POPULARITY
18 episodes with pharisaism
5 episodes with pharisaism
4 episodes with pharisaism
5 episodes with pharisaism
6 episodes with pharisaism
2 episodes with pharisaism
3 episodes with pharisaism
2 episodes with pharisaism
2 episodes with pharisaism
What if the sacred rhythms of ancient liturgy could transform your spiritual journey today? Join us as we explore the profound convergence of Orthodox liturgical events, examining the unique overlap of the leave-taking of the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple with the onset of the Triodion period. This episode promises to unravel the rich traditions and significance of the Triodion book in pre-Lenten preparations, highlighting the rare alignment of the Feast of Pascha with Western Easter celebrations. Discover the intricate beauty of Orthodox liturgical practices, with insights into diverse hymn and service variations drawn from the tipikons of St. Sava and the Great Church of Christ.Our conversation delves into the heart of Christ's humility and obedience to the law, presenting Him as the ultimate exemplar for humanity. We reflect on how Jesus' incarnation sanctifies and fulfills the law, teaching us that true holiness transcends rule-following and rests in our dependence on God, aided by the Holy Spirit. This episode serves as a caution against falling into the trap of modern-day Pharisaism, encouraging listeners to live as beacons of light in the world. Through the lens of the Gospel of Luke, we emphasize the transformative power of living a life that rises above mere adherence to rules.Central to our discussion is humility, as illustrated in the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican. This episode encourages embracing humility, echoing Jesus' example of setting aside His glory. The spiritual practice of prostrations during Great Lent represents a physical acknowledgment of our need for God's mercy. By focusing on self-examination and mercy, we aim to inspire listeners to offer their humble repentance as a gift to God and their community. As we celebrate the interconnectedness of faith, the role of the Virgin Mary, and the mystery of Christ's incarnation, this episode reinforces the journey towards spiritual growth and the eternal kingdom of God.00:00:00Feasting and Liturgical Convergence00:04:44Fulfillment of the Law and Purpose00:10:21Humbling Ourselves Before God00:21:15Humbling Ourselves Before God's GloryThank you for journeying w/ the Saints with us!
In Genesis 24 an old and faithful Abraham sends his faithful steward Eliezer to Haran in search of a lifelong covenant wife for his son, Isaac. Eliezer is bound by a covenant Abraham makes with him to diligently fulfill the obligation of finding a true believer, who will be a help meet for Isaac on the journey to God's kingdom. So Eliezer left Abraham accompanied by a large retinue of servants and many camels; and vast wealthy gifts. Upon arrival in Haran Eliezer makes his responsibilities a matter of prayer and asks of the Almighty a very specific sign. No sooner had he finished his prayer than Rebekah arrives and says the very words of his prayer. Eliezer is amazed at the power of his God and bows his head in reverence. The 10 camels are watered by Rebekah – an immense task – and the company taken to Laban's house; where Laban notices the wealthy jewels given to Rebekah by Eliezer. Laban's words, “Come in thou blessed of Yahweh”, indicates both some knowledge of God, and the familiar use of the LORD's divine name of Yahweh, the use of which goes back to the beginning of Creation (Genesis 4 verses 1, 25 and 26). Rebekah had reported the circumstances of meeting Eliezer prior to Laban's remarks. From verses 31and 49 Eliezer tells Laban of the mission he has undertaken and its importance. Note it is not just another task Eliezer was given, but the entrusted responsibility of securing a bride who will ensure the faithful continuance of maintaining the truth promised to Abraham and his seed. In verse 51 Laban asserts his agreement with Rebekah going to the household of Abraham. Once again Eliezer responds to his Sovereign reverently. Many valuable gifts were given to Laban, by way of a bride price. After all of this has happened Rebekah's thoughts are requested. She assented and is sent away the next day with her family's blessing. Isaac went out in the evening to pray (“meditate” verse 63); and after her enquiry as to the man meeting the homecoming troop, Rebekah shows Isaac respect and is taken into Isaac's tent as his God chosen bride. And Isaac loved Rebekah dearly. Psalm 29 ascribed to Yahweh the glory and majesty due to His awesome Name. The powerful and frightening displays in nature are attributed to “the voice of Yahweh”. This is of course consistent with what Genesis 1 said, Yahweh