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2. Pray for God’s mercy, especially since we are so prone to fall into moments of anxiety. Be realistic and do not downplay the difficulties that accompany this time of COVID-19 and its restrictions. The writer of the Hebrews teaches us in chapter 12 that we are to endure the Lord’s discipline because we are His sons through Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 12:9,11 states:
“9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? 11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”
It is OK to feel sad during this time and struggle with the question, “How long will we have to endure this?” These times are tough and challenging. I pray for those of you in retirement communities who have been told to stay in your apartments and are discouraged from even taking a walk outside. This is not an easy pill to swallow! As the family of God, we are praying for one another and let us continue to do so. It isn’t pleasant, it is hard, but all the more reason to cry out for God’s mercy. We pray to God for healing, for God’s protection, especially for the health care workers, and for patience and perseverance in our faith in God.
May we look to God and the message of His Word to guide and direct us during this time.

“⁵⁴ When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then
shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
       ⁵⁵ “O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”

       ⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷ But thanks be to God, who gives
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

       ⁵⁸ Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of
the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”

The victory that Christ gives to all believers is the victory over sin and death!  Jesus Christ came to fix everything that is broken in our world due to sin.  The apostles were eyewitnesses of His resurrection, and they urged us to hold fast to the truth of this message (1 Cor. 15:1-6). The resurrection of our Lord is so central to the Gospel message that without it, without the resurrection, you do not have a Gospel at all (1 Cor. 15:12-14).

In 1 Corinthians 15, the apostle Paul contrasts the natural body we have during this life with the resurrection body in God’s eternal kingdom.  The apostle Paul says in 1 Cor. 15:42,43,

“⁴² So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is
imperishable. ⁴³ It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is
raised in power.”

Christ rose on Easter Sunday triumphant over sin and death.  His victory is applied to all those who are united to Him because they trust in His atoning death and glorious resurrection for that cleansing and for the rebuilding of their broken relationship with God.  We can all relate to the fleetingness of this life and the mortality of our perishable, weak bodies.  The effects of Adam’s sin and our sins is evident in our physical bodies as the years pass. The flesh grows weaker despite our efforts to hold its decline at bay.  While we sometimes try not to think about the brevity of life, it is wise to reckon with this reality.  During the last few weeks, many people have been anxious because of the Corona Virus.  Some of our apprehension has to do with the natural human response to recoil or not to want to dwell on death’s reality at all.  This unwillingness to think about death is not healthy. God has revealed in His Word how the story of human history ends.  Therefore, we can live with confidence in the promise of Christ’s resurrection.  The resurrection of Jesus is spoken of throughout the New Testament in connection with the final hope that those who belong to Jesus will one day be raised as He has been.

Since the Good News is the good news of Christ’s resurrection and our hope in Christ, may the resurrection of the Lord Jesus inspire us toward the hopeful knowledge that our labor in the Lord is not in vain!

“⁷ Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains. ⁸ You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.”

In this passage a farmer is pictured as he patiently waits for a good harvest.  The good farmer is not someone who sits around, twiddling his thumbs, with nothing to do but sit and wait.  Rather, he is busy planting good seed and tilling his soil in the hope that when early and later rains come, he will reap a good harvest.

James is writing to Christians who were facing many hardships and would not see justice happen in this life.  He encouraged them to strengthen their hearts with the knowledge that the Lord Jesus is coming again to bring about perfect justice at His second coming.  James is saying don’t sit around waiting, but be active in building ourselves up! So with faith and patience, we trust in God’s sovereign providence, and we seek to do His will in this life.  Our waiting is not a passive waiting as if we have nothing useful to do until the Lord comes again.  Rather, we are called to do good works which flow from our faith in Christ.

Ephesians 2:10 says,

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

We can bear witness to the hope that we have in Christ and His Gospel message.  This hope is what should inspire us not to take revenge on someone who has wronged us but instead seek to bless and forgive them.  May God grant us grace and strength to live out the Gospel as we seek to serve Him and be patient, waiting on the coming of the Lord.

