Maney’s Musings

Everyone has warned me not to tell you what I am going to tell you… They all say “the ordinary reader does not want Theology; give him plain practical religion.” I have rejected their advice. I do not think the ordinary reader is such a fool. Theology means “the science of God,” and I think any [one] who wants to think about God at all would like to have the clearest and most accurate ideas about him which are available. You are not children: why should you be treated like children? In a way I quite understand why some people are put off by Theology. I remember once when I had been giving a talk to the R.A.F., an old, hard-bitten officer got up and said, “I’ve no use for all that stuff. But, mind you, I’m a religious man too. I know there’s a God. I’ve felt him: out alone in the desert at night: the tremendous mystery. And that’s just why I don’t believe all your neat little dogmas and formulas about him. To anyone who’s met the real thing they all seem so petty and pedantic and unreal!”

Now in a sense I quite agreed with that man. I think he had probably a real experience of God in the desert. And when he turned from that experience to the Christian creeds, I think he really was turning from something real, to something less real. In the same way, if a man has once looked at the Atlantic from the beach, and then goes and looks at a map of the Atlantic, he also will be turning from real waves to a bit of colored paper. But here comes the point. The map is admittedly only colored paper, but there are two things you have to remember about it. In the first place, it is based on what hundreds and thousands of people have found out by sailing the real Atlantic. In that way it has behind it masses of experience just as real as the one you could have from the beach; only, while yours would be a single isolated glimpse, the map fits all those different experiences together. In the second place, if you want to go anywhere, the map is absolutely necessary. As long as you are content with walks on the beach, your own glimpses are far more fun than looking at a map. But the map is going to be more use than walks on the beach if you want to get to America [from England].

Now Theology is like the map. Merely learning and thinking about the Christian doctrines, if you stop there, is less real and less exciting than the sort of thing my friend got in the desert. Doctrines are not God: they are only a kind of map. But the map is based on the experience of hundreds of people who really were in touch with God?experiences compared with which any thrills or pious feelings you or I are likely to get on our own way are very elementary and very confused. And secondly, if you want to get any further, you must use the map. You see, what happened to that man in the desert may have been real, and was certainly exciting, but nothing comes of it. It leads nowhere. There is nothing to do about it. In fact, that is just why a vague religion?all about feeling God in nature, and so on?is so attractive. It is all thrills and no work; like watching the waves from the beach. But you will not get to Newfoundland [from England] by studying the Atlantic that way, and you will not get eternal life by simply feeling the presence of God in flowers or music. Neither will you get anywhere by looking at maps without going to sea. Nor will you be very safe if you go to sea without a map.

—From The Joyful Christian by C. S. Lewis

I read this excerpt from Lewis this week during morning devotions. I had read it before but it caught my eye again, especially because of a discussion we had in our small group Bible study earlier in the week. A common sentiment expressed was that folks were no theologians and they wondered why they needed to study theology.

What do you think? Do you agree with Lewis’ thesis? If not, why? If so, how are you using theology to help you grow in your relationship with God? Where are you on your journey and from where do you get your “maps”? Share your stories with us so that we might grow together in grace.

Sermon delivered at St. Matthew’s Anglican Church, Westerville, OH, on the first Sunday after Christmas, December 30, 2007

Lectionary texts: Isaiah 61:10-62:3; Galatians 3:23-25, 4:4-7; John 1:1-18; Psalm 147:13-21.

In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Merry Christmas, St. Matthew’s! It was last year at this time that I preached my first sermon here and you were all very gracious to me despite my extreme nervousness. Then in March I preached in front of a bishop and knew firsthand the terror Abram felt in the Genesis account that was read that day. Today, however, marks my toughest test yet. My mother is here to hear me preach for the first time. And she’s taking notes. And she brought extra pens with her! So I beseech you, St. Matthew’s, please continue to be gracious to me this morning, even if I deliver a clinker!

What’s the Human Condition?

