The Self Help Gospel

Fr. Stephen DelSignore, of St. Andrew's Traditional Anglican Church of Middleborough, MA wrote a great article on his face book page last Friday. He wrote; "To preach the Bible as "the handbook for life," or as the answer to every question, rather than than as the revelation of Christ, is to turn the Bible into an entirely different book." He is right; the main point of the Bible is to tell the story of Redemption. What I mean by the story of Redemption is that the Bible tells a four-part story:

1 – Creation
2 – Fall of man
3 – Redemption of man
4 – Future, eternal and complete reconciliation of man to God

The primary Person in the story of Redemption is Jesus Christ (the Gospel). Christ created all things and all things are held together by Him.

All things were made through him; and without him was not anything made that hath been made. (John 1:3)

Christ left heaven to come to earth in order to redeem man from his fall.

Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross. Wherefore also God highly exalted him, and gave unto him the name which is above every name; that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11)

He accomplished our salvation by destroying what Satan had accomplished in the Garden of Eden by offering Himself as the perfect sacrifice for our sin.

…but when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law. (Galatians 4:4)

…he that doeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. To this end was the Son of God manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3:8)

Redemption is the message. We can’t “self-help” ourselves into heaven or a relationship with the creator. The main point of the Bible; the “Gospel” message of Christ’s redemption and salvation has been marginalized by too many Christians. Instead of seeing the Bible as a worship book, they have bought into the notion that it is a “self-help book.” A new Gospel has emerged leaving the saving grace of Christ’s redemption for all mankind as secondary to our own inner power to effect change. Some of these new Christians would have us believe that the Bible has some good philosophy for life but its message is no longer life changing.

This whole self-help phenomenon has been gaining popularity for the past 50 years and has not only infiltrated the church but it has changed the message of man’s inability to save himself to the popular notion that “God helps those who help themselves.”

As a result, what is now being preached from many pulpits is this notion that the Gospel is for our salvation, but not for our sanctification. Historically, the Gospel has always been the means to salvation AND the means to sanctification. From where I sit and from what I have seen, the psychological community seems to have embarrassed mainline Christianity into this new notion of sanctification by implying that the message of the Gospel is too foolish for thinking people to actually believe. The Gospel as presented biblically is more for the weak minded and uneducated.

Seeing that Jews ask for signs, and Greeks seek after wisdom: but we preach Christ crucified, unto Jews a stumbling block, and unto Gentiles foolishness; (1 Corinthians 1:22-23)

Most academics will tell you that the Gospel is not sophisticated enough for a “self-help” world or a “self-help” church. Look at what the world offers the “self -help” Christian. To them the Gospel seems foolish when put up beside some of our culture’s heavyweights like The Road Less Travelled, Your Erroneous Zones. Good heavens, how can the Gospel compete with that kind of brilliance? And not to be outdone, the liberal church provided us with the The Power of Positive Thinking, In Search of Significance, and Your Best Life Now. How much of this drivel have you seen promoted for the past 25 years of the Oprah Winfrey show?

So the conservative church is left holding this “foolish” Gospel bag. I would point out that seeing the drift the self-help market was carrying the church into, the conservative church entered the fray with some outstanding works, “An Outline of an Anglican Life”, Louis Tarsitano, and “The Call” by Os Guinness, just to name two.
Then comes the modernist, contemporary, evangelical community with books from the Rick Warrens and the Joel Osteens of the world who decided our salvation by grace was not the main point of the Bible. Their books have helped to further bury the church into self-help-ology.

It is even worse because at this point in the game the liberal church offerings and the conservative church offerings have become so integrated that it is hard for the average church member to discern more clearly between conservative and liberal and why the difference matters. And trust me, it matters.

This “Christianized” self-help mania movement has turned the Bible into just another “positive life force” book. With a few out of context verses in hand, our psychologized church, trained by our culture’s self-help gurus, have created what they believe is the world’s best self-help book. The Bible used to be a book about Him, but now it is a book about me and for me. Worship used to be centered on Christ and His redemptive sacrifice. Now it’s a rock concert complete with a speech about how you can be a more complete person. Just follow the twelve step program booklet available for purchase in the lobby.

Christians do not need another self-help book. Christians need Christ. Marriages need Christ. Families need Christ. Churches need Christ. Worship needs Christ. Any book that does not root the change process of salvation by Grace in the Gospel should be passed over. The notion that God helps those who help themselves is a lie. God helps those who ask. He can save; He can forgive; He can renew.

I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. (Galatians 2:21)

Now is the time for the church to get back to its roots: The main story of the Bible is Christ! He is the only one who can change us.

Be changed by Christ,

Bishop Ian

Arrogant Christianity

How many of you have heard this? “How can Christians be so sure they're right and everyone else is wrong? Isn't that arrogant?

Isaiah 45:21"There is no God apart from me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none but me."

John 14:6 "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

OK, let’s look at this logically… It's not possible for all the major world religions to be valid ways to God. As seen in the scripture verses above, Christianity states that the God of the Bible is the only true God and salvation is only possible by accepting Christ as Savior and Lord, Jesus said it himself. “No one comes to the Father except through me.”

As an example, Judaism states that the God of the Torah/Old Testament is the only true God, but that Jesus is not the Messiah, putting it directly at odds with Christianity. Jesus either is the Messiah, or he is not. If he is, Judaism is not a valid way to God; if he is not, Christianity is not a valid way to God. The exclusivity of Jesus statement only grows when other religions are added: Islam says that Allah is the only true God, and that anyone who says Christ is the Son of God will be condemned (Qur'an, 5:72, 9:30). Furthermore, if religions other than Christianity are valid ways to God, then Jesus was wrong and one of Christianity's basic principles is false; in that case, can Christianity still be said to be a valid?

No matter what belief system you adopt, you will be saying that your system is right and that the billions of people who don't accept it are wrong. If Islam is correct, the billions of non-Muslims are wrong; if Orthodox Judaism is correct, the billions of Gentiles are wrong. If it is correct to approve of multiple belief systems because they're all valid ways of achieving spiritual enlightenment, the billions of Christians, Jews, Muslims and others who believe in exclusive religions are intolerant and therefore wrong.