Joshua 1:6-9,  “⁶ Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. ⁷ Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. ⁸ This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. ⁹ Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Mark 15:43 says this about Joseph of Arimathea,

“⁴³ Joseph of Arimathea came, a prominent member of the Council, who himself was waiting for the kingdom of God; and he gathered up courage and went in before Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.”

God’s Law given to Moses informs us about the moral will of God.  God’s Law reveals how we should live before God and our neighbor.  We must be informed about what is good in order for us to be courageous.

The meaning of courage is to be strong, to be alert, and it is often coupled with the command to not be afraid. Jesus reminds us in Matthew 10:28 that we should not fear man who can only kill the body.  We should instead fear and reverence God who is the judge of all people, the God who can destroy both body and soul.  It took godly courage for Joseph of Arimathea to ask for the body of Jesus.  He knew the risks of asking for a proper burial for a man who had been condemned and executed on a cross. Joseph knew that the governing authorities might begin watching him and keeping tabs on him.  It took nerve and backbone, but he remembered his higher responsibility before God to do what was right and to give someone a dignified burial.  He swallowed hard and did what he believed to be right.

One last thing to remember about courage is that we are dependent upon the Lord for the cultivation of this virtue, and we need to cry out to the Lord for strength to serve Him no matter the danger.

The apostle Paul reminds us in Ephesians 6:10,

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.”

We cannot serve the Lord in our strength or our might.  Peter vowed that he would never disown Christ, and yet he fell flat on his face!  We absolutely need God’s grace and mercy to take away our blind spots, like Peter’s. Having the courage to repent of our sins of cowardice and the fear of what man might think of us or do to us will bolster our reliance on the might of God. Be strong and very courageous!

Diocesan Council 2019

Council was held at The Fuge in Warminster on Thursday, November 7, and at St. Mark’s Church in Jenkintown the following day.  The Fuge is a former training site for NASA astronauts, where a giant centrifuge taught them about extreme g-forces.  Presiding Bishop Ray Sutton led the Council as Interim Bishop Ordinary.

The Council elected Suffragan Bishop Chuck Gillin as its next Bishop Ordinary.  The other REC Bishops and Standing Committees have subsequently provided canonical assent to NEMA’s episcopal election. The ACNA College of Bishops, which meets in January, will be asked to do the same.  A date will then be set for the installation service, probably in late winter 2020.

Bishop Sutton also presented the Veritas outreach program.  Veritas is a five-week outreach system much like the Alpha program, but centered on the church and structured on Anglican precepts.  It is already in use in the REC Diocese of Mid-America.

Bishop Gillin’s Exhortation:

The Lord is my helper; I will not fear…(Heb 13:6)

…Christianity served as a revitalization movement that arose in response too misery, chaos, fear and brutality of the urban Greco-Roman world.  Christianity revitalized life in Greco-Roman cities by providing new norms and new kinds of social relationships able to cope with many urgent problems.  To cities filled with the homeless and impoverished, Christianity offered an immediate basis of attachment.  To cities filled with widows and orphans, Christianity provided a new and expanded sense of family.  To cities torn by violent ethnic strife, Christianity offered a new basis of social solidarity.  And to cities faced with epidemics, fire and earthquakes, Christianity offered effective nursing services…-Rodney Stark, The Rise of Christianity, Princeton University Press, 1996.

The coming of the promised Savior not only dramatically revitalized society, but fulfilled the ancient promise that, “in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself” (2 Corinthians 5:19).

The angelic witness surrounding the birth of the Savior was given to dispel fear and to provide hope to a world that would be forever changed:

• …Joseph son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife… (Matthew 1:20)
• Do not be afraid Zechariah, for your prayers have been heard…(Luke 1:13)
• Do not be afraid Mary, for you have found favor with God. (Luke 1:30)
• Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great Joy that will be for all the people. (Luke 2:10)

The hymns of Advent and Christmas also reflect this corrective to fear:

• Come Thou long-expected Jesus, Born to set Thy people free;

From our fears and sins release us; Let us find our rest in Thee.