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…[I]n him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness [has] not overcome it.” (John 1:1, 4-5). “And the Word became flesh and lived among us…” (John 1:14a). With these words, John announces the wondrous Good News of Christmas. The eternal God, Creator of this vast universe takes on our flesh and is born of the Virgin Mary. The Christmas story is the beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the beginning of the climax to the biblical story of salvation. One of the early church fathers, St. Athanasius, described the Christmas event as “God condescending to our corruption” to save us from the death we deserve. The light of life shines in the darkness of a fallen and broken world and the darkness is not able to put it out, or as Matthew put it in last week’s gospel lesson, a virgin will bear a son and in fulfillment of prophecy, he shall be named Emmanuel, God with us. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.

But sometimes, we are tempted to focus on the darkness rather than the light. That’s partly because we prefer to live in darkness (as John reminds us elsewhere—3:19); it’s the result of our sin and brokenness. Perhaps it is the darkness of political assassination that threatens to throw an entire country into chaos. Or maybe it is the darkness that results from putting our ultimate hope and trust in humans and human solutions rather than God. Maybe it is the darkness that can come from personal illness or from the debilitating effects of aging or disease. Perhaps it is the darkness that comes from separation or divorce or the death of a loved one. Maybe it is the darkness that comes from fear or uncertainty or doubt about our current situation, either as individuals or as a congregation. Perhaps it is the darkness that results from our sinful human pride. Whatever the source of darkness, we are tempted to cry out, like Scrooge did when seeing his former self of Christmases past, that we are quite alone in the world and fall into despair.

And our experience is quite universal, isn’t it? I read in the newspaper recently about a PR stunt in NYC. People were invited to bring things they wanted to rid themselves of and run them through a giant shredder. Some folks brought pictures of boyfriends or girlfriends who had dumped them. Others brought unpaid bills or bad medical reports. Whatever it was that folks brought to the shredder, all reported feeling better after having shredded what they brought. But as I read this story, I couldn’t help but feel sad for these folks. While they all desperately wanted a fresh start—much like many of us do when we make our New Year’s resolutions—they all appeared to want to remain in the darkness because by their actions they were putting their ultimate hope and trust in themselves or some other human solution. They were unwilling to come to the light of life and give their ultimate hurts, fears, hopes, and dreams to Jesus, the Word made flesh (John 1:14). Whenever that happens, we demonstrate that we prefer to remain in the darkness rather than come to the light, and we set ourselves up for disappointment, failure, and ultimately death.

Where’s God’s Grace?

But thanks be to God that he doesn’t want us to end up like that and he has acted decisively to do something about it! While we might prefer to remain in darkness instead of the light, John tells us emphatically that the darkness has not overcome the light. It is the light of Christ that shines in our lives when we choose to accept God’s gracious invitation to have life in him rather than go our own way and suffer death. In taking on our flesh and bearing our sins on the cross, God has given us a wondrous and gracious gift; he has said “yes” to humanity. God has done what is necessary for us to have a relationship with him again, the kind of relationship he envisioned when he created us but which our sin destroyed. This relationship begins here and now because as John’s passage reminds us, life, real life, is more than just the span of years allotted to us here on earth. It is a relationship with the Living God made possible in Christ that transcends time and goes on forever. It is God’s victory over sin and death and it is the story of our salvation—that is the light that the darkness has not and will not overcome.

This is God’s gracious gift and offer to us and it is ours for the taking if we choose to claim it. What about you? Do you prefer to walk in the light or remain in darkness?

Where’s the application?

As a congregation in the midst of change, turmoil, and uncertainty, it seems to me that we especially need to hear God’s promise to us through John: The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. How can we respond to God’s gracious invitation to humble ourselves and live according to his good will and purposes for us, both as individuals and collectively as a congregation? First, as John tells us, we must believe God’s promise to be with us, especially in the darkest of hours. Do you believe this? If not, ask God for the grace and humility to believe so that the light of Christ will overcome your darkness.

