Holy Trinity at the Mere Anglicanism Conference

In January a number of us attended the Mere Anglicanism Conference in Charleston.  Along on this pilgrimage were Bill and Brenda Bargeloh, Twyla Tuten, Monte Steedley, Nancy Hartley and Fr. Rob.   It took place at the beautiful and historic St. Phillips Church.  Brenda Bargeloh said walking into St. Phillip’s was like walking into a wedding cake.   

The speakers were from throughout the Anglican Communion: The Rt. Hon. Richard Chartres, Bishop of London; The Rev. Dr. Richard Turnbull, Principle, Wycliffe Hall, Oxford; Dr. John McCardell, Vice Chancellor, The University of the South (Fr. Dan’s Seminary); The Rt. Rev. Dr. Michael Nazir-Ali, retired bishop of Rochester, England; The Very Rev. Dr. Justyn Terry, Dean, Trinity School for Ministry (Rev. Nancy’s and Fr. Rob’s Seminary); the Most Rev Dr. Ben Kwashi, Archbishop of the Anglican Province of Nigeria; and, of course, The Rt. Rev. Mark Lawrence, Bishop of SC… a most impressive and fascinating lineup of speakers.  Here are some memorable gleanings to share with you:

 

Dr. Turnbull

… Commenting on the Anglican inclination toward church structure, he says, "Church Order is to enhance proper doctrine.  Order without doctrine [and by “doctrine” he is referring to our biblical and apostolic heritage] is not classic Anglicanism.”

Dr. Chartes

… The Book of Common Prayer has been at the center of the theological and spiritual identity of Anglicanism since it was first written during the Protestant Reformation.  It is a mosaic of Scripture aimed at lifting the human heart up to God. 

 

Bishop Nazir-Ali

… What do we as a church need to be doing today?  …Zealously proclaiming the uniqueness of Christ which speaks to His universality in all times and to all people.

 

Bishop Lawrence

... Whatever else we know or say about the church and its current state, we know that Christ loves it and has purified it such that it is without “spot or blemish.”

 

Dr. Terry

… “We re-order our lives to conform to a distorted world, but the Church calls us to live right-side-up in an up-side-down world.

 ...Our mission as Anglicans is to turn the world right-side-up, beginning with the re-ordering of our own lives according to God.” 

…Many people don’t perceive the binary systems in the Bible; Sheep and goats for example.  There are no goatish sheep or sheepish goats.  To see things in shades of gray is today considered indicative of one’s sophistication.

… “Our scientific thinking is describing a fallen world.”

…  Quoting George MacDonald:  “We want to be fed out of silos; God wants to feed us by hand.”

 

Archbishop Kwashi…

... Quoting Evelyn Underhill, “The man whose life is colored with prayer will win souls.”

…The three priorities in Bp Kwashi’s ministry are prayer, preaching (teaching), and mission (evangelism).

... Authentic teaching will lead to wholistic life-change.

...“We face the same devil as the apostles did: false teachers.”

…“We have left young people to the mercies of the world: video games, TV, etc.”

 

During the Conference we also immersed ourselves in inspiring worship… a Choral Evensong, The Daily Office each morning, and a Festal Eucharist at the conclusion of the conference. 

 

This conference sent me home with a joyful heart and a renewed zeal to do my part in growing the Kingdom of God in this corner of our hugely challenging world.  Fr. Rob 

Three Challenges for the New Year

I have three challenges to offer to The Church of the Holy Trinity, North Augusta:

1.      That all our activities and programs as a church family this year be intentional about bringing others into a life-changing relationship with Jesus and growing us all in Christ-like character.

2.      That this church family continue to be a place where we (and others yet outside this fellowship) learn to fully submit to the good and perfect will of God for our lives.  Until we lay before God the brokenness in our lives that has come upon us simply by living in this world, until we confess the weakness of our own flesh to cling to our brokenness and dysfunction, until we renounce the things in our lives that are clearly under the influence of the Evil One, our transformation into Christ-likeness and appropriation of the Christian virtues are going to be hindered. 

3.      That we live ever more fully into the blessings that are to be found in our communion with God and with each other.

