The 12 Days of Christmas

    Even as we watch neighbors disassembling Christmas decorations, we know that Christmas is actually a season of the Church Year that is 12 days long.   In the Western Church Christmas begins on Dec 25 with the Feast of the Nativity (the celebration of the birth of Christ) and ends at Jan. 6, the Feast of the Epiphany (celebration of the coming of the Magi), representing the manifestation of Christ to the whole world… “the Light who has come into the world.” 

    If you follow our lectionary of readings and celebrations on a daily basis, you will note that the 12 Days of Christmas are filled with other commemorations that are hugely significant to the life and witness of God’s Church.  It is fitting at the beginning of the Church Year that we celebrate St. Stephen (Dec 26), the first martyr of the Church.  On Dec 27 we commemorate St. John who penned the timeless words, “…the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.”  Dec. 28 is the Feast of the Holy Innocents remembering the children who were slaughtered by Herod, an agent of the dark forces of this world, in a futile attempt by Satan to prevent the “True Light, which enlightens everyone” from coming into the world.  Finally, on Dec. 1 we celebrate the presentation of Jesus in the temple eight days after His birth, when He is given “the name that is above all names, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” (Phil 2:10)

    Therefore, take care not end your Christmas celebration too quickly…    Fr. Rob

A Christmas Message- God Has Rewritten Your Future

The Rev. Rob Hartley

God Has Rewritten Your Future

        This is the season we celebrate the Incarnation of God, the Feast of the Nativity, or Christmas, as the Church has called it through the centuries.  At Christmas we are presented with is a babe in a manger in swaddling clothes who is none other than Almighty God, Creator of the universe, who is choosing to be swaddled in humanity.  St. John the Gospel writer puts it this way, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”  This is a truly radical event in human history.  It is the single most significant event for humankind since God spoke into existence this whole wonderful experiment we call Creation. 

          What fascinates me over and over about the Incarnation is that God chose to redirect human history, your future and mine, in this way.  If God had asked my advice, I would have suggested that He fix what is broken in humanity some other way.  What’s with this plan about a  baby in a feeding trough, in a cattle shed, in a small town in a backwater province of the Roman Empire some 2000 years ago!  And more than that, God has this history-altering event dependent on the faithfulness and obedience of a carpenter named Joseph and a teenage peasant girl named Mary.  God has this timeless event witnessed only by a few shepherds in the area who get tipped off about what is going on by a band of celebrating angels, and by three sages from afar!  What was God thinking? 

         How would you have advised God on this?  Perhaps you would ask God to come up with Plan B.  But to bring all creation back in union and harmony with Himself, God has no plan B… no other way….  As Jesus Himself says, “I am the Way…” 

         What fascinates me about God’s Plan (Plan A), the Incarnation, is that it re-writes all of human destiny, re-writes your future and mine, and does it so simply.  With a baby lying in a cattle trough, God provides a way for all of us to find new, eternal and glorious life in union with Him.  God, who is in the miracle business, gives us the greatest miracle of all at Christmas… He gives us Himself, His answer to our problem.

         A final fascination I have with the Incarnation is that God has taken all the initiative.  We do nothing except allow ourselves to be the object of God’s immeasurable love and redemption.  God does all the heavy lifting in terms of bringing about a new future for you and me.  When we need to find our way to Him, God instead comes to us.  How amazing!  Why this baby in a manger? …Because He loves us.  As one of our Christmas carols says, “Love came down at Christmas, love all lovely, love divine.”

         Like the shepherds and the Magi in this remarkable Christmas story, all we have to do is present ourselves before the Christ child.  Are you prepared to present yourself before God this Christmas?  Are you ready for a Christmas miracle to happen in your life?  Have you opened your heart to all this Christmas story makes possible for you?  Make God’s greatest miracle your personal, life-changing miracle.

              Rob+, Christmas, 2013

The Prayer of Humble Access

 I have known this prayer by heart since my childhood. For some in the contemporary church, the Prayer of Humble Access has fallen out of favor.  We are taught to approach Communion with joy and assurance.  The Prayer of Humble Access, however, reminds us to also approach the Lord’s Table with a realistic sense of humility and unworthiness (that is, unworthiness aside from the worthiness that God himself imputes upon us). 

The Prayer of Humble Access echoes Isaiah 6:
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple.  …   ⁵And I said: ‘Woe is me!  I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!’  ⁶Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding  a live coal that had  been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs.  ⁷The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: ‘Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.’