Alright, so how can Christians be sure their religion is the right one? Being born into a Christian family or growing up in a Christian community doesn't make one a Christian; culture and ethnicity don't determine your relationship with God. Instead, people become Christians because they are convinced of the truth of Christianity and/or have had experiences with God, in short, they have good reasons for believing Christianity to be true. Also, Christians are not saying that their personal ideas are true, but that the Christian God exists, and His words are true.

Furthermore, Christianity is unique because it addresses the fact that we can never be good enough to be in the presence of a perfect, holy God. In order to be perfectly good, we would have to be “doing good” all the time. If we do something wrong, we can't undo it, and we can no longer be considered perfect. Nor can we do more good to make up for our wrongs, for perfection requires doing the most good possible at all times - we can't be more than perfect to make up for when we're less than perfect. Other religions teach that we can somehow do enough good to earn heaven or nirvana, but they don't address the fact that we continually make mistakes. Christianity teaches that our sins were paid for by Jesus' death on the cross, and that by accepting his payment and believing in him we can be forgiven; we don't have to earn our way into heaven, which is a good thing, because we can't do it. Christ is the only way to God, because without the forgiveness that comes through his death and resurrection, there's no way for us to be able to stand before a holy God.

Saying that Christianity is right does not mean that Christians themselves are right about everything, or that they are innately superior to non-Christians. What Christianity teaches is that both Christians and non-Christians "have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom 3:23) and need salvation, which comes only by the grace of God, not the individual's actions or merits.

Christianity is intolerant of other beliefs.

Is refusing to call a belief false always the right thing to do? For instance, is it right to say that racism and Nazism are simply alternate belief systems that we shouldn't pass judgment on, or should we condemn these beliefs as being morally wrong? If someone believes they have the right to rape or kill whomever they please, should we accept their beliefs as an alternate lifestyle, or denounce them? Tolerance is an admirable virtue in many circumstances, but tolerating wrong by refusing to say it’s wrong is…just plain wrong. If Christianity is true, then there is only one God and salvation comes only through Him, and religions that deny this are not merely alternate forms of spiritual expression, but systems of belief that prevent their adherents from obtaining salvation. If Christ is in fact the only way to God, then to claim that he's not is both false and dangerous. If someone has a life threatening disease, telling them that they don't need to seek medical treatment is wrong. If someone can only have salvation by accepting Christ as their Savior, telling them they don't need to accept Christ is even more wrong, no matter how tolerant or well-meaning it may seem to be.

The bottom line is this, Christianity does not teach that only Christians deserve to go to heaven. If scripture tells us anything, it tells us that no one deserves to go to heaven, because we have all done wrong during our lives (Rom 3:23). We can gain admittance to heaven by repenting of our wrongs, accepting Jesus Christ's death as payment for our wrongs and deciding to follow and worship him as Lord. The principle of Christianity is that Jesus is the only way to God, not any particular church or denomination (Jn 6:40).

Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth. (Is 45:22)

There’s nothing wrong with that… Be Repentent…

Bishop Ian

Blessed Are The Meek

Remember this? “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” I had an interesting conversation with someone recently who has been accused of being too bold in their approach to most things in life - marriage, relationships etc. But when I used the term “meek” he scrunched up his face like that was somehow unmanly. Now the Bible lists many benefits of meekness.

“The meek shall be satisfied.” “The meek He will guide and teach.” “The meek will become wise.” “The meek will be filled with fresh joy.”

There are lots of other references, but we in the modern church misunderstand this term. None of us really know what meekness is. In fact we often confuse it with another term that sounds like it. Meek sounds like weak right. And nobody wants to be weak, so nobody wants to be meek.

But the truth is meekness and weakness is at the exact opposite ends of the spectrum. The cool thing here is that the Greek word for meekness literally means “strength under control.” Like when a wild horse is tamed and taught to be ridden, the horse still has all the strength it had when it was wild but now it is strength under control for the master’s use.

Look, God doesn’t want you to be weak but He does want you to be meek, having strength under control. If I were to give you a simple definition of the word “meek” I would give you this phrase: let go and let God. That is the essence of meekness. It is surrendering, submitting, agreeing to what God wants to do in your life. It’s letting God be God in your life. Let go and let God.

Easier said than done? OK, look at it this way. Every morning you and I get up and we have a decision to make; whose going to be in charge of my life? Who’s the Boss? Who’s going to be the manager of my life, me or God? Who’s going to be in control, me or God? Who’s going to call the shots, me or God? Who’s going to be the one who directs and leads, me or God? Every day, moment by moment you are making that decision. When you choose to make yourself the manager of your own life it causes conflict, it causes confusion, it causes stress. You must let go and let Christ be the manager of your life.

"Agree with God, and be at peace; thereby good will comes to you. (Job 22:21)

How many of you would like to have peace at last and have things go well? Everybody this verse tells us: stop, let go and let God.

Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. (Matthew 16:24)

Basically Jesus is telling his disciples, you’re not in the driver’s seat. I am.”

I have a confession to make. I am a closet backseat driver. As long as I am in the driver’s seat, as long as I am in control. Everything is fine. As soon as I let Robin drive, I am nervous wreck. I find myself holding on to the door handle, and nearly putting my foot through the floor trying to apply a brake that isn’t there. And it’s not that Robin is a bad driver. She is an excellent driver. It’s just that I’m not in control. I’m not in the driver’s seat.

It’s exactly the same in our spiritual life. When we become Christians we say, “Ok, Jesus, You take over the driver’s seat.” We then promptly hop into the passenger seat and then do back seat driving. Jesus is in the driver’s seat of my life but I’m looking over His shoulder saying, “No, turn this way! Stop. Wait. Faster! I want to go that way. Or slow down. You’re going too fast. Don’t get so close. Wait that’s not the road I want to go down!” And Jesus says, “Am I the driver or not?”

Here’s the bottom line, if you don’t have an authority in your life you’re going to listen to all different kinds of conflicting opinions. One day you’ll decide this and another day you’ll decide that and then one day you can’t decide and indecision causes stress. But if you decide that God's Word is going to be the authority of your life it simplifies decision making. By knowing what the book says personal opinion now gives way to godly admonition and instruction.

The Bible is filled of all kinds of rules and commands. God says do this, don’t do that, make sure you do this. Why does He do that? Because He is a loving God and everything that’s in this book is not there to make your life miserable. It’s there to protect you. It’s there for your own health. It’s there for your own good. A loving God who knows more than you is saying, “Here are the rules for life. If you ignore them you only get hurt.”

