Encouragement

Romans 12:8 speaks of the spiritual Gift of Encouragement (also called the Gift of Exhortation).  The Gift of Encouragement is having a sensitivity and an attraction to those who are discouraged or struggling and involves motivating, encouraging, and consoling others as they move through the issues of this life and mature in their walk with the Lord. 

Barnabas in New Testament Scripture had the Gift of Encorurgaement.  His name actually means ‘Son of Encouragement.’  Barnabas was the encourager of none other than St. Paul (Acts 9:27) and  mentor to St. Mark, the eventual author of the Gospel that bears his name.  Look at what God did with Barnabas’ Gift of Encouragement! 

How about you?  Do you have the Gift of Encouragement?  Are you attracted to those who are stuggling and feel called to walk with them through their difficulties?  Do you know how to patiently and gently push people forward through the challenges life presents to them?  

If this describes you, then you are a Barnabas.  If you do not have this gift but would like to, ask the Lord to give you this powerful and wonderful  Gift of Encouragement.                     

                                                                            

Fr. Rob

A Few Words on Incense

From Fr. Dan+

Like many Christian liturgical practices, the use of incense goes back to the Old Testament where it figured regularly in the worship of God. The books of Exodus and Leviticus establish what might be called the “theology of incense” and give details of the use of  incense at the altar.  In Jewish practice a brazier was located  in the tabernacle for the specific purpose of burning incense and incense was offered  in the morning and in the evening.  On the Day of Atonement  the cloud of incense served as a sign of God’s real yet mysterious presence.  In the Book of Revelation incense 1s a sign of the prayers of God’s people ascending to him, which is why the Early Church continued the practice found in Judaism.  Incense still carries all these meanings when used in the church today and has less to do with “high” or “low” church, than with theology that the worship of the Church maintains continuity with that of Israel.

“There is no liturgical practice more firmly rooted in scripture than the use of incense; the image of fire and smoke is a common one in the Bible, constantly reminding the reader of scripture of the exodus of Israel from Egypt”” (Clayton Morris, in As We Gather to Pray, p.142).

The Rev. Dan Brown is a priest at The Church of the Holy Trinity, North Augusta.

The Gloria, Sanctus and Benedictus

These are three pieces of service music with which we have all become familiar; we use them every Sunday in our worship :

·   The words of the Gloria in Excelsis (Glory in the Highest) came into normal use in the church in the 11^th century, but the words and form of this glorious song of praise have their roots in Jewish Temple worship during and before the time of Christ. 

 

·   The Sanctus is adapted from Isaiah 6:1-3,  “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.” It had been part of Jewish morning worship and became a normal part of the Christian Eucharistic liturgy in about the 4^th century. 

 

·   It has also become the custom of the Church to attach to the end of the Sanctus what is known as the Benedictus (Blessed is He) from John 12:13.

A word about the General Confession and where it is located in the liturgy

Those who worship with us at Holy Trinity, North Augusta have probably noticed that our Sunday liturgies place the General Confession in one of two places.  There is significance to each location:

A.      The Confession placed at the very beginning of the service: (Book of Common Prayer 1979 refers to this as the “Penitential Rite”)   Each Sunday in procession we ceremonially move into God’s presence and are called to worship with Opening Acclamations.  This is followed with the Collect for Purity, acknowledging to God “all hearts are open” and from Him “no secrets are hid.”   We ask God to “cleanse our hearts” so that we can indeed approach Him in true worship.    Part of our cleansing is to confess those things “done and left undone” in our lives over the week; therefore, the General Confession becomes very appropriate at this point.  The Priest pronounces that God does indeed forgive us and considers us cleansed.  We move on joyfully and unencumbered into worship with the singing of the Gloria or another Song of Praise.

B.     The Confession placed after the Readings, Sermon and Prayers of the People:  At this point in the liturgy we have heard God speaking to us in the readings, sermon and prayers.  These things often prepare us for true confession and convict us of those things “done and left undone.”  The General Confession, therefore, also serves us very well at this point in the liturgy.  Furthermore, this immediately precedes our expression of reconciliation with our neighbor in the Passing of the Peace and our expression of union with God in Holy Communion, both for which confession is a key component.

A Vision for Vestry Leadership at Holy Trinity?

At our last vestry meeting, this vision was offered for the ministry of the vestry at Holy Trinity:

·         Not just business managers and parish administrators, but spiritual leaders.

·         Focused on letting God shape our church… calling on God … waiting on the Lord.

·         Focused not just on programs and buildings, but on people and growing their relationship, knowledge, obedience and service to the Lord.

o   Calling people to a balanced (Benedictine) spirituality of being, knowing and doing the things of the Kingdom… a balanced and holistic spirituality involving all of life.

o   Promoting God’s purpose for the church (which in the example given by Christ in the Gospels are two things…proclamation and healing [healing being both redemption from the brokenness of this world and transformation into wholeness and holiness]).

