Funeral Sermon for Sonja Means, May 17, 2020

Bill and Sonja have been away from North Augusta for a while.  We, their friends here in North Augusta, have very much missed them; we will doubly miss Sonja now that she is separated from us by this veil we know as death.  To the family, Bill, Scott, Lori, all of you, know that we stand with you in your grief, and like you, we will miss Sonja.  

        There is an unusual dichotomy in Christian funerals-  We are chiefly here today to celebrate Sonja, to celebrate her moving into the larger life with God, to celebrate God’s faithfulness to Sonja and her faithfulness to God- you will hear all this in the burial service we are doing here this morning.  This is Sonja Easter celebration, her resurrection celebration; but at the same time, we are here grieving Sonja’s absence from among us. So, to the family, we grieve with you, but we are here also to celebrate with you.

        Over a half-millennium before the time of Jesus, Isaiah wrote the words that we just read:

⁸He [that is, God] will swallow up death… forever [Isaiah writes]
and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces …
    ⁹ It will be said on that day,
    “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. 

The salvation Isaiah is talking about comes to us in two ways- First, God saves us from something, which is from the great interloper and robber of God’s creation- death; but secondly, God saves us for something- which is, simply, to be with Him forever.  In Isaiah’s Words those many centuries before Jesus, God promised to save us.  In Christ, some 2000 years ago, God actually did it. 

        So, it should be quite apparent that we Christians understand death quite differently from the secular world around us.  For us who are in Christ, death does not have the last word, God does.  For those who wait upon Him, Isaiah says, God will swallow up death forever.  The God described in Psalm 139, which we just read, which describes us as fearfully and wonderfully made by Him, did not create us to be swallowed up by death and simply move into oblivion.  We were each created to be with Him, Glorify Him, and enjoy Him forever.  For you Presbyterians among us, to glorify God and enjoy Him forever should sound familiar- It is from article 1 of your Westminster Catechism.  

        Glorifying God and enjoying Him forever - This is precisely what Sonja is now doing.  Someday, hopefully, all of us will join her. And it is then that God will wipe away every tear from our eye, just as Isaiah prophesied. 

        So, death does not have the last word in Sonja’s life- God does!  I pray this is also true for each of us here.     

The Reverend Rob Hartley, May 17, 2020

The Relationship between Justification and Sanctification

        At one of our Saturday morning men's fellowship at Holy Trinity, our scripture readings led us into briefly talking about the relationship between "Justification" (conversion) and "Sanctification" (a life that leads to holiness, obedience and good works).  We used churchy terms that perhaps need defining; hence, I thought it would be useful to say something about this on my blog page. Here it is.

        Justification and Sanctification are both workings of the Holy Spirit in us.  Justification is a time when a person encounters God's grace and is led into a personal surrender to God, becoming a new creation with a new life in Christ (theologians call this new life "Regeneration").  Our salvation is established, Christ's own righteousness replaces our unrighteousness in the eyes of our Heavenly Father, and we can now be united with God in the family of God.

        Sanctification, on the other hand, is a life-long process, beginning with our Conversion / Regeneration / Justification, in which we live out our life in Christ, mature in the Faith, progressively be transformed into His image, learn to discern the Good Shepherd's voice, and seek to do His will (i.e. obedience).  Sanctification is what St. Paul is talking about in 2Cor. 3:18- "And we all, with unveiled face [that is, justified before God's by grace through faith, and empowered by the Holy Spirit], behold the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.  For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit."  