We can hear the same posture of humility and total dependence expressed in Isaiah 6 expressed in The Prayer of Humble Access. Here is the prayer from the 1662 Anglican Book of Common Prayer:

We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies.  We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table.  But thou art the same Lord, whose property is always to have mercy: Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body, and our souls washed through his most precious blood, and that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us.  Amen.

Father Rob

"Stations of the Nativity" at Holy Trinity

Preparing for the Christmas holidays is always a busy and hectic time that distracts us from the Advent/Christmas Season’s true meaning, which is that God Himself has come to us in the Person of Jesus. 

During Advent, our beautiful Stations of the Cross  in  the  nave  will  be  replaced  with reproductions of fine art paintings, along with scripture passages and meditations,  that  narrate  the  story  of  the Incarnation.  You can walk The Stations of the Nativity in Advent similarly to our walking the Stations of the Cross in Lent. These paintings will bring Jesus to us in new and special way this Christmas. 

On Saturday, December 7, at 10:30 am,  you are invited to gather in the nave of the church (160 Merovan Drive, N. Augusta 29860) to participate in The Stations  of the Nativity.  You can also come view these paintings and enter into the Scripture and meditations on your own; just call 803-341-0075 to assure the church is open.

Here are art pieces selected.  Do you know the artist, and can you match the paintings with the events they depict from the Nativity Narratives?

 

Christ The King Sunday

This is the last Sunday of the Church’s liturgical year, known as Christ the King Sunday.  Since we have worked our way through the various themes of the Church Year, it is fitting that we should end up with this wonderful conclusion and acclamation … Christ is King! 

Note that Christ the King Sunday immediately precedes Advent which is our season to explore the themes surrounding the coming of Christ, both His first coming humbly in a manger in Bethlehem 2000 years ago, and His second coming in power and glory as ruler of all Creation at the Last Day.  On Christ the King Sunday we should ponder our readiness to meet Christ face-to-face at the end of our earthly pilgrimage, as well as  celebrate Christ as “King of kings and Lord of lords.”

                        Fr. Rob

Being a Community of Grace

Grace is the unearned favor of God showered upon us and our lives.  Grace is God dealing with us not on our worthiness or merit, but on our needs, simply because we are the objects of His unconditional   love.  In God’s Church, this is the foundation  upon which the “Kingdom of God” is being built among us and within us.  Holy Trinity, as an outpost of the Kingdom of God, is therefore called to become a “Community of Grace,” dispensing the same God-like grace, compassion, care and unconditional love.

We who are tainted by sin and the ways of this world live according to our fallen human nature rather than as dispensers of God’s grace.  We find that for fallen humanity being a grace-filled community does not come naturally.  It does, however, come supernaturally, thanks be to God!  The gift of being dispensers of God’s grace comes through the inner working of the Spirit of God in us individually and in our community.  It is God who makes us a Community of Grace.  We are the recipient of God’s grace and therefore called to be an instrument through which that grace is extended to others. 

What does being a Community of Grace look like?

·      It is a place of unconditional love where people can be invited in just as they are…

·      A place where sinners can find forgiveness, sanctification and transformation.

·      A place that is a sanctuary for the broken-hearted, the traumatized and the spiritually wounded.

·      A workplace of the Holy Spirit and a crucible for growth and healing.

·      A community from which God’s Truth about life is taught, modeled and shared with the world. 

·      A people learning to be loving and gracious because we were first showered with God’s love and grace.

Fr. Rob+

Prophecies

What are prophecies?  Why has the Lord given them to us?  What are we to do with them?  How do we “test the words of the prophets,” as St. Paul writes?

Here is what the Bible has to say about the spiritual gift of prophecy?

1.   "Make love your aim, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy ... so that the church may be edified" (1 Corinthians 14:1, 5).

2.   The prophetic message is "a word appropriately spoken" (Proverbs 25:11) that originates from God.

3.   Prophecies are "good for edifying, as fits the occasion, that it may impart grace to those who hear" (Ephesians 4:29).

4.   “… don’t stifle those who have a word from the [Lord, but also] don’t be gullible. Check out everything” (Message, 1 Thess 5:19-21)

(As part of good church order, it is the role of those ordained to church leadership to affirm that a prophecy is indeed a word from the Lord.)

