« September 2008 | Main | November 2008 »

Of course we know this coming weekend is a festival weekend: “Halloween”; it has been moved from a children’s festival to a young adult festival funding by the alcohol companies. Mexican culture will celebrate the “Day of the Dead.” Saturday for Roman Catholics with direct European ties will be “All Saint’s Day” -- a day when Catholics are supposed to go to Mass.
I don’t know the whole history of this day or its cultural variations. But as a people who must cherish the memories of the “cloud of witnesses” who have gone before us, it is good for us to remember those Christians in whom the form of Christ has particularly shown as models for us to emulate. The saints take away the argument that “the Christian live is not possible” because they show us the depth that God’s grace can reform lives.

Thus on Sunday we will read the “All Saint’s Day” readings from the Book of Common Prayer to direct our worship as we prepare for the Eucharist. I hope that they help us remember all those who have gone before us that our lives presuppose, particularly the ones like Glenn Leadingham whose simple and profound Christian witness God used to reach out to me. We will read two “Epistle” readings before moving to the Gospel.

Revelation 7:9-17

The passage gives a vision into the heavens, a contemporary glimpse into that which has/will happen from the perspective of the heavens. It works in imagery to describe what cannot be described usual language. It is interesting to see how the imagery works in relationship to space and other images in the passage and book.

What does the seer see and what are they doing? What is the basis for the “multitudes” behavior? Why would the seer not realize where they have come? Dispentationalists have often given the term “the great ordeal” or “the great tribulation” to make it a very “specific” time. Look at Revelation 7. It seems to me that “the great ordeal” is time that we live on this earth between the times of Christ’s coming. Why would this time, including our own, be called a “great ordeal”? What have/do Christians experience about this age that makes it a “tribulation”? What does it mean to wash robes white in the blood of the Lamb? How does that imagery relate to the “coming out of the great ordeal”?

What is the result of their coming out of this ordeal? What do they experience “in the heavens”? Peak ahead and read the Gospel reading – how does the imagery here relate to the Beatitudes? Why would those who are gathered still be crying and then wiped away?

1 John 3:1-3

What does this passage presuppose about “we” and “the world”? What do we find out about the love of the Father? How does the “world” not know? Why? What does the passage suggest about the relationship between who “we” are know to who “we” will become? How would it be that “hope” purifies?

Matthew 5:1-12

To my mind this passage represents an epitome, short summary, of the basic teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as preserved for the church. Read each Beatitude and see if one can relate the first clause of the sentence to the last. Why does the passage not give instructions on what to do here, but instead describe the conditions of those who have particular type of experiences cast upon them? How does this form, the declaration of blessings, relate this passage to those given in Revelation and 1 John passage?
Can you share stories where you can see the relationship between those described in Revelation and the “blessed” on this earth as described in the Gospel story? How do these lives give you hope? What does this hope do?

Have a wonderful weekend!

Posted by johnwright at 4:21 PM | Comments (3)

At the center of our heritage in the Church of the Nazarene, a certain pivotal certain historically, is the life, witness, and writings of John Wesley, an 18th century Anglican Priest. Wesley began a movement within the Church of England that soon attracted dissenters, and even some Roman Catholics. They met, not as a congregation, but as a "Methodist Society" -- both in smaller groups during the week, and then on Sunday night, several groups would meet for a preaching and singing meeting on Sunday nights. At the center of their purpose was to experience the love of God shed abroad in their heart, cleansing it from sinful tempers and placing within it holy tempers -- what Wesley called "Christian Perfection" or "entire sanctification."

Wesley here was no different from St. Augustine, who in On Christian Doctrine, who finds the end of reading Scriptures, as well as the end of the Christian life in love of God and neighbor:

the fulfillment and the end of the Law, and of all Holy Scripture, is the love of an object which is to be enjoyed, and the love of an object which can enjoy that other in fellowship with ourselves. For there is no need of a command that each man should love himself. The whole temporal dispensation for our salvation, therefore, was framed by the providence of God that we might know this truth and be able to act upon it; and we ought to use that dispensation, not with such love and delight as if it were a good to rest in, but with a transient feeling rather, such as we have towards the road, or carriages, or other things that are merely means. Perhaps some other comparison can be found that will more suitably express the idea that we are to love the things by which we are borne only for the sake of that towards which we are borne.

Our Scriptures this week center around this central teaching of the Christian tradition, a center right in the middle that the heritage of the Church of the Nazarene stands. To begin with the OT reading, move to the gospel and then end with the epistle might help us experience this movement.

For our main exercise today, however, I would like us to read the Scriptures with minimal questions in order to then listen to them in light of a sermon, The Scripture Way of Salvation, written by John Wesley:

Exodus 22:21-27

Read Exod. 19:1-6: What is the purpose of keeping the law? What type of persons and congregation would we need to become in order to become persons capable of keeping the commands given in Exod 22:21-27? What are the warrants for keeping these commandments?

Matthew 22:34-46

How does Jesus question about the Messiah relate to the Pharisees question about the Law? Why upon "these two commandments" do "all the law and the prophets" hang? Is obedience a matter merely of outward conformity? Can the formation of inward experience take place properly without external conformity to what we see in our OT reading? Why or why not?

1 Thessalonians 2:1-8

What sort of "tempers" or "passions" does Paul exhibit in this passage? How does it seem that these emotions or passions formed?

Having read the passages, read this sermon from John Wesley: What is the requirements that Wesley sees for receiving the fullness of salvation? How does Wesley's sermon help us understand the Scriptures for this week?

Have a wonderful evening!

From http://wesley.nnu.edu/john_wesley/sermons/043.htm

The Sermons of John Wesley
1872 Edition
(Thomas Jackson, editor)
SERMON FORTY-THREE
The Scripture Way of Salvation
"Ye are saved through faith." -- Ephesians 2:8.

