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“The church is one because Jesus Christ is one; the church is holy because Jesus Christ is holy; the church is catholic because Jesus Christ is the saviour of all; the church is apostolic because, as the Father has sent Jesus, so Jesus sends us.” (Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams)

Last week we began looking at the four marks or notes of the Church that we recite each week in the Nicene Creed: one holy catholic and apostolic. We learned that as one in the Church, we stand in union with one another and with Christ Jesus, no longer divided by our differences, but united in one flesh, bound together in love. We also learned that we cannot be one, unless we are also holy catholic and apostolic, so today, we look more closely at the second mark: holy.

Years ago, the chaplain of the football team at Notre Dame was a beloved old Irish priest.

At confession one day, a football player told the priest that he had acted in an unsportsmanlike manner at a recent football game.  “I lost my temper and said some bad words to one of my opponents.” “Ahhh, that’s a terrible thing for a Notre Dame lad to be doin’,” the priest said. He took a piece of chalk and drew a mark across the sleeve of his coat.

“That’s not all, Father. I got mad and punched one of my opponents.”

“Saints preserve us!” the priest said, making another chalk mark.

“There’s more. As I got out of a pileup, I kicked two of the other team’s players.”

“Oh, goodness me!” the priest wailed, making two more chalk marks on his sleeve. “Who in the world were we playin’ when you did these awful things?”

“The Baptists down at Baylor.”

“Ah, well,” said the priest, wiping his sleeve, “boys will be boys.”

Beginning with the top ten, many believe the Christian faith to be about the “You shall” and “Thou shall not” statements. “You shall love the Lord your God…” and “Thou shall not steal, murder, covet and so on.”

When we are able to keep these laws we see success, which we equate to holiness and when we fail to keep these laws, not only do we think we are unholy failures, but we become discouraged from trying. The “You shalls” and “Thou shall nots,” instead of being goals, become constant reminders of our inadequacies of achieving holiness.

Put another way, we think of being holy as not having any chalk marks on our sleeves, as being good little boys and girls. In a way, it’s almost like seeing God as Santa Claus, he knows whose been naughty and nice and he will reward or punish accordingly.

So we strive for success, but we fail. St. Paul understood this: “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.   Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good.   But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.   For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.”

I want to follow the “You shalls” and “Thou shall nots,” but I can’t. I am a failure. I am unholy. We cry out with Paul, “Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?”

That sounds like failure. Yet, it is in discovering our inabilities to maintain the law and crying out – “Who will rescue me from this body of death?” – that we take our first real step towards holiness, because it is in admitting our failures that we discover our need for a Savior and it is then that we go to the one place where we we can find that Savior and where we can be made holy: the foot of the cross.

Yes, we are walking through Advent toward the manger, but the manger forever lies in the shadow of the cross. Jesus came into the world, born in a manger, yet he achieved holiness for us all in his death on the cross. As Paul clearly states in his letter to the Hebrews, by the will of God, “we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

So at the foot of the cross we cry out, “Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” And at the foot of the cross we find the means to our holiness, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Holiness is not based on what we can do. It is not achieved through our own attempts of keeping the “You shalls” and “Thou shall nots,” but only through the cross and the blood of Christ, only through grace, do we become holy as our God is holy.

Holiness is not about being nice little boys and girls. Holiness is found only in one place and in one person. Holiness is found at the foot of the cross in the person of Jesus Christ. Not only does that apply to individuals, but to the one holy catholic and apostolic Church.

I’ve been in a lot of churches where the building is nice and clean, the people are nice and clean, and the clergy are nice and clean. Everything is nice and clean and I’ve gone to those churches and after leaving, the first thing I wanted to do was go home and take a shower. Nice and clean does not equate to holiness.

A church can think that it holy because it has all the outward appearances of holiness. Smells and bells. People dressed appropriately. Saying the right words. Being nice to one another. A church can appear holy because it has no apparent chalk marks on its collective sleeve, but in truth, unless a church gathers at the foot of the cross recognizing its need for grace that comes only from Jesus, then that church is not holy.

Like individuals, a church can try and follow all the established rules, but before long we will publicly and privately fail. When that happens, members become discouraged, tensions rise, oneness is lost, and holiness is not achieved.

Wretched man that I am! Wretched church that we are! Who will rescue us from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

The holy church is one that recognizes its need for a Savior, not only individually, but corporately. It is a church that is prepared to gather as one at the foot of the cross and as one, be cleansed by the blood of Christ. It is a church that recognizes its own need for grace and it is a church that freely extends that same grace to all those who come seeking the Savior.

