Reflections on the Morning of an Election

I am sitting here in the church this morning as the polls open (on the west coast) praying and spending time with God.  I’m experiencing that feeling that you get when your favorite College Football team is playing their archrivals – it’s the political version of Florida vs. Florida State or Auburn vs. Alabama, and the line on the game is “pick ‘em” (for those of you aren’t sports enthusiasts, that means that it is dead even).  It’s that feeling that you get when you sense your team is going to win, but there is always the uncertainty that goes along with that.  What if we fumble the ball at the goal line?

The one Scripture verse that has pervaded my mind and my spirit for the last seven days comes from Romans 8:28, and many of us know it quite well.  “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”  This scripture verse has hit me strongly in two areas – the election today, and in an issue that has been very important to this election, abortion.

Romans 8:28 makes it very clear.  No matter what happens, whether things are good or bad, God will always work good “for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.”  The ramifications of this are clear.  If we love God and we put our trust in Him and His greater purposes, we cannot lose, regardless of the outcome of the election.  Whether we win or lose, God created this world, and He is at work in it.  All the elect have to do is to love God and to trust in Him.  I cannot even begin to tell you how much hope that gives me in the midst of uncertainty.

The other way that Romans 8:28 has impacted me this week has been in the abortion arena.  St. Michael’s participated in the 40 Days for Life Campaign, and this weekend at Diocesan Convention, we had the amazing experience of hearing Georgette Forney’s testimony.

If there is one thing about the abortion debate that has impacted me, it is this one thought: many times, acts that create children are sinful, but the child is never the sin.  All children are a blessing, regardless of how they were conceived.  And that includes pregnancies that were brought about by rape and incest.  Even Mitt Romney, who is the better of the two candidates when it comes to abortion, supports abortion in the case of rape and incest.  And I say this to him and to any other candidate who supports any type of abortion.  Fornication, adultery, incest, and rape are all sins.  Clearly!  But to follow up these sins by committing the sin of murder is just heaping double the judgment on our heads, yet our society is encouraging women to do that very thing.

On the other hand, what if every woman decided against abortion and chose either to have the child and raise him as her own, or to give the child up for adoption?  This is where Romans 8:28 comes in.  By choosing to keep the child, we are acknowledging God Himself.  We are acknowledging that God really does make amazing things happen in the midst of seemingly bad situations.  All we have to do is trust in God, His goodness and His mercy.  All we have to do is simply love him – and allow ourselves to be filled through and through with His Grace and mercy.  When we do this, good really and truly does come out of a bad situation.  But we have to love God.

During this election, remember this.  God really and truly does work good in all things for those who love Him and are called according to His purposes.  Love God, and regardless of the outcome of this election, regardless of your life circumstances, you will experience God’s goodness and mercy.  You can count on it!

When A Nation Rejects God

Do you know what it feels like to pick up a book to read that causes you to drop to your knees in repentance?  For me, this happened recently when I picked up a book called The Harbinger, by Jonathan Kahn.

The book does a very effective job of tying the 21st century America that we live in today to Israel in the 8th century B.C. just before the Israelites were carried into exile by the Assyrians .  The author makes the claim, and I believe rightly so, that we need to learn a valuable lesson from the 8th century B.C. Israelites or we run the very real risk of being carried into exile just as they did.  Let’s explore this a little further.

The first question you might ask is this: what does America have to do with Israel?  How can the two even compare?  The answer is that both countries were found on Godly principles and that God was at the center of both countries’ founding.  We of course know the story of the Old Covenant with Israel – how God promised them many things, blessing, prosperity, posterity, and protection from their enemies.  The only thing that God asked of them in return was for them to be a holy people who would follow God and only God, not the other gods of the day.