1. Nothing can be more intricate, complex, and hard to be understood, than religion, as it has been often described. And this is not only true concerning the religion of the Heathens, even many of the wisest of them, but concerning the religion of those also who were, in some sense, Christians; yea, and men of great name in the Christian world; men who seemed to be pillars thereof. Yet how easy to be understood, how plain and simple a thing, is the genuine religion of Jesus Christ; provided only that we take it in its native form, just as it is described in the oracles of God! It is exactly suited, by the wise Creator and Governor of the world, to the weak understanding and narrow capacity of man in his present state. How observable is this, both with regard to the end it proposes, and the means to attain that end! The end is, in one word, salvation; the means to attain it, faith.

2. It is easily discerned, that these two little words, I mean faith and salvation, include the substance of all the Bible, the marrow, as it were, of the whole Scripture. So much the more should we take all possible care to avoid all mistake concerning them, and to form a true and accurate judgement concerning both the one and the other.

3. Let us then seriously inquire,

I. What is Salvation?

II. What is that faith whereby we are saved? And,

III. How are we saved by it?

1. I. And, first, let us inquire, What is salvation? The salvation which is here spoken of is not what is frequently understood by that word, the going to heaven, eternal happiness. It is not the soul's going to paradise, termed by our Lord, "Abraham's bosom." It is not a blessing which lies on the other side death; or, as we usually speak, in the other world. The very words of the text itself put this beyond all question: "Ye are saved." It is not something at a distance: it is a present thing; a blessing which, through the free mercy of God, ye are now in possession of. Nay, the words may be rendered, and that with equal propriety, "Ye have been saved": so that the salvation which is here spoken of might be extended to the entire work of God, from the first dawning of grace in the soul, till it is consummated in glory.

2. If we take this in its utmost extent, it will include all that is wrought in the soul by what is frequently termed "natural conscience," but more properly, "preventing grace"; --all the drawings of the Father; the desires after God, which, if we yield to them, increase more and more; --all that light wherewith the Son of God "enlighteneth every one that cometh into the world;" showing every man "to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with his God"; --all the convictions which His Spirit, from time to time, works in every child of man--although it is true, the generality of men stifle them as soon as possible, and after a while forget, or at least deny, that they ever had them at all.

3. But we are at present concerned only with that salvation which the Apostle is directly speaking of. And this consists of two general parts, justification and sanctification.

Justification is another word for pardon. It is the forgiveness of all our sins; and , what is necessarily implied therein, our acceptance with God. The price whereby this hath been procured for us (commonly termed "the meritorious cause of our justification"), is the blood and righteousness of Christ; or, to express it a little more clearly, all that Christ hath done and suffered for us, till He "poured out His soul for the transgressors." The immediate effects of justification are, the peace of God, a "peace that passeth all understanding," and a "rejoicing in hope of the glory of God" "with joy unspeakable and full of glory."

4. And at the same time that we are justified, yea, in that very moment, sanctification begins. In that instant we are born again, born from above, born of the Spirit: there is a real as well as a relative change. We are inwardly renewed by the power of God. We feel "the love of God shed abroad in our heart by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us"; producing love to all mankind, and more especially to the children of God; expelling the love of the world, the love of pleasure, of ease, of honour, of money, together with pride, anger, self-will, and every other evil temper; in a word, changing the earthly, sensual, devilish mind, into "the mind which was in Christ Jesus."

5. How naturally do those who experience such a change imagine that all sin is gone; that it is utterly rooted out of their heart, and has no more any place therein! How easily do they draw that inference, "I feel no sin; therefore, I have none: it does not stir; therefore it does not exist: it has no motion; therefore, it has no being!"

6. But it is seldom long before they are undeceived, finding sin was only suspended, not destroyed. Temptations return, and sin revives; showing it was but stunned before, not dead. They now feel two principles in themselves, plainly contrary to each other; "the flesh lusting against the Spirit"; nature opposing the grace of God. They cannot deny, that although they still feel power to believe in Christ, and to love God; and although His "Spirit" still "witnesses with their spirits, that they are children of God"; yet they feel in themselves sometimes pride or self-will, sometimes anger or unbelief. They find one or more of these frequently stirring in their heart, though not conquering; yea, perhaps, "thrusting sore at them that they may fall"; but the Lord is their help.

7. How exactly did Macarius, fourteen hundred years ago, describe the present experience of the children of God: "The unskilful," or unexperienced, "when grace operates, presently imagine they have no more sin. Whereas they that have discretion cannot deny, that even we who have the grace of God may be molested again. For we have often had instances of some among the brethren, who have experienced such grace as to affirm that they had no sin in them; and yet, after all, when they thought themselves entirely freed from it, the corruption that lurked within was stirred up anew, and they were wellnigh burned up."

8. From the time of our being born again, the gradual work of sanctification takes place. We are enabled "by the Spirit" to "mortify the deeds of the body," of our evil nature; and as we are more and more dead to sin, we are more and more alive to God. We so on from grace to grace, while we are careful to "abstain from all appearance of evil," and are "zealous of good works," as we have opportunity, doing good to all men; while we walk in all His ordinances blameless, therein worshipping Him in spirit and in truth; while we take up our cross, and deny ourselves every pleasure that does not lead us to God.

9. It is thus that we wait for entire sanctification; for a full salvation from all our sins, --from pride, self-will, anger, unbelief; or, as the Apostle expresses it, "go unto perfection." But what is perfection? The word has various senses: here it means perfect love. It is love excluding sin; love filling the heart, taking up the whole capacity of the soul. It is love "rejoicing evermore, praying without ceasing, in everything giving thanks."

