These are very important words to live by, especially when modern "Christianity" tries to bring personal experience up to the same level as God's revealed word. Oswald Chambers hits this one out of the park - and to think that he wrote this long before the issues that we are currently dealing with surfaced. Sounds like words of prophecy to me.
From My Utmost For His Highest, devotional for December 21, 2010
“We have received … the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God” (1 Corinthians 2:12).
My experience is not what makes redemption real—redemption is reality. Redemption has no real meaning for me until it is worked out through my conscious life. When I am born again, the Spirit of God takes me beyond myself and my experiences, and identifies me with Jesus Christ. If I am left only with my personal experiences, I am left with something not produced by redemption. But experiences produced by redemption prove themselves by leading me beyond myself, to the point of no longer paying any attention to experiences as the basis of reality. Instead, I see that only the reality itself produced the experiences. My experiences are not worth anything unless they keep me at the Source of truth—Jesus Christ.
If you try to hold back the Holy Spirit within you, with the desire of producing more inner spiritual experiences, you will find that He will break the hold and take you again to the historic Christ. Never support an experience which does not have God as its Source and faith in God as its result. If you do, your experience is anti-Christian, no matter what visions or insights you may have had. Is Jesus Christ Lord of your experiences, or do you place your experiences above Him? Is any experience dearer to you than your Lord? You must allow Him to be Lord over you, and pay no attention to any experience over which He is not Lord. Then there will come a time when God will make you impatient with your own experience, and you can truthfully say, “I do not care what I experience—I am sure of Him!”
Be relentless and hard on yourself if you are in the habit of talking about the experiences you have had. Faith based on experience is not faith; faith based on God’s revealed truth is the only faith there is.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Monday, December 20, 2010
Jesus, The Reason for the Season
Recently, I was in a Bible Study (Men’s Fraternity, Wednesday Night At The Well) and the presenter said something that I thought was the craziest thing I had ever heard of. He said (and I am paraphrasing) “You know, Christmas is all about you. Sure, Jesus is a major part of it, but Christmas is all about you.” I thought “What an odd thing to say. Surely he must be kidding.” I thought that Christmas really was all about Jesus.
And then he took to quoting scripture. He pulled from our lessons that we will read on Christmas Eve, and started with Isaiah 9:6. “For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Then he moved to the Gospel of Luke, and the encounter that the shepherds had with the angels. “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11 (ESV)).
As crazy as it sounded at first, Robert Lewis was exactly right. Christmas really is about us. It is about what our Savior Jesus did for us – and it is this that we celebrate during this Christmas season.
Christmas is called an “incarnational feast,” and it is a time when we celebrate the fact that he came down to this earth to save us. He actually took our nature upon Himself when he came down to this earth. He had free will, and he could have sinned, but he chose not to. This is one of the reasons that Holy Scripture refers to him as the “second Adam.” In effect, Jesus came to undo the mess made by the first Adam when he sinned, and introduced original sin into the Creation. By His going through life sinless, and by dying on the Cross for our sins, he made true forgiveness possible for us. By coming to this earth, he made eternal salvation possible. This is what we truly celebrate at Christmas – that by coming down to this earth, we are saved and have an eternity of glory in the presence of our Lord to look forward to. Praise be to God!
During the Christmas season, we have so many things that can distract us – things that are peripheral to the true meaning of Christmas. For the children, there are the presents. For many of us, there is the gift of family. All of these things bring joy to most people at Christmas, but they can also bring pain. Some have very little money, and thus cannot buy presents for their children. Others have lost loved ones at Christmas (as our family has with the death of Lisa’s Uncle Tommy), and so Christmas can be a painful time. There is no magical formula – no way that we can just wave a wand over those hurts and pains and make them just go away. But there is one thing that all of us can do, and it helps tremendously. We should remember the reason for the season.
Christmas is about the true gift that Jesus Christ in His glorious majesty gave to us. It is about the beginning of something really special – something that culminated with Jesus’s death on the cross and His resurrection. Christmas is about the ultimate gift – the gift of eternal life. When we focus on this during the Christmas season, we experience the joy, the peace, and the hope of living redeemed lives, living in the joyful expectation of eternal life made possible by Jesus, our Savior. Merry Christmas to you all!