As spiritual complacency began to infect the 9th and 8th century B.C. Israelites, God began to send a series of harbingers to Israel to warn them of impending danger, while raising up prophets (Isaiah and Amos being two of them) to send the message to the country that it needed to fall on its knees and repent because it had been rejecting God’s Covenant.  One of the harbingers was series of small military skirmishes in which God lifted the hedge of protection around Israel just long enough for some damage to be caused.  The Israelites, rather than falling on their knees and repenting, became indignant, arrogant, and proud about the fact that they would rebuild.  This is where Isaiah 9:10 comes in.  “The bricks have fallen, but we will build with hewn stones; the sycamores have been cut down, but we will put cedars in their place.”  Of course, Isaiah 9:9 makes it clear that the Israelites said this with pride and arrogance in their hearts.  This pride and arrogance would keep them from repenting, and they would ultimately be carried into exile because of it.

If we carry this forward to 21st century America, Kahn makes the point that we as a country are at the very same point in our history that Israel was in the 8th century B.C.  Even though there are some who would debate about this today, let me be very clear on one very important point: we are a nation that was founded on Christian principles.  If you look at our moral and ethical code, it is founded on Biblical, scriptural ethics and morality.  In addition, when George Washington was inaugurated as the first President of the United States of America, his first act as the first President was to gather together the House of Representatives and the Senate, all of the people who were present at his inauguration, and walk down the street to St. Paul’s Chapel for a prayer service in which they prayed for God’s blessings on the new nation (remember that the first capital of our country was New York City).   Even though this was added much later, we truly were founded to be, and continue to be, “one nation, under God.”

Recently, though, this long-established concept that we are a nation founded on Christian principles has come under serious attack, and the United States corporately as a nation, is rejecting God and forgetting its roots.  We are, in effect, doing the same things now that Israel did as a nation over 2,700 years ago.  Spiritual complacency is causing us to lose sight of God’s promises and His blessings on our nation, and Kahn effectively makes the point that God is lifting His hedge of protection from around us as we speak, and that the very same harbingers that warned of impending doom for Israel before the first exile, have now manifest themselves in 21st century America, starting on September 11, 2001.  For the details and particulars of the various harbingers, I commend you to read the book.  It is very compelling.  Here are some take-aways from the book that we need to be aware of.

• When 9/11 happened (one of the harbingers), we as a country reacted with national pride and defiance.  We vowed to rebuild the Tower, and we used hewn stone as the cornerstone.  We went to war against the Taliban in a show of American strength.  We should have gotten down on our knees and repented.
• We continue to take prayer out of our schools.  We continue to remove the 10 commandments from our courtrooms.  We continue to allow God, and specifically Jesus Christ, to be written out of our national life.
• If we continue, as a nation, to reject God and write Him out of our national life, God will continue to lift His hedge of protection from around us, just as he did to Israel when they rejected God.  It was not a pretty sight for Israel, and it will not be a pretty sight for us as well.

I realize that this sounds like a lot of gloom and doom, but there is a lot of hope as well, and our hope is two-fold.  First, we can always repent as a nation and return to the Lord.  This will take another great revival in America.  And this great revival will start with us as Christian disciples – willing to proclaim Jesus Christ from the rooftops, and staying away from the fear of politics.  Second, if we are unsuccessful and another exile does occur, always remember that God delivers, and He uses those opportunities to draw His believers closer to Him.  Our God is strong and mighty to save, and will do that for us as individuals, even if things do not go well in our nation.

I have always said this, and so have other leaders in the Anglican movement in North America.  We are in for some amazing times.  I believe that an American revival is right around the corner, and North American Anglicanism will play a very important role in this.  We know what happens to churches when they go the way of the culture, and we know how freeing and how cathartic it is to repent from those ways and return to the Lord.  We are uniquely qualified to call others to that, because we have done it ourselves.  Reject spiritual complacency.  Don’t be afraid to be a “religious nut.”  The harvest is plentiful and the workers are few – but God is at work in the world, spreading the transforming love of Jesus Christ.  Let us all as Christian disciples join God in that work.  If we do, lives are transformed and we will see amazing fruits of the Spirit not only in our lives and our communities, but in the nation as well.  Then we will truly return to what has made America great – our foundation will once again be Jesus Christ our Lord.