II. But what is faith through which we are saved? This is the second point to be considered.

1. Faith, in general, is defined by the Apostle, elegcos pragmatvn ou blepomenvn. An evidence, a divine evidence and conviction (the word means both) of things not seen; not visible, not perceivable either by sight, or by any other of the external senses. It implies both a supernatural evidence of God, and of the things of God; a kind of spiritual light exhibited to the soul, and a supernatural sight or perception thereof. Accordingly, the Scripture speaks of God's giving sometimes light, sometimes a power of discerning it. So St. Paul: "God, who commanded light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." And elsewhere the same Apostle speaks of "the eyes of" our "understanding being opened." By this two-fold operation of the Holy Spirit, having the eyes of our soul both opened and enlightened, we see the things which the natural "eye hath not seen, neither the ear heard." We have a prospect of the invisible things of God; we see the spiritual world, which is all round about us, and yet no more discerned by our natural faculties than if it had no being. And we see the eternal world; piercing through the veil which hangs between time and eternity. Clouds and darkness then rest upon it no more, but we already see the glory which shall be revealed.

2. Taking the word in a more particular sense, faith is a divine evidence and conviction not only that "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself," but also that Christ loved me, and gave Himself for me. It is by this faith (whether we term it the essence, or rather a property thereof) that we receive Christ; that we receive Him in all His offices, as our Prophet, Priest, and King. It is by this that He is "made of God unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption."

3. "But is this the faith of assurance, or faith of adherence?" The Scripture mentions no such distinction. The Apostle says, "There is one faith, and one hope of our calling"; one Christian, saving faith; "as there is one Lord," in whom we believe, and "one God and Father of us all." And it is certain, this faith necessarily implies an assurance (which is here only another word for evidence, it being hard to tell the difference between them) that Christ loved me, and gave Himself for me. For "he that believeth" with the true living faith "hath the witness in himself": "the Spirit witnesseth with his spirit that he is a child of God." "Because he is a son, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into his heart, crying, Abba, Father"; giving him an assurance that he is so, and a childlike confidence in Him. But let it be observed, that, in the very nature of the thing, the assurance goes before the confidence. For a man cannot have a childlike confidence in God till he knows he is a child of God. Therefore, confidence, trust, reliance, adherence, or whatever else it be called, is not the first, as some have supposed, but the second, branch or act of faith.

4. It is by this faith we are saved, justified, and sanctified; taking that word in its highest sense. But how are we justified and sanctified by faith? This is our third head of inquiry. And this being the main point in question, and a point of no ordinary importance, it will not be improper to five it a more distinct and particular consideration.

III. 1. And, first, how are we justified by faith? In what sense is this to be understood? I answer, Faith is the condition, and the only condition, of justification. It is the condition: none is justified but he that believes: without faith no man is justified. And it is the only condition: this alone is sufficient for justification. Every one that believes is justified, whatever else he has or has not. In other words: no man is justified till he believes; every man when he believes is justified.

2. "But does not God command us to repent also? Yea, and to `bring forth fruits meet for repentance'--to cease, for instance, from doing evil, and learn to do well? And is not both the one and the other of the utmost necessity, insomuch that if we willingly neglect either, we cannot reasonably expect to be justified at all? But if this be so, how can it be said that faith is the only condition of justification?" God does undoubtedly command us both to repent, and to bring forth fruits meet for repentance; which if we willingly neglect, we cannot reasonably expect to be justified at all: therefore both repentance, and fruits meet for repentance, are, in some sense, necessary to justification. But they are not necessary in the same sense with faith, nor in the same degree. Not in the same degree; for those fruits are only necessary conditionally; if there be time and opportunity for them. Otherwise a man may be justified without them, as was the thief upon the cross (if we may call him so; for a late writer has discovered that he was no thief, but a very honest and respectable person!); but he cannot be justified without faith; this is impossible. Likewise, let a man have ever so much repentance, or ever so many of the fruits meet for repentance, yet all this does not at all avail; he is not justified till he believes. But the moment he believes, with or without those fruits, yea, with more or less repentance, he is justified. --Not in the same sense; for repentance and its fruits are only remotely necessary; necessary in order to faith; whereas faith is immediately necessary to justification. It remains, that faith is the only condition, which is immediately and proximately necessary to justification.

3. "But do you believe we are sanctified by faith? We know you believe that we are justified by faith; but do not you believe, and accordingly teach, that we are sanctified by our works?" So it has been roundly and vehemently affirmed for these five-and-twenty years: but I have constantly declared just the contrary; and that in all manner of ways. I have continually testified in private and in public, that we are sanctified as well as justified by faith. And indeed the one of those great truths does exceedingly illustrate the other. Exactly as we are justified by faith, so are we sanctified by faith. Faith is the condition, and the only condition, of sanctification, exactly as it is of justification. It is the condition: none is sanctified but he that believes; with out faith no man is sanctified. And it is the only condition: this alone is sufficient for sanctification. Every one that believes is sanctified, whatever else he has or has not. In other words, no man is sanctified till he believes: every man when he believes is sanctified.

4. "But is there not a repentance consequent upon, as well as a repentance previous to, justification? And is it not incumbent on all that are justified to be `zealous of good works'? Yea, are not these so necessary, that if a man willingly neglect them he cannot reasonably expect that he shall ever be sanctified in the full sense; that is, perfected in love? Nay, can he grow at all in grace, in the loving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ? Yea, can he retain the grace which God has already given him? Can he continue in the faith which he has received, or in the favour of God. Do not you yourself allow all this, and continually assert it? But, if this be so, how can it be said that faith is the only condition of sanctification?"

5. I do allow all this, and continually maintain it as the truth of God. I allow there is a repentance consequent upon, as well as a repentance previous to, justification. It is incumbent on all that are justified to be zealous of good works. And there are so necessary, that if a man willingly neglect them, he cannot reasonably expect that he shall ever be sanctified; he cannot grow in grace, in the image of God, the mind which was in Christ Jesus; nay, he cannot retain the grace he has received; he cannot continue in faith, or in the favour of God. What is the inference we mist draw herefrom? Why, that both repentance, rightly understood, and the practice of all good works, --works of piety, as well as works of mercy (now properly so called, since they spring from faith), are, in some sense, necessary to sanctification.