And then he took to quoting scripture. He pulled from our lessons that we will read on Christmas Eve, and started with Isaiah 9:6. “For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Then he moved to the Gospel of Luke, and the encounter that the shepherds had with the angels. “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11 (ESV)).
As crazy as it sounded at first, Robert Lewis was exactly right. Christmas really is about us. It is about what our Savior Jesus did for us – and it is this that we celebrate during this Christmas season.
Christmas is called an “incarnational feast,” and it is a time when we celebrate the fact that he came down to this earth to save us. He actually took our nature upon Himself when he came down to this earth. He had free will, and he could have sinned, but he chose not to. This is one of the reasons that Holy Scripture refers to him as the “second Adam.” In effect, Jesus came to undo the mess made by the first Adam when he sinned, and introduced original sin into the Creation. By His going through life sinless, and by dying on the Cross for our sins, he made true forgiveness possible for us. By coming to this earth, he made eternal salvation possible. This is what we truly celebrate at Christmas – that by coming down to this earth, we are saved and have an eternity of glory in the presence of our Lord to look forward to. Praise be to God!
During the Christmas season, we have so many things that can distract us – things that are peripheral to the true meaning of Christmas. For the children, there are the presents. For many of us, there is the gift of family. All of these things bring joy to most people at Christmas, but they can also bring pain. Some have very little money, and thus cannot buy presents for their children. Others have lost loved ones at Christmas (as our family has with the death of Lisa’s Uncle Tommy), and so Christmas can be a painful time. There is no magical formula – no way that we can just wave a wand over those hurts and pains and make them just go away. But there is one thing that all of us can do, and it helps tremendously. We should remember the reason for the season.
Christmas is about the true gift that Jesus Christ in His glorious majesty gave to us. It is about the beginning of something really special – something that culminated with Jesus’s death on the cross and His resurrection. Christmas is about the ultimate gift – the gift of eternal life. When we focus on this during the Christmas season, we experience the joy, the peace, and the hope of living redeemed lives, living in the joyful expectation of eternal life made possible by Jesus, our Savior. Merry Christmas to you all!
Friday, November 19, 2010
Letter to Congregation RE: Diocesan Lawsuit
November 19, 2010
Dear St. Michael’s Parish Family:
I write to you today to bring you very good news on the legal front. Yesterday, the Fifth District Court of Appeals of the State of California ruled completely in our Diocese’s favor on our appeal of the Superior Court’s decision. In effect, the appellate court declared that the trial court was wrong to get involved in ecclesiastical and doctrinal matters, and instead should look at each property dispute based on matters of neutral law. This is very clearly a significant victory for us in a significant battle.
At this point, the case is back in the hands of the Episcopal Church. They can either attempt to have the ruling reviewed by the California Supreme Court, or they can amend their original lawsuit at the Superior Court level and proceed from there. What they will do remains to be seen.
It is important, though, to take this court decision in context. As you are aware, the lawsuit that is in process right now is between the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin and the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin. Since St. Michael’s is a separately incorporated entity, we are subject to a separate lawsuit which is currently on hold pending the outcome of the lawsuit at the diocesan level. Once this case is decided at the Diocesan level, it remains to be seen how the Episcopal Church will proceed at the parish level, if they even proceed at all.
As your rector, I am very excited about the outcome of the appeal yesterday. It is a significant victory in a significant battle. There is much that still needs to happen, but I remain cautiously optimistic about our chances to ultimately prevail. Please continue to pray earnestly that God’s Will will ultimately prevail.
Regardless of the outcome, we will continue to be about the business of proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ in a world that desperately needs to hear it. May God bless you all throughout this Thanksgiving season.
Yours in Jesus Christ,
Fr. Townsend Waddill
Rector
Dear St. Michael’s Parish Family:
I write to you today to bring you very good news on the legal front. Yesterday, the Fifth District Court of Appeals of the State of California ruled completely in our Diocese’s favor on our appeal of the Superior Court’s decision. In effect, the appellate court declared that the trial court was wrong to get involved in ecclesiastical and doctrinal matters, and instead should look at each property dispute based on matters of neutral law. This is very clearly a significant victory for us in a significant battle.