·         Fostering an environment in this church family where transformation, health and wholeness can happen.

·         Projecting a parish vision that we are people with a mission and purpose…          

o   That our mission is God’s mission locally and globally and that we exist for that purpose.

o   That we are to be a congregation focused outwardly in both proclamation and service.

o   That our invitation is to “Come and See.”

·         Building on the strengths of this congregation.

·         Delegating ministries and tasks… involving people, raising up new and anointed leaders.

·         Leading by word and example toward sacrificial giving of time, talent and resources for the growing of the Kingdom of God in this place.

Kanuga Renewal Conference: Bishop Mike Hill

This past week a group from Holy Triniity attended  the Renewal Conference at Kanuga Conference Center, Hendersonville, NC.  We learned much from the keynoter, the Rt. Rev. Mike Hill, Bishop of Bristol, England. The worship and music were also a wonderful part of this conference.  Here are some nuggets from Bishop Hill’s teachings:

TRANSFORMATION

The Christian life is predicated on transformation.  Christian growth and transformation involves movement in both wholeness [physical, emotional and spiritual healing] and holiness [sanctification and growth into Christ-likeness)].  Growth is the normal condition for all followers of Christ.

But not all transformation and change is good.  In that light, three questions…

What do you desire to become?

What does God desire that you become?

What are you actually becoming?

A problem is that many of us get stuck in this process of Christian transformation.  Life can become hopelessly full of brokenness, dysfunction, sinfulness or inappropriate behavior.  We can get caught up in such things as un-forgiveness, self-absorption, selfishness, just to name three big ones.

AN OBSTACLE TO TRANSFORMATION- NOT KNOWING TRUTH

(Not knowing what God desires that we become)

To make progress in the spiritual life requires that we know what is right and good from God’s perspective.  God’s Grace is at the center of the Christian Life, but so is Truth.  Without Truth we baptize (declare holy) anything in the name of God’s grace and call it God’s good and perfect will for what He wants us to be or do.

AN OBSTACLE TO TRANFORMATION- UN-FORGIVENESS

We can find ourselves caught up in what seems like permanent un-forgiveness.  For anyone who is stuck in the past and in un-forgiveness, you know how this can impede spiritual growth.  If we allow it, we can be the permanent victim of trauma, wounded memories, abuse, and broken relationships.  What sanctification (growth) offers is the possibility of becoming victors rather than victims.  Nelson Mandela said, "Un-forgiveness is like drinking poison and hoping that the other person gets sick."  We settle for life as it is rather than life in abundance as God offers it. 

AN OBSTACLE TO TRANSFORMATION- COMPLACENCY

The world’s agenda makes it easy for the devil to dictate what is important to us.  Growth may not even be on your agenda.  Without intentionality toward “sanctification” spiritual health and wholeness does not happen, nor does the abundant life God promises.  None of us set out to be spiritually mediocre or luke-warm followers of Christ.  We need to have as a goal allowing God to recalibrate our lives such that what is important to God is important to us: corporate worship, study of Scripture, service, being in Christian fellowship and service.

There are more nuggets yet to be mined from our time with Bishop Hill.   Stayed tuned.

"Unattached" Christians

The Barna Research Group, a Christian polling organization, identifies a small segment of the Christian population they call the “unattached.”  The unattached consider themselves to be Christian but without any personal interaction with a regularly-convened, mutually supportive faith community.   According to Barna, many of the unattached revel in their independence from church families and ecclesial structures.  
 
I am sure the reasons for being among the unattached varies, but probably a popular sentiment among them is, “Church wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for all those other Christians.”  Some of you reading this right now may hold this sentiment.
 
Let us look at this, however, from God’s perspective.  Consider why God created us in the first place.  In short, is to be in a loving relationship with Him and, by extension, in a loving relationship with each other.   We were created out of love to be the objects of God’s love.  Additionally we were created “in His image” and therefore called to love with that same unbounded, sacrificial, unconditional, divine love with which God first loved us (1 John4:19).  From this it would seem that stepping away from intentional fellowship of God’s people is not a very Godly option.  God did not create us to be Lone Ranger Christians.
 

To better understand this, look at where all of Scripture and Salvation History is pointing; that is, the destination or telos of redeemed humanity, to use the biblical Greek word for it.  Our destiny as God’s people is to be gathered into the full presence of,not only God, but each other... into what we call the Communion of Saints.   The Church here on Earth (what the Church Fathers called the Church Militant) is the embryo of the Communion of Saints in Heaven (the Church Triumphant).  In Christian community God is teaching us to love others as he first loved us.  In a way, to shun community now is to miss the dress rehearsal for that great gathering with the Communion of Saints