Trudging Through the Faith

I don’t remember many of the chapels from the Christian High School I went to, but I do remember one speaker who said something about Christianity being a faith of action. That if belief was all that mattered, we would all die at our baptisms and go directly to heaven; do not pass go, do not collect 200 Dollars; but we are all still alive after our baptisms (unless we’ve been doing something very wrong), which means we still have things to do.

Thus we are called to an “active” faith, one where we interact with God in everything we do (preach the gospel at all times, if necessary, use words), one with hearts of prayer, service, and love. But what does this “Active faith” look like?.Many more churches are trying to create this through small groups, community out reach, discipleship training, and what not. This is wonderful.

But at the same time I am mildly afraid. This active thing is great, but I am also afraid that it will soon become routine, and people will get bored. At my church there are small groups that are falling apart because they’ve been together for half a decade, and they have become bored. Service groups are likewise having a hard time because after several years, the weekly trip to the Salvation Army is not what it used to be. To keep people happy we need new songs, new classes, new outreach, and new programs. The Church now runs on novelty.

This is one of the complaints that is leveled against the “traditional” churches, that the worship is always the same, which makes it dull and boring. I will admit that sometimes I get sick of Rite II Book of Common Prayer services. The prose is beautiful, but how many times must I hear “Of thy own have you given us o Lord…” Sometimes I wish we could break out the incense and noise makers, and do the Qurbana or liturgy of St. John the Divine.

But at the same time I am glad for the monotony. Once upon a time I tried praying the daily office twice a day, it lasted about a month, I got bored. During that month I was bludgeoned with the prayer of confession. And I started to notice that I started treating people better, because I kept hearing “Forgive me Father for I have sinned, both in what I have done, and what I have left undone”. It was a tad unnerving.

Perhaps this is why we don’t like monotony, we’re afraid it may begin to change us and challenge us (another reason why I stopped the Daily Office). If we live out our active faiths by constantly changing, we’re to busy forming ourselves -and indeed God)-instead of giving Him time to form us.

+Alex Resurgent
Feast of St. Martha

A Personal Relationship?

As long as I can remember, I have always heard something along the lines of “You need to have a personal relationship with Jesus, thats all that matters.” And to an extent I have agreed, although at times Ive quipped that one should also have a relationship with the Father and the Spirit as well, but for the most part I’ve agreed.

Earlier I was looking up at the stars, contemplating the sheer gravity of Everything (a favorite past time of mine), and it hit me. What does that term ‘personal relationship’ mean, what on earth does it even look like.

I severely doubt it looks like the illustration above. I cant say Ive ever winked at God in my prayer times, and I sincerely hope that He has not blinked at me. I tremble at the thought of what that would mean. Come to think of it I have never felt Chummy with the Eternal One. And I dont think anybody has (except maybe the sculptor of the above).

But I must inquire further into this.

In the times when I can remember feeling fitfully close to God, it has always felt as if I was in the room with a Monarch (which of Course God is), but when I examine it, it doesn’t feel “personal”. HM Queen Elizabeth is my Queen. In such capacity we have a “relationship,” although I feel like political scientists would have a hayday trying to define what it is. It is anything but personal. I can pledge to God my life and my service in return for his wisdom and protection, but that does not cover going to a bar to chat about problems.

The only other time I can think of being close to God is at the alter receiving the Eucharist. There can be nothing more personal or intimate than consuming/being consumed. It is an overpowering feeling, but again, it is not “personal” in the sense that everyone in that congregation, diocese, province, and communion is doing the same thing. It is intimate but not personal.

Part of me believes that it is impossible to have a personal relationship with God on the same level as having a personal relationship with my best friend. Im okay with that. I am totally content with knowing that I have stood in the courts before the King of Kings. I could ask for nothing else. But part of me wonders if I am missing something. If I’m not, how many have turned away because they felt the same way?

+Alex Resurgent

Reflection in John 8:53-58

Gospel of John 8:53-58 (NKJV – Highlighting my own)

Are You greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets are dead. Whom do You make Yourself out to be?”

Jesus answered, “If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God. Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him. And if I say, ‘I do not know Him,’ I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.“

Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?”

Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.“

I came across this verse today, and the highlighted stuck out to me. I love the Gospel of John because of its “dark” nature. When I say dark, I don’t mean that Christ is evil in the gospel. He is more akin to Van Helsing, minus the killing, He is good, but not in the way that would expect a good guy to be. He always seems to be kinda off in left field saying profound things that, rightly so, make us feel very uncomfortable, mildly creeped out, and leaves us wishing that He would go to another block.

This is one of those passages that sent shivers down my spine.

The first shiver came at the response that Christ gave to the Challenge against His identity. Christ comes back with the claim the He knows the Father more than the teachers of the law, no biggie, we’re used to this. Then He turns to address the challenge of His greatness compared to Abraham, “who is dead…”

“Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”

Christ refers to the eschaton, to the end times, IN THE PAST TENSE. It is very unnerving to me to think that Christ, during His existence on earth, was already privy to, and knowledgeable about the nature of eternity. He had been there, done that, if there is a t-shirt, Im presuming He has that as well. Jokes aside, I invite you to meditate on the fact that as Christ was teaching little kids, He was already witness to the full completion of time.

The second shiver comes when Christ reveals His “age” to them with “before Abraham was, I AM.” Yes there is some crazy tense action in this passage too, but it is not what got to me. By using the proper name of God, in conjunction with His preexistence of Abraham almost gives the impression that it was Christ Himself talking to Abraham, instead of God the Father. Although this is not a view that is held as truth, knowing the Christ was at least party to the revelations in the Old Testament, via His place in the Trinity, defiantly provides a different angle to reading the Old Testament.