The Bible is clear about the purpose of prophecy:  "He who prophesies speaks to men for their building-up, encouragement and consolation” (1 Corinthians 14:3).  It can be God’s words of comfort, assurance, exhortation, admonition or correction for the purpose of revealing God’s presence and inspiring transformation among His people.  A prophecy is a word from God for the particular moment, given through a specific individual, to a specific person or group.

With all this in mind, I invite you to meditate on the prophecies below that God has given us.  What do you hear the Lord saying to you and to this church family

 

Spoken by The Rev. Nancy Kenney, Sunday Eucharist, August 25

I came to give you life.  I came to give you life in abundance.  Come to Me so you can live the life I came to give you.  Let go of the things of the world that hold you, so you can put your hand in mine and I can shower you with blessings.  I came to give you life, life in abundance.

Spoken by Nancy Hartley at Sunday Eucharist, September 1

My Children, do not fear the place of change and transition, what it might mean and the darkness of the unknown.  Do not be afraid.  Do not be anxious.  I am your God.  I am faithful to you. Press into Me. Rest in Me.  You are upheld by my hand. I walk with you.  I will do good for you.  Trust Me

 Father Rob

Blessing of the Animals

St. Francis Day Celebration

Blessing of the Animals

Saturday, October 5, 10:30 am

All the Community is invited

Anglican Church of the Holy Trinity

160 Merovan Drive NA 29860

More info:  803-341-0075 or www.anglicanchurchoftheholytrinity.com

All creatures great and small are welcome. We will bless of our beloved pets with certificates commemorating the event for each of the animals.  There will also be music, cookies for the kids, dog biscuits for the dogs and cat treats for the kitties.  Just remember that dogs need to remain on their leashes, cats in their cages and fish in their bowls. Come join us for this fun occasion.  Be sure to invite the dog next door who you are convinced could use a blessing.

The Sanctus

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted...and above him were seraphs...calling to one another: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” (Isaiah 6:1-3)   Does this sound familiar?  We sing this every Sunday and know it as the Sanctus.  It reminds us of our eternal place in the throne room of God, with all the saints and angels of heaven, singing praises to the Lord Almighty… forever.

Making the Sign of the Cross

Tracing the sign of the cross on oneself (forehead-to-abdomen, shoulder-to-shoulder) is an historic practice in liturgical setting generally done when one perceives to have received a blessing.  For instance, we cross ourselves at a number of places in our Eucharistic liturgy such as listed below:

·         At the Opening Acclamations as we are blessed to be entering the presence of our Lord in
worship.
 

·         At the pronouncement of the absolution of our sins following the Confession.

 

·         During the Nicene Creed when we proclaim that we are counted among those who “look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.”
 

 
·         At the name of the Trinity when used as an invocation by the preacher.
 

·         At “Blessed is he” during the Benedictus Qui Venit as an acknowledgement that we are indeed blessed by “He who comes in the name of the Lord.”

·         As we are approached with the bread and wine at the altar rail and after having received the Blessed Sacrament.

Of course, this is a totally optional liturgical gesture, and the list above in not exhaustive.  One can cross oneself anytime and anywhere one feels he or she is receiving a blessing from God, whether in the liturgy or not.  A good example is when giving a blessing at a meal. 

 

One of my favorite times to cross myself is during my prayers first thing in the morning.  It is for me a sign of God’s blessing and protection upon my day, but it is also a mark upon my body that I indeed belong to the Lord, lest the devil forget.                                                        Father Rob

The Nicene Creed

The word "Creed” is from the Latin word "Credo" which means, "I believe."   The Nicene Creed that we recite every Sunday was formulated approximately 300 years after the death of Christ to provide a statement of orthodox, apostolic belief.  It is based on the Scripture and the eye-witness of the Apostles to what God did and revealed in Christ.  The Nicene Creed was formulated by the Church Fathers to protect the Church against innovations and deviations from the “Faith once deposited” with the Apostles.  This Creed has been recited by Christians ever since.  Another similar Creed used by the Church is known as the Apostles’ Creed and is used at Baptisms and the Daily Office.  These creeds express the fundamental core of what we, the Church, believe.                  Fr. Rob

You know you are a Christian when…

You know you are a Christian when…

…you are close to God, and Jesus is the reason.        Heb. 10:19-23
…you have joy and peace and the only explanation is that you know God.   Eph. 2:13
…you are delighted at being submitted                Phil. 2:10-11
…you want to know and you want to grow.                Colossians 1:10
…you are astounded at the ways the Holy Spirit is forming you into the likeness of Christ.  Rom. 8:29
…you are zealous about sharing the Good News of what God has done for you        Matt 18:19

Why Do We Have the Bible That We Have?

