Pentecost

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit

Jesus promised us, His disciples, that He would send “another.” At Pentecost, the church was strengthened for her mission as the Holy Spirit was poured out in the upper room. The Spirit is God’s continued presence and power dwelling in His Church, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (I Corinthians 3:16) This is not to say that God the Holy Spirit is confined to the Church, but it is the power of Christ working in us. God the Holy Spirit is active in the World, calling, convicting, teaching, encouraging, gifting – bringing about God’s will.

Ascension

Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.

The Lord who began his descent of humility in His incarnation completes His ascension of exaltation as He ascends to sit “at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.” Christ is now reigning in power from Heaven. He is now “above every name.” (Philippians 2:9) Jesus the Messiah continues to reign as King, intercede for us as Priest and speak to us as Prophet.
In addition to His continued rule, Christ now glorifies humanity by taking part of us into Heaven. Since we believe in the “resurrection of the body,” Jesus did not throw off His body like an old rag. Rather, in His Bodily Ascension, He has taken our full humanity into the place of highest glory. We are exalted since our common humanity in Christ has been exalted. This should affect deeply how we view and treat our bodies.

Resurrection of the Lord

Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse! Its rider is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war…on his robe and on his thigh he has a name inscribed, “King of kings and Lord of lords.”

To say Christ is King is to accept the rule of Jesus in every aspect of our lives: politically, morally, financially etc… The Son of David and Son of God reigns over all the universe, including the powers and principalities, governments, economies and corporations of the world. Although not all recognize His legitimate authority, Christ has reclaimed His creation and is establishing His Kingdom.

In His resurrection, Jesus killed death and destroyed sin. We who are used to monarchs as mere figureheads forget the military leadership implied by the title king. This aspect still survives in our president’s office of “Commander in Chief.” A king was often a king because he was a victorious general. Christ’s victory over sin and death in His resurrection established His Kingdom. “When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people.” (Ephesians 4:8) Christ gives to His people the gift of eternal life. He became as we are, so we can be as He is.

Good Friday

The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”

Christ is not only our Prophet; He is also the Fulfillment of the Priesthood. He is our High Priest who offered up the perfect sacrifice. As the Priest, Jesus sacrificed His own sinless self on behalf of the whole world. This perfect sacrifice is sufficient to cover the sins of all. Not only that, but Jesus was also the True Temple, the One in whom God “tabernacled among us.” (John 2:21 & 1:14)

In the Cross a profound transformation occurred in all reality, its effect is eternal. The cross not only reaches to the future but also back through time so He is the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” The curse on Creation is lifted as Christ becomes accursed.” In our union with Christ, our sins are transferred to Him and destroyed in the Cross; His obedience is imputed to those who receive it through faith.

Maundy Thursday

Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you from your own people a prophet like me. You must listen to whatever he tells you.

Christ means “the anointed one.” This is no honorary title for Jesus, but shows the offices the Lord fulfills. In the Hebrew Scriptures people were anointed to the offices of Prophet, Priest and King. (I Kings 19:16, Exodus 29:7, II Samuel 2:4) Jesus is the Messiah that fulfills each of these offices; His anointing was to the full ministry of our redemption through the exercise of these offices. In looking at the events surrounding the cross we see most clearly Jesus’ work of Prophet, Priest and King although He did (and continues) the work of each throughout His life.

On the night He was betrayed our Lord gave us a new commandment and established His new Covenant with us. Jesus as prophet speaks God’s Word perfectly: “Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing.” (John 5:19) Moreover, Jesus is Himself the Word of God. (John 1:1) Jesus showed in Himself who God is.

Jesus is shown to be like Moses, giving God’s New Covenant and interpreting God’s commandments. (Matthew arguably is arranged to be parallel to the Torah and Jesus continually says, “You have heard…but I say unto you.”) But Christ not only makes the New Covenant with us, He seals it in His own precious blood. Where the Old Covenant was entered into through circumcision and commemorated in Passover, the New is marked with Baptism and remembered in the Eucharist.

Lent 

He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it.

Repentance is a lifetime of turning.  The Christian life is one of constant struggle “against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12) as well as our old nature. (Romans 7:14-25) we continue to struggle with the world, the flesh and the devil. 

