 Cor 15, Paul says: "I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the scriptures." We add that phrase into the Nicene Creed: "He died in accordance with the scriptures, and was buried." If the story ends there, with him in the grave, then there is no explanation for why you and I are sitting here today. We wouldn't need to be here. Paul says it this way, again in that magnificent chapter 15 regarding the resurrection: "If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless, and so is your faith; more than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead." If the story ends in Joseph of Arimathea's tomb, there's no reason for you and I to be here today. But again and again, after his death, there are sightings of our risen Lord. A couple of weeks ago, when I was talking about the resurrection principle, I said there were 27 various accounts in the New Testament describing people who had seen Jesus after he was dead and raised again. I found a 28th instance. John, in exile on the island of Patmos, is praying on Sunday morning. He was in the Lord, and there before him stood Jesus resurrected, dazzling. John falls at his feet to worship. Again and again, our faith is not simply that there was a teacher, or that he came and died; but that he rose again. Finally, he's coming back. The next time he won't be vulnerable, at the mercy of every single adult and child on the planet. He will come as King of kings, and Lord of lords. We acknowledge that in the Creed when we say: "He will come again to judge the living and the dead." Now, we live in a culture and time where many of us are uncomfortable with talking about judgment, but you need to understand that though we don't want to be judged, and though we are told again and again, "Judge not lest you be judged," there is a sense in all of the New Testament that when he returns, it will be a moment of great sorting -- wheat from tares; sheep from goats; the quick and the dead. These words of Jesus should cause all of us to pause: "I tell you this: you must give an account on judgment day of everything idle word you speak." Peter, in one of his earliest sermons, says, "God ordered us to preach everywhere, to testify that Jesus is ordained of God to be the judge of all, the living and the dead." Rom 14: "Christ died and rose again for this very purpose, so that he might be Lord of those who are alive, and those who are dead." There is, in the book of Revelation, a moment that's known as The Great White Judgment, when the books are opened. "I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God's throne, and the books were opened, including the book of Life. The dead were judged according to the things written in the books, according to what they had done." Believers have said from the earliest of times, if you get these right, then everything else falls into place. Miss these four points, and you will miss what you really ought to believe. I would close with a little story. This is a time of challenge for all of us, I believe, in the sense that the Creed is at that place where people are uncomfortable with some of those things, and perhaps want to change some of those things. The story is about a park, or a piece of property. Imagine that with this great piece of property, you can do three things. You could continue to maintain it as a park; you could turn it into a golf course; or, you could make it into a motorcycle track. With that piece of property, you could never do all three things. Then, imagine this. It becomes a golf club, and one day, members of the golf club are suddenly told that their course must now allow motorcycles on the grounds, because motorcycles, like golf carts, are wheeled vehicles. How much would the anger intensify, if the golfers could hire only caddies that were only provided by the motorcycle club? Caddies who themselves were not golfers, but motorcyclists? They ridiculed the golfers as "golfamentalists". To compound the irritation, imagine that the new motorcycle club insists that it really is still a golf club, and it insists that the original golf club members continue to pay their dues, and insist that the diehard golfers should attend constant dialogues, where they are forced to hear about the virtues of motorcycling. Think through this. What will last forever? What truth will stand forever? The Creed gives us the non-negotiables. Gracious Lord, in the midst of this Lent, help us to come to that place where we have a hope in your resurrection that changes every perspective in our lives; help us to dare to live for you, and not for ourselves, in Jesus' name, Amen.
	Rev. Mark Tusken *The Baptismal Covenant* Celebrant: Do you believe in God the Father? People: I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. Celebrant: Do you believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God? People: I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. Celebrant: Do you believe in God the Holy Spirit? People: I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. I want to teach you about emergency baptism this morning for a few minutes, just as an introduction, and to begin today by talking about someone from St. Mark's, and end today with someone from St. Mark's (but with no names!). A man who is a grandfather, and loves children dearly, came to me one day and said he wanted to make a confession. Now, I can say this because it wasn't an official confession, and I asked his permission to speak about him. He said, in a moment of spiritual hope for his family, he had baptized his granddaughters and hoped that that was alright. I told him that it was actually a very tender act of love. His own daughter didn't