At this point, the case is back in the hands of the Episcopal Church. They can either attempt to have the ruling reviewed by the California Supreme Court, or they can amend their original lawsuit at the Superior Court level and proceed from there. What they will do remains to be seen.
It is important, though, to take this court decision in context. As you are aware, the lawsuit that is in process right now is between the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin and the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin. Since St. Michael’s is a separately incorporated entity, we are subject to a separate lawsuit which is currently on hold pending the outcome of the lawsuit at the diocesan level. Once this case is decided at the Diocesan level, it remains to be seen how the Episcopal Church will proceed at the parish level, if they even proceed at all.
As your rector, I am very excited about the outcome of the appeal yesterday. It is a significant victory in a significant battle. There is much that still needs to happen, but I remain cautiously optimistic about our chances to ultimately prevail. Please continue to pray earnestly that God’s Will will ultimately prevail.
Regardless of the outcome, we will continue to be about the business of proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ in a world that desperately needs to hear it. May God bless you all throughout this Thanksgiving season.
Yours in Jesus Christ,
Fr. Townsend Waddill
Rector
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Reflections On Advent
Why do we celebrate the season of Advent? It’s a good question, and one that we as liturgical Christians should definitely ask. We live in an instant-gratification culture that just cannot wait. Christmas seems to come earlier and earlier, often times not even waiting for Halloween to be over, much less Thanksgiving. Why should we as Christians wait when the world around cannot seem to?
The answer lies in our command to be countercultural. When the world throws out the fruit of the Spirit that we call patience, we are called to reclaim it, and to show it forth in our daily lives, even if the culture around us looks at us like we are the weirdest birds on earth.
I am always struck by the two-fold nature of the season of Advent. In Advent, we remember and reflect on those who waited on the birth of Jesus Christ. But we don’t stop there. We ourselves are waiting on Jesus Christ – waiting for Him to come again in great power and glory, and to redeem His Creation once and for all. Let’s reflect on each of these periods of waiting in a little more depth.
Whenever I think of Advent, I am always reminded of the Annunciation. It is that great passage of the Bible when the angel Gabriel comes to the Virgin Mary to announce to her that she will bear a son (Luke 1:26-38). Gabriel tells Mary that the Lord is with her, she will bear an extraordinary child, and this child will be conceived in an extraordinary fashion.
What is so exceptional about Mary? She shows great faith and reliance on God in a period of uncertainty. We see a broad emotional response in her to the news that this angel is bringing. Her first reaction is one in which she is greatly troubled. When Gabriel announced to her that “the Lord is with you,” she does not know what to make of it, and that carries with it the connotation that it could be either good or bad. Mary then moves from being troubled to being puzzled. Mary knows that she is a virgin and that there is no way that she could conceive a child. After all, she is only betrothed to Joseph. She is not married to him. The Lord tells her that this will be the work of the Holy Spirit. “And Mary said, ‘Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.’” Her response is indicative of her great faith for two reasons. First, getting pregnant as a virgin was seemingly impossible, and second, because getting pregnant out of wedlock in those days brought with it a possible sentence of death. Mary was surely on dangerous ground. In spite of this, though, she responded faithfully to the call of her God, and we as Christian disciples are called to go and do likewise.
In some senses, although we are not called to physically bear the Son of God, our story can be strikingly similar to the story of Mary – just in a different context. We, like Mary, are waiting with anxious anticipation. Mary waited on the birth of her child Jesus. We wait on the coming of the triumphant Lord Jesus Christ in glorious majesty. Mary was called to do something that was quite extraordinary, and so are we as well. Mary was called to live a sacrificial life, and so are we. Mary was called to put her complete faith and trust in the Lord, and so are we.
As we go through this Advent season, let us always be mindful of the importance of Mary’s witness as a saint of God. God called her, and when he did, she responded “behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” God calls us to do great things for His kingdom on earth while we wait for His coming again in glory. While we wait and do the work of the Lord, may the Lord give us the courage to put our faith and our trust in Him, because we are also servants of the Lord, called according to God’s Word. May God bless you richly during this Advent season.