Like it or not you’re going to have to serve somebody. And right now you’re controlled by something. It may be popular culture. It may be the opinions of others, or the approval of your parents. You may be controlled by your husband or your wife. You may be controlled by your own desires, appetites and drives. You may be controlled by an addiction or a habit. You may be controlled by a memory. You may even be controlled by your own ego. But everybody is controlled by something.

You are going to have to trust someone. Whether you trust yourself, or another it will fail unless you learn to be meek and until you trust enough to commit your whole life and will to God, you are going to be constantly looping on the white knuckle roller coaster known as self.

Still there is that one thing that will keep some of you from taking that step, a lack of trust. It takes trust to take a step. So let me ask you why wouldn’t you trust God? Why wouldn’t you trust the creator who made you, who loved you and sent His Son to die for you? Why would you not trust God? Did He let you down somehow? Didn’t take the turn you thought He should, tuned left and you wanted to go right? Didn’t drive your life the way you wanted? How’s the view from back there?

If you’ve consciously chosen to commit your life and will to Christ’s care and control, it is not enough to do it just one time in your life. You’ve got to do it every single day of your life. On a moment by moment basis if you need to. It’s a constant decision: Meekness, learning to let go and let God. If you haven’t made that commitment yet… Buckle up!

Be meek in spirit,

Bishop Ian

Following the Good Shepherd

John 10: 11-16

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

Everybody knows that sheep are not-so-bright, right? I mean we have all heard the phrase "to fleece." Basically it means that this person is so clueless that you could steal them blind before they realize they were getting ripped off. Was Jesus insulting us by calling us sheep?

Before we go looking for a more politically correct analogy, perhaps we should take a closer look at the reputation of sheep. Are they really as dumb as we’ve been led to believe? Could it be that they’ve just gotten bad press?

If you have ever seen any classic westerns sheep have had their reputations smeared by cattle ranchers. Every TV show and western movie I have ever seen shows that cattle ranchers hate sheep and sheep herders with a passion. Cattle ranchers decided that sheep are dumb because well…sheep don't act like cows. Every cattle dive I have ever seen on TV shows when you herd cattle, cowboys drive them from behind by whooping and hollering and cracking whips. If you try this with sheep, they’ll just sort of run all over the place. It seems you can't drive sheep; you have to lead them. Sheep won't go anywhere unless they know that there is someone out in front making sure that everything is okay. So who’s dumb here?

In Scripture, shepherds are pretty prominent. Jacob, Moses, and David were all shepherds, and according to Luke, shepherds were the first people to receive the message of Jesus' birth. In John 10 we find a series of statements from the lips of Jesus, in which he describes himself as the Good Shepherd (John 10:11). There is a good reason why they were all shepherds, and why sheep figure so prominently in scripture. Sheep were, after all, the primary form of livestock in Palestine at the time and that the people of Israel didn't consider them to be stupid. They knew what sheep were capable of so they didn’t take offense at being called sheep.

In the Gospel appointed for the second Sunday after Easter, Jesus talks about a specific attribute of “His” sheep; they recognize the voice of their shepherd. Not only that, but they will only follow the voice of that one shepherd. The reason sheep will only respond to the voice or call of their own shepherd is because they know that they can count on their shepherd to keep them safe. When danger comes, they won't run off like the hireling. Therefore, sheep get very attached to their shepherds.

I remember a while ago a documentary on the Discovery Channel about the Middle East. They followed different groups of nomadic Bedouins. They were all sheep herders and often they all would meet with their sheep at the same time at the local oasis. Different flocks also gathered at the same watering hole and the shepherds didn’t try to keep them apart. What was interesting is when the shepherd was ready to leave, he or she gave off a distinctive call or whistle and the flock gathered to that shepherd. They knew who they belong to; they knew their shepherd's voice, and it is the only one they will follow. Seems to me that sheep aren't all that dumb after all; they know who they can trust and who not to trust, and they respond only to that one voice. So I ask the question; if we are part of Jesus’ flock, will we recognize his voice and follow him? There are a lot of voices in the world that are calling out to us. The question is which one will we follow? This Good Shepherd analogy is the reminder that through an act of grace, God seeks us out. if we’re willing to tune ourselves in to the Shepherd’s voice, then we can have confidence when we walk through the dark valleys of life, whether it’s sickness, loss of a job, or a disaster; we can have confidence because we know that in Jesus, God has already gone before us and knows the path we need to follow. If we stick close to him, we will make it through safely. That doesn't mean that the wolves won't nip at our heels, but the Lord is with us, to lead us safely through the danger.

Be Listening,

Bishop Ian

Celebrating Lent

Let’s face it; Lent has gradually lost its meaning for some of us. Most people in today’s world live in a noisy, materialistic society that has no idea what abstinence, prayer and meditation are all about. Even Christians are becoming bored with Lent. It’s lost it meaning because it becomes a “just do it” thing rather than a “here’s why it’s important” thing.

So why is Lent important? Let me ask this question; is Lent celebrated to benefit God or benefit us? Do we make life difficult during Lent as a way to pay Jesus for what he went through for our salvation or to reap the fruit of his suffering and death?

Lent isn’t about just giving up candy or coffee; it’s also about remembering and celebrating. Yes I said celebrating. Years ago I sought to enjoy Lent as a celebration instead of an observance. When Lent is approached as an observance, it has a tendency become dry and lifeless, some folks say even boring, something to be avoided. But when we approach it as a celebration, it is refreshing and full of life, and if we remain steadfast, each passing year has something new to teach us about the Word become flesh. Look for example at this passage in Lamentations.

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is his faithfulness” (Lam 4:22-23).

Cool verse, but so what? Look at it this way; Lent is not celebrated to benefit God but to benefit us. Seems an odd statement but let me clarify. There is nothing we can do to pay for what Jesus went through for our salvation. God does not expect us to carry the cross during Lent or mourn or torture ourselves. Remembering Lent is to remember (reflect), celebrate (yes, by denial and self evaluation) and renew our hearts in prayer and meditation, and re-commit ourselves for the work of salvation done by God in Jesus Christ.

We are the ones to put our faith in action and share with those around us the finished work of salvation. In his 33 years of earthly life, he left us an example of how we can live for God on earth as humans. Jesus’ earthly life reveals that he identified with our human nature by becoming flesh as a God-man. He suffered and was tempted but denied himself worldly “things” for spiritual ones.