       It is important, therefore, that we know that we are made right with God (justified), not by how sanctified and holy we are, but by God's grace which we appropriate by our faith and trust in Christ.  This is at the heart of the Gospel, because if you are like me, you know that standing before God based on our righteousness is a very iffy proposition (in fact, it's impossible).  Being able to stand before God with Jesus' imputed righteousness is definitely "Good News."  Martin Luther and others sparked the Protestant Reformation over this fundamental bit of Truth.  Luther writes in his essay Freedom and Service,  "Behold, from faith flows forth love and joy in the Lord, and from love, a joyful, willing and free mind that serves ones neighbor willingly..."  The justifying grace of God gives us the freedom to appropriate the sanctifying grace of God.  To Luther, the relationship of faith and works is much like that of the tree to its roots.  The roots provide the tree with the foundation and the freedom to bear fruit. Dietrich Bonhoeffer would say it is more a matter of obedience: This free gift of justifying grace gives us the freedom to obey God and live as God calls us to live.

Father Rob

Loving People Right where They Are

    Christianity is a way for living life that says we are to love others just the way God loves us.  St. John in his Gospel quotes Jesus as saying, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15:14)

    So, how does God love us?  The answer is unconditionally, just as we are, even while we are less than perfect according to the mind and will of God.  St. Paul expresses this in Romans 5:8 thusly, “God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  This is the immense and unqualified love of God for each one of us.  

     There is, however, a phenomenon very prevalent in some quarters of our culture today that equates disagreeing with someone with not loving them.   For instance, this is often the case in the ongoing homosexual debate in which Christians are stereotyped as homophobic.  There are surely Christians who are indeed homophobic, just as there are plenty of non-Christians who are homophobic, but the fact is that the Christian is commanded not to be!   It is simply un-Christian to hate anybody and not want the best for them.  Jesus gives us examples of this throughout the Gospels; two good ones are the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4) and the woman brought to Jesus who had been caught in adultery (John 8).

    One of the marks of the Kingdom of God is loving people right where they are, regardless their actions, beliefs, behaviors, sins and dysfunctions, and regardless of whether we agree with them of not.  This is the way, of course, that God loves us, but if you know God, then you know He loves us too much to leave us where we are- This is what Jesus is all about.

     Through the Spirit of God in us, we can love with this same Godly unconditional love.  This is part and parcel to the authentic Christian journey.  In our fallen humanity, however, this is a tough road to learn to walk.  Albeit imperfectly, I strive to love people right where they are, want the best for them, and be their friend in the truest sense of the word.  I think my homosexual friends will largely affirm this in me.  One of the great freedoms to be found in Christ is the power and wisdom to love people with whom one disagrees and to love them right where they are. 

Surviving in Dark Places

An article originally published in the August 2018 newsletter of the Anglican Church of the Holy Trinity, North Augusta, SC:

Back in my electrical engineering days, I was the interim manager of a power generation and transmission system on the island of New Guinea.  As a Christian, I found the region a spiritually oppressive place.  Most of the people were either Muslim or indigenous animist.  

Looking back on it, I can list three things that helped spiritually sustain Nancy and me during that time:

·   First was our willingness to boldly and unreservedly be Christian in spite of the spiritual darkness, oppression and opposition around us.  We simply remembered who we are and whose we are.

·   Secondly was our staying in Scripture and continuing to seek the mind of Christ in all things and in all ways.

·   And last but not least, was finding other Christians with whom to fellowship, worship and continue to grow in Christ.  There were not many Christians where we were, but Jesus said that when two or three are gathered in His name, He will be in the midst of them (Matt 18:20).

But one does not have to travel 11 time zones away to find spiritual darkness.  Over the last half-century or so, our American Culture has entered into its own spiritual darkness.  For a nation that was founded on Judeo-Christian principles and beliefs, we have willingly moved into a secular-humanist wasteland in which Christianity is no longer welcome in the public square.  This has taken place with most Americans still claiming to be Christian and almost a thrid of Americans attending Church on Sundays.  

Nancy's and my three observations for sustaining ourselves in spiritual darkness are coming in pretty handy right here at home.  As Joshua says in Joshua 24:15-  "And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

The Cross at the Center of History

Homily delivered by the Reverend Rob Hartley at the North Augusta Community Lenten Service, April 10, 2019

Philippians 2:5-11 (ESV)

⁵Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, ⁶who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  ⁸And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  ⁹Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

        On Good Friday, this church family will gather in this place, as many of you will do in your churches.  We will read the passion narrative from John’s Gospel, and we will also read this beautifully moving passage from Philippians.  It is called the Christ Hymn because it takes us the central act of Salvation History, which is the Cross of Christ.    