spake and it was done – ie it came into being. All things exist and are maintained and sustained by the Word of Yahweh. What magnificent poetic language the Psalm sets before us. Verse 6 for example describes figuratively an earthquake. The Psalm concludes with Yahweh enthroned in the heavens exercising dominion over all His creation. “The voice of Yahweh” is used in this Psalm seven times and is perhaps symbolic of the “seven thunders” in Revelation 10 verse 4. Praise and extol His Name for this. Psalm 30 is a Psalm focussing on the joy the Almighty can bring to His children. This can be true even when our foes rise against us bringing despair. Jesus found the same at the time of his greatest extremity and encouraged his disciples with the same message: compare with John 14 verses1 to 3 and 27 to 29. Despite being downtrodden the psalmist finds the joy and support from his Sovereign uplifting. God will never forsake His children (Hebrews 13 verse 5 and 6). In Him, even to some extent in our present life, our mourning can become dancing; and our sackcloth exchanged for clothes of joy. This will be so much more the case when the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ arrives and the clothing of our mortal sorrow is swapped for joyful immortal life. Slowly read aloud Psalm 45 verse 7and 8 and deeply reflect on those words. Matthew 15 described the lengths to which Jewish tradition could be taken to subvert Divine precepts and the Word of the LORD. The 5th commandment, described as the first with promise (Ephesians 6verses 1 to 3), was bypassed by a legal ruse known as Corban. It allowed the wealthy to avoid all responsibility to parents by declaring by oath than an individual's entire wealth belonged to God; whilst, at the same time, ensuring unfettered access to all of it. Just like the times of Jeremiah we have mere lip service substituted for the truth demanded by our Sovereign. Next follows a discussion on the true source of defiling people's corrupt minds not any external thing. These matters revealed Pharisaism as an example of the blind leadership of the blind. The faith of the Canaanite woman, whose daughter Jesus healed, was astonishing and, like the Roman centurion of Matthew 8, caused our Lord to marvel. She acknowledged that privilege rightly rested upon the covenant people of Israel and that all she requested were the crumbs that fell from the table. Jesus performed many miracles upon these Gentile subjects causing them to ascribe praise to the God of Israel. Lastly the chapter tells that he fed 4,000 of them despite his own Apostles' reticence to show any compassion- after all these were Gentile dogs. But our Lord never shared such prejudices. Rather he was always expansive in his love of all and freely distributed the gospel's bounties.
The reason why Pharisaism is always popular is because we think it's possible to follow rules. "I can clean the outside of the dish but I can't clean the inside. I can't change my nature—it's hard-wired." But God can. Matt 5:8 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Over 20% of the Gospel of Matthew deals with the Pharisees. Is this so that we can use them as our 'whipping posts' to illustrate all the bad things religious people can do? Or, did God have those verses included because we are more like the Pharisees than we realize? I believe the latter is the case.In this message, I share my own "pharisaical tendencies".I begin with a play off of Tim Hawkin's, "You might be a Redneck if..."My version - I might be a Pharisee if...…IF I AM THE SELF-APPOINTED CORRECTOR OF EVERYONE ELSE'S DOCTRINEIF I THINK THAT THE "SPEAK THE TRUTH" PART OF "SPEAK THE TRUTH IN LOVE" IS THE "KEY" TO THAT VERSE… …IF ONE OF MY FAVORITE VERSES IS "THE SPIRITUAL MAN JUDGES ALL THINGS" (1 Cor. 2:15)IF PRAYING THE IMPRECATORY PSALMS MAKES ME OUTRAGEOUSLY HAPPY……IF I THINK THE “GIFT OF DISCERNMENT” MEANS KNOWING WHAT IS WRONG IN EVERYBODY ELSE'S LIFE IF I AM SITTING HERE THINKING ABOUT SOMEONE ELSE WHO REALLY NEEDS TO HEAR THIS MESSAGE…
The St. Paul Center's daily scripture reflections from the Mass for Saturday of the Twenty-Fourth Week in Ordinary Time by Mr. Clement Harrold. Matthew, Apostle, Evangelist Feast First Reading: Ephesians 4: 1-7, 11-13 Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 19: 2-3, 4-5 Gospel: Matthew 9: 9-13 Learn more about the Mass at www.stpaulcenter.com After over 20 years of preparation, the complete Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: Old and New Testament is finally ready. Drawing from the best of modern biblical scholarship, Church teaching, and the Catholic theological tradition, this study Bible is uniquely designed to help you read Scripture from the heart of the Church. Go to stpaulcenter.com/bible to pre-order your copy today!