This Lent, consider what Jesus went through for our sake through his passion death and finally the promised resurrection. For me, Lent is a cherished period of self evaluation and gratitude celebrating the life and teachings of He who would take away my sins. Lent is a period in which we can prepare ourselves for personal mission and learn how we can, through Jesus’ example, overcome the many troubles that come with being human. We celebrate with praise and thanksgiving the opportunities to share in the victory he has already gained for us. The period of abstinence in Lent can help us abstain from so many of life’s challenges that lead us to sin; a period where we can reflect on our own commitment to the gifts we have been given as members of Christ’s Body.

It is my hope that this approach will help us celebrate what’s left of these forty days with some relish as the grace filled period and opportunity God has made possible through God the Son. Use the time left to really prepare your hearts and minds for the greatest celebration of all. Abstain, give up, and throw away those things that keep you from the benefits, the grace, and the peace and truly celebrate what it means to be serving the creator of everything.

Be Benefitted,

Bishop Ian

Lent: What's New, What's Normal?

I was listening to several of the talking heads lapping up the Kool-aid and saying this recession is the barometer for the “new depression,” and rising gas and food prices were the “new normal.” My parents grew up in the depression of the 1930’s. So did my wife, Robin’s, parents. The depression stamped them for life and yes, there is reason to be concerned about today’s recession, but there’s also a reason to be hopeful. I’ve been remembering my first Lent as a young teenager; it was a time that I felt that pull of the Anglican faith and practice that shaped my life.

By requiring fasting and abstinence, the observance of Lent somehow helped me cope with the multitude of early teen angst many of us had to grapple with.

This was also the time that I attended confirmation class. We were asked to give something up. I gave up eating candy. The main point for me was just to get through those 40 days. I remember being told that this was the same number of days a famished Jesus spent in the desert and the number of years the Hebrews wandered in the wilderness. “God’s will” was the name we gave to suffering, and God’s grace was the promise that it would end ... eventually.

Lent is one of the most important seasons in the calendar, but now self-denial seems more a suggestion than a requirement. Maybe it’s this notion of the “new normal.” We are inundated with the statistics of unemployment and poverty on the rise. Who needs Lent to give something up? We have all sacrificed, so I suppose Lenten self-denial could be forgiven this year.

There are plenty of difficulties in everyday life without choosing to add new ones. Job loss is hell enough. I mean this is America; yet it seems this whole economic mess came out of nowhere and revealed that we weren’t as secure as we thought we were.

Yet, I would argue that traditional Lenten observances offer one particular contrast to today’s “new normal.” Lent begins with the word remember; spoken when a cross of ashes are smudged on the forehead…remembering what we are and where we came from; ashes to ashes, dust to dust; we are the created.

This year it struck me that the millions of people who started Lent in the same way simply go through the motions and deny the scriptures as they say, “Remember thou man we are dust, and all things are passing,” This is a hard cold fact . This “new normal” put a sharp focus for many on material worries, and should instead remind us of what matters most in life.

Lent will end and sacrifices will go on. There is nothing wrong with job security, and yet, it seems there is nothing right with suffering. That is exactly what our Lord came to do. To suffer for us, so we don’t have to. It seems insecurity is normal again and that’s okay, because if Lent teaches us anything, it teaches us to get used to it. "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised." Luke 9:22 .

We are all part of the human situation. This recession is new but it certainly isn’t normal. We will suffer from time to time. This Lent remember we may be dust, but because he suffered and was raised. We are redeemed dust.

Be Remembering,

Bishop Ian

Fear - Love's Opposite

Those of you who are fans of Charlie Brown will remember the time Charlie Brown visits Lucy at her Psychiatric booth and talks to her about his fears, yet he can’t quite get a grip on it so Lucy proceeds to run down the list of every “phobia” there is until she gets to “Pantaphobia, fear of everything.” And Charlie screams out, “THAT’S IT!”

I think if we are honest about it, fear is a large part of what it means to be human. In general, it‘s not that we are afraid of specific things like snakes or spiders. We are just afraid...period. We fear the outcome of our relationships – am I with right person? Will I ever find love? We are afraid that this job or that job will not last long, or we are afraid that it will. "Am I stuck doing this same thing for the rest of my life?” We are afraid that people who meet us will not like us, or we are afraid that they will - (maybe too much.) We are afraid of failure, or we are afraid of success and what that might mean for our comfortable lives. We are afraid of dying young, and we are afraid of growing old. Often, we are more afraid of life than we are of death. No wonder Prozac is the number one prescribed drug today.

It’s Lent; slow down a little; read I Corinthians 13 (The love chapter) each day. Usually we think of Hate as the opposite of Love and in some respects that‘s true. But, I would argue that this first Sunday in Lent and Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness demonstrates that fear is the opposite of Love.

Look at it this way; fear may be expressed as anger or abuse - (“I am afraid that you may not love me anymore."), or greed - (“What if I run out of what I have now?”), or addictions, violence, and corruption. All of these things that we think of as the opposite of love are simply symptoms of fear. When true love is absent, our fears drive us to hate that which we fear. There are many different ways through which we can look at the temptation story. This year I would like to look at it in the context of love.

The temptation of Christ was a stretching and testing of the humanity of Christ. Before Jesus could be totally operating with Love, in a way that would lead him to the cross, Jesus had to go to the desert and face fear in its totality. These were temptations far beyond what you or I could endure. I would argue that Jesus is tempted by Satan who uses fear - “turn these stones to bread, eat this here or you may never eat again.” How about corruption and greed? Satan tempts Jesus to get on board and share in the leading of the kingdoms of the world. “You are out here all alone. You may just wind up with nothing.” That’s also fear of isolation or loss of status. The final temptation is, “Are you sure God is still with you out here in the desert? Maybe you could jump from a high place just to be sure that God is protecting you. You know if God is not watching closely you might just die out here in this desert?” That’s fear of abandonment.

To Love completely is to trust God. The temptation is to Fear, to abandon Love, to abandon the relationship of trust with God. The temptation in the Garden of Eden is the same temptation as Jesus faced. “Eat this fruit. God is leaving you out of the loop. You do not know everything that God is up to, so you better eat this fruit.” The opposite of Love is Fear. In both temptations the tempter uses the same temptation that we all face every day. Will my life, my decisions, my relationships be driven by fear of will they operate out of love. Each moment we are deciding to function in one mode or the other.