want that, yet he loved his granddaughters and wanted them to be baptized, so he did so. He wanted to ask me if that was possible, and I said, any Christian can baptize. You do that with two things: with water, which he used, and in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. That was a marvelous expression of this man's faith, that he wanted his granddaughters to grow up under the covenant of love that God has made with us. The point would simply be that he did it right. There was water, and those three names of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. During this Lent, we've been thinking through the Creed. Two weeks ago, we asked the question, "Do you believe in God the Father?" Last week, we asked the question, "Do you believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God?" And today we come to that portion of the Trinity that I believe receives short-shrift. We all recognize God as our Creator, and we have that sense of God dying on the cross for each of us. But what about the work of the Spirit? Do you believe in God, the Holy Spirit? We sang this morning about binding the strong name of the Trinity to ourselves. But are you aware that only twice in the New Testament are God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit put together that we might know they are one in the same, yet three distinct persons of the God-head? It happens as Jesus is leaving. He says to his followers (and to all of us), "Go into all the world and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit." If any of you have participated in a Morning Prayer service, or Evening Prayer service, often that service ends with a quote from Corinthians: "The grace of the Lord Jesus, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you always." You see, there is this sense that the God-head, the Father, Son, and Spirit, are co-eternal and co-equal, but I think so often that we are captivated by the work of creation, or our own salvation, that we forget the work of the Spirit. Do you believe in God the Holy Spirit? I would suggest that our thoughts need to be shaped around two things. First, the Holy Spirit is the person of God; and second, the Holy Spirit is the power of God. Both are at work in the world today. First, the Holy Spirit is the person of God at work in the world today. From the beginning of the New Testament era, when persons have talked about knowing that God is at work in their lives in the power of the Spirit, they've never spoken of the Spirit as some sort of impersonal energy, or some sort of force field that is there. They always use the most intimate of terms, and they describe God at work in their lives in the power of the Spirit in such a way that there's a sense that there is a personality there. And that's correct. The Spirit is not some sort of nebulous force. The Spirit of God is the person of God that touches your heart and mine today, here and now. Listen to the work of the Spirit. In the New Testament the Spirit leads, bears witness, gives assistance, prays, knows, teaches, loves, searches, gives gifts to each of us (that would indicate that will of God), sighs, and speaks. (In fact, in Revelation, the Spirit speaks to each of the seven churches. "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.") The Holy Spirit is a person of the God-head, not some impersonal energy or force field. In Romans 8, which is Paul's great theology of the work of the Spirit, he reminds us that the Spirit leads us. He says, "The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit." "The Spirit helps us in our weakness." Now, I've had people that I've visited in the hospital, who while being very sick have a sense that God has touched them. What's that about? That's the Spirit of God touching their spirit. Paul says it this way, in 1 Corinthians: "The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God; for who among men knows the thoughts of man, except the man's spirit?" In other words, as much as we might share ourselves or have intimacy with a spouse or a dear friend, they could never know us from inside out, could they? Paul says it's our spirit within that knows us most deeply. Then he continues on and says, "In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God, except the Spirit of God. We've not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God." There's great personality there, that when you and I relate to one another, it's within our personhood and our very being that we relate with them. The same thing, Paul says, happens at a spiritual level. When you and I connect with God, that place of intimacy is between the Spirit of God and our own human spirit. Do you believe in the Holy Spirit? Paul says at one point, "I urge by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Spirit, to join with me in my struggle." We all think of Jesus, God the Son, loving us. At that first Sunday School lesson, we all learn "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so." But you know, the Spirit of God also loves you. Do you believe in God the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is not just the person of God at work in the world today, it is also the power of God at work in the world today. Do you remember what happened with Jesus after his death and resurrection? He says to the disciples, "Don't do anything... wait." It's a very confusing moment for them. Peter decides to go fishing; they've scattered in some ways; they've gathered together behind locked doors; and then, on Pentecost, the Holy Spirit comes with power. A wind fills their room. Tongues of flames appear. People are startled, because they are understanding in different languages