These verses served to me as reminders that Christ is, was, and ever will be.  To often I limit Christ to my time line of being prophesied about-living-dieing-and sometimes returning, instead of realizing that Christ was with the Children of Israel, through His relationship with the Father, and was at the day of Pentecost through His relationship with the Spirit.

The wholeness of time and space is reflected in each and every word that the Trinity has spoken.

+Alex Resurgent

Feast of St. James

Unity in Essentials…

Time For a Christian Truce

I really do not want this to become one of those “religious political” blogs, where i sling mud at the right or left. Ill sling it wherever it needs to be slung. So I don’t want this post to be critical of Mr. (Rev.?) Grabiec’s person, or even his logic.

In his article “Time for a Christian Truce”, Mr. (Rev.?) Grabiec states that we can never truely know anything about our faith, and that it is time for Christians to settle their differences and preach the gospel. I could not agree more with him on this point. In specific he referenced the dispute between the Anglican Church in Canada and the Anglican Network in Canada. Indeed I would love it if Anglicans, or Christians for that matter, would stop warring over minute things and propagated the gospel. But I do have a problem with his thinking, and it is a very common train of thought, and it can have very real effects on the message that we preach.

In the article, Grabiec uses the example of the Arius controversy in the 300’s. Arius argued that Christ was a created being that God the Father gave some sort of divinity. This was condemned as heresy, and rejected. Grabiec seems to say that such beliefs are secondary to the bigger message of God.

I disagree. I think that if we are going to preach the Gospel, we should be fairly clear about what we believe, and make sure that it makes sense.

Arius’ argument didn’t check with the facts. There are two ways that Christ could have been a created being (please tell me if there are others). Way 1: He was a normal human whom God enabled to be sinless and amazingly wise, possessing healing powers. Way 2: He was below God, but above humanity, a sort of Angle or super angel. Each sounds plausible, but each makes it impossible for salvation to work.

We are told that the wages of sin is death, and the only way to atone for sin is through a Human sacrifice. If this is the case, than a Divine-Human Christ’s death would have atoned for the sins of one man. (I swore earlier tonight, sorry guys). A super-human being Christ would have saved no one but himself, because it is clear that what is to be saved, must be assumed. Thats why it must be a human sacrifice, nothing else would have legitimately worked.

This is why Arianism was rejected, it did not fit the understanding of the faith. This is just a small example amongst the myriad of disputes. My point is that we as a Christian community do need to have some unity in the faith that we profess. Its a shame that so many disagreements have divided us so much. But If we say that “anything is possible, really don’t know” to everything, we won’t have much of a faith to profess.

And That would be a larger shame unto itself

+Alex Resurgent
Eighth Sunday After Pentecost

Reflection on Prayer| Rearview Mirror (Part one)

The past few weeks have presented me with many challenges, and I’ve been trying to gleam God’s guidance in anyway that I could. I tried praying, and kept getting side tracked by random thoughts.

It wasn’t that normal “God please bless tomorrow, hmm, I need to buy that book tomorrow.”

It was more like “God, please bless tomorrow, and I wonder if there is a connection between monarchical governments and their societal level of tolerance towards tradition.”

Not So much

I tried talking to people, lots of people, lots of random people, in hopes that the Holy Spirit would move them to drop a nugget of wisdom, a casually discarded comment that would be my gold treasure.

I just got angry with people. And God.

But yesterday a cool thing happened. A friend of mine replied to an e-mail I sent her, and something in it sparked a note of gratitude, a reminder of how blessed I am, and in the process, how God got me to each of those places.

Each one of those blessings had a one common denominator: love

And when I look at the decisions I have before me, only one shares that common denominator. I feel like its the best way to go.

Ill get into this on a deeper and more personal level soon, but I guess the moral of this post is you cant know where your going if you don’t know where you’ve been. Sometimes praising God for his glory shows us his will more than any other thing we can do.

+Alex Resurgent
Canada Day 1 July 2008

Reflection on Sunday’s Reading (6 Ordinary A)

The Fifth Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans (NKJV)

1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

6 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

I read this passage sunday during service (theres something impressive to be said about a church that allows visitors to read the epistle on their first visit, but that is another post) and something about it struck a cord. Understandably, the Priest choose to pay his primary attention to the Gospel lesson, so I would like to spend a moment looking at this.

The first two verses address, what I would consider to be, the first tenant of our faith, that through Christ we have union with the Father. Through Christ we are able to rejoice in the Father, uninhibited by our unworthiness. Verse Five says that God pours out the Holy Spirit into us, which brings us into an even more perfect union with God, and from that stems hope. Hope which further prefects our faith.

The second section of the reading is the second tenant of our faith, that Christ died for us, reconciling us to God the Father. Fairly straight forward (I feel guilty saying that)

But what strikes me interesting is order the Paul uses. Traditionally the narrative is: we are sinners, but through the cross and resurrection we have the ability to have union with God. Whereas Paul’s narrative is that we currently have union with God, thanks to the crucification. Union is not something to be obtained, it is something that currently is.

Not to down play the crucification at all, it is something for which Christ ought be praised for for all eternity, but I suggest that we start looking at this post-crucifiction world view more often. I suggest that we spend more time abiding in Gods Spirit, rather than beating ourselves senseless with the fact that we didnt deserve the cross, and trying to justify it. We can never do that.

Instead let us carry out our mission of peace and love, knowing that we are in God, and that he is in us.

+A. Resurgent