In the Greek Orthodox Church, during the Eucharist when the bread and wine are elevated, the priest declares, “Holy things for holy people.” Yet the people don’t agree. They protest saying, “One is holy, one is Lord, Jesus Christ, to the Glory of God the Father.” Alone, we are not holy, but as one flesh with Jesus, we are made holy.

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! Yes, indeed! Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Let us pray: Breathe in us, O Holy Spirit, that our thoughts may all be holy. Act in us, O Holy Spirit, that our work, too, may be holy. Draw our hearts, O Holy Spirit, that we love only what is holy. Strengthen us, O Holy Spirit, to defend all that is holy. Guard us so, O Holy Spirit, that we may always be holy. Amen.

Bishop Daniel Sylvester Tuttle is a hero of mine. He was the first missionary Bishop to the Diocese of Montana, and I studied his life while I was in seminary. He arrived in Montana in 1867. He woke the first morning there to two inches of fresh snow on the ground. The date was July 18th. His autobiography, The Reminiscences of a Missionary Bishop, is a delight to read and a glimpse of the early church in America. He writes of his travels, the people he met, his joys and disappointments. From the comfort of my armchair, I found some of his difficulties to be quite humorous.

Writing home to his wife in New York, he described his Sunday School teachers in one of the communities he served: there was “a Quaker, a Baptist, and two Methodists and one ‘churchman’.” Not a bad sounding lot, but of these, one was an absolute drunk and another was a habitual gambler. The vestry was worse. He writes, “Before I went to choir meeting, Major Veale, my only faithful churchman here, called.  He and I are putting our heads together about the election of a new vestry at Eastertide.  We mean to cut down the number from nine to seven.  We mean to throw out at least drunkards and violent swearers.  Aside from him the other six, at the best, will have to be Unitarians, moderate drinkers and decent world’s men.” Now that I think about it, that kind of represents St. Matthew’s vestry.

It is easy to look at the church and define it by what it has done right and what it has done wrong and by what it’s members have done right and wrong. By looking at Bishop Tuttle’s church and how the world would have defined the church based on it, we could shake our heads and wonder how it has lasted so long. But it has.

The world defines the church from the outside looking in, but the church has attempted to define itself. For many, this defining is evolutionary and fluid; however, the early church provided us with a definition that has stood the test of time and is recited each week when we say the Nicene Creed: “We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church” – the four marks or four notes of the church. One holy catholic apostolic.

These words were first used in 381 at the Council of Constantinople to describe the church and provide the foundational marks, or characteristics, of the Church.

In the Book of Common Prayer, as you read those words, “one holy catholic and apostolic,” if you are an English teacher, you have probably noticed the lack of commas in that sentence. If you are Grammar Nazi, it probably makes you crazy, but believe it or not, the missing commas are making a theological statement. These words are interdependent. They modify each other and the church, so you cannot omit any of them without fundamentally changing the whole thing. The church is holy because it is one, it is catholic because it is apostolic, and so on. The missing commas demonstrate the inseparable nature of the four marks. Yet the church is none of these things on its own, because without Jesus at the center, it is nothing more than a civic organization with fancy buildings.

The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, writes, “The church is one because Jesus Christ is one; the church is holy because Jesus Christ is holy; the church is catholic because Jesus Christ is the saviour of all; the church is apostolic because, as the Father has sent Jesus, so Jesus sends us.”

So these four inseparable marks define the Church as it stands with and in Jesus. Although inseparable, to more fully understand their nature, we need to consider them individually, and it begins with “one.”

In 1968 the rock band “Three Dog Night” sang, “One is the loneliest number that you’ll ever do.” (I apologize to those of you who go home with that song stuck in your head.) From a worldly perspective, one can be quite lonely, but for the Church, one is complete unity.

On the night before his crucifixion, Jesus prayed to his Father, “The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” In Christ we are not lonely individuals, but one. The Apostle Paul understood it this way, “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.” And later Paul writes, “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”

Jesus prayed that we may be one and through our baptism, we are not joined to Jesus, but made one with him as his body. No longer separated by our differences, but united in one flesh, and allowed to come before the throne of Our Father.

In considering this one body, the Body of Christ, we often think of it as all the Christian people combined, but it is clear in Paul’s earlier writings that he also considered each local community of faith to be the Body of Christ. What does that mean? It means that you can look around you at the people of St. Matthew’s and see and experience the blessings of being the complete Body of Christ. That doesn’t downplay the significance of the larger body, but it does mean that all the gifts and talents are present for us to be what Christ prayed for an intended us to become. That is a tremendous blessing, but it also comes with a responsibility: we all have a part to play. Paul writes, “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” Individually members of it. Individually you have your part to play as a member of the whole.

