Day 11

 We have dealt with some observations on the missionary enterprise, and closed with five practical suggestions which, I believe, cold bring new life to our Church.  Remember that we must venture out; and that when the Holy Spirit moves in the Church, many old and sedate assumptions will be broken. Remember that God gives His Spirit to those who fight His battles, and not to armchair critics.  We turn now from these outer observations to inner ones to see before the altar the meaning of mission and the reasons for missions.

JESUS IS LORD

Let us look up to the Divine Son of God, the Incarnate Word, and see the motion of His life and the meaning of His acts.  He came into this world from above this world to bring it salvation; and He bears an authority, which we see in faith, greater than any authority of earth.  We proclaim Him King of kings, and state that at His name every knee shall bow.  To call Him Lord means to obey Him; and if we do not strive to obey Him, He is not our Lord.

The missionary words of our Lord are clear, that we should preach the gospel to every creature.  His sending forth of the disciples we know; and the missionary example of The Acts is a foundation stone of the Church.  Christ is the foundation and Lord of the Church; so when some vestryman states that he does not believe in missions, tell him that Christ determines the policy of the congregation.  Christ’s authority is sufficient, and I think we ought to follow the Lord even blindly and foolishly, as this world sees it, just as Paul with a divine foolishness and divine madness hurled himself at the Roman world.  Since Christ is Lord and King, we are in the religious sense an absolute monarchy serving Him who is our Lord, Master, and Friend.

Popular posts from this blog

Introduction (by Fr. Steven J. Kelly)

  Friends – We have been in a virus imposed limbo since March of 2020.   During our shut down, and now our phased re-opening of the Church, priorities have been re-evaluated and it is as if the entire world, including The Church, has hit the RESET button.   The Vestry over the summer set out to read and discuss a book called Made for Mission: Renewing your parish culture by Tim Glemkowski.    As recommended in this book we recommitted to being a parish that is focused on mission.   What is that mission?   Simply stated, it is To know Christ, and to make Him known.   This has been our published mission statement, and Mr. Glemkowski’s book has started us thinking about how we can become more deeply focused on the primary work of the parish. The statement above assumes two things: that we know Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour, and how he has revealed himself through the historic teaching of the Church, and that we know how to share that G...
Read more

Day 2

       In the first mediation we thought together about the central place of worship in the renewal of the Church…   We only deserve to grow as a Church if our devotion in God’s glory is deep, strong, and sure.    Now we can turn to the second means by which the Church is renewed. The Church is renewed by clear, exact, and precise thought.   A living Church always has a definite creed.   If we are to be God’s instrument, we must be able to show truth to the minds of men, and to proclaim that Christianity is not just helpful and beneficial; it is true.   And because it is true, it is helpful and beneficial.   Suppose that some hungry soul were to come among us and then turn away sadly saying, “They’re a vague lot without much to say for themselves.”   Weak reasoning can prevent the entrance of many people into the Church; and one of the interesting things to see is how converts to the Church such as C.S. Lewis, become clear ex...
Read more

Day 1

       First, since the Church was founded by Christ and He is its living head; since it is a divine body meant to be God’s instrument; it will always be renewed from above by waiting upon the Lord, by looking up, by worship.   In prayer and worship, which are means of Grace by which God’s life comes to us, we become what we could not otherwise become.   “This is why every Apostle, every Father of the Church, every leader and theologian who said anything of lasting value or helped to renew the Church – all these men were teachers of prayer and lovers of Scripture through which they communed with their living Lord”.   We revive when we look up, and in the Scriptures, Prayer, Sacrament receive the food which is offered to us.   We revive when we look up and receive to ourselves “the incomprehensible Grandeur of the Lord.”   “Both for perplexity and for dulled conscience the remedy is the same; sincere and spiritual worship.   “For,” says W...
Read more