“God is Love. And he who abides in love abides in God and God abides in him. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” I John 4

Ok, great so how do we live by love?

Within each of us lives the Spirit of God; the Spirit of Love. God is Love. Within us is Christ who overcame these temptations and fear.

I remember reading once that Michelangelo was asked how he had created such wonderful sculptures as David, Moses, and others. He answered that it was God who created these great works of art. Michelangelo said, “My job is to remove the excess marble that surrounds God's beautiful creation.” I like that; I think that’s right on. There is no perfect me or the perfect you, yet the perfect God, is within you and within me - there to chisel away the excess fears and phobias that turns our attentions away from Him who is perfect.

Spend time reading 1 Corinthians 13 this Lent; Love is patient, Love is kind, Love is not envious, boastful, or rude,” as we focus on the Love of God that already resides within us, allow the Holy Spirit to chisel away at the those fears.

Maybe Lucy was right. Maybe we start by honestly examining our lives to find what we fear most and how is it damaging our relationships and the decisions that we make. Then we can allow the perfect love, Christ within us, to flood that area of our lives as we focus on love. Allow the Holy Spirit to chisel away the fear that surrounds us until we are left with only the great and perfect master piece. Love.

Be fearless in love,

Bishop Ian

Change Is Coming...

I’ve been sojourning with my soul mate recently and I haven’t had much chance to get to blogging. But, this week I thought I would speak a little bit about this season known as pre-Lent and the “gesima” Sundays. There are three of them and they make up the Sundays known as pre-Lent. What is the meaning of the “gesimas” and why do we even need a three week pre-Lent season anyway? When I first heard the word “Septuagesima” as a teenager I thought, “Great… even the church has a season to celebrate some obscure algebraic formula.”

Here’s the deal. We have just been through some joyous events these last few weeks — the birth of Jesus, his naming and circumcision, the first Gentiles (Wise Men) to find him, and his baptism. On various dates and places through the ages, the Christian Church has celebrated these things in its church year.

But now a change is coming. We know, as we celebrate his birth, that Christ was born for us so he could die for us. Look at it this way; His blood was spilled in circumcision, putting him under the Law, His blood would be spilled on the Cross, to redeem us from under the Law.

We saw that the Gentile Wise Men who found him had to return by a different way, and I would argue that this is what happens to those of us who find Him, because life is different afterward. After his baptism, Jesus will spend forty days in the desert before beginning his public ministry, where we read he will be tempted by the things of the world. So, we too will soon imitate those forty days for our own devotion with the season of Lent, on the way to the Cross. A change is coming.

So the church provides a transitional time between the first and second of its three great seasons - Advent-Christmas-Circumcision-Naming-Manifestation-Baptism. Now we must prepare for the serious reason why those things happened; sin and our redemption from sin.

Here we have all of these “gesima” Sundays that will fit between the end of the Christmastide, and after the octave of the Epiphany, and then the baptism of Jesus. Septuagesima is simply another word for Seventy Days; that’s all. The Septuagint, the translation into Greek of the Hebrew Scriptures by seventy scholars — and the gesima part derives from the Latin for days.

Seventieth day from Easter; no more complicated than that!

So, Septuagesima is 70 Days; Sexagesima is 60 Days, Quinqagesima is 50 Days. With the Seventieth Day, or Septuagesima, the change within the church is pretty obvious. The white vestments of Christmas time joy give way to the Green of Epiphany tide and then purple or violet of repentance and penitential meditations.

The world has always had its early spring celebrations. The interesting thing is the majority of them are timed on Lent. So pre-Lent, to the world, has become quite opposite from its Christian meaning just as Advent has become the gift buying and partying season before Christmas. At the beginning of Lent, fasting in some form is observed, usually involving abstaining from meat. The most likely origin of the name for the worldly face of all this is called carnival. It is a celebration before the giving up of consuming meat. In most, but not all places, Septuagesima is the start of carnival season; ending just before Lent starts on Ash Wednesday. As the church prepares for the penitential season of Lent the world enjoys the flesh, in all senses of the word. Ever been to Mardi-Gras in New Orleans?

God the Son has indeed come to seek and save the lost. It’s our participation in the process that gives us time in our present state as human beings to walk the path to the cross. Change is coming. Prepare your heart and soul for God’s mercy in sending God the Son to do what we could never do on our own.

Be prepared,

Bishop Ian

Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug

I have Sirius XM radio in my car. I like to listen to all kinds of music so I surf a lot. I was surfing the channels recently and I came upon the Christian Contemporary channel so I listened a bit. After several tunes I came to the conclusion that most of what I was hearing was basically grown men, whining like love sick teenagers with lyrics like, "Nothing else can take your place, or feel the warmth of your embrace." The band was called “Big Daddy Weave,” but I have to ask the question here; who are they singing to? The One who holds the universe together by the power of His word, or some long lost girlfriend? The women were no better, they sang with such throaty breathiness, I wondered if they were singing to brad Pitt or The Savior of the Universe. What kind of theology is there in “Jesus just wants to give you a hug” lyrics?

Yes, I am a bit prejudiced when it comes to the theology of the lyrics most of these Christian rock bands use to describe the king of all creation. So for fun I have looked a few up. Yup, you can actually look up the lyrics online.

Take a look at the verses from these six contemporary songs. Can you pick which phrases belong to secular songs and which to the supposedly Christian ones?

1. All I need to do is just be me, being in love with you.
2. My world stops spinning round without you.
3. I never want to leave; I want to stay in your warm embrace.
4. I'm lost in love.
5. Now and forever, together and all that I feel, here's my love for you.
6. You say you love me just as I am.

The first three are from that same band I was listening to earlier, “Big Daddy Weave,” the second half are from Air Supply. Why Air Supply? Well, they were on the smooth 80’s channel when I tuned in looking for comparisons.

Song after song on the Christian music channel kept hammering on one note: Jesus loves you soooooo much. He is your buddy; He is your pal. Now, do I doubt for a second that Jesus loves His children? Nope, but it depends on what your definition of "love" is.

God "agape" loves His children. Agape love is not based on the warm and fuzzy kind of love. I looked up the translation of agape and discovered that William Tyndale was the first translator to use the word "love" for agape. My commentary also said that prior to the 16th century; the word charity best described agape. Seemed a good topic for debate, but putting that aside, a modern day use of the word love ranges from a love for an object to physical love/sex (eros love). I love that new car. I love that girl. I love that God. That God loves me.