this message of God's love. There's this sense in which Jesus would say to all of us, you can never minister in your own strength... wait for the power of God. That's the point of the third Collect in Lent. "Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves." When God is at work in the world today, it's in the power of his Spirit. There's a great moment in Jesus' ministry that's recorded in John 7. It's one of my favorite portions in Jesus' life. It's only recorded there. It's the great festival and thanksgiving for the harvest. There comes a classic moment on the temple mount, when the High Priest would hold up a great golden pitcher filled with water. I sometimes think of that in my own mind, when we use that great ewer, that great silver pitcher, and we pour that water into the basin, at baptisms. The High Priest is getting ready to thank God for the water given and provided for the harvest, and he will pour that out as a libation upon the altar, and at that moment, Jesus says this: "If anyone thirsts for God, let him come after me, and I will fill the essence of his being with living waters." And then John adds parenthetically, "Jesus was speaking of the Spirit, which had not yet come." I want you to have a sense that when God is at work in you or through you, guiding and directing and leading and teaching, giving wisdom beyond yourself, that's the work of God -- not the Father or the Son, but God the Holy Spirit. Do you believe in God the Holy Spirit? The New Testament says again and again, Jesus was raised from the dead by that power. God's Spirit raised Christ. I want you to have a sense that whenever God touches your heart, whenever you have a sense that he's done some great work, that's not the Son, and that's not the Father; that's God the Holy Spirit at work in the world today. He is at work in the world today. I started this morning by talking about a fellow who loved his grandchildren so much that God moved through him. God the Spirit was at work there. I'd like to finish with this story about another person who is a friend from St. Mark's. For years, he and I have thought and prayed about his own retirement. That's one of those great decisions that you make in your life. Where will I retire? What will that look like? When will it be? Over the years, he and I have prayed about that, and he had a great hope and dream to buy a parcel of land in Maryland on the shore of the Chesapeake Bay. He was able to buy part of that property, and very quietly he had a great sense that that is where he and his family would retire to. Do you have the picture in your mind? Perhaps you too have some plan like that in your own mind. He always realized that it was such a big dream and hope, that only God could work it out. Up until recently, there was one last portion of the property that he wanted to buy. It was this magnificent piece of property, that he never could have afforded it all at once, but it seemed that at just the right time and in just the right way, a piece of the property would come open, and he'd have the money to make the purchase, or be able to secure the loan. But there was still the one last piece of the puzzle that he was in the process of acquiring. Now, he's an airline pilot, and one day he was flying a group of people down to the Carolinas. The last property purchase wasn't quite going as smooth as he had hoped; there was a glitch of some sort. After they landed the plane, he received a phone call on his cell. He was told that because of this glitch, he needed to immediately fax over some certain papers to Richmond, Virginia. He became very concerned about that, because he had given his heart to this project, and he had seen that God was taking care of things. Have you ever been in that place where you don't quite trust the fax machine, and you want to see someone face to face? And so, he tried to think through what he should do. He didn't want to just fax his signature. Just as he was on the phone, at that very moment, his co-pilot taps him on his shoulder. He told his caller to hang on a minute, and he looked to the co-pilot who said, "There's been a change. Instead of us doing our regularly scheduled flight, with a planeload of people, we need to fly this plane empty to Richmond, Virginia." He goes back to his phone call, without ever having hung up, and he says, "I'll see you in an hour!" My sense would simply be this: It might be your retirement; it might be your grandchildren; it might be your own heart and soul; wherever God is at work -- that's the person and power of the Holy Spirit. Do you believe in God the Holy Spirit? The promise, Lord, is that even in those times when we are most weak and have the greatest need, at those very moments, your Holy Spirit will pray through us. We ask for that, that in our weakness, you, gracious Lord, would guide and direct us through the power of your Spirit, in Jesus' name, Amen.