Through our combined work, individually and corporately, we become one Church, standing before the one God and Father of us all.

St. Cyprian beautifully describes this one-ness: “Separate a ray of the sun from its body of light, its unity does not allow a division of light; break a branch from a tree; when broken, it will not be able to bud; cut off the stream from its fountain, and that which is cut off dries up. Thus also the Church, shining with the light of the Lord, sheds forth her rays over the whole world, yet it is one light which everywhere diffused, nor is the unity of the body separated. Her fruitful abundance spread her branches over the whole world. She broadly expands her rivers, liberally flowing, yet her Head is one, her source one; and she is one mother, plentiful in the results of fruitfulness: from her womb we are born, by her milk we are nourished, by her spirit we are animate.”

One holy catholic and apostolic Church. As one, we stand in union with one another and with Christ Jesus, bound together in love as the Church.

Let us pray: Heavenly Father, look upon our community of faith which is the Church of your Son, Jesus Christ. Help us to witness to his love by loving all our fellow creatures without exception. Under the leadership of our Bishops keep us faithful to Christ’s mission of calling all men and women to your service so that there may be “one fold and one shepherd.” We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

On a road through a desert in Arizona, a preacher named Nathaniel Evans walked every day, preaching to the many people who roared past in their cars. “Repent, the End of the World is Nigh!” was his constant theme. One day, as he was walking, he came to a big lever in the middle of nowhere, just by the side of the road. ‘Pull this to end the world’ said the sign attached to it. Now Nathaniel saw this as the perfect spot for him to preach, and soon many automobiles were parked nearby, the people all swayed by his powerful preaching. All was well, until there were so many people, and so many cars, that the road was nearly blocked. Then a big 18-wheel rig came down the highway, and couldn’t stop in time. The driver had a choice: run over Nathaniel, or run over the Lever. As the driver explained to the Highway Patrol later, he actually had no choice. Pointing to Nathaniel’s lifeless body, he said “Better Nate than Lever.”

You know we can laugh about the end of the world now, but it wasn’t so funny on December 21, 2012 when it seems everyone was worried that Mayans may have been right with their calendar. Or in 2011, 1995, and 1994 when Harold Camping predicted the end of the world and had people quitting their jobs. Or in 1975, 1974, 1943, and 1936 when Herbert Armstrong predicted the second return of Christ. Oh, wait though. You may have been thinking about Nazim Al-Haqqani’s 2000, 1988, and 1980 predictions that the world would end.

Folks have been waiting for the end of the world for a long time and no one has ever predicted it correctly, but that hasn’t stopped them from trying or from attempting to scare us in the process. There are even some that try to profit off the end of the world. For example, the following advertisement once appeared in a Christian magazine: BE PREPARED FOR THE END TIMES! Our Deluxe Survival Kit includes enough long-lasting, freeze-dried food to supply a family of four for three months, fifty gallons of pasteurized water, a completely stocked medical case, and a .357 magnum revolver in case your neighbors attempt to take advantage of your Christian foresight. — Tribulations Outfitters, Inc., Lawing, Utah. I’m a firm believer in protecting yourself, but I’m hoping nobody accidentally shoots the Lord with their brand new .357 Magnum when he returns.

This may all sound a bit crazy, but as a Christian people we do believe that Christ will return and when he does he will set all things right. The old shall pass away and the Lord will create all things new. And it is in our Gospel that Jesus provides the events that will signify his return? So the big question is: Have they come to pass? Is the time near? Let’s break down this Gospel a bit and see.

First, Jesus speaks of the temple in Jerusalem where He and the all the other Jews came to worship. It was a magnificent structure with some of the stones of the wall weighing up to 360 tons. Jesus says that it will be destroyed. In the year 70 AD the Romans came in, wiped out Jerusalem, and completely destroyed the temple. Today, all that remains is the western wall, known as the Wailing Wall.

Other signs: false prophets will come in Jesus name declaring “I am he.” I am the Messiah, the one who can save you. I’m not sure who is still in, but there are at least a dozen individuals running for president who tell us that they, and only they, can save us. There are many others who, for a small fee, promise us wealth, health, and eternal happiness. Watch TV commercials and you will see advertisements that will tell you all about how you can take this drug or that one and live forever (provided you don’t succumb to one of the side effects such as death). I don’t know that the one drug that will make your eyelashes grow longer will make you live longer, but at least during your lifetime you won’t be shamed for having short eyelashes.