6. I say, "repentance rightly understood"; for this must not be confounded with the former repentance. The repentance consequent upon justification is widely different from that which is antecedent to it. This implies no guilt, no sense of condemnation, no consciousness of the wrath of God. It does not suppose any doubt of the favour of God, or any "fear that hath torment." It is properly a conviction, wrought by the Holy Ghost, of the sin which still remains in our heart; of the jronhma sarkos, the carnal mind, which "does still remain" (as our Church speaks) "even in them that are regenerate"; although it does no longer reign; it has not now dominion over them. It is a conviction of our proneness to evil, of an heart bent to backsliding, of the still continuing tendency of the flesh to lust against the spirit. Sometimes, unless we continually watch and pray, it lusteth to pride, sometimes to anger, sometimes to love of the world, love of ease, love of honour, or love of pleasure more than of God. It is a conviction of the tendency of our heart to self-will, to Atheism, or idolatry; and above all, to unbelief; whereby, in a thousand ways, and under a thousand pretenses, we are ever departing, more or less, from the living God.

7. With this conviction of the sin remaining in our hearts, there is joined a clear conviction of the sin remaining in our lives; still cleaving to all our words and actions. In the best of these we now discern a mixture of evil, either in the spirit, the matter, or the manner of them; something that could not endure the righteous judgement of God, were He extreme to mark what is done amiss. Where we least suspected it, we find a taint of pride or self-will, of unbelief or idolatry; so that we are now more ashamed of our best duties than formerly of our worst sins: and hence we cannot but feel that these are so far from having anything meritorious in them, yea, so far from being able to stand in sight of the divine justice, that for those also we should be guilty before God, were it not for the blood of the covenant.

8. Experience shows that, together with this conviction of sin remaining in our hearts, and cleaving to all our words and actions; as well as the guilt which on account thereof we should incur, were we not continually sprinkled with the atoning blood; one thing more is implied in this repentance; namely, a conviction of our helplessness, of our utter inability to think one good thought, or to form one good desire; and much more to speak one word aright, or to perform one good action, but through His free, almighty grace, first preventing us, and then accompanying us every moment.

9. "But what good works are those, the practice of which you affirm to be necessary to sanctification?" First, all works of piety; such as public prayer, family prayer, and praying in our closet; receiving the supper of the Lord; searching the Scriptures, by hearing, reading, meditating; and using such a measure of fasting or abstinence as our bodily health allows.

10. Secondly, all works of mercy; whether they relate to the bodies or souls of men; such as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, entertaining the stranger, visiting those that are in prison, or sick, or variously afflicted; such as the endeavouring to instruct the ignorant, to awaken the stupid sinner, to quicken the lukewarm, to confirm the wavering, to comfort the feeble-minded, to succour the tempted, or contribute in any manner to the saving of souls from death. This is the repentance, and these the "fruits meet for repentance," which are necessary to full sanctification. This is the way wherein God hath appointed His children to wait for complete salvation.

11. Hence may appear the extreme mischievousness of that seemingly innocent opinion, that there is no sin in a believer; that all sin is destroyed, root and branch, the moment a man is justified. By totally preventing that repentance, it quite blocks up the way to sanctification. There is no place for repentance in him who believes there is no sin either in his life or heart: consequently, there is no place for his being perfected in love, to which that repentance is indispensably necessary.

12. Hence it may likewise appear, that there is no possible danger in thus expecting full salvation. For suppose we were mistaken, suppose no such blessing ever was or can be attained, yet we lose nothing: nay, that very expectation quickens us in using all the talents which God has given us; yea, in improving them all; so that when our Lord cometh, He will receive His own with increase.

13. But to return. though it be allowed, that both this repentance and its fruits are necessary to full salvation; yet they are not necessary either in the same sense with faith, or in the same degree: --Not in the same degree; for these fruits are only necessary conditionally, if there be time and opportunity for them; otherwise a man may be sanctified without them. But he cannot be sanctified without faith. likewise, let a man have ever so much of this repentance, or ever so many good works, yet all this does not at all avail: he is not sanctified till he believes. But the moment he believes, with or without those fruits, yea, with more or less of this repentance, he is sanctified. --Not in the same sense; for this repentance and these fruits are only remotely necessary, --necessary in order to the continuance of his faith, as well as the increase of it; whereas faith is immediately and directly necessary to sanctification. It remains, that faith is the only condition which is immediately and proximately necessary to sanctification.

14. "But what is that faith whereby we are sanctified, --saved from sin, and perfected in love?" It is a divine evidence and conviction, first, that God hath promised it in the holy Scripture. Till we are thoroughly satisfied of this, there in no moving one step further. And one would imagine there needed not one word more to satisfy a reasonable man of this, than the ancient promise, "Then will I circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord they God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." How clearly does this express the being perfected in love! --how strongly imply the being saved from all sin! For as long as love takes up the whole heart, what room is there for sin therein?

15. It is a divine evidence and conviction, secondly, that what God hath promised He is able to perform. Admitting, therefore, that "with men it is impossible" to "bring a clean thing out of an unclean," to purify the heart from all sin, and to till it with all holiness; yet this creates no difficulty in the case, seeing "with God all things are possible." And surely no one ever imagined it was possible to any power less than that of the Almighty! But if God speaks, it shall be done. God saith, "Let there be light; and there" is "light"!

16. It is, thirdly, a divine evidence and conviction that He is able and willing to do it now. And why not? Is not a moment to Him the same as a thousand years? He cannot want more time to accomplish whatever is His will. And He cannot want or stay for any more worthiness or fitness in the persons He is pleased to honour. We may therefore boldly say, at any point of time, "Now is the day of salvation!" "To-day, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts!" "Behold, all things are now ready; come unto the marriage!"

