We are about to celebrate “Advent.” Advent is the sacrament of the PRESENCE of God in His world. His purpose to unify all things together in Christ, begins and continues in the mystery of His Advent (Eph. 1:10). The Presence of Christ in the world as Savior, is the Advent that changed and continues to change the world.
We understand that there are three Advents. The first of these is the one in which Christ entered into the world, having received a Human Nature. The third is the Advent which will bring Him into the world at the end of time. In the first He comes to seek and save the lost. The third is that in which He comes to take us to Himself. The first is a promise and the third its fulfillment.
We live our lives between these two arms. Embraced by the Father’s ultimate plan for reuniting humanity to himself. Our past and our future are completely in His hands. As we mediate on the mystery of these two ‘Advents’ we are transformed, changed by the overwhelming love of this great embrace.
Meditation on the past and future Advents leads us to recognize the present Advent that is taking place at every moment of our lives as we journey through this present life. Every moment is a moment when Christ is walking by; are we aware of His Presence? Will we call out to Him, will we join Him and travel with Him?
It is in the hiddenness of the middle (second) Advent where you and I are called to live and to become like Him. It is in our “becoming like Him” that He is revealed to this world. In other words, this second Advent is one in which we are co-laborers with Christ so that others may come to know the Christ.
The very mystery of Christ at work through Jesus Christ, continues in and through the Church. The Church, the body of Christ, is the community of those we are reconciled to the Father, in Christ, because they are united with one another in the Holy Spirit, who has shed His Love abroad in our hearts.
It is this unity, that makes the Church a sign, an Advent, of God in the world. So the mystery of the Church demands that Christians love one another in a visible and concrete way -- and that they love all men.
I am convinced that, Christ will become visible to the world, only in direct proportion as Christians seek peace and unity with one another and with all men. Since conflict seems inevitable, unity will only be maintained in great difficulty, it will require a constant renewal of sacrifice, humility and a readiness to receive forgiveness and to forgive. It would appear that the Christian life is one of perpetual conversion, a life of continual repentance.
It appears to me that “Love” is the key to everything. This love will never be understood by rational investigation but only by faithful reception as the gift that it is. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12).
When we as Christians love one another we become what Paul calls, “God’s workmanship” (Eph. 2:10). Thus the second, middle, or hidden Advent of Christ is made know in our love and forgiveness for one another. It is this community of pardoned people, the body of Christ, the Church through which God is making Christ known during this moment between the first and third Advent of Christ.
“To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,...” Eph. 3:10
It is within this mystical body of Christ that we see the very power of the Father’s love unite individuals to one another by Mercy and Grace. The Church then is not so much a body of people who are so pure that they never offend, but rather people who in their weakness and frailty, frequently err and offend, but who have received from God the power to forgive one another in His name (John 20). The Holy Spirit himself moves them to do this; and acts in them, to preform this miracle of grace and oneness. In the same proportion that we love and pardon one another we open the whole Church to the action of the Holy Spirit.
In the Church this community of pardoned people, we must not refuse to accept the genuine good will of our brother, we must not reject his sincere and open offers of reconciliation, his true friendship. Even our enemy must not be judged, but his need for forgiveness must be recognized. We must not allow our evaluation of a man’s acts stand in the way of the Holy Spirit, who draws us into unity with others.
No one of us is complete, self-sufficient, perfectly holy in himself. No one can rest upon his own individual virtues. What is missing in our lives God had given to others.
This is the beauty of “Advent,” the Presence of the Christ coming among us as our Savior. In His presence we are forgiven, love and adopted into this Great Family of the Pardoned. Our redemption reunites us not only to God the Father but to one another and it is in that unity that the “fullness of Christ” is made known.
I hope these words help us to prepare for “Advent” and to recover the reality of the “Church.” Only then can we receive the “Truth of Christmas.”
Bishop Quintin
Friday, November 5, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
The Word is never chained....
for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained.
2Tim. 2:9
Chained -- it means to “to chain, shackle, put in fetters, or imprison.”
Paul speaks of his own imprisonment and yet he reflects on his hardship and suffering as being treated like a common criminal. Mostly likely both his hands and feet were chained in some sort of irons. It was probably the worst type of confinement that you can imagine. And yet he burst forth joyfully: “I am suffering as though I were a criminal, but the Word of God is not bound.”