        Historians, sociologists, or anthropologists look at the broad sweep of human history and see it as events stitched together, often as a result of circumstances, human effort, or just chance, all contributing to bring humanity to where it is today.  But how about us Christians? How do we view history? From what perspective?  Hopefully, we view it from God’s perspective?

        Human history is wildly chaotic and messy for sure, but we know that God’s plan is being played out in spite of you and me.  We know that God’s providential and redemptive hand has been upon human history from the beginning.   He gives us one of His first hints to this in Genesis 3 after the couple falls into sin and rebellion. Gao says they will someday Crush Satan’s head; in other words, they will have victory over the powers of darkness that have now come to inhabit creation and the human heart.  God has overlaid human history with Salvation History. We know that this eventual and inevitable victory belongs to our Lord Jesus Christ for it says in Scripture, “In the fullness of time, Christ came to die for us… and as Paul puts it this morning in Philippians, “Christ being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

        So, as surely as Creation has a beginning and an end, it has a center, which is the Cross and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, the climax of God’s great redemptive plan.  And this amazing cosmic event is what we are preparing for this Lent.  Jesus has redeemed us; we have been rescued from ourselves, which is why Paul writes this morning- “At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father!  Amen.

A Beacon Drawing People to God

        The Anglican Church of the Holy Trinity for many years used the statement above as its mission statement.  This statement suggests that we (the Body of Christ in this place) are a beacon, the light of Christ, shining into a world smothering in sin and darkness, calling them to something better, which is a new life in Christ.  This statement captures the Gospel Imperative of Matthew 28:19,20 (the Great Commission)- Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.  And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  Through both this “Good News” we bear and the Godly lives we live, we penetrate our culture as a beacon of hope to a perishing world.  

     To God be the Glory, Father Rob

Sermon, Sept 16, 2018 (proper 19) "But who do you say that I am?" Mk 8:29

        In Mark 8 Jesus and His disciples take a field trip north of Galilee, to a place known as Caesarea Philippi, almost into what is modern day Lebanon.  In Jesus’ day, it was about as pagan a place as you could find, with temples commemorations to Canaanite and Greek God’s such as Baal and Pan. There was then and still is to this day a yawning cave entrance on the site.  It was considered the entrance to the underworld, the gates of hades. A number of us in this congregation visited Caesarea Philippi together a number of years back.  It is a memorable place.

        It was to this place that Jesus brings His disciples this morning.  The question is why. Why this place?  Jesus, and later His disciples, understood that he was God breaking into this corrupt and evil world and reclaiming it for the Kingdom of God.  What better place could there be than Caesarea Philippi to demonstrate that dichotomy 

        He asks the question, “Who do people say that I am,” but Jesus’ real question to His disciples comes next, “Who do you say that I am?  It is like a single-question final exam, and Peter gives the right answer.  He says, “You are the Christ.”  Luke in His Gospel quotes Jesus and Peter in much the same way as Mark, but Matthew, who, by the way, was there on this graduation trip to Caesarea Philippi, provides a bit meatier quote (Matt 16:16-18), “Simon Peter answers, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ ¹⁷ And Jesus says, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah!  For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. ¹⁸ And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock (Peter means Rock) I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.’” Hopefully you are catching the scene.

        But Jesus just spent 3 years teaching about the Kingdom of God and God’s expectation of His people in becoming citizens of the Kingdom of God, rather citizens of this world.  So, why, this one particular question?  Why didn’t Jesus ask a question about the significance of his miracles and healings, or his teaching on the beatitudes?  Jesus asks nothing of this sort, just, “Who do you say that I am?”