	Rev. Tony Welty *The Baptismal Covenant* Celebrant: Do you believe in God the Father? People: I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. Celebrant: Do you believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God? People: I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. Celebrant: Do you believe in God the Holy Spirit? People: I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Celebrant: Will you continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers? People: I will, with God's help. Celebrant: Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord? People: I will, with God's help. This morning we continue on with our sermon series on the Apostles' Creed. We do that by looking at our Baptismal Covenant, found on p. 304 of the Book of Common Prayer. The last several weeks, Fr. Mark has been leading us through the first three questions in our Baptismal Covenant. You'll notice that each one of these questions has to do with our intellect. Right out of the gate, when we're baptized into the Christian community, we're asked what we believe to be true intellectually. The first question is, "Do you believe in God the Father?" And essentially we say, yes, I believe in God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. The next questions is, "Do you believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God?" We say, yes. Then we're asked, "Do you believe in God the Holy Spirit?" And we say, yes, we do. But then in our Baptismal Covenant, there's a change in the questions. All of a sudden we're no longer asked to give intellectual assent to and idea. We're now asked if we will live out what we've just said we believe to be true. The fourth question we're asked is, "Will you continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers?" And we answer, "I will, with God's help." The next question is the one we'll focus on this morning, and that is, "Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?" We respond, "I will, with God's help." In these two sentences, in the question and response, there is a huge amount of theology. What we're saying when we make these covenants with God is that not only do we believe these things to be true about God, but we're going to live them out by his help and grace. What we're doing, when we move from the head to the heart, is we're moving into a whole new realm. We're moving into an area that the writers of the scriptures would have understood in terms of the heart to be the center of our being. In that center of our being is contained the will. That is confounded people since the beginning of time. St. Paul said in his letters to the churches, "Why is it that I can't do what I want to do? Why do I always do the very things that I hate?" It's this issue of the will. I want to do things, but I can't. I don't want to do things, but I do them. The will is a very difficult thing to understand. Yet, that's what we're called to do. We're called to live out our faith by engaging our will. It's not only the church that's wrestled with the will; it's also the secular culture that's wrestled with it since the beginning of time. Just in the last number of years, there was a study done by a couple of psychologists, looking at the issue of willpower in children. These therapists wanted to study immediate gratification in children. They gathered together a group of kindergarteners, and they asked them to draw a picture. The therapists said, "When you draw your picture, we're going to give you a reward of candy. But before you take the candy, we want to ask you a couple of questions." The first one was an option. "You can either have all of this candy right now, but if you wait until tomorrow, we'll give you twice as much candy." Before the children had the chance to make their choice, they asked them (in completely politically correct language), "What do you think a dumb kid would do, and what do you think a smart kid would do?" Every single one of them said that the smart kid would wait until tomorrow so that they would have twice as much candy. So, the therapists went ahead and told them to make their choice. Well, guess what they all did! Even though they knew what smart kids would do (and none of those kids considered themselves to be "dumb kids"), they went ahead and took the candy anyway. It was an issue of the will. I know the right thing to do, but I really want that candy, and I want it right now. There is this immediate gratification that proved too strong for these kindergarten kids. But how many of us do that same thing in our lives? It's not only kids that struggle with that! I was browsing through ESPN magazine the other day, and came across an article by Bill Simmons. He was looking at and considering this brutal incident that took place in the hockey world -- some of you may have seen it. On ESPN, they just kept showing repeatedly this footage of really what was an attack by one player on another. Steve Moore, a player on the Colorado Avalanche, was blindsided by another player. Todd Bertuzzi, the other player, came up behind him and sucker-punched him, right in the back of the head, and drove him into the ice, knocking him unconscious and breaking his neck, right in the middle of a game. Bill Simmons was looking at this incident, wrestling with not so much the incident itself, but his reaction to the incident. He was upset that Todd Bertuzzi was crying so much on television; he said that no sports figure should do that. But listen to what he said: "Then again, maybe we should all have been crying with him. I hate what happened. I hate hockey for letting it happen. I hate the media for the way they covered it. Most of all, I hate myself, because every time they show the clip -- Bertuzzi sucker-punching Moore from behind, the most cowardly of deeds, then driving his head into the ice like a pro wrestler -- I watched the thing. I couldn't help it. I probably watched that clip 200 times." Then he goes on to say that he wasn't so much worried about what the event meant for hockey. He says, "I was more worried about myself. Why couldn't I stop watching? Is something wrong with me? This was like slowing down as I passed a car wreck, only this time I kept doubling back to the crash. Do I enjoy seeing hockey players maim each other? My stomach rumbles with disgust, but it's a lot like when I watch those strangely absorbing Autopsy shows on HBO. Most important, am I the only one? Did