Fishers of Men, Not Keepers of the Aquarium

A few weeks ago, I came across a simple slogan that had a huge impact on me, and I think it describes very clearly and succinctly one of the greatest challenges that we will face in North American Anglicanism in the 21st century.  The slogan, which was posted on the Alpha Facebook page, is this:  “God calls us to be fishers of men, not keepers of the aquarium.”

Whoa!  What a great descriptor of the Episcopal Church that many of us grew up in – the same Episcopal Church that has been bleeding membership for many years now.  In addition to that, Archbishop Duncan – time and again – has challenged us to be authentic Anglicans and not merely conservative Episcopalians.  What does this mean?  What does it mean to be an authentic Anglican?  I believe that part of it lies in above slogan.  For too long, our churches have made it their mission to take care of their own.  Jesus, on the other hand, calls us to care for those around us, in our communities, in our country, and in the world around us.

One of the biggest struggles that we face is that it is pretty easy to talk a big game about the need for evangelism, but it is another challenge completely to walk the talk.  Churches have embarked on all kinds of evangelism projects, usually with measurable goals, and then the members sit back and scratch their heads, wondering why in the world it did not work.

In my experience, there are two main reasons why we fail at evangelism.  The first is a lack of courage and fortitude, and the second is a lack of a specific set of tools for evangelism.  I would like to look at each of these separately in more detail.

The first challenge – development of courage and fortitude – is something that can only be given to us by God.  The strength that we need to be able to witness can be found in a scripture verse that has recently been made famous by Tim Tebow, a quarterback in the NFL.  The verse is Philippians 4:13 – “I can do all things through [Christ] who strengthens me.”  The strength and the courage that we need to be effective witness only comes when we are connected with God and mutually encouraged by other disciples.  We become connected by God in three main ways – through regular worship of God, through regular times of personal prayer, and through routine study of God’s Word.  If we fall short in one of these areas, it should be no surprise to us that we are woefully inadequate in our evangelism.  On the other hand, if we commit to regular times of prayer, study and worship, we will be so connected to God that He will provide us the strength to be effective.  The bottom line is this: we cannot do it on our own strength.  We can only do it with God working in us and through us to accomplish His purpose – and that is to draw people closer to Him.

The second challenge is the development of tools for evangelism.  Many of us are in love with the idea of evangelism, but then often don’t go for it because we don’t know how.  The answer to this is simpler than we think: develop a plan, write it down, and revisit it often, making changes where necessary.  Most people who are successful, especially in business, are good at planning and they think and pray things through before they even start.  Here are some things to include in your “Living Faith Plan.”

• How I connect with God – Include in this part of your plan a schedule or a goal for connecting with God through worship, prayer and study of God’s Word.  Make sure that you include specific prayers for evangelism, asking God to show you who He is calling you to minister to and to bring to Christ.  In your studies, make sure that you are studying God’s Word and are not distracted by other things.  Consider your spiritual gifts and how God might be using them to draw other into relationship with Him.
• Practical Aspects of Evangelism – Include in this part of your plan specific actions that you will take to make yourself available for evangelism.  Some of you may want to hold “office hours” at a local Starbucks.  Some of you might join clubs or organizations that put you in regular contact with unbelievers.  Keep a list of the people that God has placed on your heart to talk about the faith.  Pray for them patiently and regularly, be an amazing example of a disciple of Jesus, and be there for them when they struggle, and pick them up when they fall.  Know your own story and don’t be afraid to share it with them for encouragement.

I believe from the bottom of my heart that if every parishioner in our congregation wrote down a plan, and then came up with the names of five people that they know to be either marginal believers or unbelievers and went out of their way to friend them and witness to them over time, using the Anglican 4th Day model of “make a friend, be a friend, bring a friend to Christ,” we would see instant growth in our churches.  When we are intentional about evangelism and witnessing to those around us, it becomes contagious and brings all kinds of new excitement.  This kind of excitement is generated by the conversion and formation of new believers in Jesus Christ, and that can only happen when we step out of our comfort zones and outside of the walls of the church.

Don’t be afraid to step out of the aquarium.  Go into the world, and be fishers of men.