17. To this confidence, that God is both able and willing to sanctify us now, there needs to be added one thing more, --a divine evidence and conviction that He doeth it. In that hour it is done: God says to the inmost soul, "According to thy faith be it unto thee!" Then the soul is pure from every spot of sin; it is clean "from all unrighteousness." The believer then experiences the deep meaning of those solemn words, "If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin."

18. "But does God work this great work in the soul gradually or instantaneously?" Perhaps it may be gradually wrought in some; I mean in this sense, --they do not advert to the particular moment wherein sin ceases to be. But it us infinitely desirable, were it the will of God, that it should be done instantaneously; that the Lord should destroy sin "by the breath of His mouth," in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. And so He generally does; a plain fact, of which there is evidence enough to satisfy any unprejudiced person. Thou therefore look for it every moment! Look for it in the way above described; in all those good works whereunto thou art "created anew in Christ Jesus." There in then no danger: you can be no worse, if you are no better, for that expectation. For were you to be disappointed of your hope, still you lose nothing. But you shall not be disappointed of your hope: it will come, and will not tarry. Look for it then every day, every hour, every moment! Why not this hour, this moment? Certainly you may look for it now, if you believe it is by faith. And by this token you may surely know whether you seek it by faith or by works. If by works, you want something to be done first, before you are sanctified. You think, I must first be or do thus or thus. Then you are seeking it by works unto this day. If you seek it by faith, you may expect it as you are; and expect it now. It is of importance to observe, that there is an inseparable connexion between these three points, --expect it by faith; expect it as you are; and expect it now! To deny one of them, is to deny them all; to allow one, is to allow them all. Do you believe we are sanctified by faith? Be true then to your principle; and look for this blessing just as you are, neither better nor worse; as a poor sinner that has still nothing to pay, nothing to plead, but "Christ died." And if you look for it as you are, then expect it now. Stay for nothing: why should you? Christ is ready; and He is all you want. He is waiting for you: He is at the door! Let your inmost soul cry out,

Come in, come in, thou heavenly Guest! Nor hence again remove;

But sup with me, and let the feast Be everlasting love.

Posted by johnwright at 3:09 PM | Comments (3)

The politics of the nation-state have kicked into their highest tones of shrillness as elections draw near. I must admit to a bit of fascination watching the theater unfold. Given the impact of unemployment and inflation on the poor, the violence of invasion and war, the continued loss of the life of the unborn, I pray for justice, though I hope at most for less injustice. The problem, of course, is that no one has the capacity to see the relative insignificance of the elections, except the poor. They know that they will be excluded no matter who sits in what chamber to cast votes. One can not have justice without just persons, and one cannot have just persons unless one begins with proper worship of the Triune God.

Our readings this week give a perspective for us – the church whose citizenship is in heaven. The readings remind us that regardless of the “winners” and “losers”, we will continue to live as aliens and sojourners – pilgrims. Most important they remind us that the nation-state is not sovereign; God is sovereign. The leaders of the world serve God, ultimately whether they want to or not, in their victories and in their defeats. This does not condone their activities. They are ordained by God to restrain evil, not to accomplish the good. If they fail at this divinely ordained task, they will receive God’s judgment. We cannot collapse the significance of the eternal to its support of the temporal; but the temporal bears its significance only in light of the eternal.
By beginning with the OT reading, moving to the Gospel, and then on to the Epistle, we find a work of faith, a labor of love, and an assurance of hope that keeps us going in the hard work of living as a pilgrim people, carrying for a pilgrimage way-station, vowed to works of mercy in these times.

Isaiah 45:1-7

A little background can help understand this passage. Cyrus was a Iranian king who looked to conquer a Iraqi (Babylonian) empire. The Babylonians had taken captive persons who had lived in Jerusalem and deported them into southern Iraq. The passage describes the capital of the Babylonians – Babylon (!). It was in an island with gates, bronze, etc.

What does the Lord say about the Lord’s relationship to Cyrus? Is this relationship reciprocal – is Cyrus aware of it? What is the purpose for the divine election of Cyrus? How does Cyrus’ election by God relate to God’s election of Israel? Ultimately, who is this passage about? Is Cyrus sovereign? Who does this passage reveal the Lord to be? What are the implications of this for God’s elect, Israel?

Matthew 22:15-22

On Sunday we will spend much of our time on this passage. Again some background: the Roman emperor claimed, and his adherents, claimed to be a god, worthy of ultimately loyalty/faith; taxes went to support the imperial occupation of Judah and Galilee through a political ruler who claimed to be sovereign, as a god the representative of the gods. It is not merely that the image of Caesar that would offend Jews, it is the divine claim for Caesar that accompanied his claim for sovereignty.

What is the purpose of the flattery that the Pharisees and Herodians with the initial statement to Jesus? Why does Jesus ask for a coin before answering? It seems to me that there are two interpretations of Jesus’ statement, maybe both valid. One is based upon the assumption that Jesus presupposes two realms of existence: one governed by Caesar, one governed by God. If so, what does the statement mean? The other presupposes that there is only one realm and God reigns over it in sovereignty; Caesar as an idol, a false god. If so what does the statement mean? Can both interpretations be simultaneously correct? If so, what does that mean?

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Our passage provides an exhortation for our response to the above statements. First, how is it that the writes give thanks for the believers in Thessalonica? What is it about the Thessalonians that brings forth thanksgiving for them? What “kind of persons” does the passage encourage us to become? What was the basis, the beginning for the Thessalonians to become this type of people? Note that the threefold supernatural virtues of faith, hope, and love occur in this passage. How are these virtues related to the persecution that the Thessalonians have experienced? What does that persecution tell them about their “citizenship”?

As one reads these passages, what is the implications for life in this world of God’s sovereignty for the church? Why do issues of “citizenship” bring forth such deep passions?
Have a wonderful evening!

Posted by johnwright at 12:22 PM | Comments (5)

One important lesson that Alasdair MacIntyre has taught me is that human actions become intelligible only within broader narratives. The narrative in which one embeds an action determines before hand how one understands that action – and, of course, we can place actions within various underlying narratives. Actions never come to us as “fact” separated from “value” but already have their “value” embedded within them.

