The Rev’d Stephen E. Stults
St. Paul’s Anglican Church
St. Paul’s Anglican Church
Easter I
April 2, 2018
Happy
Easter season to all of you! We hope
that you are filled with joy and peace, as we are now in that brief but
wonderful season of Easter, which lasts for five Sundays until the Feast of the
Ascension. During this small season, let your hearts and spirits be uplifted,
for all is well with your souls.
For
the next three weeks, we will explore something very appropriate for the Easter
Season: our own individual spirituality. What is spirituality? It is something
very personal, yet communal, and very private, yet also expressed in common
worship.
Spirituality
has to do with our relationship with the Holy Trinity. It is mysterious, yet known to us, and hidden
in our innermost beings, yet manifest to all.
If
this sounds like a series of paradoxes, so it is. As with God, He is both
immanent, meaning he is all around us, yet He is also transcendent, meaning He
pervades our life from without. He is
close to us in sacraments like Baptism and Holy Communion, which are
physical. He also comes to us mysteriously,
spiritually through the Holy Ghost.
There
is a difference between a Christian and non-Christian, or if you will, a pagan.
The
term, “pagan” seems like a harsh term, yet it is so accurate for many in the
world today. The definition of pagan
says that it is anyone “holding religious beliefs other than the world’s
religions.”[1] For those who do not practice any kind of
religion, except perhaps humanism, it is accurate.
The
difference is simply that a committed Christian has something to believe in:
the truth. Not like Pontius Pilate, who asked Christ, “What is truth?’, but
belief in the Holy Trinity, the one, true, and only God. Belief in the truth generates light in
darkness. Thus, the Christian has a
center of light for his being. Our light
is not darkness. As we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, surrendering daily
to His Will for us, our relationship grows deeper and more meaningful.
This
is where our path of sanctification, or spirituality, takes us. Spirituality is
about our growth in sanctification, which is simply the process of becoming
holy over a lifetime. Put another way,
it is the process of knowing God and growing closer to Him. It is the beginning
of an infinite, eternal process. We who
love the Lord want to be closer to Him, today, tomorrow, and forever. This process, for the committed Christian,
begins in this life and carries on for eternity in Heaven.
Thus,
we see from Christ’s own parables, a common theme runs through Christianity:
that of individual growth. Jesus refers
to often, using agricultural metaphors such as trees and fruit, wheat and
tares, and plants growing in various places.
The
point in plain: we Christians are not meant to be static, but dynamic. What do we mean by that? Simply that as we progress in age, we should
also progress in grace. This means that
as we get older, we should also be better. This is most challenging for all of
us since, as we grow in holiness, what we see is our own sinfulness. The reason
is plain: with greater light comes the ability to see greater imperfections. As
we draw nigh to the holiness of God, we are constantly confronted with our true
natures.
That
bring us to the first of our three steps in spiritualty. From the 11th
and 12th centuries and from countless saints, doctors, and laymen,
we discover the so-called “three ways” to spiritual growth. They are:
purgation, illumination, and perfection.
This is a general roadmap of spiritual growth.
The
human soul is an invisible part of this progression. It must be nourished and safeguarded
Our
reaction to Christ should always be joyful. Especially in this Easter season,
we should ponder our Lord’s Resurrection with joy, and allow the truth of that
great event to permeate our beings with joy.
Why? As Christ is, so shall we
be. Let us not be like the World, which often uses Jesus’s Holy Name as a
curse word, but let us instead let our illuminated souls be alive with joy as
we ponder His mighty acts done for us.
Christ
states the second truth as He says, “Peace be unto you; as my Father sent me,
even so send I you.” The original disciples were the “core” of the infant
Church. Now, Christ gives them the mission to spread the Gospel to all
lands.
We
have the same mission. We have the
mission to do two things: first, (Matthew 5:16) “Let your light so shine before
men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in
heaven.” In other words, give a good witness.
Secondly, we are to share the Good News whenever possible, when given
the opportunity. This should come from our witness. Let people be intrigued by
what you have and what you exhibit.
Invite them to have the same.
The third truth deals with
Christ’s earthly body, the Church. If one believes in the apostolic nature of
the Church, one sees that Christ left us a plan and a progression. That plan was that He ordained men to be
apostles, who then ordained men to be bishops, who ordained others, and on and
on until Christ comes again. We are indeed blessed to be in a body that holds
to the value of apostolic succession, and one that has sacred ministers who
stand in that holy line, however unworthily.
Note that Christ breathed on the
disciples and imparted the Holy Spirit to them.
He actually breathed the Holy Ghost into them. This reminds us how St. Paul wrote to Timothy
that all Scripture is “Theopneustos: God breathed.” Thus, Christ breathed the
life of the Holy Trinity into the Apostles.
This must remind us of Gen. 2:7,
where the Lord God “formed
man (Adam) of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath
of life; and man became a living being.”
In the third truth to be
considered, Christ gave the Apostles an important instruction. He tells them, (John 20:23) “Whose soever sins
ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and
whose soever sins ye retain, they
are retained.”
This
allows the Church to offer forgiveness and remission of sins. What does this mean? Simply, that Christ’s ministers, through His
authority, can offer the healing comfort of the Sacrament of Penance and
Reconciliation. It means that a
Christian who is racked with guilt and remorse because of past or present sin
can be made free. It means that any Christian, who offers repentance and
expresses firm purpose of amendment of life can enjoy the freeing realization
that their sins are forgiven. Through
the grace of Christ and through the Christian ministry, any soul can know that
God truly loves them, individually.
Of
course, any Christian can and should go
directly to Christ through the Holy Spirit whenever their conscience is
smitten because of sin. He is our Great
High Priest and our Great Intercessor.
Yet, there are times when one may need to express their guilt or sin to
another person, and to hear that , through Christ, their sins are forgiven. This is powerful and comforting.
Sin,
and the guilt that accompanies it, are corrosive. They impair our relationship with God, but
also harm our spirits and even our bodies. In short, sin is destructive. Yet, in the divine mercies of Christ, He provided
a way to overcome the ill effects of sin and to provide His People comfort and
peace. That way is confession and
absolution.
These
three truths: gladness in Christ, a willingness to spread the Good News, and
the freeing realization that sins can be forgiven, should fill us with a new
sense of who we are.
Who
is that? Simply, we are the children of
God, blessed and redeemed for ever.
AMEN
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