Christ faced these in His temptation in the wilderness.  Satan tempted Him to give in to the weakness of the flesh and turn a stone to bread.  He was tempted to have dominion over the world, in ways that would impress the world.  And He was tempted to bow down and worship the Devil.  Christ, “in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin.”  (Hebrews 4:15)  Because he overcame these temptations, so can we.  Not on our own power, but by the Spirit of Christ who has declared that “we are more than conquerors”.  (Romans 8:37)  We can win over the world, the flesh and the devil because he overcame them not just in the wilderness but also in all that He does.

Ash Wednesday 

Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

In turning to Christ we must turn away from anything else that would claim us. It is a necessary part of union with Christ, for in returning to our Creator we are like rebels surrendering allegiance to any other. Repentance is not a work that we perform, rather it is an opening to receive Christ; we must be empty of anything or anyone that competes with God for our commitment. As we are united to Christ, we are crucified with Him and dead to the world. “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20) Repentance is not so much a sorrow for our sins as it is a denial of allegiance to anything but the Lord. Remorse is part of it, but doesn’t stop there. We deny, among other thing, ourselves as our own lords, we relinquish our attempt to “be as gods.” (Genesis 3:5) We accept the fact that we are dust, and to dust we shall return; yet, we have life in the one who has breathed life into us and breathes again, recreating us by water and the spirit. (Genesis 2 and John 21)

Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

In Jesus’ Baptism, God the Father testifies that Jesus is His Son in the presence of God the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove.  This is not to say that their relationship is altered in His Baptism, rather the Father is bearing witness to the identity of Jesus.  Luke establishes Jesus’ identity in the first few chapters of his Gospel:  Gabriel announces that He “will be called the Son of the Most High.”  Jesus responds to Mary and Joseph’s questioning when they left Him in Jerusalem, “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”  Following the story of Jesus’ baptism is the genealogy that ends with, “the Son of God.”  Following this is the temptation in the wilderness where the repeated question of Satan is, “If you are the Son of God…” Next is Jesus’ preaching in the synagogue in Nazareth where the amazed people ask, “Is not this Joseph’s son?”  Immediately following are two exorcism stories in which the demons recognize Him as the “Holy One of God” and “the Son of God.”  Jesus’ Baptism is God’s explicit claim on Jesus as His Son.  Following the claim, all of creation; angels, Satan, demons and humans question, test and affirm Jesus’ identity.  Jesus’ Baptism is also his identification with us.  “Jesus freely identified himself with the people.  For if her were not one of the people, he would not have come with the people for John’s baptism.”  (Chrystostom, Gospel of Matthew, Homily12.2)  In Jesus’ baptism, the water of our own baptism was sanctified.  As the water flowed over the Lord’s Holy and Divine body, it was blessed and sanctified.  In our baptism, this consecrated water cleanses us and unites us with the living Christ who identifies with us.  (Romans 6:4 and Col. 2:12)Our baptism is a sign of God’s covenant with us.  Just as circumcision was the sign of entrance into the Covenant Community in the Old Testament, Baptism marks our rebirth into the Church.  “In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.” (Colossians 2:11-12)  In Baptism God seals a covenant with us and adopts us as His sons and daughters.  He pours out His Spirit upon us, the “Spirit of adoption” the Spirit who is the “first installment.” (Romans 8:15 and II Corinthians 1:21)  We receive this covenant of Grace through faith, which is itself a gift of God.  (Confession of Faith, 4.09)
God’s covenants and promises are forever. We can be assured of our salvation because of the covenant promises sealed in our baptism and reaffirmed each time we eat the Lord’s Supper.  Our confidence in eternal life is not based on our understanding or faith, but rather on the promises of God in “water and the spirit.”  (John 3:5)

Our baptism also unites us with all the Baptized throughout time and space.  Not because we have a unity of our own, but we all share the common union with Christ.  Through our union with Christ we share a derivative unity with each other.  We are one in Christ through our baptismal covenant, even though the church is divided we share a real bond that is stronger than our divisions; we may deny fellowship with one another but we cannot deny the relationship that exists in Christ.

Epiphany

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell…

Jesus Christ is the supreme revelation of God. Since God is infinite and the ultimate being, the only essential existence, we finite creatures cannot grasp God. Our reason cannot reach Him, nor can our experience embrace Him. Creation gives us a glimpse of the Creator, but knowledge of God comes as a gracious gift of the One who has chosen to reveal Himself. Furthermore, God has chosen to reveal Himself ultimately in the person of Jesus Christ.