If you are a member of a small group, ask your brothers and sisters in Christ to pray for you as well. By taking on our flesh, God showed us that he can and does work through other humans too and from the very beginning the Church has seen itself as being Christ’s Body through which he works. The very presence of our new bishop this morning to offer us encouragement and support is further evidence of this truth. And if you do not belong to a small group, join one and become connected, both to Christ and to other members of his Body. You won’t be disappointed because God did not create you to be alone; he created you for relationship.

And while you are praying for yourself, pray for this church, not just for St. Matthew’s but for the broader church of which we are a part. Pray especially for those who oppose us or who would wish us harm, asking Jesus for the grace needed to bring him honor and glory, to let his light shine in our lives in the midst of darkness. We just recently finished a forty day period of prayer and fasting that led us to our decision to disaffiliate from TEC. How much more do we need to know God’s will for us during this uncertain time so that we can seek to follow him faithfully. If we do not listen for God’s voice in prayer, we will soon find ourselves walking in the darkness rather than the light. We in effect say to God, I don’t believe you are the Source and Author of all life, and having a relationship with you is not all that important to me.

We also need to be reading our bibles daily to help us better understand God’s will for us because the Church has long recognized that we can and do hear God’s voice in scripture. Open up a BCP and turn to page 941. You will see a list of daily readings both there and on the pages before and after. If you follow the readings of the daily office, you will have read most of the Bible in two years. Choose to do this so that you might be more open to the light of Christ in your life and the life of our congregation each day. It will also help you remember that God is with us, even in our darkest hours, and it will help you stay connected to the Source of your life.

Finally, come to worship God each Sunday, this glorious God of ours who has overcome sin and death for us and offered to be our light that no darkness can overcome. Lift up your hearts and minds to him. Give him your joys, your hurts, and your concerns and trust him to act. Come to his Table each week and feed on Christ in your hearts by faith with thanksgiving. In doing so you will find strength and power that will enable you to see and have the light of life shining in the darkness.
What I have been talking about, of course, is how to respond faithfully to God’s gracious offer to us to have a relationship with him in Christ, a relationship that begins here and now. God has said “yes” to us by taking on our flesh and offers us the opportunity to walk in the light of Christ; but to do so, we must say “yes” back to God. We must do the things necessary on our part to grow and nurture our relationship with God and to keep the light of Christ burning brightly in our lives. This is not unlike the effects of physical exercise. If we want the benefits that exercise brings, we must exercise. If we want the benefit of having the light of Christ in our lives, a light that will overcome our darkness, we must do our part to nurture our relationship with Christ so that his grace will continue to grow in us and help us grow to his full stature. Then we can see for ourselves that the light of life is shining in the darkness and the darkness has not and cannot overcome it.

Does this mean that our troubles will magically disappear? Hardly. Christians are never promised a trouble-free life. What the Christmas story does remind and promise us is that God has overcome sin and evil and if we choose to humble ourselves and submit to his will for our lives, he will help sustain us, especially in our darkest moments. That is the promise of Christmas. The light of life has come into the world, the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. I will close with my own story from this past year that I hope will represent this wondrous truth [personal testimony].

So if you are afraid that darkness might overcome you or our congregation, take heart and embrace the promise that is in Jesus Christ. The God who created us, loves us, and gave himself for us has come to us as a baby born in Bethlehem. In his coming we will find our light and no darkness can ever overcome it. And best of all, he has given us the means of grace to grow in our relationship with him, even when darkness tries its best to overcome us. In those moments, remember this: The light of life has come into the world. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not been able to overcome it. That’s good news in these uncertain days—and for all eternity.

In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen.

Sermon delivered at St. Matthew’s Church, Westerville, OH, on the fourth Sunday of Advent, December 23, 2007

Lectionary texts: Isaiah 7:10-16, Romans 1:1-7, Matthew 1:18-25, Psalm 80:1-7.