Not only do the lyrics use love in romantic ways to sing about God, there were other romantic phrases in the songs I heard and latter researched like: hold me, embrace me, feel you, need you. In music that’s called “amatory phrasing.”

My research on hymnody revealed John Wesley considered an "amatory phrase" to be language that was more feelings based love than self-sacrificing agape love. John Wesley deleted "Jesus, Lover of My Soul" from one of his brother, Charles' collections because it was too romantic sounding.

Not only are today’s Christian music writers guilty of writing amatory phrases, but they are singing with amatory phrasing. Christian men and women sing with such romantic longing and neediness as to be completely embarrassing.

In my opinion there are two consequences to this "Jesus is my boyfriend/girlfriend" music. Needy, emotional women continue to need more counseling, self help books and conferences where they can spread their wings and soar. Men will continue to not show up for church because they simply can't stand the mood manipulating worship tunes designed to help them, "feel the Lord's big bear hug embrace."

Without theology in music, we are offering fluff that will not comfort when life takes a turn. Songwriters could provide true hope if they would write about the sovereignty of God rather than crying about "how safe I feel when Jesus is hugging me."

Is there anything wrong with being reminded that our God is our help from ages past? Of course not, the Psalms are loaded with promises of God's comfort. But unlike the Psalms (and theology based hymns), contemporary music is void of the reason why we should not worry. We shouldn’t not worry because someone croons that Jesus’ warm embrace keeps us safe so we shouldn't fret, but because God is our shelter in the stormy blast and our eternal home. Our comfort comes from knowledge, not in a lyric about a teddy bear Jesus.

Be Listening,

Bishop Ian

Out With the Old

On the new web site I created for Resurrection Church I used, “An Unchanging Faith in an Ever-Changing World,” as the banner.” I have had several inquiries as to why. Well to be honest I was first introduced to it by Fr. Steven DelSignore, Rector of St. Andrews in Middlebourgh MA. I liked it so much I decided to use it for Resurrection Church. To answer the question, let’s have to first look at the reason behind the phrase.

Americans, especially in the 21st century, are not very good at embracing the past. We seem to be hardwired to embrace change without the lessons of the past as a guide for moving forward. Look around; old buildings are torn down to make space for new ones, upgrades abound in everything we see in ads and on TV. Churches are eliminating traditional worship for the more contemporary. Let’s face it, “out with the old in with the new,” has become the mantra for everything from politics to religion.

We are a society led to believe the future will be brighter and that the old thoughts and ideas of the past were not nearly as cool and sophisticated as the new ones. As if any connections to the past make us well… un-cool.

"Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints." Jude 1:3

Christians are commanded in Scripture to, “pass on the faith as once delivered to the saints.” This is what original Episcopalians believe and the reason for our unchanging faith. We are the heirs of a long tradition for which countless Christians have given their lives. The Faith is not for us to play with or to change to suit our own ideas, or the whims of a modern society.

Because we live in an ever-changing world, we frequently need to be reminded of this and to take a stand. As original Episcopalians, we believe that Christians who worship in a modern way in a modern-looking church may begin to lose sight of their past. They forget about the historic Church.
I get questions as well about the 1928 over the 1979 prayer book. Original Episcopalians believe that our 1928 Prayer Book to be slowly crafted over the centuries, with careful up dating of the original Book of Common Prayer of 1549. When you worship on Sunday, you say many of the same prayers used by Thomas Cranmer, Queen Elizabeth I, George Washington, and thousands of other Christians. The words themselves become a vocal connection to those Anglicans who have “fought the good fight” and handed on the Faith intact to us. I remember a time when an Anglican could go to any other Anglican parish in the world and feel right at home in worship. In fact, one of the fundamental ideas of Anglicans was that everyone would worship using the very same words. That is what is meant by common prayer. Today, our Prayer Book serves not only to identify us as Original Episcopalians, but also to keep us on the same page with history.

Another quality of 21st-century Americans is that they have a very high view of themselves. They don’t like to be under anybody else’s authority. Christian virtues such as obedience, humility, and submissiveness are considered today to be signs of weakness. We also demand to be entertained. Nowhere is all this more evident than in today’s worship. Reverence has given way to lively, emotionally “exciting” praise fellowship. There is a real sense of a loss of the sacred in what the modern church calls a “seeker friendly” worship environment.

In worship, we come together not so much to gain a blessing from God as to perform a service, to “offer ourselves, our souls and bodies to be a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice unto the Lord.” From the start of the Reformation, we have believed that worship ought to be liturgical in a language understood by the people, to profess the “reformed Catholic” faith, and it ought to be (as St. Paul stipulates) reverent and orderly.

Original Episcopalians believe that we need to be reminded that we are sinners, that we are all personally responsible for the Son of God having to suffer death upon the cross. We believe that our pride has to be torn down in order for us to properly worship and adore God. Our service is meant to convey that sense of humble reverence.

It is also meant to provide us with an escape from the boisterous, fast-paced world in which we live. Original Episcopalians come to appreciate how precious this time can be. We must remember that worship is an awesome work. In worship, the community comes before God not only with praise and thanksgiving, but also mindful of its own unworthiness and sinfulness.
Reverent and orderly worship also enables the community to step out of the “secular” and experience the “sacred.” In this way, both the individual and the community are constantly reminded of the spiritual, the corporate, the historical, and the mystical aspects of the Body of Christ.

Be Unchanging,

Bishop Ian

The Authentic Deacon

There are two types of deacons. Transitional - those of us in the beginning of ordained ministry were learning the ministerial ropes as we waited out our time before being ordained a Priest. We were supposed to be learning the role of servant, yet I truly question how many actually did.

I think many liturgical churches have overlooked the authentic role of the Vocational or Permanent deacon. The role of vocational deacons is to bring the church to the world and the world to the church; to lead us out of our comfortable pews and into the ministry beyond the brick and mortar.

As a deacon, I served an Episcopal Church in California. I remember Fr. Doyle, the priest who presented me for ordination, stating, “The role of the priest is to bring the good news to the world. The role of the deacon is to bring the bad news back."