you flip the channel and say, 'I can't watch this again,' or did you keep staring at the TV waiting for more too? Of course, you kept watching." Here's this columnist -- I don't know anything about his background, but that he writes for a purely secular magazine -- questioning himself, and his will. Why do I do the things that I don't want to do? Why do I keep replaying that disgusting film clip over and over again, knowing that I shouldn't do it? It's a matter of the will, asking those deep questions of ourselves. For us, when we come to this question in our Baptismal Covenant, and we agree to persevere in resisting evil, and whenever we fall into sin, we'll repent and return to the Lord -- this is precisely the issue we're dealing with -- our will. As we begin to look at that, we have to unpack that sentence just a little bit. By God's grace, we only preach for 10 or 15 minutes in the Episcopal Church, so I would get myself into trouble if I delved too deeply into this theology! But we have to look at a couple of key terms. One of them is evil. What pops into your mind when you think of evil? I would imagine that you would think of something like a concentration camp, or possibly some person like Adolf Hitler, or Osama bin Laden, or the people who flew planes into the World Trade Center, or somebody we think of on a grand scale. But, the scriptures tell us over and over again, evil is a lot closer to our own hearts then we'd probably care to admit. Evil, in the Old and New Testaments, is described as something that is a distortion or perversion of something that is good. Evil is always found lurking in the shadows of something that is a good thing. One image that may be helpful, for those of you who have seen The Passion, is to see how Satan tracked Christ on his way to the cross, the entire movie. How Satan held the antichrist, and mocked Mary as she watched her child being crucified. "Why can't you protect your child? I'm protecting mine!" we can imagine Satan saying. Evil lurks in the shadows of good. The other thing we have to define is sin. What is sin? Again, most of us would think of something that we would consider to be grotesque, when we think of other people's sins. But our sins are what we have to deal with also. Sin, in the scriptures, is defined as missing the mark. Sin is a lot closer to our hearts than we'd care to admit. In this Baptismal Covenant, we're agreeing to resist evil, that thing that's found lurking right next to something good. Resisting that, as it pushes in on us, and whenever we fall or stumble into sin, when we do those things we know we shouldn't do, or don't do those things we know we should do, we're to repent of missing the mark. This is at the core of our human nature, something we share. All we have to do is look at temptation. That's the chief way that sin comes into our lives. There is something very interesting about temptation -- it's much more predictable than we think it is. Temptation follows a pattern. That pattern is found when we look at the first three chapters of the scriptures. All we have to look at is the beginning of Genesis, and we see that pattern that emerges. We can look at that interaction that Eve has with the serpent. In chapter 3 of Genesis, we see that Eve is with Adam, and they've been given a command by God. They've been in this perfect place, and they're given a tremendous amount of freedom, just with one caveat. We see this pattern develop. "The woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and was pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom." That's the first point of temptation, is desire. Again, as it's defined in our Covenant, it's probably not something that's grotesque. It's probably something that is a good desire, but it's misdirected. It's focused on something that God said we shouldn't be focused on. We find ourselves on the path of temptation to sin. Desire gives birth to sin, and that sin gives birth to death. That's exactly what happened right in the beginning. Eve took some, and ate it, and also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. The eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked. They sewed fig leaves to make clothes. That death came in that separation of the perfect intimacy with God. That pattern is the same one that is present in all of our lives. Martin Luther said, "You can't keep a bird from flying over your head, but you can keep it from building a nest in your hair." That's what an evil thought would be like. You can't keep it from passing through your mind, but you can keep it from running its course. That's how we combat evil thinking and desires. None of us are without sin. The scriptures are perfectly clear on that. "All have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God," it says in Romans. But that passage in scripture also goes on to say that all are justified freely by God's grace, and the redemption that came by Jesus Christ. In fulfilling this covenant we've made at our baptisms, we have this beautiful picture that's in our gospel reading for today. It's a gospel reading of hope, and mercy, and grace. It's the return of the prodigal son. This is where, for us, the grace in our Baptismal Covenant comes in. The return of the prodigal deals with the son, who most of us would say is the one who sinned. The younger son is the one who left. He took his inheritance from his father, and in the middle eastern culture, what he said to his father meant, "I wish you were dead." Most of us would not have a problem with saying what he did was wrong. But most of us don't consider the older brother, who was home being the "good boy," the one who fulfilled all