The answer lies in our command to be countercultural. When the world throws out the fruit of the Spirit that we call patience, we are called to reclaim it, and to show it forth in our daily lives, even if the culture around us looks at us like we are the weirdest birds on earth.
I am always struck by the two-fold nature of the season of Advent. In Advent, we remember and reflect on those who waited on the birth of Jesus Christ. But we don’t stop there. We ourselves are waiting on Jesus Christ – waiting for Him to come again in great power and glory, and to redeem His Creation once and for all. Let’s reflect on each of these periods of waiting in a little more depth.
Whenever I think of Advent, I am always reminded of the Annunciation. It is that great passage of the Bible when the angel Gabriel comes to the Virgin Mary to announce to her that she will bear a son (Luke 1:26-38). Gabriel tells Mary that the Lord is with her, she will bear an extraordinary child, and this child will be conceived in an extraordinary fashion.
What is so exceptional about Mary? She shows great faith and reliance on God in a period of uncertainty. We see a broad emotional response in her to the news that this angel is bringing. Her first reaction is one in which she is greatly troubled. When Gabriel announced to her that “the Lord is with you,” she does not know what to make of it, and that carries with it the connotation that it could be either good or bad. Mary then moves from being troubled to being puzzled. Mary knows that she is a virgin and that there is no way that she could conceive a child. After all, she is only betrothed to Joseph. She is not married to him. The Lord tells her that this will be the work of the Holy Spirit. “And Mary said, ‘Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.’” Her response is indicative of her great faith for two reasons. First, getting pregnant as a virgin was seemingly impossible, and second, because getting pregnant out of wedlock in those days brought with it a possible sentence of death. Mary was surely on dangerous ground. In spite of this, though, she responded faithfully to the call of her God, and we as Christian disciples are called to go and do likewise.
In some senses, although we are not called to physically bear the Son of God, our story can be strikingly similar to the story of Mary – just in a different context. We, like Mary, are waiting with anxious anticipation. Mary waited on the birth of her child Jesus. We wait on the coming of the triumphant Lord Jesus Christ in glorious majesty. Mary was called to do something that was quite extraordinary, and so are we as well. Mary was called to live a sacrificial life, and so are we. Mary was called to put her complete faith and trust in the Lord, and so are we.
As we go through this Advent season, let us always be mindful of the importance of Mary’s witness as a saint of God. God called her, and when he did, she responded “behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” God calls us to do great things for His kingdom on earth while we wait for His coming again in glory. While we wait and do the work of the Lord, may the Lord give us the courage to put our faith and our trust in Him, because we are also servants of the Lord, called according to God’s Word. May God bless you richly during this Advent season.
Engaging the Fight With Evil
“War broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, but they were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world-- he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.”
- Revelation 12:7-9
Recently, I was browsing around in a Christian bookstore, and the title of a book jumped off of the bookshelf and hit me right between the eyes. The book is called Fight: Are You Willing to Pick a Fight with Evil?, by Kenny Luck. I grabbed the book and began to devour it word for word.
As it became abundantly clear to me that I was called to be the rector of St. Michael’s Anglican Church, I began to reflect on our patron saint, St. Michael the Archangel. Michael is one of those characters in the Bible who is able to emphatically answer “yes” to the question posed by Kenny Luck’s book. He is an example to us of courage and perseverance.
The passage above from Revelation describes what is commonly known as the War in Heaven. Michael and his band of angels engage in a war against Satan and his minions, and Michael wins. The devil is then cast down to the earth and all evil is cast out of heaven for all eternity.
While the War in Heaven is St. John’s vision of a future event, it has implications for all of us in our daily lives. We are not in heaven fighting Satan directly, but we do fight battles against evil in our daily lives today. With Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are called to engage the battle, and we are called to fight to win!