Jesus reveals to us true Humanity. Jesus is the Second Adam revealing to us the “glory of God” in the “living man.” (Against Heresies, 4.XX.7) In Christ we see the perfect model of what it means to be the image of God. “This is the truth about humanity; this is what Adam is meant to be. I desire a creature made in my own image, the image of the Divine Charity…” (Underhill, The School of Charity, 26)

Jesus also discloses true Divinity. Christ shows us the Father. He spoke “as one with authority” correcting the misunderstandings of the law, forgiving sins, making promises. His life shows us who God is. As Martin Luther said, “Jesus is the only God we know.”

The Scriptures are the unique witness to the God revealed in Jesus Christ and the “infallible rule of faith and practice. (Confession of Faith, 1.05) The authority of Scripture is not in the book itself, but rather “is founded on the truth contained in them and the voice of God speaking through them.” (Confession of Faith, 1.06) In the Scriptures, the Father speaks the Word that is heard through Spirit inspired writings and by Spirit illuminated readers. Just as in Creation, all Persons of the Holy Trinity participate in the act of Revelation.

Yet the Book cannot be severed from the Church, God’s voice is not separated from Christ’s Body. The community, which wrote the pages as well as recognized God’s voice through the canonization process, also maintains the appropriate understanding and interpretation of the Bible. The authority of the Tradition is that of interpreter of Scripture, rather than any prerogative separate from the Word of God. Through Tradition, the Church continues to be built upon “foundation of the apostles and prophets” (Ephesians 2:20) rather than a new foundation based upon the whims and prejudices of each age.

The authority of Tradition as interpreter of Scripture is best expressed by the rule of St. Vincent of Lérins, “that we hold that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, by all.” Therefore in divergent issues, antiquity is given priority over innovation, consensus over novelty, and catholicity over local. With all Tradition understood as radically based in the Word spoken through the Scriptures. “We must, the Lord helping, fortify our own belief in two ways; first by the authority of Divine Law, and then, by the Tradition of the Catholic Church.” (St. Vincent)

At the same time, to truly be in the Church catholic, we must be in a particular body of believers, therefore my understanding of authority is also as a Minister in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. In my ordination vows I have made a commitment to a particular community with a particular confessional statement. Therefore, even though the Confession of Faith is recent document and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church is only a fraction of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, my vows obligate me to recognize my particular church and her statement with a greater leverage of authority. In other words, for my vows to have integrity, I must also yield to the authority of the particular church that I serve.

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children.

God’s love for His creation could not leave it in corruption. The Holy Trinity works to reconcile rebellious creatures to Himself. The eternally begotten Son of God entered into the creation at a particular place and in a particular point of time. But effects of the incarnation reach all places and all time. The eternal entered into time so that we mortals can enter the eternal.

Again, all Persons of the Trinity participate in the incarnation. The speaking Father sends the Word that was spoken in creation, conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit that hovered “over the face of the waters.” The God-Man Jesus enters into creation so that we can enter into the perichoretic dance of this Creating, Redeeming and Sanctifying Holy Trinity. Only through the One who has seen the Father, can we enter God’s feast. As George Herbert says, Jesus is “not only the feast, but the way to it.”

All of humanity is blessed by the coming of the Christ. Athanasius likens the incarnation to a city being visited by a King, just as the city is glorified by the coming of the Sovereign to one house, so are we all honored by the coming of Jesus. Moreover, Mary’s pregnancy shows God’s love and redemption for all of life, from the moment of conception on. This alone should convince us when God says someone becomes a person.

Not only is humanity blessed, but all of creation! Christ did not simply appear to be human, but “became truly human.” All matter is changed and blessed now that the fullness of God has walked on the earth. In the person of Jesus, God has truly entered into creation and sanctified the world. The incarnation is not that God put His spirit into a human body. Jesus’ spirit and body both were fully divine and fully human. Bread was taken, blessed, broken and given by the Lord, and consecrated as it touched the skin of our Lord and reverberated the words that were spoken by His tongue. As Jesus breathed in air, it touched the divine Body. The air was exhaled and continues to blow where it wills. Divine tears fell to the earth to be evaporated and poured out in rain or drunk into the roots of a tree. Hair pulled from the beard of Jesus by a Roman soldier fell to the earth and became part of the dust; blood dropped to the ground at Golgotha, sweat in a carpenters shop, dried flakes of skin in the Judean desert. Being in creation, matter continually mingles with other particles of creation.