The Bible came about through the discernment in the early centuries of the Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  Much was written and recorded about Jesus in the early church during this time, and it had to be determined which writings were accurate and inspired by God for the building up and guidance of His Church.  The decision to include a particular book in the canon of New Testament Scripture largely hinged on whether a writing was considered of “apostolic origin” or not.

“Apostolic origin” was important because the apostles were the actual eye witnesses to the life, death and resurrection of Christ.   The Apostles knew Jesus well.  They were with him.  They participated in his ministry.  They sat at Jesus’ feet and learned from him.  Most importantly, however, they witnessed the events of Holy Week and Easter.  The Apostles and the first century communities that formed around them through the prompting and inspiration of the Holy Spirit went on to write down their experience of Jesus.  These writings were written down, or “codified,” into what we know today as the New Testament Canon of Scripture.

The church generally used three criteria for finally deciding if a book should be included in the Canon of Scripture:

1.      That it was written by an Apostle or by the community that immediately formed around an Apostle.

2.      That it had been circulated among the apostolic churches in the Mediterranean basin and was widely, if not universally, accepted.

3.      That the writing was consistent with the larger body of writings accepted in the church.

By about 140 AD, the four Gospels and most of the Pauline Epistles were accepted by the broader Church.  By the end of the 2^nd Century, the accepted books also included 1 Peter, 1 John, Jude and Revelation.  Books still being questioned by the Church, primarily based on the possibly of non-apostolic origins, were Hebrews, James, 2 Peter, 2 John, 3 John, Shepherd of Hermas and the Revelation of Peter.  Five of these seven books were eventually accepted, giving us our present day New Testament.

Where are the Children? (By Lora Lamberth)

I had the privilege of attending an online webinar talking about the reason we are losing our kids in church. Did you know that 40% of our youth drop out of church by the 6^th grade?  70 -80% drop out by the end of High school!  Interesting statistics contained in the webinar as quoted from George McDowell’s book The Last Christian Generation (a very good read I would highly recommend) suggested that there are many reasons kids drop out of church and how we can help prevent this from happening.

1.      Parents are the key as well as church leaders and members. It is our responsibility to make church a priority and to be authentic in our lives as Christians. Children judge by actions more than words.

2.   We are not the world! It is important to live a life of sanctification and show the difference between light/dark.  We need to model/teach/reinforce Biblical morals and principles inside and outside of church.

3.   We aren’t preparing them for battle. As a church family we need to stand in the gap for our youth until they can stand on their own. We need to teach them how to put on the full armor of God and how to resist the enemy- leading by example.

4.    As a church family it is our right and responsibility to mentor our youth. Our youth need one-on-one disciplining and mentoring. We need to teach them how to defend their faith and how to become disciples.

5.   Lack of prayer – spiritual battles are best fought on our knees. We need to fight for our youth.

6.   Have expectations and hold our youth accountable. Encourage and support them – love them through the hard times – pray with them – reach out to them – be an example and a guiding force in their lives.

I am so proud of all our youth and how they are growing and bonding. I am so thankful that our church family stands in the gap for our youth and models a right and true relationship with our Heavenly Father. Our youth are so blessed to be a part of a church that is mission minded and disciple driven.

Please prayerfully consider becoming a mentor working one-on-one with one of our youth. I promise you both will be blessed.

God bless,

Lora Lamberth

Being "In Christ"

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come;

The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17, NIV)

 
This phrase in Christ is regularly used by St Paul to describe the salvific relationship with our Lord that is more than just knowing Him or serving Him.  To speak of being “in Christ” is to speak of who we are and whose we are.  It is to speak of our very identity “in Christ,” not only in this life, but forever.   
 

You may not be living "in Christ” and consequently are without the direction, purpose, or power for victorious living over the forces of this world that come from such a relationship.  