Father Rob

Epiphany

        The church celebrates seven principle ‘feasts’ throughout the year.  One of them occurs this month known as The Feast of the Epiphany (Jan. 6).  Being part of a Church that is 2000 years old, we have inherited a lot of older language, such as the word ‘feast.’  Today we would perhaps use a word like ‘celebration,’ to designate these special and meaningful observances.  The word ‘Epiphany’ means ‘manifestation’ or ‘appearance.’  Epiphany is celebrated at the close of the 12 days of Christmas and celebrates the arrival of the Magi (The Three Wise Men) at Bethlehem.  Since it is a feast that normally does not occur on a Sunday, we tend to include the coming of the Magi in with our Christmas celebration.
         The Feast of the Epiphany also ushers in The Season of Epiphany.  This season provides us a bridge from the Advent-Christmas Season to the Lent-Easter Season.  During Epiphany, we explore scripturally and liturgically the theme of Christ being made ‘manifest’ to the world.

Annual Parish Meeting

Great meeting! May to God be the glory!

Being, Knowing, Doing

At Holy Trinity, transformation of our lives into the likeness of Christ is a priority for the community. We could hardly call ourselves Christians (little Christ) without this being so.
The Christian pilgrimage (corporately and individually) is one of moving ever more deeply into

    Being like Christ…    Knowing the Mind of Christ...     Doing the work of the followers of Christ.

“Being” like Christ

(Christian virtues that define a mature Christian community)

·         Joy                                                                                         John 5:11

·         Peace                                                                                    Philippians 4:6-7

·         Faithfulness to God                                                            Proverbs 3:3-4

·         Self Control                                                                          1 Thess 5:6

·         Love                                                                                       1 John 4:10-12

·         Patience                                                                                Proverbs 14:29

·         Kindness/Goodness                                                            1 Thess 5:15

·         Gentleness                                                                           Philippians 4:5

·         Compassion                                                                          Psalm 82:3-4

·         Generosity                                                                            1 Tim 6:18

·         Humility                                                                                 Philippians 2:3-4

·         Hope                                                                                       Hebrews 6:17-20 

“Knowing” the Mind of Christ

(Christian beliefs that shape the community)

·         The Trinity                                                                         2 Cor 13:14

·         Salvation by Grace                                                           Eph 2:8-9

·         Authority of Scripture                                                     2 Tim 3:16-17

·         A Personal, relational God                                              Psalm 121

·         Our “Identity” in Christ                                                    John 1:12-13

·         The Church                                                                         Eph 4:15-16

·         Humanity and “The Fall”                                                  John3:16

·         Eternity                                                                                John 14:1-4

·         Stewardship of All God Has Given Us                           1 Tim 6:17-19 

“Doing” the Work of the Followers of Christ

(Christian practices that are the mission and calling of the community)

·         Worshipping                                                                      Psalm 95:1-7

·         Praying                                                                                Psalm 66: 16-20

·         Studying / Growing                                                           Heb 4:12

·         Focusing on God’s Priorities for your Life                     Matt 6:33

·         Fellowshipping                                                                  Acts 2:42-47

·         Using Spiritual Gifts                                                          1 Cor 12:1-31

·         Giving Your Time                                                              Col 3:17

·         Giving Your Resources                                                     2 Cor 8:7

·         Sharing Your Faith                                                            Eph 6:19-20

·         Giving Yourself to God’s Plan and Purposes                Rom 12:1-2 

                                     Primary source: The Connecting Church: Beyond Small Groups to Authentic Community, Randy Frazee

The Season of Advent

The Season of Pentecost is coming to an end the Season of Advent is about to begin. There are six liturgical seasons reflected on the Church calendar: Advent-Christmas; Epiphany,;Lent-Easter; and Pentecost.

The seasons of the church year have a long and rich history and have developed around themes emphasizing aspects of the Christian journey and experience.  The Advent-Christmas cycle focuses on the Incarnation, God coming and dwelling among us.  The Lent-Easter cycle is about The Lord’s Resurrection and God raising us to new life in the Risen Christ.  Incarnation and Resurrection are the two anchors of the Christian year.  These two great seasons of celebration are each preceded by a season of preparation (Lent, Advent). The Sunday readings assigned to these seasons reflect these themes.