• The hopes and fears of all the years are met in Thee tonight.

Change often causes fear.  In 2019, our Diocese faced new fears. On Easter Monday our Bishop Ordinary, David L. Hicks, tendered his resignation to the Diocese after having faithfully served us for 14 years.  The immediate reaction was surprise and concern.  But over time the Lord sent his servants to provide assurance and calm.  The steady hand of our Presiding Bishop, Ray Sutton, immediately took canonical control of the situation and sent a letter to the churches outlining the way forward.  Dean Eric Jorgensen rallied the Standing Committee, which appointed a Search Committee to do the legwork in presenting nominees to the Diocesan Council.  Many others stepped up to provide assistance and encouragement during the transition.

So, in less than seven months, the diocesan outlook was changed from surprise and concern to stability and the prospect of an encouraging future. The leadership concerns of 2019 are now hopefully behind us.  Once again, our Lord reminded us that He is in control and that He blesses His people in every circumstance.  We will still face difficult issues that will take time and energy to address, but we are never alone.  We need to continue to trust that our God “is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think.” (Ephesians 3:20)

Please continue to pray for our diocese and may the hope and joy of the Advent and Christmas seasons be our continued expectation as we enter a new church and calendar year.

Sincerely in Christ,

Bishop Chuck Gillin

http://www.rec-nema.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/DC19-ClergyNWivesMeeting.pdf

Christianity served as a revitalization movement that arose

In the coming of Jesus into the world as a man, we behold the mystery that God took unto Himself our humanity. He became flesh and blood and lived among us.  In Jesus, the apostle Paul says, “the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form.”  Because Jesus is both fully God and fully human, He is altogether sufficient to achieve reconciliation between God and man. (Colossians 1:19,20).  Jesus was born to save sinners from the consequences and punishment for their sin.  His entire life was lived on behalf of fallen humanity to restore us to God. While tempted in every way just as we are, He lived perfectly because we could not.

We need not supplement our Christian Faith with anything or anyone else because our salvation is complete in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Jesus is not merely like God, He is God and is in union with God the Father. In Christ alone we have all we need for our life with God.  He took our well-deserved death penalty in His own death on the Cross.

Jesus is everything, God himself, in all fullness, in bodily form, who lived, died, and rose again for our salvation! We confess His deity and humanity in the Christmas Hymn, Hark the Herald Angels Sing!

“Veiled in flesh the Godhead see,
Hail th’ incarnate Deity!
Pleased as man with man to dwell,
Jesus our Immanuel.”

May we stand in awe of Jesus Christ, fully God, fully man, who took on humanity including human flesh, to set us free from sin and death.  May our awe of Christ inspire us with grateful service to God in all that He done for us in graciously saving us.

“Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness!
You have relieved me in my distress;
Have mercy on me, and hear my prayer.

² How long, O you sons of men,
Will you turn my glory to shame?
How long will you love worthlessness
And seek falsehood?
³ But know that the Lord has set apart for Himself him who is godly;
The Lord will hear when I call to Him.
⁴ Be angry, and do not sin.
Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still.”

In verse 2, David acknowledges the reality that fallen human beings seek after that which is worthless and false. With the question of how long he has to endure this injustice, David is acknowledging that over the passage of time, he could become callous and bitter about his circumstances.  The Psalmist tells us to revel in the fact that the LORD has set apart the godly for Himself and that the Lord hears when we call to Him.  We are to pray to God for His mercy to help us endure the trials which test our character.  When we may be angry about our situation, we are to be still.  Pursuing the Lord through meditation in order to avoid responding in a sinful way is the command here.