the law, and stayed in church, and did everything by the book. But he was also guilty of sin. His sin doesn't show up until the younger son returns home and throws himself upon the grace of God. That's when the elder brother rears his ugly head. "Are you really going to let this son of yours come back, after he spent all of his money on prostitutes? He's going to receive grace?" The father goes to him in his sin, and says the same thing: "All I have is yours. You're also part of the kingdom. You're forgiven too." The difference between the two is that the younger son recognized that he had fallen into sin. He came to himself. We don't know if the elder brother ever recognized his sin. Jesus, in the brilliance of his parable, left that open. The key point in this parable is the father. The father receives the younger son back after he stumbled and fell into sin. The father received the elder son back too, even when he hadn't yet repented and returned. That extension of his grace was always open to him. For this parable, that's the good news for us. In our Baptismal Covenant, that's what we hang our hats on, when we say that we'll return to the Lord when we fall into sin. I want to leave you with three things to think about in terms of how to do what we're talking about. How do we persevere in resisting evil? First, we have to fill our hearts and minds with God's word. That's our standard. That's the truth by which we live. It's equivalent to how counterfeit bills are spotted in the banking industry. Bankers study real bills in order for them to easily spot something that doesn't match. It's the same thing that we should do with error and heresy, and ideas that aren't scriptural. If we don't know what the scripture says, how will we know what is true and what is not true? Irenaeus, one of the early church fathers, is quoted as saying, "Error never shows itself in its naked reality, in order not to be discovered. On the contrary, it dresses elegantly, so that the unwary may be led to believe that it is more truthful than the truth itself." If we don't know what the scriptures say, we won't know what is or isn't true. That's the first thing we do in living out our Baptismal Covenant. Secondly, we must learn to flee from immorality. This again goes against our work ethic. "If I'm going to be good and get into the kingdom of heaven, I must deserve it and must work for it," we are tempted to say. We are tempted to persevere through our strength alone. But St. Paul says, that's not going to work. Satan is more powerful than you are, because he is a spiritual being. All you can do is throw yourself upon the grace of God, and ask him for his mercy. You have to flee. One of the biggest mistakes we make, is try to fight in our own strength. But consistently the scriptures say, turn on your heels and run. Flee from immorality. Don't entertain it. It's seductive. Thirdly, we must ask God for strength and wisdom. In his letter to the churches, James says that God gives to all without finding fault, when we ask for grace and wisdom. If we can do these three things -- fill our hearts and minds with scripture, flee from immorality, and ask God for strength and wisdom -- we will fulfill our Baptismal Covenant that we made with him when we became believers. Finally, I want to ask you that question one more time, and let that rattle around with you for the rest of the day and week: Will you persevere in resisting evil, and whenever you fall into sin (because you will), will you repent and return to the Lord? Heavenly Father, thank you again for this day, and thank you for the sunshine. Lord, thank you for the clarity of your Word. Thank you for your Spirit that you have poured out upon us. Thank you for enabling us to fulfill those covenants that we have made with you. Lord God, I pray that you would bless us this day with an awareness of your presence. Increase in us the capacity to love you and to love one another, in Jesus' name, Amen.
	Rev. Mark Tusken *The Baptismal Covenant* Celebrant: Do you believe in God the Father? People: I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. Celebrant: Do you believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God? People: I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. Celebrant: Do you believe in God the Holy Spirit? People: I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Celebrant: Will you continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers? People: I will, with God's help. I'd like to begin with the story of the great Land Rush that took place in the town of Guthrie, Oklahoma. On "day one" of the Land Rush, at the beginning of the day, there were zero people in Guthrie. The way I know this story is because on the Antiques Roadshow, on which there were printing plates for the very first newspaper published in the territory of Oklahoma. It was a newspaper that was printed one week later after the land rush in Guthrie. (Those plates are worth between $5,000 - $15,000!) At the beginning of "day one," there were zero people in Guthrie. At the end of "day one," there were 10,000 people living there! It was the most famous and important town in Oklahoma at that time. Now, let me ask, is there anyone here who has ever heard of Guthrie, Oklahoma? This is a reality: the way we know the truth about Oklahoma is that it's been shared from generation to generation. Guthrie is actually smaller now than it was back on day one. It prompts me to ask this question: If that's true of early cities that come and go, what about the city of God, lived out through the church, which will last forever? We've been studying in Lent our Baptismal Covenant, those great