This does not force us into relativism. Narratives are not mere human constructions; narratives are true or false to the extent that they can account for what is at hand better than their rivals. We can improve the rationality of narratives by placing what is at hand in narratives that form us more adequately to what really is.

With this in mind I want to outline in broad strokes a story in which the Church of the Nazarene becomes fully intelligible. I do not want to claim of the beginnings of a “Protestant denomination” is false; it is obvious that such a story captures what it has become in many, many senses. I want to claim, however, that telling the story in that way is grossly distorting; it does not place the Church of the Nazarene within its most significant narrative framework. To speak of the Church of the Nazarene as the history of a Protestant denomination places it within the market dynamics of voluntary, civil organizations in capitalist countries where various groups compete with each other and with secular groups for adherence to certain “beliefs” embedded within certain organizational structures. When seen, however, within the broader and longer story of the church catholic, certain characteristics emerge that reveals it as the story of a renewal movement for Christian holiness within the church catholic. Only in this sense does its history and contemporary documents become fully coherent and understandable.

To tell the full story I would like to speak of seven “events” in the history of the church catholic through the ages by which we can place the Church of the Nazarene in its “natural” habitat of the historical life of the church. By an “event”, I mean an occurrence that has on-going determinative significance for history. The resurrection of Jesus is the greatest “event” in history; a re-run of Seinfeld is not an “event”, no matter how much the television teasers try to convince the potential viewer that it is. In coming posts I will fill out these events:

(1) The continuation of the apostolic church as into the early church as the pursuit of the life of holiness in witness to the world to the God revealed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
(2) The Constantinian Settlement and monastic renewal to keep the church anchored in the life, teachings, death and resurrection of Jesus through the pursuit of holiness.
(3) Late medieval nominalism and divine voluntarism in which salvation becomes understood as judicial “payment” by God for humans or by humans to God. Salvation occurs by the arbitrary eternal divine will or by human self-determination, rather than participation in the divine life through God becoming human in Jesus, participated in through the Sacramental life of the church for the transformation of human lives “to the image of God” as the life of holiness.
(4) The English Reformation that “strips the altars” and diminishes the on-going work of the Spirit in human lives in order to emphasize the “Word of God” in the apostolic era for church renewal. This movement finds its ultimate expression in the Puritan divines that gut the Church of England of its sense of participation in the divine mysteries through Christ in order to subordinate the church to the crown from the on-going moral ordering of the society.
(5) The Wesleyan Renewal the seeks a return to the pre-Constantinian pursuit of holiness for lay persons and clergy by invoking a monastic type of discipline for Christians who live in the “every day world” as Christians for the pursuit of Christian perfection.
(6) The Holiness Movement Renewal of American Methodism that arises as 19th century Methodism accommodates theologically to its setting within a liberal-democratic society that results in its movement to social impact and influence through a process of embourgeoisment. The emphasis on holiness via participation in the Methodist/monastic discipline gets lost in the emphasis on justification for higher numbers of adherents.
(7) The Church of the Nazarene emerges as the attempt to return Methodism to its early roots in the practices and teachings of Wesley for the sake of “Christianizing Christianity.”

The Church of the Nazarene, therefore, participates in the same stream of the Christian tradition, a return to the sources, at the beginning of the twentieth century that Vatican II participated in at its end. John W. O’Malley has just written, What Happened at Vatican II? (Harvard University Press, 2008). He argues that “the call to holiness” became “one of the great themes running through the council . . . . Holiness, the council thus said, is what the church is all about. This is an old truth, of course, and in itself is not remarkable. Yet no previous council had ever explicitly asserted this idea and certainly never developed it so repeatedly and at length. The genres and vocabularies of those councils, the assumption that they were judicial-legislative bodies, precluded such a theme. The call to holiness is something more than external conformity to enforceable codes of conduct. It is a call that, though it must have external form, relates more directly to the higher impulses of the human spirit, which in the council often got specified in commitment to the service of others in the world” (p. 51).

Obviously this is going to be a complex and even bewildering story. Perhaps I am not the one to tell it in its detail. But the story of the “renewal movement within the church catholic” verses the emergence and growth of a new Protestant denomination has the distinct rational advantage of (1) recognizing that the Church of the Nazarene participates in a long history before it even existed; and (2) its sharing in the call to holiness at the core of its life that emerges as well in Vatican II. I would argue, therefore, that this is a rationally superior manner of telling its history and opens up opportunities for return and its future to a mission that has always been inherent to it, while even awaiting its discovery and implementation.

Posted by johnwright at 8:39 PM | Comments (7)

Last week we began the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Church of the Nazarene with a multicongregational service. We continue this week in this theme as a time to reflect and commit to our mission here at the Church of the Nazarene in Mid-City. We are a pilgrim people, called to care for a pilgrimage way-station, vowed to the works of mercy. This mission is not an end in itself. We can “follow all the rules” and “do everything that we say we will” and still miss the real importance of our participation in the congregation’s mission: through engaging in this mission and practices together, the real end of our work is to let the Holy Spirit cleanse us from inward sin and fill our lives with the fullness of love that comes from the experience of the depth of forgiveness of our sins in Jesus Christ. Reading the Scriptures, preaching the Gospel, participating in the Sacraments, and ministry with and among the poor are simply a means of God’s grace for this cleansing – our sanctification. I am convinced that this cleansing cannot take place without our active participation in these external acts; but the external acts are for the transformation of our character so that our affections might take on the fullness of the fruits of the Spirit dwelling in our lives: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. The virtues only arise in our lives as a gift, arising from faith in Jesus Christ and having God’s love, as John Wesley said, being “shed abroad in our hearts.”