Later on in the New Testament, the apostle Paul picks up on this theme of anger with this caution and warning,

“Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,  and do not give the devil an opportunity.”

While it is right to be angry about sin and injustice, there is always present in us the danger that our anger will become sinful. In desiring to serve the Lord, we need to turn away from holding grudges, seeking to take the law into our own hands, and seeking to get revenge on someone who has wronged us.  Paul’s injunction shows us not to wait, not to let ourselves steep the anger, but to get right on our response so that we avoid sin. Periods of silence in which we meditate on God’s works and prayers of petition are essential in our relationship with the Lord as we commune with Him in prayer.

From The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume III
Compiled in Words to Live By

Lewis’ words are helpful because he distinguishes between the Holy Spirit and our feelings connected with God’s blessings.  He is right in cautioning us not to confuse God’s gift of the Holy Spirit and our sensations when good things happen to us.  Our good experiences of positive things are good but are temporary and fleeting.  Our emotions ebb and flow with life events, but what remains constant is God’s faithfulness.  In 1 John 3:18-20, the apostle John says,

“¹⁸ Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. ¹⁹ We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him ²⁰ in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things.”

John is encouraging us to have an assurance based on the truth of God’s Word, the Good News of His Son, and His promises.  Even if your hearts condemn, John tells you not to pay attention to your feelings, but instead let your hearts and consciences be formed by the truth of God’s work for you in Christ.  God’s verdict of our justification through His Son, His calling us clean and good and righteous, is greater than what we feel, so let God’s Word have the final say.

“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!”

May God give us such a deep knowledge of ourselves and of Him that we take seriously our sinful hearts and God’s pardon of our sins.

On forgiveness

I find that when I think I am asking God to forgive me I am often in reality (unless I watch myself very carefully) asking Him to do something quite different. I am asking Him not to forgive me but to excuse me. But there is all the difference in the world between forgiving and excusing. Forgiveness says “Yes, you have done this thing, but I accept your apology, I will never hold it against you and everything between us two will be exactly as it was before.” But excusing says “I see that you couldn’t help it or didn’t mean it, you weren’t really to blame.”. . .

Real forgiveness means looking steadily at the sin, the sin that is left over without any excuse, after all allowances have been made, and seeing it in all its horror, dirt, meanness and malice, and nevertheless being wholly reconciled to the man who has done it.

From The Weight of Glory
Compiled in Words to Live By

Acts 9:1,2 says this about the people Paul persecutes before his conversion,

“Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, ² and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.”

John 14:5,6 says this,

“⁵ Thomas *said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?  ⁶ Jesus *said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

Jesus calls Himself the Way to God, and later on in John 14:9 He says, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.”  Jesus is the way to God, the only way to God because He is truly divine as well as truly human.  With this in mind, it is understandable why early Christians were known as followers of the Way.  They were followers of Jesus who believed in Jesus as God and the only Savior of our sins.

Acts 5:41 says that Peter and John were imprisoned for proclaiming Jesus as Christ and Lord, “they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.”

Early Christians found their identity in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and were willing to suffer for the sake of His name. Notice also they were committed to preach Jesus as the Messiah whether it was in a public setting such as the temple or in a smaller setting such as home gatherings.  Notice that in the case of Saul in Acts 9, he changed from being a persecutor of followers of the Way to being a follower of Jesus as the Way.  Saul was influenced by the followers of Christ whom he persecuted.  Saul was a witness to the trial of Stephen and consented to his death (Acts 8:1).  The Lord Jesus confronted Saul on the way to Damascus and asked him why Saul was persecuting Him (Acts 9:5).  While Saul was persecuting Christians because of their commitment to Jesus Christ, he was also persecuting Christ.  God used the witness of other Christian believers in bringing Saul to trust in Jesus as the Christ. May God strengthen us to be faithful in our witness to Jesus as God’s only Son and our Savior and help us to bear witness to His holy Name.