Why Welfare Isn't Stewardship

“Each man should give what he has in his heart to give, not reluctantly decided or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:7)

Recently, with what we in politics used to call the “silly season” upon us, there has been a lot of discussion in the news and among my friends about welfare and entitlement programs.  As some of you already know, I am completely against the welfare system of today because of the old saying “give a man a fish, feed him for a day.  Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.”  Our system as it currently stands, in my opinion, is heavy on giving away fish and falls far too short on teaching men to fish.  I really do believe that if we spent half of the resources that we spend on giving away fish on teaching people to fish, with clear consequences for those who choose not to fish, this country would have a whole new outlook and out welfare system would be much better at doing what it was originally intended to do – get people back on their feet.

In discussing this point recently, I had someone really try to take me task.  This person went on and on about how we have a responsibility to take care of the poor and needy among us and asked me how anyone who calls himself a Christian pastor could ever be against a program that does so much to help the poor.

So I asked him the obvious question – “how much of your own money do you give to the poor?”  His answer:  “nothing out of my own money.  My tax dollars go to help the poor.”  And then, in another discussion on an ACNA discussion board, another layperson made the statement that disciples should consider part of their tax dollars a tithe, since some of the money goes to help the poor.  Therein lies the real problem. 

Using the government to help the poor may sound good on the surface.  We really should want to help the poor – that should be the noble desire of every Christian disciple.  But to say that giving tax dollars to welfare is good Christian stewardship is false teaching, and it runs completely contrary to the entire concept of Christian stewardship – and I say this for two reasons.  First, Christian giving and taking care of the poor should be done freely and joyfully from a heart totally in love with Jesus Christ.  Second, if it is done under compulsion, then it sends the wrong message that works-based righteousness is acceptable and all I have to do is pay my taxes to be saved.

Paul covers the first point very clearly in 2 Corinthians 9:7.  Each man should give cheerfully and joyfully from a heart in love with and committed to Jesus Christ.  It should never be done reluctantly or under compulsion.  Taxation is compulsory by design, and therefore any consideration that paying taxes is somehow stewardship is completely wrong.  Remember that Jesus said “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and give to God what is God’s.” (Matthew 22:15-22)  Jesus very clearly delineated Christian stewardship from taxes – there is no confusion.  While we should pay our taxes, we should not allow our taxes and our giving – or taking care of the poor – to be confused as if they are the same thing.  Jesus says differently.

The second issue to cover is specifically a salvation issue.  I think the most comprehensive statement of salvation is that “we are saved by grace through a living faith in Jesus Christ.”  I love this definition because it takes into account the absolute need for grace and faith, but also recognizes that a dead faith (faith without works) is no faith at all.  In the words of Bishop Todd Hunter, an ACNA bishop, “salvation cannot be earned, but it does take effort.”  This states two things.  If we say we have faith but have not works, it is a dead faith, as James says, and thus there is no salvation.  On the other hand, if we do works but they are not rooted in faith in Jesus Christ, then these works will not bring about salvation.  If our stewardship, i.e. our taking care of the poor, is not rooted in faith in Jesus Christ and given freely from the heart, then it will not bring about salvation.  Anyone who thinks that paying in to the government will bring about salvation because they are doing a good work is completely missing the boat.

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord – voluntarily and joyfully.  We will continue to help the poor, both here in Ridgecrest and throughout the world – not because we are compelled by the government, but because of the love of Jesus in our hearts.  That is our prayer for all people who believe in Jesus Christ.

Fighting False Prophets

“I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them.”  (Romans 16:17)

In late June, many of us found out the news that The Episcopal Church (TEC) has announced that charges have been filed against nine orthodox, Godly bishops that have remained in the Episcopal Church.  Their offense?  They let the courts know through various court filings that, historically and canonically (according to church law) TEC is a hierarchical structure up to the Diocesan level.  Historically and canonically, their argument was completely correct.  In effect, these bishops were charged for doing what was right – and they needed to speak up because the precedent that was being set could be used against them in their own dioceses.

Even at the risk of becoming quite unpopular with my fellow orthodox clergy who are still in TEC, I asked the question indicative of the elephant in the living room – the question that nobody wanted to ask in the first place.  Why in the world would they want to stay in TEC?  After reflecting on this some more, the question morphed.