What about the wars and insurrections. Syria. Afghanistan. Pakistan. Sudan. Presently there are almost 30 active wars in the world with ten of them classified as “high intensity conflicts” because there are more than 1,000 causalities per year. That also pretty much covers nation rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom.

There will be great earthquakes. Can you say, “Oklahoma.” Famines – most of Africa presently suffers from famine. Plagues? Have you had your flu shot? Dreadful portents and great signs in the heavens? Just toss in a good dose of global warming, increased sun spots, and the occasional UFO and by golly we are batting a 1000.

As far as being arrested in Jesus name, it happens all over the world, and 1,000s of Christians are put to death every year for their faith.

We look at all this and more and we have a complete fulfillment of the signs that Jesus spoke of in our Gospel. So today we can say with 100% confidence, “The End is Near.”

Or is it? Hasn’t it been like this all along? Haven’t there been wars, plagues, earthquakes, etc.? Of course there have. That’s why all those people I mentioned earlier kept predicting the date.

I’m not making light of the end of days. That time will come. As we say every week, “Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ will come again.” Thanks be to God! Yet as we look at these signs, we have a tendency to think of them as the main event, but this is just not the case. The main event is what Jesus has accomplished and provided to us. What is that main event?

Jesus says, “Your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.” Jesus says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Jesus says, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.” St. Peter writes, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.”

If you place your hope in the world around you, the world that will pass away, you will always be disappointed! If you place your hope in the next greatest politician or miracle drug, you will also always be disappointed! If you place your hope in “imagining world peace” you will be severely disappointed.

In the novel, Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, an important book comes to light. It’s title “What Can a Thoughtful Man Hope for Mankind on Earth, Given the Experience of the Past Million Years?” The chief character is anxious to read it. But when he does, he finds that it doesn’t take long. The whole book consists of one word: “Nothing.” What can man hope for from the world? “Nothing.” But as a Christian people our hope is not of this world. Our hope is in the Living God. Our hope is in the one who declares. “I am resurrection and I am life.” Our hope tells us that not a hair on our head will perish. We have eternal life through Christ Jesus.

There is a wonderful George Iles quote, “Hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark.” When you hold out your hand in this dark and oftentimes scary world with its signs and portents, you can know within your very soul that God will be there to take it, to lead you, to guide you, and to give you peace. Jesus says, “When the world looks like it is going to heck in a hand basket, know that I will be there in the dark to take your hand and see you through.”

There will always be wars and rumors of wars, plagues, famines, and all the rest. But even in the most dreadful of times, there is hope. There is Jesus, and in Him, we are saved.

Let us pray: Jesus, magnificent Fountain of Hope, in times of happiness and despair, you are the motivation of our hearts, our hopes of greater things to come. Our consciousness is obsessed with You; we hunger for the day we will meet, when our longings will become a reality. Transmit to our souls daily reminders to always hope for greater things. For without hope, life is futile. Hope is a spiritual pillar of faith, containing many rewards of its own! Amen.

Legend has it that one day Socrates and Plato were walking down the beach, deep in conversation and Plato had expressed to Socrates his desire to gain the wisdom and knowledge that Socrates had.  Socrates didn’t answer him, but instead said, “Walk with me into the ocean.”  So, they turned and walked into the sea together.

Now, in your imagination, picture that happening: Student and teacher, two of the greatest philosophers of history, striding into the surf side by side.

The water started out around their ankles, then rose up to their knees. As the water got higher Plato wondered to himself, “What is the lesson my master is trying to teach me?”

When the water was shoulder height, Socrates asked Plato, “What is it exactly you want from me?” “Knowledge,” Plato answered, at which point Socrates abruptly grabbed Plato’s head and pushed him down under the water. After a half a minute or so Socrates let Plato up and asked him again, “What is it you want?” “Knowledge,” was again Plato’s answer, at which point Socrates shoved him back down under the water.

After a time, when Plato ran out of air, he began to struggle to get his head above the surface. He punched and kicked and grabbed to get free, but Socrates was a strong man and held him down. At the last moment before Plato blacked out, Socrates let him up and asked that same simple question, “What is it you want?” Plato coughed and spluttered finally responding, “Air! I need air!” Socrates calmly stated, “When you desire knowledge as much as you desired a breath of air, then you shall have it.”

Another story. This one has built up around the life of Blind Bartimaeus.

He was very young when he lost his sight and although his life was difficult, he was able to get married, have a daughter, and support them through begging. He had a small lamb that was very much like a seeing eye dog that would lead him to the city gates of Jericho where he would spend the day begging for coins. Like so many others who were unable to earn a living, he found a gimmick that would at least provide some entertainment to those who supported him through their generosity. He had two turtledoves that would remain with him and on command, perform summersaults on the small patch of ground in front of him.