In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Good morning, St. Matthew’s! Today is the fourth and final Sunday of Advent and we light the fourth candle on the wreath, the candle that signifies love.

God’s Grace and the Human Condition

In today’s NT lesson, Paul declares boldly that he has been set apart for the Gospel of God (Romans 1: 1), immediately alerting us to the fact that the Gospel does not originate from humans, but from God. Gospel, of course, means “good news.” But if I were to ask you what is the “Gospel of God,” how would you answer? What is the Good News of God? Paul summarizes it nicely in the rest of this passage from Romans: God becomes flesh in Jesus of Nazareth, is crucified, raised, and ascended into heaven. And of course in our Gospel lesson this morning we read about the beginning of this wondrous story—the birth of Jesus, God taking on our flesh in fulfillment of the promise he made through the prophet Isaiah to be with us, “Emmanuel.” Emmanuel, God with us. This is good news because it means that by taking on our flesh, God has not given up on humanity. God has taken on our flesh and given himself for us in a very costly act on the cross to offer us a chance of restoring the relationship with him that our sin has broken. This restored relationship doesn’t begin when we die and go to heaven, it begins here and now. Why? Because God is with us here and now. It is a wondrous and awesome mystery that boggles the mind, but it is part of the Gospel of God and therefore we can believe it with confidence because it comes from God. God is with us to love us and redeem us here and now.

It is easy to believe that God is with us during this Advent season, especially if our houses are brightly decorated, we have our families with us, and enjoy the abundant prosperity of health and wealth that many Americans enjoy. But what about those of us who have lost our health or jobs, or who are divorced or have suffered the death of a loved one recently? What about those of us who are old and all alone? Is God still with us then? Apparently Matthew thought so because in the next chapter he went on to describe the slaughter of the Holy Innocents, an act so evil and despicable that Herod surely could not have been the sole author of it. Surely it was an act that was spawned from Hell itself. There was weeping and great mourning as parents grieved and agonized over their children, but Matthew does not retract his statement, he does not say, “Well, because Herod slaughtered the Holy Innocents, God is no longer with us.” No, Matthew sticks to his guns—Emmanuel, God with us. In fact, it is in our darkest hours that we can be most open to the possibility of the truth of Emmanuel, God with us. In our suffering, grief, fear, loneliness, and brokenness we realize that we are not in control and invincible. We realize how fragile we are and life is, and given sufficient grace, we come to realize that this life span of ours is but a drop of water in the massive ocean of eternity. It is then that we realize how desperately we need to attach ourselves to the Source and Author of all life so that we can begin to live life abundantly, now and for all eternity. It is precisely in these moments that we are ready to hear the wondrous truth—Emmanuel, God with us.

By contrast, when things are going well and we enjoy abundant prosperity, both materially and spiritually, we become fat and sassy, our sinful human pride and arrogance take over, and with the encouragement of Satan, we begin to delude ourselves and start believing we don’t need God. We forget Emmanuel, God with us, and we separate ourselves from the Source of life.

The mystery of suffering also reminds us that as Christians we live in the “already-not yet.” Tomorrow night we will gather together here to celebrate the birth of God made flesh, Jesus—Emmanuel, God with us. In his birth, death, resurrection, ascension, and exaltation, we are reminded of the “already.” God has taken on our flesh and acted decisively to restore us to him if we will only choose to accept his gracious offer. But sin and brokenness remain and our complete restoration will not be fulfilled until Christ’s second coming. Then the “not yet” will occur. Christ will wipe away every tear and there will be no more mourning, or pain, or death, or suffering (Rev. 21:4) and we will live with and worship our Source of life forever and ever. Until then, however, we Christians must wait with patient anticipation and prepare ourselves so that we might be ready when Christ returns, for no one knows the hour when that will happen (Matt 24:36).