Inspite of circumstances that seem to restrict, bind, or limit us; His promises can never be limited. Isaiah tells us, “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” His word is never chained.
The world seems to be living in “chronic crisis.” Crisis is all around us, in fact it appears to control every one I meet. We must recover Paul’s understanding of the challenges or shall I say the “crisis’s” of our lives. We are called to live in “chronic Christ” not “crisis.”
No matter what Paul faced he is able to rejoice in the fact that even though he sat in chained in a dark, dismal cell, the Word of God was still moving all over Asia Minor and many people were hearing the Gospel.
“Though I am limited in what I am able to do and where I am able to go,” Paul says. “But the promises of God know no limitations. He is still sending His Word and healing people everywhere (Ps. 107:20).
2Tim. 2:9
Chained -- it means to “to chain, shackle, put in fetters, or imprison.”
Paul speaks of his own imprisonment and yet he reflects on his hardship and suffering as being treated like a common criminal. Mostly likely both his hands and feet were chained in some sort of irons. It was probably the worst type of confinement that you can imagine. And yet he burst forth joyfully: “I am suffering as though I were a criminal, but the Word of God is not bound.”
Inspite of circumstances that seem to restrict, bind, or limit us; His promises can never be limited. Isaiah tells us, “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” His word is never chained.
The world seems to be living in “chronic crisis.” Crisis is all around us, in fact it appears to control every one I meet. We must recover Paul’s understanding of the challenges or shall I say the “crisis’s” of our lives. We are called to live in “chronic Christ” not “crisis.”
No matter what Paul faced he is able to rejoice in the fact that even though he sat in chained in a dark, dismal cell, the Word of God was still moving all over Asia Minor and many people were hearing the Gospel.
“Though I am limited in what I am able to do and where I am able to go,” Paul says. “But the promises of God know no limitations. He is still sending His Word and healing people everywhere (Ps. 107:20).
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
The Sleeping Beauty
The church is alive, contrary to what “some say”; alive with the essence and the energy of God. However, like “sleeping beauty", she lies under a spell concocted by a culture who has not recognized her beauty.
The voices of institutionalism and individualism have conspired, perhaps unknowingly, to keep her safely hidden from those in need of her goodness, truth, and beauty. But on lonely walks through the woods of my soul, I have caught glimpses of her beauty, waiting to be kissed, waiting to be received, this bride appears to be ready to awaken.
Covered with layers of institutionalism and self centered individualism, the body of Christ, the church, the results of the resurrection of Christ, remains unseen by most of humanity.
Individualism seeks to deconstruct or discredit institutionalism, while the institution that struggles to survive fights back. People, becoming weary of the struggle over the baby, seemingly are satisfied to have the child “cut in two,” much as Solomon offered. Alas one or the other will let go and yet neither have found the truth.
Into the forest we must forge! Into the shadows of the stories told of the beauty of this bride. This is the journey that I have found myself on.... traveling over stones covered with moss, slippery with the dew of early morn. Light breaking through the trees reveals a turn in the path that is so easily unnoticed. My heart is pounding for a glimpse of this “sleeping beauty.” Moments of vision pierce through the shadows, rays of understanding, snippets of revelation, my spirit soars in anticipation....
She is here, she is alive, the church, the people of God, the Body of Christ, the Temple of the Holy Spirit..... the continuation of the Christ, the community of pardoned humanity, the new creation!
Exhausted I fall into the leaves, under the canopy of the oaks, serenaded by the sounds of nature, sleep overtakes. There she is .... her beauty is beyond anything I have ever seen. Not only do I see, but I feel it, somewhere deep within comes this flood of fulfillment, warmth, an embrace that seems to lift me into the heavens.
A kiss that awakens every fabric of my being. There she is, in His embrace.
But wait she is “us.” We are, you and I together, united in Him and each other We are “sleeping beauty.”
We sleep under the power of separation from each other. Either by institutional dispute or individual demand, we allow ourselves to become separated from each other in the forest of this culture.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer says, “He who looks upon his brother should know that he will be eternally united with him in Jesus Christ...in Jesus Christ we have been chosen and united for eternity.”
“United for eternity.” These words have captured my imagination and have awakened my spirit. The two most important things that the church does is “worship and witness.” Our unity is both our worship and our witness.
The world longs to see the truth, the goodness and the beauty of the body of Christ. All the while the voices of this culture continue to separate rather than unite, deconstruct rather than build.