The St. Paul Center's daily scripture reflections from the Mass for Saturday of the Twenty-Fourth Week in Ordinary Time by Mr. Clement Harrold. Matthew, Apostle, Evangelist Feast First Reading: Ephesians 4: 1-7, 11-13 Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 19: 2-3, 4-5 Gospel: Matthew 9: 9-13 Learn more about the Mass at www.stpaulcenter.com After over 20 years of preparation, the complete Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: Old and New Testament is finally ready. Drawing from the best of modern biblical scholarship, Church teaching, and the Catholic theological tradition, this study Bible is uniquely designed to help you read Scripture from the heart of the Church. Go to stpaulcenter.com/bible to pre-order your copy today!
Since there were Pharisees in Jesus' day, are there some in the church today? Pharisaism is such a deadly disease; it destroys churches and drives off converts. It is a spiritual virus and we must cast it out. Let us be gospel people and not pharisaic people. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/1417/29
A Sermon for the Sixth Sunday after Trinity by Matthew Colvin Matt. 5:20-26 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 21 "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.' 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire. 23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. 26 Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny. Have you ever stopped to think just how unusual a sermon is in our day? Where else do you sit for half an hour and listen to someone talk in person, without interruption, applause, or any dialogue? Let alone, actually believe it. You were all kind to me last week as I filled in for Pastor Bill. Well, almost all of you. Luke Galloway wasn't having it. I don't blame him. But it raises the question of why you should believe any of what I say here at all. What authority is at work in a sermon? We mentioned last week that the authority of experts does not challenge us too much: experts put their knowledge at our disposal; they submit it to us for our consideration. It's true that some of what a pastor says might fall under this category: we are supposed to know the Biblical languages and to be trained in explaining the meaning of the Bible. But when I say, “The Greek word means this,” you should take that with a grain of salt unless I also show you how it fits and makes better sense of the Biblical passage. That is, when we preach the Word, we are following St. Paul's example, who urges the Corinthians, “I speak as to reasonable men; judge for yourselves the things I say.” (1 Cor 10:15) Why, then, do we wear robes? Why, in the words of one pastor who does not wear robes, does “someone important get to dress up like Saruman”? Ultimately, that is a symbol that the Reformed Episcopal Church has given the pastor to preach the word with their authority: that the church's bishops have examined a man and found that his doctrine is in conformity with the church's teaching. We are not lone rangers. We take ordination vows, and that means we are not free to teach our own doctrines, but those of the church. We subscribe to the Nicene Creed, which means that we are not free to to start teaching Arianism. We follow the 39 Articles in the back of your BCP, which means that we will not suddenly come into the pulpit and start teaching that you're going to Purgatory, or that you should bow down and worship the bread in Holy Communion. We are men under authority, and ultimately, that means we are under the authority of Jesus. Now what if I showed up on Sunday with my sermon engraved on two tablets? Not two iPads, but two actual tablets of stone. That would be sending a message about the authority of the sermon, wouldn't it, and it would be a very different message than is communicated by robes and stoles and appeals to Greek lexicography. But in our gospel lesson this morning, that, or something equivalent to it, is what Jesus has done: he sits down on a mountain, showing that he is about to fill the role of Moses, who went up on Mt. Sinai to receive the covenant God made with Israel after He brought them out of Egypt. The Sermon on the Mount is Jesus's most comprehensive and public announcement of his teaching about the coming kingdom of God — by which we mean, the coming day when Israel's God would be publicly acknowledged as reigning through the person of his anointed king, the Messiah. It is nothing more or less than the announcement of a new covenant, a new moment in the history of Israel as a people, right up there with the covenant with Abraham, the covenant at Mount Sinai, or the covenant with David. That is Jesus's message throughout his earthly ministry: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” The climactic moment in Israel's story was about to happen. What is at stake here is what it means to be Israel, to be the people of God. The Pharisees have one way of doing this; Jesus has another. They are not compatible. And Jesus does not mince words: “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” I often have to remind my high school students that the word “Pharisee” was a self-laudatory epithet: they called themselves the P'rushim, meaning “separated ones.” Separated from what? Well, to understand that, we need to go back to the time between the testaments, when the Greco-Syrian empire under Antiochus IV Epiphanes attempted to melt down Israel and amalgamate it with Greek culture. In order to make the Jews assimilate, Antiochus banned copies of the Torah, prohibited circumcision and sacrifices to the Lord, and compelled the Jews to eat pig meat and