Application

In closing, it seems to me that in the life of our congregation, now is a good time for us to remember Emmanuel, God with us. The events of this past week have conspired to cause great confusion, fear, anxiety, and uncertainty among us, and perhaps we are tempted to forget Emmanuel, God with us. Or worse yet, perhaps we are tempted not to believe Emmanuel, God with us. What will happen to us as a congregation? To this property? It is precisely during times like this that we need to hear and believe Matthew’s word to us—Emmanuel, God with us. Regardless of what happens to this property or to us, we need not fear because God is with us and promises never to abandon or forsake us (Matt 28:20)! This is the Gospel of God and it is ours if only we believe it. This does not mean that there will be no dark days ahead or that uncertainty and confusion will magically disappear. Nor does it make us immune to all the other bad things that life can serve up. Rather, it means that if we humble ourselves and believe God’s mighty promise to be with us, we will be victorious, irrespective of outcome, because we will not let the lesser things of life interfere with God being with us and guiding us.

Do you believe this, that God is with us even in the darkest of hours? In the early third century, there was a bishop of Rome named Hippolytus. Hippolytus was long recognized as a schismatic bishop because he opposed those who had an inadequate understanding of Jesus’ humanity and divinity; they couldn’t believe Jesus was fully God and fully human, God with us. But now Hippolytus is a saint because he did believe the Gospel. Imagine that—a schismatic saint. When dealing with the Gospel of God, Hippolytus believed that we cannot put ourselves in authority over scripture; rather, we must submit to the authority of scripture and believe the things contained in it, things like Emmanuel, God with us, because that is the way God has chosen to make his Truth known to us. If we humble ourselves and believe God’s promise to be with us even (or perhaps especially) in life’s most dire moments, nothing can defeat us—not the slaughter of the Holy Innocents, nor suffering, or death, or brokenness, or separation, or fear, or uncertainty because of Emmanuel, God with us. That really is good news, now and for all eternity.

In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sermon delivered on Sunday, September 23, 2007 at St. Matthew’s, Westerville, OH. If you would like to listen to the whole thing, click here.

Lectionary texts: Amos 8:4-7(8-12); 1 Timothy 2:1-8; Luke 16:1-13

In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Good morning, St. Matthew’s! Today is my son, Spencer’s birthday. When I told him I was preaching on his birthday, he offered me this advise. He said, “Dad, a rule of thumb for preachers is this: If after ten minutes you haven’t struck oil, stop boring!” Let us pray that I hit oil…

What’s the Human Condition?

In today’s OT and gospel lessons we are reminded of a tragic aspect of our human condition—our tendency to put our ultimate hope and trust in things or persons other than God. In the verses preceding our reading from Amos, God pronounces a fearsome judgment on his people Israel because their love for money had resulted in the oppression of the poor. This was made even worse by the fact that those who were exploiting the poor were going through the motions of being “religious.” They had all the form but none of the substance of true religion. They observed the holy days and the Sabbath, but this only made them more eager to resume their dishonest activities once the markets reopened. Their god was money and their religious creed was “gain at any cost.” And because they chose to worship a false god, money, a god that cannot bring life, the one true and living God allowed them to have what they wanted—death. These are hard words to hear and it breaks the heart to be reminded that there are those who will ultimately cut themselves off from God because they choose to worship a false god. This is also heartbreaking to God because as we heard in today’s NT lesson, he wants all humans to be saved and have life. That is why he took on our flesh and gave himself as a ransom for us.

And lest we think that idolatry only pertains to money or the people in Amos’ day, we don’t need to look too far to see that it is alive and well in our day and age. [Nebraska legislator]. Perhaps it is technology or science. Maybe it is a title or particular job. It might be our retirement account or the size of our house. Perhaps it is our education or our family and friends. It might even be something as good and noble as prayer and fasting or reading the Bible or tithing or coming to worship in this magnificent building every Sunday. Anytime we mistake a means for an end we are flirting with idolatry because we make the means the source of our ultimate love and worship rather than God.