Ok, I confess I didn’t have a clue what he was talking about at the time, but I soon came to realize the real world reality of Fr. Doyle’s comment. I was the “parochial gopher,” which meant I was the man on the ground for everything from hospitality ministry to chairing every committee the parish had. I wasn’t just serving at the altar; I was the hands and feet of our local congregation and the community at large. If any member of the congregation had a concern, grievance, or illness they came to me. And so I learned well the meaning of being the bearer of the bad news during my year as a transitional deacon.

Vocational deacons serve permanently, and in my opinion every congregation should have them. Not because we need someone to push all the stuff on that we don’t have time to do, but to be a servant leader among the congregation. Yes, all of us are called in some capacity to be ministers in the church, lay and clergy alike. Some we ordain to lead us, and through their ordination they will lead and highlight the value of our ministry.

"Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order that they may provide for daily necessities and not live unproductive lives." Titus 3:14

Priests tend and grow the flock; deacons are there to pull us out of ourselves and move beyond the flock. As Christians, we understand that we are saved by grace, not by works. However, we are all called to serve; ordained or not, to the challenges of doing good works that God has planned in advance for us to do.

Heeding his calling to serve, Gene A. Morse, was ordained as a Deacon on January 9, 2011 in Resurrection Protestant Episcopal Church. He was called to this ministry not by self but by God. This is not for Gene’s own glory but that God’s glory would be shown through his work in our community. Gene is battling cancer and worked tirelessly through his study program for the deaconate during his chemo and radiation therapies.

But, here’s the thing; every Christian’s mission in life is to bring glory to God and blessings to others - not just to receive, but to do. No matter what challenges we face in this physical life we are still called upon to be doers - that God’s grace can be shown through us. The result of being a doer is that we are blessed in ways that are immeasurably greater than any physical ailment or affliction.

In the last two churches where I served as a Rector, I was privileged to serve alongside deacons. Liturgically, they set the table, and assist at Holy Communion, emphasizing their servant ministry. But, far beyond their help during the service, I cannot imagine how we would have done our work without them. They are that important.

We have all been granted gifts to be able to bring glory to God and blessings to His people. Deacon Gene Morse has embraced his abundant God-given gifts and become the “hands and feet of Christ.”

Congratulations Gene, I look forward to authentic ministry with you.

Be of Service,

Bishop Ian


Presiding Bishop Del Murray with Bishop Ian Anderson ordaining Gene Morse to office of Deacon.

New Year, New Beginning

Every New Year’s Eve we prepare for the year that is to come with bright lights, big bands, bubby champagne, loud noise makers, and grand parties. While we may not stay up until midnight on many nights of the year, we try to stay awake past midnight on December 31 in order to see the dawn of the New Year. Even if we are in our pajamas at home, we typically tune our televisions to the evening’s events in Times Square, allowing the bright lights and the flicker of the big ball to illuminate our living rooms. The New Year is almost always ushered in with lights. Something new has come!

The season of Epiphany begins when the twelve days of Christmas are over and it ends on Ash Wednesday with the beginning of Lent. Jesus was twelve days old when wise men followed a star, looking for the ruler who would shepherd the people of Israel. We are told that the wise men find delight beneath this star, and Epiphany is the season of our basking in this same light – the light of the Christ child. It is a time to go and tell what happened in Bethlehem. And Epiphany begins with the promise of a light – a light that comes when the glory of the Lord has risen upon us. In their search, the wise men travel to Jerusalem and create a stir with a simple question, “Where is the child who has been born King of the Jews?” The very question foretells great change. Herod is no longer the King of the Jews. A new king has arrived – a child who will change the world. The wise men from the East know that the child for whom they are searching will lead the people of Israel in a way that no one else has ever led them before. The Jews are accustomed to being ruled by Herod, but they long for not just another ruler, but for a shepherd. They are hungry for a different kind of government. They are eager for the change this child will bring.

At the beginning of the New Year, we also often yearn for things to be different. We yearn for families to get along, for finances to improve, bodies to become healthier, a more peaceful life and a peaceful world, more time with friends, less stress, a new job, and so on. Yet the things we resolve to do differently on January 1 are rarely part of our life on March 1. We set out every year with high hopes in doing things differently this year. So, what if we were to stop making impossible resolutions for ourselves; stop setting ourselves up for the same failure we experienced last year?

When the wise men finally encounter Christ they are overwhelmed with joy, offering costly gifts to the baby – gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh – the best of the best. What if we resolve to remember the significance of Christ’s birth by consistently asking ourselves what we can offer to Christ this New Year? We may discover that we really have not given our lives to Christ in the first place – that what Christ is really yearning for is for us to come – to come home to him and say, “I want you to rule my life, guide my life, and shephard my life.”

Keep your resolutions simple this year. Don’t walk alone; ask Christ for his help and see if they finally become possible.

Begin anew,

Bishop Ian

The Easy Way

"Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God."
(1 Corinthians 4:1).

Wouldn’t it be nice if Paul, in the above scripture, were referencing himself and a few followers? Sure would make it easier to do this church thing. Pick out a few folks to carry the load for us as we sit back and enjoy the ride without any responsibility to our faith. How easy would that be? Well, I have some bad news folks; there is no easy way. We are not allowed as Christians to choose a few folks to be religious on our behalf. It’s not allowed for us to divide our time so that an hour here or there belongs to God while the rest of our time belongs to us to do with as we please.

To be a Christian means that we have to stand up and be counted on our own…to be known every day and in everything we do; that we are the ministers of Christ and the stewards of the mysteries of God. This Advent three is called Joy Sunday. The reason is simple: as Christians we realize that the Church exists forever and that we have eternal life by God’s Grace. We are also called to give praise to God in Christ by an entirely dedicated life of on this earth - by action and by being good stewards of the gifts we have been given.


If you remember anything I write about remember this; what makes us Christians is that we are washed in the blood of the Son of God made man, and that blood was shed for us on a cross. So as we look with Joy towards the manger this Advent 3, keep in mind we do so in the shadow of the cross. It may be easier to celebrate Christmas without that shadow but it is only half the story. Is it inconvenient sometimes to be a Christian? Yes, the easy way is to be Christian only when it suits our purpose. But, it falsely represents who we are and waters down the Gospel. There are enough churches in the world already who have taken the easy way.