We in the Church of the Nazarene, and the English-speaking Church of the Nazarene in particular, do not stand alone in understanding this end for the Christian life. This understanding of sanctification – holiness -- as the goal of the Christian life lies at the center of the Scripture and the Christian tradition through the ages. Yet the history of the church teaches us that such an end often gets lost in the pressures of the church to be formed, not by the Scriptures and the communion of saints through the ages, but by the present context of our surrounding environment. Rather then surrounded by the cloud of witnesses in Hebrews 11 we our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, we look for influence or prestige within the surrounding culture. In our day these pressures come in either looking to assimilate into a consumerist culture by emphasizing individualistic therapeutic expression and/or social activism to push the society to a political agenda outside the church. Either one of those are not in themselves bad things. The fruits of the Spirit are profoundly therapeutic for individuals in the truest sense of the term and the church’s witness and activities should be seen and witnessed and make an impact in the world. But these are not the end, the goal, of the church. They arise as the consequences of participating in the true end of the Christian life: the cleansing of inward sin by the work of the Holy Spirit to bring forth in our lives the fullness of love of God and neighbor as the deepest habit of our lives through faith in Jesus Christ. The proper product of a congregation’s existence is saints: those caught up in the love of God Father though Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit to be re-formed into the image of God in which and for which we were created.

With this in mind, we can turn to read this week’s Scriptures. To read them from the Isaiah reading to the Gospel reading, to the Epistle may help us see the necessity of the depth of the work of God in our lives:

Isaiah 25:1-9

Why does the exalt God? What is the difference between God’s treatment of the “ruthless people” and the poor? What does this tell us? Note how the language moves from “what God has and is doing” and the future tense when the text turns towards “this mountain” and “on that day”. How does this imagery work in the text? What is the significance of the image of a mountain? What if one thinks of “this mountain” in terms of Golgotha and also in terms of Christian worship? What takes place in those settings that relate to the text?

Matthew 22:1-14

List the various stages in that Jesus speaks about in the parable. Note that the kingdom is like the king. What does the parable tell you about the king as it moves through the events of the parable? What is the difference between the king’s reaction to those w ho refuse to come and the one who comes but does not “dress” appropriately? What does it imply that the king requires? How does this relate to the invitations?

Philippians 4:4-13

How does the Philippians text describe what it is to receive the king’s invitation and to dress appropriately? How does it relate to the Isaiah text? What does it mean to “do all things through him who strengthens me”? Looking at all these texts together, what is it to “learn the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry”? How is this related to the positive side of Paul’s instruction?

Given these passages, what is the importance of sanctification and what is the means of experiencing the fullness of God’s grace?

Posted by johnwright at 3:44 PM | Comments (4)

Tomorrow we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Church of the Nazarene, a date determined by the joining of eastern and western wings of different groups, including an already existing Church of the Nazarene, in Pilot Point, Texas in 1908. This fact reveals much about the Church of the Nazarene: Pilot Point Texas is not exactly the cosmopolitan center of the universe. According to its entry on Wikipedia, the town, as of the 2000 census, has a population of 3538 persons on 3 square miles of land; if my search of ancestry.com was correct, the town possessed a population of 1371 in the 1910 census. It is hard to be triumphalistic when your founding event takes place in Pilot Point, Texas!

Tomorrow all seven congregations that comprise the Church of the Nazarene in Mid-City in San Diego will gather in a multicongregational service. It also begins a “heritage month” within the English-speaking congregation at the Church of the Nazarene in San Diego. During this time, we hope to place our mission within the tradition of these obscure people who decided to live in discipline with each other as followers of Christ for the pursuit of Christian holiness in witness to the world in 1908. I hope that I can do some blogging during this time to tell this story within the context of the story of the church catholic. I would like to begin by explaining why this is so important.

We live in a cultural context, particularly in American Protestantism, that has abstracted the life of the church from the history of a people in order that it might be adjusted better to the market conditions of the contemporary society. We live amid a tradition that forces human beings to have no history, to abstract their lives from the particular histories of family and church so that they might be made part of a “universal project” of a particular nationality. Within this setting the education project forms us to be “autonomous individuals” capable of “choosing our identity”—and I hope the irony of that phrase strikes you. If it is not accomplished in primary and secondary education, university education should finish off the job to teach us that life is about “our choices”, not our histories. Education has to confront to “shock” young adults out of their local networks of family and church so that they might be made to fit within the rationality of the market place and the nation-state. Within such a context, the history of a particular church becomes part of its marketing project for those who would so chose.

This week I’ve been reading The Risk of Education: Discovering our Ultimate Destiny by Luigi Giussani, the founder of the new religious movement, Communion and Liberation, that arose within Roman Catholicism following Vatican II. I think that there are profound historical parallels between the Church of the Nazarene and such new religious movements. In contrast to the educative project to form consumers, Guissani argues that education must begin by initiating the young into a tradition: “the whole structure of values and meaning into which a child is born” (p. 52). He states, “Only an educational approach that introduces human and cosmic reality in the light of a hypothesis presented by a history or a tradition can systematically prevent young people from making false starts. It prevents them from becoming disconcerted and fragmented as a result of the inconsistent and flawed manner of presenting ‘truth’ which, lest we forget, is the correspondence between one’s self and reality, the meaning of existence” (p. 57). At this point, a person must “be stimulated to personally confront his own origin” (p. 67). Thus “a true education will especially want to teach students the habit of comparing their positions not only with those of others but especially with the tradition they have received” (p. 68). In this way, we lean to “test all his encounters and all his needs against the ‘hypothesis of meaning’” (p. 73) that one has received. Thus, education requires a community. Guissani writes, “Few words are uttered as frequently and understood and lived as poorly as this one. A community is a deep union born from a life shared together, which arises from the recognition of a common structure. In our organizational fixation, we tend to confuse associations with communities. We believe that a community can be created by a coming together of people from the outside, the result of an agreement to reach certain goals. But because it is a sharing life in its very essence, a community is an inner dimension at the source of our thoughts and actions. Otherwise, instead of a community, we have a calculated choice. A community is a way of conceiving life, a way of facing the problem of being, a way of studying history, and a way of living love” (pp. 74-75). The family thus comprises the first line of the educative community. It is in this confrontation, the testing, that one finds the appropriate risk of education, for here we open up to true human freedom, not the ability to choose, not ‘autonomy’ but the openness with the reality, in its fullness of the world as it confronts us.