One evening, after spending the day at the city gates, Bartimaeus came home to find his wife quite ill. They said she was dying, so Bartimaeus prayed to the Lord, “If you will spare my wife, I will take the two turtledoves and give them to the priest at the temple for a sacrifice.” The following day, his wife fully recovered and Bartimaeus did not hesitate. He took the two doves and had them sacrificed as a thanksgiving to the Lord.

However, only a few weeks later, Bartimaeus’ daughter also became very ill. And again Bartimaeus prayed to God, this time offering God the only thing he had left, the lamb. As he approached the temple, a priest asked where he was going and when Bartimaeus told him, the priest said he could do no such thing, the lamb was his eyes, so the priest offered Bartimaeus money to go and buy another lamb to sacrifice to God, but Bartimaeus told the priest, “I did not promise the Lord just any lamb. I promised the Lord this lamb. Also,” Bartimaeus said, “if I keep my promise to God, God will provide a lamb for Bartimaeus’ eyes.”

Jesus and his disciples came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

The people told him to hush, but Bartimaeus was persistent, and called even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

When Jesus heard his cries, he had Bartimaeus brought to him and asked, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “My teacher, let me see again.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.

In the midst of so many troubles, so many obstacles, Bartimaeus persevered and remained faithful to God, offering all he had including his little lamb, firmly believing that God would send another lamb to help him. And behold, the Lamb of God spoke, and Bartimaeus, through faith was made well.

These past weeks we have been reading about Job. We know his troubles. He has lost everything except his life. Yet, Job remained faithful and never cursed God. He persevered in the face of so many troubles. His only complaint was that he wanted to ask God why all these things had happened. In last week’s reading, God answered him, “Who do you think you are in questioning me?” A hard answer, but we’ve come to understand that there is mystery surrounding the actions of God, and in today’s reading, so did Job. He says to the Lord, “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you.” In the end, the Lord restored all Job’s fortunes and blessed his days. He ended up with vast wealth, handsome sons and the most beautiful daughters.

During a Monday night football game between the Chicago Bears and the New York Giants, one of the announcers observed that Walter Payton, the Bears’ running back, had accumulated over nine miles in career rushing yardage. The other announcer remarked, “Yeah, and that’s with somebody knocking him down every 4.6 yards!”

Plato persevered, wanting knowledge as much as he needed air and became one of the greatest philosophers. Bartimaeus persevered in faith and in calling on Jesus regained his sight. Job persevered, never cursing God and ended up living in Garrison Keillor’s Lake Wobegone “Where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.” And Walter Payton persevered, 4.6 yards at a time, to become one of the greatest running backs of all time.

What do those examples say to you? What do they prove? Answer: Absolutely nothing. I played football all through grade school and when I got to the eighth grade I tried out. I persevered and did fair right up until they weighed us in. I weighed 99 pounds. They laughed. I made water boy.

I know of many who have persevered in faith and after overcoming some great trial end up experiencing an even greater trial. I’ve known people who have persevered in faith all their lives and who have also been blind all their lives. And I know some folks who think they are wise, but will turn to you and say, “Hold my beer” and go do something incredibly stupid.

Perseverance does not imply success. Perseverance has more to do with a state of mind. It means standing in the face of adversity and continuing forward – or maybe even backwards – but continuing. And that is our goal as a Christian people. Contrary to popular belief, life is not a game that you set out to win. Life is about following Jesus as his disciples, seeking not our greatest good, but instead seeking His. In Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis wrote, ”God knows our situation; He will not judge us as if we had no difficulties to overcome. What matters is the sincerity and perseverance of our will to overcome them.”

There will be trials, obstacles, or in the case of Bartimaeus, blindness, and we are not going to overcome them all. There will be times when we fail. Lewis is saying we will not be judged based on whether or not we overcame those obstacles, whether or not we were able to see when we were physically blind. We will not be judged on whether we win or fail, but we will be judged on whether or not we were passionate and persevered in faith.

Job and Bartimaeus, these are not examples of winning some temporary prize. These are examples of perseverance. Of what it means to stand in faith in good times and bad and from the heart of your being, to call on God – in full expectation that he will hear you and answer you – but regardless of the outcome, loving him and knowing that you are loved as only God can, for the “prize” we seek is not temporary, but eternal life with him.

Let us Pray: Father, keep us from vain strife of words. Grant to us constant profession of the Truth! Preserve us in a true and undefiled Faith so that we may hold fast to that which we professed when we were baptized in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit — that we may have Thee for our Father, that we may abide in Thy Son and in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Through Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Amen.