                                         Fr. Rob

Depression and Finding Hope for the Hopeless

Depression and finding Hope for the Hopeless

There is no quick fix for depression, but the Church has a role to play in teh healing of the depressed. We can’t just tell those suffering among us to snap out of it and expect the pain to go away, but we can surround our brothers and sisters suffering from depression and be there source of strength, faith and hope when they are unable to attain to these things for themselves. We can help by combating the lies of distorted self-perception and affirm those truths most essential to an identity to be found in the God who created them.  Depression is not a journey to be taken alone.

Guarding Your Children's and Grandchildren’s Spiritual Heritage

I am writing this article while on vacation at Kanuga, a church Conference Center in Hendersonville, NC.  In many ways I spiritually grew up in this place, and I continue to encounter God on each return visit.  I return year after year seeking his face, the touch of His hand and the sound of His voice.  I seem to always find it.  As I have shared with many of you at Holy Trinity, there is a particular place on the trail on the far side of the lake that I consider, as the Celtic Christians say, my Thin Place; that is, it is that place for me where the fabric between heaven and earth is drawn so thinly that it seems I can almost reach through and touch the face of God.  What happens instead, however, God always reaches through and touches me first.

This year among all the years has a special significance.  My son, his wonderful wife and my two extraordinarily perfect grandsons (a grandfather’s perspective) are here with Nancy and me this year.  It is a special time because I was coming here with my parents when I was my three-year-old grandson’s age.  Nancy and I summer after summer brought our children here. Now our son is bringing his children here.  This week at Kanuga thus represents four generations of Hartley’s who have been blessed by this place.  Kanuga in that sense has become part of my family’s spiritual inheritance. 

As I was walking to my Thin Place before Eucharist yesterday morning, it came to me how extraordinarily important it is that we indeed pass on to our children and grandchildren their spiritual inheritance.  I am not just talking about a spiritually significant place like this place; I am talking about something much more important.  I am talking about handing down the Faith to the next generations- telling them that Old, Old Story, introducing them to Jesus, witnessing to the blessings of the Christian life. This is their true spiritual inheritance.   Perhaps as you are reading this you are thinking that your spiritual heritage got short-circuited somewhere along the way, or never existed in your family to begin with, but it is not too late for you to make your Faith your children’s and grandchildren’s inheritance.                                                                  Father Rob

It Takes a Village

I grew up in a quiet little village on the edge of Charleston harbor.   This village is no longer sleepy nor is it little.  It is now among the largest cities in the State of South Carolina.  It was, however, far from that in my growing up years. 
 
The world of my childhood was bounded on the west by the high bluffs that overlook the harbor.  A tidal creed marked the northern extent of the village.  Just outside of town were tomato and cucumber fields that seemed to my young mind to be the edge of the world.  What could possibly be beyond? 

The home in which I grew up was two blocks back from Charleston Harbor.  The house dates to the early 1800’s; it is to this day beautiful and unique.  When I drive by that old place today, extraordinarily happy memories come flooding back. 

Everything in my world was within easy bicycle-riding distance.  Summers growing up there were especially wonderful times.  Once school was out, shoes were largely an unnecessary item.  A vivid childhood memory is how odd and restricting it was to put on shoes once a week to go to church.  I spent many  hours  fishing  and  crabbing  in  the  creek,  and  my  very  earliest entrepreneurial endeavor was selling crabs to Ms. McNulta.  I later delivered eggs around town for Mr. Scott who owned a chicken farm across and up the creek.  I found out, however, what real work was like when I was old enough to work in the tomato and cucumber packing sheds out on the edge of town.

Family, school and this village defined my world and gave structure and meaning to my life, but it was in the church just around the corner that I came to know what living life was really all about.  My brother, sister and I were there every Sunday; my mother saw to that.  In that church family were people like Mrs. Green, Mrs. Boench, Mrs. Dupre, the Covington’s, the Cain’s, my priest Mr. Catlin and many others who became very important to me.  They nurtured me in the Faith and grew me up in the Lord.  I discovered through them something of what it means to love and serve the Lord.  Today I am still on that journey of discovery.

I eventually went off to Clemson and found out what was beyond those tomato and cucumber fields.  My family, my village and my church family had taught me what I needed to know to love God and live life rightly.  I am extraordinarily grateful to them all.

We have all heard the old third world saying, “It takes and village to raise a child.”  God is surely going to be calling on us to be that “village” for yet unnamed children He will bring to us?   We will be that place where these young people will learn to love God and live life rightly?   