To tell the history of the Church of the Nazarene, to own our placement in a tradition as a tradition, is necessary if we are to confront the fullness of Reality to understand ourselves and others – to open ourselves in dialogue with ourselves and with others. Guissani again helps us see the importance of this dialogue, and its true nature. Guissani writes, “A dialogue is genuine only if it is lived as a comparison between the other’s proposal and the awareness of the proposal I offer, the proposal I am; otherwise it is not a dialogue. To express it in a different way, it is a dialogue only insofar as I am aware of myself in my maturity. For this reason, unless a crisis—the commitment to sift and sort out tradition—precedes my dialogue with the other, I will remain blocked by the other person’s influence or my rejection of the other will make my position unreasonably rigid. Therefore, it is true that a dialogue implies openness toward the other no matter who he is, because he will always introduce an interest, experience, or aspect that otherwise I would have failed to notice” (p. 94). Such dialogue requires maturity. Without maturity, as Guissani notes, “we run the serious risk of confusing dialogue with compromise” (p. 95) or we get caught up in reaction, not interaction -- for reactions merely reproduce the problem of a tradition in its inverse form or we confuse dialogue with compromise.

In the coming weeks I will argue that the tradition of the Church of the Nazarene, the depth of its history, is found as a movement within the church catholic to renew the church catholic in the holiness of its witness, personally and congregationally through our commitment to the evangelical, orthodox, and catholic faith and the practices of the works of mercy, devotion, and the Sacraments. This understanding of the Church of the Nazarene stands in contrast to the predominant understanding of the Church of the Nazarene, by lay, clergy, and administrators alike, as a Protestant denomination that provides an alternative congregational and doctrinal option when compared to other “denominations” or community churches. Embracing the fullness of our history, a history that goes much deeper than a mere 100 years ago, opens possibilities for mission and witness into the future.

Posted by johnwright at 6:08 PM | Comments (2)

This week we begin a “Heritage Month” in our congregation with a multicongregational service that celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Church of the Nazarene. As a congregation – as any congregation – we stand within a particular tradition. As Luigi Guissani says in The Risk of Education, “There was a point in time when we did not exist. This means that each one of us arises from a preceding event, a complex of elements that constitutes our makeup and shapes us” (p. 87). Our congregation is the place where God brings us together with each others pasts to re-form us through the interaction with those who have gone before us in the Church of the Nazarene, and, beyond them, into the church catholic – as well as intersect us with those whom God will call to follow after us. To understand ourselves, therefore, we must understand our past – and our future. We always stand in the middle, between from which and through which God has called us in the particularity of this congregation, to which God calls us – God’s coming kingdom in Jesus Christ as the end of all things.

It is important for us to own our position in the way, not as in being an obstacle, but as being called from God, living through God and being moved to God through Jesus by the Holy Spirit within the very concrete interactions of our lives, particularly as they come together in worship and the works of devotion and mercy in our congregation. Our readings this week help us to find ourselves there, a humbling exercise for our sanctification. It may be helpful to begin with the OT reading, move to the Gospel, before turning to the Epistle reading from Philippians.

Isaiah 5:1-7

The song of the vineyard has a past and a future. Who is the first-person at the beginning of the passage? When does the passage move to when the “beloved” speaks? What is the relationship between the “Lover” and the “Beloved”? Between the Beloved and the vineyard? By the end of the passage, what is the future of the vineyard and its inhabitants? How is the future tied to the present? How is the future tied to the past? How does this speak of the promise and peril of the live of the church and particular congregations?

Matthew 21:33-43

Jesus retells and updates the parable of the vineyard from Isaiah 5. How does this story differ from the “parable” spoken in Isaiah? What does Jesus emphasize in his telling? How does the “landowner” and the “son” relate to the “Lover” and the “Beloved” in Isaiah 5? What does that landowner want out of the vineyard? Why must the kingdom be “given”, not “produced”? Why then is it important that the people produce “the fruits of the kingdom” and not the “kingdom” itself? Where do we find ourselves as a congregation and as individuals within it in this parable?

Philippians 3:14-21

Where does Paul find himself in his journey to the goal? What is this goal? Does that mean that the present in irrelevant? Why does he exhort those not to lose what they have attained? What are the obstacles that Paul sees in the way, for himself and for those to whom he wrote – and to us to whom he writes? What happens when our minds get caught up on “earthly things” that lose sight of the “goal”? What happens if we ignore the “earthly things” and solely focus on the “heavenly goal”?
There is an important distinction to make here. The heavenly goal is not collapsed into the earthly things; yet the earthly things are raised and transformed and perfected in light of our heavenly goal. How do we see this in Jesus, even within this passage. What does it mean to have our present “citizenship” in heaven? How does this make us pilgrims, sojourners, or aliens? What happens when we collapse all God’s revelation into the present world? What is our ultimate hope?
Maybe you could spend some time talking about “observing those who live according to the example you have in us”, those who don’t live as enemies of the cross of Christ, whose god is the Triune God, the Lover, Beloved, and Love, not the belly; and their glory is in their shame; who encounter “earthly things” as citizens of heaven, not as members of a particular contemporary political unit. How have they mastered the skill of “pressing on”? How do we as a congregation, and individuals within it, keep our proper place in the vineyard?
Maybe you can plan together how to support the multicongregation in the potluck following the service. Next week we will incorporate aspects of our heritage into our service and into membership classes following it.

Posted by johnwright at 12:37 PM | Comments (6)