What in the world were they still doing in TEC?  Why didn’t they get out a long time ago?

As I have asked that question over and over again on blogs or on Facebook, I usually get the same answer, and I got the same answer again with my first question above.  “We stay in the Episcopal Church because it is all about faithful witness.  We stand firm in the face of persecution.”  That sounds great when you first hear of it, but I again asked the question, is it really the faithful response?  Or is it sort of a quasi-theological cover for choosing the easy way (staying in TEC) over the hard, but right way (leaving for a more Biblically faithful expression of Anglicanism where one is supported by their church rather than being torn down by it)?

The latter question is merely offered in a spirit of accountability, and anyone who knows in their heart that they have not entertained that motive can disregard the question.  But I really want to engage the first question: is it really the mark of a faithful shepherd to stay in an organization that has so very clearly given itself to false teaching and false prophecy?  The scriptural answer, I believe, says a very clear “no.”

In order to engage the question further, several scripture verses came to mind.  I chose first Paul’s passage in Romans above because it provides a simple, clear, no-nonsense answer to the question.  We are to avoid false prophets altogether, rather than hoping that we can hang around long enough to engage in conversation in order to change them and witness to them.  It is very real temptation to allow some of (or all, in some instances) our energy to be consumed with trying to change or reform our own church when the church has gone down this road, but every ounce of energy that we spend trying to reform TEC is an ounce of energy that we do not consume fighting the battle where it should be fought – in the world.  Screwtape and Wormwood (for those of you who have read The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis) would be having a field day over this, laughing with delightful glee.  On the other hand, I believe this would truly break Paul’s heart if he saw faithful, orthodox Christians doing this today.

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Matthew 7:15-20)

Jesus, like Paul, also has very strong, very clear teaching about false prophets.  His message, like Paul, is to stay away from them.  It also begs the question: what shepherd in his right mind would subject his sheep to the wolves?  Any shepherd who thinks that he can adequately protect his sheep should take a look at several formerly orthodox dioceses in the southeast who spoke out clearly in 2003 when Gene Robinson was consecrated, but have since turned thoroughly revisionist.  Another question comes to mind: who would want to knowingly and willingly attach themselves to a diseased tree?  If Jesus says very clearly that a diseased tree bears bad fruit, then it stands to reason that anyone who attaches themselves to a diseased tree will not only bear bad fruit, but will have eternal consequences.  Why would anyone want to do that?

It is my hope and prayer that all persons who are still in the Episcopal Church who profess to believe in Jesus Christ – the true Jesus who is revealed to us in Scripture, not the false Jesus that worldly have created – will renew consideration of these very important questions.  The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.  It would be a true tragedy of epic proportions for the evangelical zeal of good Christian workers to be wasted trying to reform a denomination that is full of false teachers and false prophets that show no signs of repentance whatsoever.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ is waiting to be heard.  May we proclaim it faithfully in this world that needs to hear the Good News so desperately.

Celebrating Anglican Foundations - Part II

Since the Anglican Foundations course is going on, the following is the second in a two-part series on the Anglican Communion and why I believe it is such a unique church to be a part of.

One of the features that makes us unique as a Protestant denomination is that we have not gone all the way in rejecting our Catholic roots, and one of the features of this part of our history is that we are a liturgical church.  That means that, instead of turning our worship into a free-for-all, we follow a prescribed pattern of worship.  What does this mean, and why is it important?

Liturgical Worship is Covenantal, and therefore Biblical

Throughout the Scriptural witness, we see much evidence of liturgical worship.  This begins in the Old Testament, when God makes the Covenant with His people, Israel.  If you look in the Bible at the Old Testament law, you will see that God gave Moses very specific instructions for worship, all the way down to the exact dimensions of the temple itself.  He also gave him exact details about vestments.  These scripture passages may be found in many place in both Exodus and Leviticus.