The Rhythm of Life

I was invited by my son and his rector to baptize my grandson.  As it was infant baptism, I cradled that little boy in my left arm and held his head in the palm of my hand.  As I poured   water   over   his forehead, his blue eyes looked penetratingly into mine, and it was as if he were saying, “This is an important moment, isn’t it granddaddy?” 

It is not likely those were my infant grandson’s thoughts, but they surely were mine.   This baptism was for him the beginning point of a life destined for a full and rich relationship with God.  My grandson’s parents and Godparents vowed to point him continually toward God such that he grows in the Lord as he grows in years.  

One of their duties will be to reveal to this young man a rhythm and cadence to his life that will weave his life into the very life of God.  Our lives, of course, have a natural cadence.  We rise to work and rest in the evening.  We work for six days and turn aside from our labors on the seventh.  We live our lives according to the seasons of the year and the seasons of our lives, from childhood to old age.

We Christians, however, teach our children to overlay this rhythm of life with another rhythm. One of the first rhythms of life we teach our children is pray at meals and kneel at their bedside each evening.   The God-ordained weekly rhythm we pass on to our children is that of God gathering us in on the Lord’s Day to honor Him.  We teach the yearly rhythm of the Christian year which flows year after year between the two great pinnacles of Faith, Christmas and Easter.  And finally, we teach our children to weave God into the rhythm of their entire lives through Sacraments and Ordinances that become for them touchstones with God, such as this, my Grandson’s baptism.

Sometimes the cadence of our lives is not predictable.  We have highs and lows, mountaintop experiences and times of slugging it out in the dark valleys of our lives.  We have life-transforming encounters with God, while at other times wander through arid places trusting only in the knowledge that God is on the far side of our current wilderness.  Even in our wilderness experiences, however, there is a rhythm as we have many wilderness times to repeatedly find God on the far side.

My grandson’s baptism was, among other things, about taking on this rhythm and cadence that weaves him into the purposes and plans that God has for Him.  A life well lived is one that has appropriated this God-given rhythm.  It would not make sense to live life to any other beat.

Spiritual Gifts

Luke’s Gospel tells us the story of the Wedding at Cana of Galilee.  This is a story about Jesus taking water and changing it into wine.   It is a story of God taking something natural and doing something supernatural with it, taking something ordinary and making it extraordinary.  The lectionary writers interestingly pair this story with Paul’s discourse on Spiritual Gifts from 1 Corinthians 12. 

The thread connecting the two readings becomes obvious: Jesus takes what is ordinary and natural in our lives, such as our natural talents and abilities, and supernaturally makes them extraordinarily useful to Him and for the furthering of His Kingdom.  Such is the nature of the Gifts of the Spirit, This is how we can understand the way God equips us to do the ministry to which He calls us. 

Our relatively young church family has grown because this dynamic of God gifting people to do the ministry they are called to do.  People have caught hold of what the Lord is doing in this place, discerned how the Lord is calling them to be a part it, and allowed God to empower them with the Spiritual Gifts needed to live into the calling.

This relates wonderfully to what we are learning on Wednesday nights.  “Experiencing God” study series is teaching us to look for where God is working, listen for His invitation to work with Him, and then allow God to work through us in the accomplishing of His purposes.  Wednesday nights are also teaching us that, when God calls us to do for others or be something to others, the calling has what Henry Blackaby calls “a God-size dimension.”  The calling, the task, the ministry, whatever it is, is something we cannot do, as God intends for it to be done, without Him gifting us with the ability to do it.  We are totally dependent on God for the ability to do what He Has called us to do. 

This gifting for ministry has its source in our ongoing and intimate relationship with God’s through His indwelling Holy Spirit.  Again, Blackerby in “Experiencing God” makes the very wonderful point that the real gift is the gift of the Holy Spirit who takes up residence in us and works in the world through us.

So then, what do we do?  Again turning to our Wednesday night study, Blackerby tells us that we are to open ourselves to the possibility of God working in us and through us for the sake of the world around us.  We are to invite God to “gift” us with the ability to live into His purpose and calling for our lives. 

A prayer for you…. Come, O Lord, and fill us your servant to overflowing with your Holy Spirit.  Grant the spiritual gifts and empowerment for the ministry to which you have called us.  Equip us to take our place in the Body of Christ to which you have placed us. May to you be the glory.  May your Kingdom grow firmly in us.  May your Kingdom grow in the world through us.  In Jesus’ Name we pray.  Amen.

Fr. Rob