It is too easily forgotten that the communion of the brethren is a gift of grace. Paul says, “He is our peace,” (Eph. 2:14). Without Christ there is discord between God and man and between man and man.
The beauty, the goodness, the truth that each of us seek is found in the unity, the communion of Christians. This is the church. A communion of the pardoned that gather “to remember", “to give thanks” for the One who lived and died and lives again. As we gather to lay down our individuality and be united to Him and to one another, “Sleeping Beauty” awakens and the future reality of eternity breaks into the present.
My continual prayer is that you would join me on this journey. To walk into the woods arm in arm, to agree to share this path together. This path of forgiveness, of love and grace. To awaken in His embrace with His breathe on our lips, to be together with Him that is my desire.
For I am convinced that as we gather in faith to worship He is present. And our unity, our gathering plus His Presence is our witness. And that witness is our mission.
The voices of institutionalism and individualism have conspired, perhaps unknowingly, to keep her safely hidden from those in need of her goodness, truth, and beauty. But on lonely walks through the woods of my soul, I have caught glimpses of her beauty, waiting to be kissed, waiting to be received, this bride appears to be ready to awaken.
Covered with layers of institutionalism and self centered individualism, the body of Christ, the church, the results of the resurrection of Christ, remains unseen by most of humanity.
Individualism seeks to deconstruct or discredit institutionalism, while the institution that struggles to survive fights back. People, becoming weary of the struggle over the baby, seemingly are satisfied to have the child “cut in two,” much as Solomon offered. Alas one or the other will let go and yet neither have found the truth.
Into the forest we must forge! Into the shadows of the stories told of the beauty of this bride. This is the journey that I have found myself on.... traveling over stones covered with moss, slippery with the dew of early morn. Light breaking through the trees reveals a turn in the path that is so easily unnoticed. My heart is pounding for a glimpse of this “sleeping beauty.” Moments of vision pierce through the shadows, rays of understanding, snippets of revelation, my spirit soars in anticipation....
She is here, she is alive, the church, the people of God, the Body of Christ, the Temple of the Holy Spirit..... the continuation of the Christ, the community of pardoned humanity, the new creation!
Exhausted I fall into the leaves, under the canopy of the oaks, serenaded by the sounds of nature, sleep overtakes. There she is .... her beauty is beyond anything I have ever seen. Not only do I see, but I feel it, somewhere deep within comes this flood of fulfillment, warmth, an embrace that seems to lift me into the heavens.
A kiss that awakens every fabric of my being. There she is, in His embrace.
But wait she is “us.” We are, you and I together, united in Him and each other We are “sleeping beauty.”
We sleep under the power of separation from each other. Either by institutional dispute or individual demand, we allow ourselves to become separated from each other in the forest of this culture.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer says, “He who looks upon his brother should know that he will be eternally united with him in Jesus Christ...in Jesus Christ we have been chosen and united for eternity.”
“United for eternity.” These words have captured my imagination and have awakened my spirit. The two most important things that the church does is “worship and witness.” Our unity is both our worship and our witness.
The world longs to see the truth, the goodness and the beauty of the body of Christ. All the while the voices of this culture continue to separate rather than unite, deconstruct rather than build.
It is too easily forgotten that the communion of the brethren is a gift of grace. Paul says, “He is our peace,” (Eph. 2:14). Without Christ there is discord between God and man and between man and man.
The beauty, the goodness, the truth that each of us seek is found in the unity, the communion of Christians. This is the church. A communion of the pardoned that gather “to remember", “to give thanks” for the One who lived and died and lives again. As we gather to lay down our individuality and be united to Him and to one another, “Sleeping Beauty” awakens and the future reality of eternity breaks into the present.
My continual prayer is that you would join me on this journey. To walk into the woods arm in arm, to agree to share this path together. This path of forgiveness, of love and grace. To awaken in His embrace with His breathe on our lips, to be together with Him that is my desire.
For I am convinced that as we gather in faith to worship He is present. And our unity, our gathering plus His Presence is our witness. And that witness is our mission.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Special Miracles
...God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul. (Acts 19:11)
A miracle is always special, so what does Luke mean here when he speaks of special miracles? Other versions of the Bible translate this word as “unusual,” “extraordinary,” or “uncommon.” Since by definition a miracle is always something unusual, extraordinary, or uncommon, this verse is almost a play on words: “God wrought ‘special special’s’ ‘extraordinary extraordinaries,’ unusual unusuals’ by the hands of Paul.”
the thing that made these particular miracles so “special” was the geographic location in which Paul was ministering when they were performed. In New Testament days, the two cities most widely known for their total degeneracy and depravity were Corinth and Ephesus. Biblical scholars tell us that these two towns were open sewers of dissolution and debauchery. Yet they were the very areas God chose in which to perform the greatest miracles recorded in the book of Acts. Why?