In the New Testament, specifically Matthew and Luke, the disciples asked Jesus exactly how they should pray, and Jesus gave them a specific formula.  We call it the Lord’s Prayer, and it is a regular part of almost every liturgical service that we have in Anglicanism (Matthew 6:9-15, Luke 11:2-4).  Sure, there is certainly a time for free-form prayers, and I love to pray them, but in our worship it is clear that we are to do so in an orderly fashion that includes liturgy.

Finally, Jesus gave us the ultimate form of worship in the Holy Eucharist (Luke 22:15-20).  He gave us specific words to use, which we call the Words of Institution.  It should follow a specific format.

Practical Aspects of Liturgical Worship

There are several things that, as a priest, I love about liturgical worship.  First and foremost, it ties us to something that is so much bigger than just our local congregation.  It ties us into the one holy catholic and apostolic church.  Second, I love the fact that worship is something that is given to me by the church, as one who is under authority.  Because of this, I do not take license and liberty in changing the Prayer Book.  That is clearly an un-Anglican practice.

The final, and perhaps most important, thing about liturgical worship is that it is very difficult to change.  I love the fact that our liturgy, in and of itself, is a sign of Unity in the way that it is formulated.  It indicates a unity that we have with each other, in the fact that it has to be generally agreed upon to be accepted.  It is also a symbol of unity with the Apostolic Church, in that the order and basic format dates back throughout history.

In summary, in this day and age where people often pride themselves in seeing who can be most creative with their worship services, we should celebrate our Anglican heritage that keeps our liturgy as more than “what the pastor feels like today.”  We should celebrate the fact that we worship in a way that connects us, not only with each other, but also to the church throughout history.

Celebrating Anglican Foundations - Part I

Since the Anglican Foundations course is going on, the following is the first in a two-part series on the Anglican Communion and why I believe it is such a unique church to be a part of.

“You know what I love about the (Anglican) Church?  You are the only Protestant Denomination that has not gone all the way in rejecting its Catholic roots.” –Popular author Tony Campolo, speaking at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Tallahassee, Florida.

With that quote, Tony Campolo really struck a chord with me.  He hit the nail on the head about what is probably the most appealing thing to me about the Anglican Communion.  We are really and truly a reformed catholic church.  What does that mean?  Let’s explore this a little further.

In the 1500’s, after the Church of England made the break from Rome, a battle immediately ensued in the Church.  There were two factions at the time, those who were still loyal to Rome, and those who wanted to purify the church of Roman excesses and problems, also called the Puritans.  In a ten-year period from 1549 to 1559, the first three prayer books were issued.  The 1549 Book of Common Prayer (BCP) was fairly Catholic, while the 1552 BCP was fairly Puritan.  Then, when Mary became Queen, who was very sympathetic to Rome, the 1559 BCP became quite Catholic.  And thus, this Catholic vs. Puritan battle would play out over and over.

Eventually, the Church of England adopted a via media approach.  Let me say very clearly that the original concept of via media is very different than what the Episcopal Church has made it into today.  Today, the Episcopal Church says that the via media allows for multiple views regarding core doctrine.  This is, plain and simply put, historically inaccurate and completely dishonest.  In the via media, the Church of England became a church that would combine the best of both the Catholic and the Protestant/Puritan traditions, and that is what I love about the Anglican Church.  It is a place where both Catholics and Protestants can worship and grow together.

Catholic Traditions

When we come to church on Sunday, we worship using the Holy Eucharist, which has been at the center of Anglican worship ever since the first BCP in 1549.  This has never changed.  From time to time, Morning Prayer found a place on Sunday mornings when there was a shortage of clergy to celebrate the Eucharist, but Holy Eucharist has always been the central focus of our worship on Sunday.

Another way that we closely mirror the Catholic Church is through our focus on the seven sacraments.  In addition to Baptism and Eucharist, our focus is also on five other sacraments – reconciliation (or confession), matrimony, confirmation, unction (healing of the sick), and ordination (with three Sacred Orders of the Church).  These are some of the ways that we have kept Catholic traditions that other Protestant denominations rejected around the reformation, and are still rejecting to this day.  We should celebrate the ways that Anglicanism has maintained parts of the Catholic tradition.