        I think most of us know the answer.  This exchange between Jesus and Peter takes us as Christians to the central affirmation of our Faith, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.  As St. Paul writes in Colossians 1:15 “[Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”  Not that other questions and other answers are unimportant.  It is just that the essence of Christianity is not to be found in the teachings of Jesus, but in the person of Jesus- Who Jesus is.

        The Gospel of John has a unique focus on this question of who Jesus is.  In John 6 ,Jesus say, -  “I am the Bread of Life.” [in other words, the essence, source and sustenance of life].  John 8:58- “Before Abraham, I am.” Jesus says.  John 10:30_ “I and the Father are one.”

        And the first Christian creed was a simple one: “Jesus is Lord.”  St. Paul states in Philippians 2:10-11, “At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” 

          The great call of the Old Testament prophets was “Turn to God;” but Jesus says, “Turn to me.”  Matthew 11:28- “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

        And we might think that the Bible is the story of our quest for God, when in fact, most of the Bible is about our running away from God- disobeying, rebelling, dishonoring, ignoring God.  The Bible is really about God’s quest for us.  John 1:14 – “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Why does God in Christ come to us? The answer is that God loves us too much to abandon us to ourselves.

        Jesus being God in the flesh is what we call the Incarnation.  The Incarnation, along with eh Cross and Resurrection, what we can call in Salvation history the Christ Event, is the single most significant event in human history since creation itself.  It is God’s great rescue mission of His beloved.  We cannot fathom the Incarnation without standing on this side of the Cross and Resurrection and looking back, and we need to have the Holy Spirit Himself open our minds to the amazing reality of it.  St. Paul writes in 1 Cor. 12:3- “no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.  I think it was true for the Apostles at Caesarea Philippi in our reading this morning, and it is true for us.

        So, the heart of our faith is not what church we go to, the things we do or don’t do, the good works we do, or the good life we lead; the central tenant of our faith is the person of Jesus Incarnate, who comes to forgive us, redeem us, and love us, and restore us to eternal life with the Father.

        There is a person who had a great deal to do with my spiritual formation many years ago.  He was a gifted teacher in the Church named Terry Fullam.  He once asked us this question: “You [that is, we Christians] are in on the ultimate secret of history- is it making a difference?  [He is talking about it making a difference both in our own lives and the lives of the people around us.  So, this morning I want to ask you that question.  How has knowing who Jesus is made a difference in your life?  Here are some possible thoughts you may have on that:

         1.     First, because of who Jesus is, you know that you are redeemed and your eternal salvation is sure; so, are you claiming the peace that surpasses understanding and the joy of living in Christ that comes with that?  Joy and peace are your inheritance, a gift from God that the world cannot take away! Jesus says in John 14:27- “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives but as I give to you.”  Worldly struggles can take much from us, but if you really know who Jesus is, it can’t take thist away from us.  You can find such peace and assurance nowhere else aside from the promises of God in Christ Jesus.  Are you claiming your inheritance?

        2.     Another difference it can and should make in your life knowing you are forgiven and are invited to live a life free of guilt and condemnation?  Jesus is Lord, and only God can forgive sins.  Jesus comes to us fulfilling the prophecy of the Psalmist is Psalm 103:12 -“As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.”  This world has a way of keeping you in bondage to your past, but Jesus never does.  Jesus forgives your past and cares only about your future.
        3.     A final thought… Is it making a difference in your life knowing that Jesus is God incarnate who loves you un-conditionally and has shown you that you can love others un-conditionally in the same way.  John 13:34- “… just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.”  One of the great blessings of the Christian life is the spiritual gift of loving people right where they are in their brokenness, dysfunction and sin, seeking the best for them.  That is exactly what Jesus does for us all. Romans 5:8- “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” 

        There are probably many other ways that Jesus as Lord of your life is making a difference in how you live it?  I invite you to think about them and perhaps share them with one another at Adult Forum after this service.

         Jesus is asking you, " who do you say that I am?"  Like Peter, you need to get the answer right.