There is a spiritual tense that says..... where sin abounded grace did much more abound (Rom. 5:20). Paul could well have been speaking of these two cities when he made that statement. The greater the presence of darkness, the greater the provision --- and power --- of God’s redemptive light.
That should encourage us today. Perhaps none of our modern-day cities compares in wickedness with Corinth and Ephesus, but God still has “special” miracles for each of them. Claim the “special” miracles of divine deliverance the Lord has for you and your hometown.
A miracle is always special, so what does Luke mean here when he speaks of special miracles? Other versions of the Bible translate this word as “unusual,” “extraordinary,” or “uncommon.” Since by definition a miracle is always something unusual, extraordinary, or uncommon, this verse is almost a play on words: “God wrought ‘special special’s’ ‘extraordinary extraordinaries,’ unusual unusuals’ by the hands of Paul.”
the thing that made these particular miracles so “special” was the geographic location in which Paul was ministering when they were performed. In New Testament days, the two cities most widely known for their total degeneracy and depravity were Corinth and Ephesus. Biblical scholars tell us that these two towns were open sewers of dissolution and debauchery. Yet they were the very areas God chose in which to perform the greatest miracles recorded in the book of Acts. Why?
There is a spiritual tense that says..... where sin abounded grace did much more abound (Rom. 5:20). Paul could well have been speaking of these two cities when he made that statement. The greater the presence of darkness, the greater the provision --- and power --- of God’s redemptive light.
That should encourage us today. Perhaps none of our modern-day cities compares in wickedness with Corinth and Ephesus, but God still has “special” miracles for each of them. Claim the “special” miracles of divine deliverance the Lord has for you and your hometown.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
The Centrality of Worship
Worship is central to who we are; to to who we are becoming! "A person will worship something, have no doubt about that.... That which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts will determine our lives, and our character. Therefore....what we are worshipping we are becoming." (Emerson).
The identity of the church is determined by its worship. We must worship, stand in awe, lost in wonder, love and praise, aware of the holiness of God, this is our identity as the people of God, the church. Worship is the context and the catalyst for transformation. Robert Webber said, "Worship is the key to the renewal of the church...the way to the future runs through the past."
We are commanded "to remember," to remember the self-giving life of Jesus Christ. His death and resurrection is the very basis and the future of our life. Life unites with humanity in order to give itself away. "To remember" is to join this very life of Christ and to live with and for Him being joined to His Body. A Body that is united to worship the "one" who is the source of life.
The identity of the church is determined by its worship. We must worship, stand in awe, lost in wonder, love and praise, aware of the holiness of God, this is our identity as the people of God, the church. Worship is the context and the catalyst for transformation. Robert Webber said, "Worship is the key to the renewal of the church...the way to the future runs through the past."
We are commanded "to remember," to remember the self-giving life of Jesus Christ. His death and resurrection is the very basis and the future of our life. Life unites with humanity in order to give itself away. "To remember" is to join this very life of Christ and to live with and for Him being joined to His Body. A Body that is united to worship the "one" who is the source of life.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Unite my Heart!
Teach me your way, O Lord;
.....unite my heart to fear your name.
Psalm 86:11NKJ
Have you ever felt like you had it all together, finally, and then forget where you put it?
The psalmist prays for wisdom to know how to take all the various areas of his life and weave them together into one single strand of unity and harmony. I have mediated upon this verse many times and it has helped me to find harmony within the Holy Spirit and with the entire body of Christ.
In Hebrew, the word translated “unite” is the word yachad. Most define it as “to join together, to become one.” A Christian is not a divided person or personality. Although we are comprised of different “parts,” we really are a “unified” being. Our tangible and intangible bodies are inextricably interwoven together with each other and with the Creator. A Christian truly is one with himself and with His God.
The Christian must also come to recognize that he or she is also one with his brothers and sisters in Christ. In such a fusion, there are no divisions, no separations, no barriers, no cross, no conflicts of interest.