Protestant Traditions

Many of the Protestant churches this day have a wonderful focus on a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and the indwelling and inner-working of the Holy Spirit.  You will find that spirit alive and well in the Anglican Church.  The Anglican Church, when it is truly living into who it is called to be, places a focus and emphasis on the scriptures and applying them in our everyday lives.  In most celebrations of the Eucharist, there are four scripture lessons (Old Testament, Psalms, New Testament, Gospel), which is more scripture than is read in most Protestant churches.  Truly Anglican preachers will take the scripture lessons for the day and use them to encourage parishioners to a closer, personal walk with Jesus Christ.

We also follow the Protestant tradition of a strong focus on the Holy Spirit and how He works in our lives.  We seek the will of God through prayer in which we ask the Holy Spirit to dwell in our hearts for two reasons: to convict us when we sin so that we can repent, and to guide us to God’s more perfect will.  Anglicans should also place a focus on discerning the gifts of the Holy Spirit, so that we can live active lives as Christian disciples.  This focus on personal relationship and the Holy Spirit is another aspect of Anglicanism that makes it so compelling.

When people ask me what I like about the Anglican Church, my answer is usually this: “It’s a place where you can feel comfortable worshipping like a Catholic and doing Bible study like a Baptist.  It is the place where Beth Moore meets the chanted Eucharist.  It is the place where, in the Protestant Reformation, we did not throw the baby out with the bathwater.”

More times than not, when I ask a new couple why they came to the Anglican Church, they tell me that he was a Protestant and she was a Catholic, and the Anglican Church was where they felt like they could worship and grow together.  We shouldn’t apologize that we have a great tradition in the Anglican Communion – especially in a time where so many churches seem to be rejecting their traditions.  We should celebrate, for we have a lot to be thankful for.

Relationship and Religion: Why You Can't Have One Without The Other

I think one of the saddest and most dangerous heresies that is floating around Christianity today can be summed up in this one quote: “Christianity is about relationship, not religion.”  It sounds really good at first glance, because it does two things.  It focuses our faith on what is truly most important – our relationship with Jesus Christ – and it allows those who are uncomfortable with, or have burned by, organized religion to have some level of comfort.

I think that the above quote is contrary to the Christian faith because it goes against everything that scripture says about how we should practice our faith.  Relationship is about the relationship that we have with Jesus Christ, and religion is about how we live out that relationship with Christ in our worship lives and in our relationships with others in the Body of Christ.  In fact, a better way of saying it should be “Relationship and Religion: You can’t have one without the other.”  Let’s take a moment to reflect on what the church would like if we had one but not the other.

Relationship Only

I am reminded of a quote that I have heard quite recently from an Anglican 4^th Day weekend – “a solitary Christian is a paralyzed Christian.”  This quote sums up the concept that Christianity cannot be faithfully practiced outside of the Body of Christ, which is the Church.  There are several reasons why people avoid the church.  Many stay away because, at one point in their life, they have been burned by the Church.  This problem has become even more profound with the clergy sex abuse scandal.   Those who have been burned by organized religion need to heal and brought to reconciliation with the Church, not taught to avoid the church.  If we do that, we are denying the very healing that needs to take place and we are pretending that the hurt will go away if we avoid the issue.  The Body of Christ functions much better when all its members are together, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit and using our gifts together in concert with each other.  If we separate the legs from the rest of the body, then the body cannot stand.  In short, we need religion to make the relationship manifest to the rest of the world.

Religion Only

I once was part of an Episcopal Church congregation that was often called by others in the community a “Country Club” church.  It had amazing music, a beautiful facility, and many of the elite in the community worshipped there.  What was sadly missing from the congregation was the teaching that a personal relationship with Jesus Christ was necessary.  The sermons were very vanilla, and were usually focused on making people feel good, rather than teaching a true saving and transformative relationship with Jesus.  Most people went to church in order to “fulfill their obligation” and be seen socially.  One guy, who was a young professional CPA, even told me that he came to church in order to build his business and develop new clients.  That parish ultimately went down the road of false teaching because they were not grounded in a true faith in Jesus Christ – one that stressed personal relationship.  Jesus said “if you love me, you will keep my commandments, and I will ask the Father, and he will send another Helper, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot see, because it neither sees him nor knows him.” (John 14:15-17, ESV)  If we do not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, then we cannot truly love him.  And if we do not truly love him, we will not keep His commandments.  We will not receive the Holy Spirit, but instead will be among those in worldly darkness who do not know Him.  Growing in a relationship takes humbleness, courage, sacrifice and commitment.  I believe this a major reason why some in the mainline denominations of Christianity are so willing to follow false teaching – because they have not developed their relationships with Jesus with sacrifice and commitment.