There is also what is called Ordinary Time between these two great seasonal celebrations of Lent-Easter and Advent-Christmas.  Ordinary Time are the Season of Epiphany and the Season of Pentecost. 

With the arrival of Advent we begin a new church year.  The word Advent means coming or arrival.  Since it is the season before Christmas, it is logically about getting ready for Jesus’ First Coming, but if we listen to the readings that are assigned from the lectionary during Advent, we quickly realize that it is also about getting ready for Jesus’ Second Coming, which is the long-waited completion of Christ’s redemptive work in the world. 

It might seem strange to us that Advent, the first season of the Church year, is also about the very end of things.  It makes the strong theological point, however, that the flow of history, including Salvation History, has purpose direction and destination.  History is not a randomly stitched together series of events; rather, it is headed somewhere and God is in the driver’s seat.   There is a divine destination for all of us, and the Season of Advent is about discovering the Way to that destination.  The Way is, of course, Jesus.  Therefore, whether we are talking about Jesus’ first coming as a baby lying in a feeding trough in a stable at Bethlehem 2000 years ago, or about Jesus coming in power and glory at the End Times, Advent is about God coming to us; thus we have the great cry of Advent, “Come, O Come, Emmanuel!”

Father Rob

Healing Ministry-Beauty from Ashes: A Personal Reflection by Laura Coppernoll

What a pleasure it is to share with everyone some of the things God has done for me through the healing ministry.  My experience has been none other than wonderful.  So many times in our lives we have ups and downs.  We say things like, “Oh this is too small for God to bother with, I can handle it,” I don’t want to burden Him with this, there are others who need help more than I do.”  Or “ I could never tell anyone about that, it’s too bad and they wouldn’t understand.”   Although these are thoughts and feelings that are normal to each of us, they are simply not true.  They are lies the enemy tells us to keep us away from God’s great healing He has in store for us.  The truth is, God  DOES want us to come to Him about every little or big thing in our lives.  He already knows about it anyway.  He just wants us to talk to Him about it and open that door for Him to come in and do His wonderful work. 
 

The thorns we carry are often so painful that the thought of speaking about them or touching them are almost unbearable to think.  Some things may have been carried so long we think they are too old to even bother with.  Fortunately for us we have a Father that never gives up on us and loves us way too much to leave us where we are.  Matthew 11:28 says it very clearly, “Come to me ALL who labor and are heavy laden and I WILL give you rest.”  He didn’t say only the ones who feel like it should come, He said all should come. 

Isn’t that exciting to know we can come to Him with anything no matter how big or small.  In my personal experience with inner healing, I bought into all the lies the enemy told me at first until I realized God did care about the things that had been buried for 20 years, or the things I thought were too embarrassing or painful to share with Him or anyone else.   I had myself talked into failure before I ever gave God the chance to work.  My first few times meeting with people from the healing team were pretty painful.  It was hard with so much emotion and pain to see where God was working in the beginning, and pouring out my feelings to practical strangers was by far not fun.   A friend once told me, “The battle is the hardest at the gate.”  That statement is very true.  I wanted to give up and go back to the place I thought was safe, where I had blocked all the memories from the past.  That was another great lie from the enemy.  He doesn’t want us to be healed and exchange our sorrows, pain and misery for forgiveness, acceptance and healing from our Father.  Our secret safe places where we hide all these things are not safe at all.  In fact, it is the opposite.  The only safe place for all our burdens is with Jesus.

Meeting with the healing team to lay out all the mess I had buried away for so many years was a blessing that has changed my life forever.  The Holy Spirit led these meetings and was very gentle as we revisited old memories.  He transformed old, hidden, scary memories into beautiful treasures.  Things that were so unbearable to think about are now something that I can talk to anyone about with joy.  That is amazing!  Only our loving Father could take something in which we see no hope or restoration and turn it into something beautiful,

So my brothers and sisters in Christ, I encourage you to embrace the healing ministry at Holy Trinity and use it.  It is a gift God has given us to use.  And always remember nothing is impossible with God.

Only God can turn… a mess into a message... a test into a testimony...a trial into a triumph... a victim into a victor