When believers truly become one Body, with Christ as Head, instead of going off in hundreds of different directions, we will finally be able to give total concentration to the one thing we are all called to do: WORSHIP THE LORD AND BE WITNESSES TO HIM IN ALL THE WORLD.
I love this verse; “Unite my heart to fear Your Name!”
.....unite my heart to fear your name.
Psalm 86:11NKJ
Have you ever felt like you had it all together, finally, and then forget where you put it?
The psalmist prays for wisdom to know how to take all the various areas of his life and weave them together into one single strand of unity and harmony. I have mediated upon this verse many times and it has helped me to find harmony within the Holy Spirit and with the entire body of Christ.
In Hebrew, the word translated “unite” is the word yachad. Most define it as “to join together, to become one.” A Christian is not a divided person or personality. Although we are comprised of different “parts,” we really are a “unified” being. Our tangible and intangible bodies are inextricably interwoven together with each other and with the Creator. A Christian truly is one with himself and with His God.
The Christian must also come to recognize that he or she is also one with his brothers and sisters in Christ. In such a fusion, there are no divisions, no separations, no barriers, no cross, no conflicts of interest.
When believers truly become one Body, with Christ as Head, instead of going off in hundreds of different directions, we will finally be able to give total concentration to the one thing we are all called to do: WORSHIP THE LORD AND BE WITNESSES TO HIM IN ALL THE WORLD.
I love this verse; “Unite my heart to fear Your Name!”
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
HEAR THE BREEZE
And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day...
Genesis NKJ
The cool of the day was around four o'clock in the evening. It is the time when the evening breeze begins to stir. The Hebrew word translated cool in this verse is ruwach. Elsewhere in Scripture, this same word is translated breath, wind, breeze, spirit, and Holy Spirit.
God is a spirit. When the afternoon breeze began to stir in the Garden of Eden, God as a spirit came to Adam and Eve in the wind. Although it is not stated that this was a daily occurrence, most Bible scholars consulted seemed to feel that this was the case.
David Kimchi, a Jewish scholar living in Spain in the 12 century, wrote that Adam and Eve sinned around the four o’clock time. Satan’s strategy was to tempt Adam and Eve into disobedience, thereby creating a sin barrier between them and God.
Matthew-Henry, an 18th century scholar writes: “There is an evangelic not to this passage. God know they had sinned, but it did not keep Him from coming to meet them. Even though they had failed, miserably, He still came looking for them. He remained faithful to being “Good.” Our failures reveal His “Fail-fulness.” His compassion for them effected a reconciliation and the promise of the coming Messiah.
To this very day every human being still longs for the breeze, the wind, the Holy Presence of God to come to them. To those of us who believe in Christ we have received His eternal, never leaving presence into our lives and we know the comfort of His embrace.
As the breeze, wind blows around my deck this morning I am overwhelmed by the fact that He continues to come to me. In spite of human failure, His divine faithfulness covers me with His Present Grace.
Genesis NKJ
The cool of the day was around four o'clock in the evening. It is the time when the evening breeze begins to stir. The Hebrew word translated cool in this verse is ruwach. Elsewhere in Scripture, this same word is translated breath, wind, breeze, spirit, and Holy Spirit.
God is a spirit. When the afternoon breeze began to stir in the Garden of Eden, God as a spirit came to Adam and Eve in the wind. Although it is not stated that this was a daily occurrence, most Bible scholars consulted seemed to feel that this was the case.
David Kimchi, a Jewish scholar living in Spain in the 12 century, wrote that Adam and Eve sinned around the four o’clock time. Satan’s strategy was to tempt Adam and Eve into disobedience, thereby creating a sin barrier between them and God.
Matthew-Henry, an 18th century scholar writes: “There is an evangelic not to this passage. God know they had sinned, but it did not keep Him from coming to meet them. Even though they had failed, miserably, He still came looking for them. He remained faithful to being “Good.” Our failures reveal His “Fail-fulness.” His compassion for them effected a reconciliation and the promise of the coming Messiah.
To this very day every human being still longs for the breeze, the wind, the Holy Presence of God to come to them. To those of us who believe in Christ we have received His eternal, never leaving presence into our lives and we know the comfort of His embrace.
As the breeze, wind blows around my deck this morning I am overwhelmed by the fact that He continues to come to me. In spite of human failure, His divine faithfulness covers me with His Present Grace.
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