questions of the faith. We are asked, "Do you believe in God the Father?" "Do you believe in God the Son?" "Do you believe in God the Holy Spirit?" Last week we looked at the question, "Will you persevere in resisting evil, and whenever you fall into sin, repent and turn to the Lord?" Tony reminded us that those first three questions are questions of intellect. But the last questions in the Covenant are about how you will live. That's what the city of God is, the place where we live out what we believe. We skipped over one of the questions last week due to some schedule changes, but this week we will look at the question, "Will you continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers?" We answer, "I will, with God's help." There's an acknowledgement right there, that we could never live out our Christian belief, or ethic, without the help of God. In and of ourselves, we aren't strong enough to do such things. Amongst the swift and varied changes among the world, as we prayed today, such as the Guthrie, Oklahomas that come and go, the church will last forever. In that question are the four building blocks of the church. I'd like us to look at them today. If you have a Bible, that's a direct quote from the book of Acts, chapter 2 verse 42. It forms the cornerstone of our own mission statement at St. Mark's. The first commitment of these four building blocks is: Will you continue in the apostles' teaching? Now, what is the teaching of the apostles? It's this: that Jesus lived and died for each one of us, and that as he stretches out his arms upon the cross, that's why he came. Who did he come for? You and me. That's the essence of the gospel. You can hear it in Acts 2, just a few pages earlier in the very first sermon that's recorded, by Peter. This is how he describes the essence of the gospel: "This man Jesus was handed over to you (the people of Jerusalem), by God's set purpose and foreknowledge." Was it an accident that Jesus died on the cross? Did it catch God by surprise, that Jesus had to die on the cross? Was it some strange turn of the wheel of fate, where things got out of control? No. As Peter says, "This Jesus was handed over by God's set purpose and foreknowledge." As we said a few weeks ago, he came to die. That's the apostles' teaching. It doesn't stop there with his death, though. The good news is: "But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him." This is so important, and the kernel of the gospel. From the Greek, scholars have called this the kerygma, or "the proclamation." That's what the apostles taught. Where did they get this teaching from? Well, they saw it, predicted it, or foretold it in the prophets of the Old Testament. They heard Jesus talking about it. The very parable today, in which the owner of the vineyard sends his son who is killed. What's that about? What's the apostles' teaching? Will you continue in it? Now, I would say that I've made the mistake -- and I guarantee that every single one of you has heard a preacher make the same mistake at one time or another. Every one of us who preaches, falls into the trap every now and then of preaching something other than the apostles' teaching. It's much easier to talk about something that's psychologically encouraging. It's much more comforting for me to just tell you something that would make us all feel good. It's easy to fall into a trap to preach the latest headlines, or some latest scientific theory. I guarantee you, that's it's happened to me, and it happens with every preacher every now and then. That's why all of us are asked, "Will you continue in the apostles' teaching?" It's so important, that each of the sermons in the book of Acts record it in chapters 2, 3, 10, and 14. All of them focus on one thing: that Jesus came to die for each one of us, and then he rose again, and that means that we who believe will live forever. I have a friend who I love dearly -- Matt Gunter, the Rector at St. Barnabas in Glen Ellyn. He's been studying Bishop Butler. A few of you know about Guthrie, Oklahoma; but does anybody here remember the teachings of Bishop Butler about 150 years ago? Bishop Butler left behind the apostles' teaching. He was a deist. He believed that God set the world spinning, and then walked away from it. He believed that God doesn't hear our prayers, that he doesn't care what happens in our lives, that he can't do anything about the things that are a concern to us. That's the teaching of Bishop Butler. But is that the teaching of the apostles? No. Is that part of the city of God? Never! The challenge for all of us, in the question from the Covenant, is to not leave the city of God by not continuing in the apostles' teaching. The second part of the question is, "Will you continue in the fellowship?" Let me tell you what is behind that word. It's absolutely describing there is not the sort of gathering you'd have in the Lion's Club or The Rotary or coworkers at an office gathering; the fellowship that's described there is describing gathering together to worship. Now, I know I'm preaching to the choir today! Obviously, you all understand this, because you are here! You understand that commitment, and are living it out. The commitment is this: If you're in Geneva on a Saturday night or Sunday morning, even if everybody else is doing something else, you will be in church. The challenge for all of us is that I hope everyone else who's on vacation is in church wherever they've gone! That's the commitment you make when you say yes, I'll continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to gather together with other believers. I have never met anybody who was thriving in their faith who was not