We expect our bishops, priests, and deacons to be godly men, to preach God’s Word to us, to administer the Sacraments, and to lead us in our prayers, but we don’t want them leading our lives for us. So guess what, being a good steward means that we don’t give up reading the Bible, saying prayers, or doing good works ourselves on our own.


Every Christian, in every walk of life, is meant to be the hands that carry out the will of God given in the Scriptures. Look at it this way; a mystery is a truth that can only be known if God reveals it. A steward is someone who protects and preserves what belongs to his master. So, we are supposed to preserve the “mysteries that God has revealed,” because it belongs to God and not to us. The easy way is the notion that we have a responsibility to attend church when it suits us and no more…to give when it suits us but not to the point that it takes away from our own wants and desires.


The Good News of the revealed mysteries from God is that they always lead to the promise that if we make the effort to be good ministers and good stewards, we have the gift of eternal life. And living forever with Christ is worth all the effort.


Be a Faithful Steward,

Bishop Ian

Walking in the Light

Today is Advent 1, the beginning of the season of Advent and the starting point of the new ecclesiastical year. What makes today different from the secular New Year’s Day is that there is little of the typical "out with the old, in with the new."

If anything, our Christian Advent is a promise of more of the same. We plan to read the same lessons and to say the same prayers in this new year that we did in the year past, and for almost two thousand years before that. Even our New Year’s resolutions, found in this morning’s excerpt from St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, are the same old resolutions that Christians have made every year since that glorious year so long ago when our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven.

So are we in a rut? The secular world (which means literally, "the world of this age") would say we lack imagination and our religious observances are boring because we have no plans to change what we believe and what we hope for from year to year.

Advent promises us otherwise. The Latin Adventus means simply a coming, but the Church uses it to refer to two comings of the same Divine Person: our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. On Advent Sunday we look back to the pinnacle of history, as far as the purposes leading to the conception and birth of the Son of God, made man by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary. When Jesus Christ shed his Blood on the Cross and offered his life before his Father’s throne, all sins were redeemed - completely bought and paid for. The victory of God in Christ over the world, the flesh, and the devil was accomplished once and for all, and all anybody had to do, then, now, or a thousand years from now to share in that victory, is to confess his sins and to submit to Jesus Christ his Son.

That was the First Coming of Jesus Christ. We lived under God’s judgment, and the terms of the salvation of mankind were made as clear as they could possibly be. All the history that has followed that First Coming, however great or small, ties up all the loose ends like the end of a novel.

The Second Coming represents no change in plans on the part of God, no surprise ending, no new thing at all, with the exception that Jesus Christ will announce the end of human struggles and the beginning of eternal blessedness for the resurrected and redeemed. This is the true "world without end." This is the eternal reality; a changeless God whose rule cannot be overturned.

In our prayer book, words like “day-spring” are used to describe Advent. Day-spring means the dawn, and the first coming of Jesus Christ was the dawn of salvation upon the world. The Second Coming isn’t the sunset part of the story, but the second dawn that puts an end to the darkness of sin and of Satan’s legions.

Today in church, as we lit the candle of hope, we were assured of the same sunrise, the Light of Christ in the manger, and the Light of the world when he comes again. Our calendar reminds us every year of the reality and trustworthiness of the promise of light in Advent. The Light has come. The Light will come again. And when that light comes, we must belong to it or endure an eternal darkness. With our new Church year, we begin again the lessons, prayers, and discipline that will prepare us for light eternal.

Be walking in the light,

Bishop Ian

Loving Your Neighbor

The Ten Commandments are the rules God gave us as our guide to living in a society. Then, Jesus comes along and leaves his disciples with another commandment that He called “new.”

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” (John 13.34)

There are plenty of examples in scripture of Jesus’ love for those who where the social outcasts and great sinners of his day. As a result of their encounter with Him, many knew love for the first time. Yet the word love is probably one of the most misunderstood and misused words in the modern world. I remember a third year seminary project, part of which was to ask teenagers in the churches we were assigned to, this question: What is love? Many of them referred to love as a “feeling.” These kids were Christians but they never referred to any aspect of love from a biblical perspective. As for Jesus’ love, scriptures show that His reaction to sinners often times was to correct the problem and set them free. His love was an action.

The word love is used often in the Bible, particularly in the New Testament. But, let’s face it; love is difficult to accurately define. So, I decided to get technical and look it up in the dictionary. When love used as a noun in an abstract way such as, “baseball was Bob’s first love,” the word goes beyond the senses. When love is used as a verb it’s often describing a relationship to someone and something; “Ian must be madly in love with his wife, Robin, as they are constantly holding hands.”

As people moving through life quickly, we tend to limit the meaning of love to human emotions, but when we view love as an action, we are tested as to the truest definition of what it means to love. As Christians we are called to be more than a people who love; we are called to be a people who love and act. We are called to help with our hands, to forgive with our hearts, and to nurture all who are in need.

“Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers over all wrongs.” (Proverbs 10:12)

The apostle Paul brilliantly describes love in 1 Corinthians 13. He defines love as that which, "hopes all things, endures all things and never fails." (My paraphrase). Wait a minute, did he say, “love never fails?” Why would Paul describe love in that way? Let’s look at it this way. In our culture we define love as: affection, approval, attraction, and so on, but without Jesus they will all fail at some point. When Paul says that love never fails he is talking about divine love. The love of God never fails. Let’s face it, the love we have for one another fails to a greater or lesser degree, unless it is tied to Christ.

Jesus issued the commandment to love one another; the roots originating in the Old Testament with the commandment to, “love your neighbor as yourself.” (Leviticus 19:18). Jesus issued this commandment because love was a principal that He lived and died for. To love one another as Jesus loves us shows evidence of our new spiritual birth and continued growth. Remember just how pure Christ’s love is; he even prayed for the ones who murdered him as he hung there on the cross.

"We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers.” (1 John 3:14)

Love is inseparably connected with all other aspects of the Christian life. Love is the light that shines through and separates the darkness. It is how we as Christians must be seen in this world. Love always comes before mercy and gives the faint hearted patience to finish the race. Love is the main spring that gives the believer courage and strength to follow God. Even when the sin is so wretched that we struggle to find anything to love, we may find that it is only through the love Christ has shown us in our own lives that can we find strength to love the sinner.

We must love God in response to His love for us, and we are to love each other as a result of our love for God. We love, because He first loved us. If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; “for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.” (1 John 4:19–21 )

Be found loving…

Bishop Ian