Engage the Battle! Can you imagine what would happen if St. Michael and his angels had chosen not to fight to the battle? They could have made every excuse or come up with every reason not to fight. If they had fallen away from the battle, Satan would not be defeated and sin and evil might reside in heaven for all eternity. Battles between good and evil – Satan and God – happen all the time in this world. We are called to engage the battle, and to do so with courage and conviction, knowing that we have the ultimate weapon against evil, Jesus. If we choose not to engage the battle with courage and perseverance, then we allow evil to take hold in the world around us. When we choose not to fight for Jesus Christ, it creates a vacuum, and that vacuum is filled with evil.
Win! When we are called to engage the battle, we should do so in order to win! If you look at most successful fighting forces around the world, they usually have two things, good solid training, and an effective command structure that helps them strategize and guides them into how they should fight. The same is true for an army of Christian soldiers. We have the ultimate training program, God’s Holy Word. We are called to read, mark, learn and inwardly digest the Bible as our training regimen, so that we can be effective in the fight against evil. An army that is not well trained will be overcome in battle. Likewise, if we as Christian disciples are not well trained, we will be overcome in the battle against evil. Our command structure is Jesus Christ Himself, and His Church, the Body of Christ. If we stay tuned to Him in prayer, and mutual discernment within the church, we will be very aware of where and how God is calling us to fight. We will be doing His will as we fight against evil, and he will give us the tools we need to win.
In closing, I encourage you to use St. Michael as an example of the courage and perseverance in the fight against evil in all the world. God is calling. Gird up your loins and join the battle. Jesus is counting on you for his army of disciples.
- Revelation 12:7-9
Recently, I was browsing around in a Christian bookstore, and the title of a book jumped off of the bookshelf and hit me right between the eyes. The book is called Fight: Are You Willing to Pick a Fight with Evil?, by Kenny Luck. I grabbed the book and began to devour it word for word.
As it became abundantly clear to me that I was called to be the rector of St. Michael’s Anglican Church, I began to reflect on our patron saint, St. Michael the Archangel. Michael is one of those characters in the Bible who is able to emphatically answer “yes” to the question posed by Kenny Luck’s book. He is an example to us of courage and perseverance.
The passage above from Revelation describes what is commonly known as the War in Heaven. Michael and his band of angels engage in a war against Satan and his minions, and Michael wins. The devil is then cast down to the earth and all evil is cast out of heaven for all eternity.
While the War in Heaven is St. John’s vision of a future event, it has implications for all of us in our daily lives. We are not in heaven fighting Satan directly, but we do fight battles against evil in our daily lives today. With Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are called to engage the battle, and we are called to fight to win!
Engage the Battle! Can you imagine what would happen if St. Michael and his angels had chosen not to fight to the battle? They could have made every excuse or come up with every reason not to fight. If they had fallen away from the battle, Satan would not be defeated and sin and evil might reside in heaven for all eternity. Battles between good and evil – Satan and God – happen all the time in this world. We are called to engage the battle, and to do so with courage and conviction, knowing that we have the ultimate weapon against evil, Jesus. If we choose not to engage the battle with courage and perseverance, then we allow evil to take hold in the world around us. When we choose not to fight for Jesus Christ, it creates a vacuum, and that vacuum is filled with evil.
Win! When we are called to engage the battle, we should do so in order to win! If you look at most successful fighting forces around the world, they usually have two things, good solid training, and an effective command structure that helps them strategize and guides them into how they should fight. The same is true for an army of Christian soldiers. We have the ultimate training program, God’s Holy Word. We are called to read, mark, learn and inwardly digest the Bible as our training regimen, so that we can be effective in the fight against evil. An army that is not well trained will be overcome in battle. Likewise, if we as Christian disciples are not well trained, we will be overcome in the battle against evil. Our command structure is Jesus Christ Himself, and His Church, the Body of Christ. If we stay tuned to Him in prayer, and mutual discernment within the church, we will be very aware of where and how God is calling us to fight. We will be doing His will as we fight against evil, and he will give us the tools we need to win.
In closing, I encourage you to use St. Michael as an example of the courage and perseverance in the fight against evil in all the world. God is calling. Gird up your loins and join the battle. Jesus is counting on you for his army of disciples.
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