part of a regular church. We come together to give God worth. That's worthip; that's worship. It takes us out of ourselves, and helps us to focus on him. I think you can also expand this a bit to understand that fellowship is not just about being an Episcopalian, or Baptist, or Methodist, or going to the community church down the street. The fellowship that's talked about here is the fellowship of all believers, what we would affirm as one holy, catholic and apostolic church. It's the universal church. Anyone who believes needs to be coming together with other believers for fellowship. That's the promise that was made for you, boys and girls, by your parents. That's why you are here this morning. That's a blessing for all of us. Will you continue in the apostles' teaching, and in the fellowship? My oldest sermon illustration, which I've probably told too many times, is that great picture of a campfire. All the logs burn brightly in a campfire, but then if you take one of those logs and roll it away, what happens every time? It goes out, because there is some wonder of a burning fire, that each log feeds off the others. They will burn brightly together, but alone they'll go out, because they can't feed off anything. The spiritual principle is the same. If you want your heart to burn with a light and a passion for Christ and one another; if you want to know his passion in your life; it will take fellowship. You cannot thrive as a Christian alone. So we make that commitment: I will continue in the apostles' teaching and be a part of their fellowship. The third is a very important commitment: "Will you continue in the breaking of the bread?" Now, in the New Testament, that can at times simply mean coming together for a meal, but it's actually a very technical phrase that leaps off the page for us in Acts chapter 2. For instance, when Jesus feeds the 5,000, Mark is very clear. He takes the five loaves that the little boy had, he gives thanks to God and then breaks the bread, and gives it to everyone. Whenever you see the phrase "the breaking of the bread" in the New Testament, it's talking about the communion service. What we're making a commitment to is that concept that we will be spiritually fed through the Eucharist week by week as we draw together. Will you continue in the breaking of the bread? Listen to what happened to Paul and his companions in Acts chapter 20. They are traveling through Greece and Macedonia. "On the first day of the week," Luke writes, "we came together to break bread." Paul spoke to the people and continued on. So, we come together, we receive communion, we receive our instruction. That's a commitment you've made at your baptism. That's why Jesus says, and we say it week by week, "Do this as often as you shall drink it." "Take, eat; this is my body, which is given for you." "The gifts of God, for the people of God. Take them in remembrance Christ died for you." The essence of the gospel, proclaimed week by week, as we have fellowship and as we break bread. I would just simply say this, that one of the great proofs of the resurrection always for me is that all of these Jews who had always worshipped on Saturday (the last day of the week, the day that God had commanded as a Sabbath rest because it was a day he rested on) now began to worship on Sunday. You see it there it Acts: "On the first day of the week, they gathered to break bread." Why did they do that? Because that was the day Jesus rose from the dead. So they break bread in remembrance of that great truth. One last thing, and then we'll be done. "Will you continue in the prayers?" It's fascinating to me that every time something important happens in the book of Acts, it's preceded by prayer. It's almost a chicken & the egg question. Do the things happen because the people were praying, or are people praying so things happen? The point would be this. In Acts chapter 1, after the resurrection, "they all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brothers." After the resurrection, what did people do? They prayed. At the first miracle, Peter and John are going up to the temple to pray, and they see a man who's crippled, and they pray for him and he rises up and walks. The apostles say, "We will give ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word, while you serve," to the first deacon Stephen. The first gentile convert: an angel appears to the centurion Cornelius and says, "Your prayers have come up as a memorial offering before God." Chapter 12, Peter's escape from prison, very early in the life of the church, when people were being martyred: "The church was earnestly praying to God for him." Acts 16, the first European convert, a woman merchant named Lydia: "We went outside the city, where we expected to find a place of prayer." If you're a believer, you've made a commitment to continue in the right teaching, the right fellowship, and in prayer. On a personal note, I remember my grandfather coming up to me with tears in his eyes on the day of my wedding, as he pressed a paper into my hand. I still have it in my lockbox at the bank. On it is written his lifetime Bible verse. He said, "Mark, I want you to know that I pray every day." That's the mark of a believer. The question begs to be asked: What are you building your life on? What will last? Guthrie was here, and it still is in a sense, but it's former glory is long gone. What are you building your life on? What is the church? What are the foundations of the church? Heavenly Father, help us to live what we believe. Let our lives reflect your love, your essence, and all for your glory, in Jesus' name, Amen.
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