What Does This All Mean?

We, as disciples of Jesus Christ, need to remember that, when it comes to religion and relationship, we cannot have one without the other.  If we are living in, or if our attitudes show an imbalance between religion and relationship, we have to develop in the areas in which we are lacking.

If we are focused too heavily on religion at the expense of relationship, we need to open our hearts more to Jesus and allow Him to touch us deeply in our hearts.  It is only then that we will truly experience the transforming, powerful, amazing love of Jesus Christ. 

If we are focused too heavily on relationship at the expense of religion, we need to explore more deeply what Jesus and Paul meant by stressing the importance of worshipping and participating in the body of Christ.  We need to stop living in fear of what might happen if we invited someone to church and instead focus not only on how to win someone to Christ, but also how to make them feel comfortable in church so that they can fully integrated into the Body of Christ.

Jesus intended relationship to be the foundation of our faith, a faith that should be practiced through religion.  We cannot have one without the other. 

Reversing the Trend: Combatting the Tyranny of Relativism

Jesus said to Thomas, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6, ESV) 

Recently, Greg Bond put me on a book that has had a profound impact on my view of the Christian faith and how we as Christian disciples interact with the world around us.  The book, by Chris Stefanick, is entitled Absolute Relativism: The New Dictatorship and What To Do About It.  In the book, Stefanick sounds the warning bell about one of the biggest threats to Gospel proclamation in our day: moral relativism.

In short, moral relativism can best be stated this way:  there is no such thing as moral absolutes, and what might be considered truth to you is not necessarily truth to someone else.  We’ve all heard this from time to time, haven’t we?  And if we hear it enough times and it goes unchallenged, then we begin to believe it.  After all, it sounds good on first reading.  But when we really look into it scripturally, it really makes no sense whatsoever.

The problem with those who are proponents of moral relativism is they treat relativism as if it is an absolute.  That is the biggest problem with someone who engages in relativism.  They say things like “there is no such thing as absolutes” yet that statement, in and of itself, is an absolute.  And on the flipside, many of us who do speak in absolutes are often called bigots and are labeled as intolerant.  Nobody likes to carry around those labels, so many types we back of the absolute truth and we give in to the tyranny of relativism.

The reality of the Christian faith is that there are such things as absolutes, and Jesus Himself spoke in absolutes.  Jesus’s revelation of who He was in John 14:6 above is a great example of an absolute statement.  Jesus said “I am the way, and the truth and the life.”  As Stefanich puts it, He did not state that “I am a way, an opinion, or just another type of lifestyle.”  Throughout scripture, Jesus spoke with clarity and conviction about who he was and who God was calling him to be.  The “I am” statements in the Gospel of John are powerful evidence of this.  Never did Jesus say “I think I am the Good Shepherd,” or “I might be the bread of life.”  He never said “in my opinion, I am the light of the world.  Let’s just agree to disagree, OK?”  He spoke the truth in love with courage and conviction and we should too.

And that, my brothers and sisters, is how we combat the sin of moral relativism – by believing that there is such a thing as absolute truth, and that Jesus the Person embodies that absolute truth.   We as Christian believers are called to proclaim that truth in love, believing that Jesus really and truly is the way, and the truth, and the life, and not just one in a long series of valid opinions.  If we do this, we can be compelling in our witness.  If we do not, then we are merely coming across as preaching something that we do not necessarily believe in, and when we do that, we are not compelling.  In closing, speak the truth in love.  When the truth and love of Jesus go hand in hand, powerful things happen.