But as God warned Israel through Amos and Jesus reminds us in his parable of the dishonest manager, these false gods lead to death and we will all have to give an accounting of our lives one day. Whether it is sudden and catastrophic or gradual, our mortal bodies continue to decay and we will die. Our bank accounts won’t stop it, our social status won’t stop it, fame and fortune won’t stop it, science and technology won’t stop it. When our mortality finally becomes real for us, we become like the starving people in Amos’ prophecy who seek the Word of the Lord but cannot find and wonder why we chose to put our trust in dishonest wealth, in whatever form, that cannot bring life, but only death.

Where’s God’s Grace?

But thanks be to God this isn’t the end of the story! As we read in Paul’s letter to Timothy, we have a God who loves us passionately despite our history of disobedience and rebellion (of which our OT reading is but one example) and who desires for everyone to be saved and come to the knowledge of truth (1 Timothy 2:4). When God took on our flesh in Jesus Christ and died on a cross to make it possible for us to have a relationship with him again, a relationship that goes beyond our physical death, he took the proverbial monkey off our backs and did what is impossible for us to do for ourselves. We simply have to decide if and how we are going to respond to God’s love for us and his desire for each of us to have eternal life. Will we decide to love and serve him with a joyful and thankful heart and have life forever or will we continue to pursue and worship other gods in destructive ways?

If we choose to serve God, fortunately there is “honest wealth” that will help us respond faithfully to him so that we can become more like him, or as Paul says elsewhere, so that we can “grow to the full stature of Christ” (Eph. 4:13). The church calls this kind of wealth “means of grace” and the apostle Paul focuses on one of those means in our NT lesson today—prayer. He tells us to offer our prayers, requests, thanksgivings and intercessions to God, both individually and corporately as the Church. The Greek word that Paul uses for intercessions is enteuxis and is found in the NT only in 1 Timothy. Its root means “to take part in” and it was used in the sense of having a conversation and then making a petition. And that makes sense, doesn’t it? If we are trying to develop our relationship with Jesus and become more like him, it’s important that we learn what he wants us to do, both as individuals and as his body, the Church. And we can’t do that if we’re the ones doing all the talking and never listening. We can’t know how to use our talents, gifts, and worldly resources wisely unless we ask Jesus and then let him answer us.

This becomes especially important as we begin a month of discernment starting in Oct. Fr. Ron will call us to prayer and fasting. He will also be talking about the purposes of the church and we will be meeting in small groups to listen to each other and to God in prayer. As Paul reminds us in his letter to the Ephesians, it is critical that we pray for each other as well during this time so that God will help us as a church to live a life worthy of the calling we have received in Christ—a life characterized by humility and gentleness, patience and bearing with one another in love, making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace (Eph 4:1-2).

To be certain this is a troubling and difficult time, full of uncertainty and fear. Some of us have been lifelong Episcopalians and have invested quite a bit of ourselves in the life of this Church. For some, the possiblity of leaving or losing this building becomes a great burden and we feel terrible sadness and grief. For others, the possibility of staying produces the same feelings of sadness and grief. But even in these difficult times we are reminded that we are not alone. If God loves us enough to be crucified for us so that we can have life with him forever, he will certainly never abandon us, especially in the dark and troubling times in our lives. We must be willing to allow him to lead us, however, and to do so we must listen for his Voice.

And so as we enter this period of discernment, where will you put your ultimate hope and trust? Will you follow false gods like fear of the unknown and distrust? Or will you enter into a conversation with the One of loves you and who is always present when two or three are gathered together in his name? Will you choose to put your trust in things that lead to death? Or will you align yourself with the One who abolished death forever, a gift freely given and available to anyone who chooses to accept it? We, like the people of Amos’s day, must decide whom or what we will follow. As we enter this important time in the life of our church, my prayer for each and every one of us is that we will humble ourselves and choose to listen to and follow the Living Lord, the giver of life. He is ready and eager to guide us so that we can live with him forever. That’s good news, now and for all eternity.

In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Beginning today, I will also be writing new posts on my new blog website. You can find it here. Blessings.