profane the Sabbath. In other words, everything that marked the Jews as separate from the Gentiles was targeted by Antiochus's laws. In reaction to this, the Jews rebelled under the leadership of Mattathias Maccabee and his sons, especially Judah Maccabee. With the help of an alliance with Rome, they eventually succeeded in defeating Antiochus and rededicating the Temple in Jerusalem which he had defiled by sacrificing a pig on the altar. And alongside this military victory, the Maccabees also used violent force to pressure Jews to keep the law. It was a really difficult time to be a Jewish mother: if you had your baby boy circumcised, Antiochus's officers would kill you and your baby. If you didn't have your baby boy circumcised, the Maccabees would do it by force. If you refused to sacrifice to Zeus, Antiochus's officers would kill you. If you did sacrifice to Zeus, the Maccabees would kill you. The operative word in the Maccabees' resistance to the Greco-Syrian empire was “zeal.” It did not denote a mere enthusiasm. No, it was a violent upholding of the Torah covenant against those who would annihilate it, against the Jewish renegades who were ready to lose their Jewishness and become part of the Greco-Syrian melting pot. In this, the Maccabees were following an earlier template: In Numbers 25, Balaam had a similar idea, albeit with a different method. After the king of Moab, Balak, hired him to curse Israel, and Balaam couldn't do so because God caused blessings to keep coming out of his mouth instead, Balaam decided that if he couldn't curse Israel, he would lead them into idolatry. And the best way to do that was sex: he got foxy Midianite or Moabite women to seduce the Israelites and lead them to worship Baal of Peor. And we're told that: …Behold, one of the people of Israel came and brought a Midianite woman to his family, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the people of Israel, while they were weeping in the entrance of the tent of meeting. 7 When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose and left the congregation and took a spear in his hand 8 and went after the man of Israel into the chamber and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman through her belly. Thus the plague on the people of Israel was stopped. 9 Nevertheless, those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand. (Num. 25:6-9) This is what is meant by “zeal.” We get a couple other instances in the NT. Saul of Tarsus, before he was stricken blind and came to believe in Jesus and became the apostle Paul, was full of zeal: he was “ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.” (Acts 8:3) And again, Saul was “breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord.” (9:1) This is what zeal looked like: Saul being a good Jew was very concerned that other Jews were being unfaithful to the covenant of Moses, and the way to put a stop to this was to use violence against them, because that is what the Maccabees had done. Indeed, when we find Jesus described as full of zeal, he too is violent: flipping over tables. “Zeal for your house has consumed me.” The Pharisees The Pharisees were the spiritual heirs of the Maccabees. They looked around and saw Israel under the domination of the Romans. And they adopted the Maccabees' recipe for what to do when Gentiles were dominating you: namely, “obey the Torah even harder.” And especially those parts of the Torah that set Jews apart from Gentiles: keeping the Sabbath, observing Kosher food laws, circumcision, sacrifices at the Temple, and following the cleanness laws that were required for entering the Temple — but following them all the time, even when you weren't going to the Temple. These were the religious conservatives. They were the people who took the Bible seriously. They weren't like the Sadducees, working hand in glove with the Romans. The Pharisees believed in the resurrection of the dead. They were looking for the arrival of the Messiah and the coming kingdom of God. All of which makes it all the more remarkable that Jesus says, “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Nowadays, if I were to call someone a Pharisee, it would not be a compliment. Sort of like how the popularity of the name Adolph went downhill after the 1940s. Except in this case, there is just one man who trashed the name “Pharisee” and turned it into an insult forever after: Jesus. We don't have time today to do a thorough survey of everything Jesus said about them, but just consider how effective his techniques were. Tell me the next word: “Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, __________.” Or the unforgettable visual images: trying to do eye surgery with a railroad tie sticking out of your own eye socket; fishing around for gnats in your soup while balancing a camel on a spoon; absurdly washing only the outside of a bowl or cup and leaving the inside filthy. You have heard it said To combat the Pharisees' way of being Israel, Jesus sets forth his own teaching. He introduces it with one of the most provocative rhetorical devices: the contradiction. “You have heard it said…but I say to you.” Many people misunderstand this. You have heard it said (!!!) that Jesus is quoting the Torah and then correcting its teaching. But I say to you that in this same chapter, verse 17, Jesus has already disavowed any intention of changing or altering the law and the prophets. His intention is rather to attack the Pharisees and their interpretation. So how does it work? “You have heard it said” — in Judaism, the verb to “hear” (Heb. shama', cf. the Shema' in Deuteronomy 6:4) is closely associated with literal, or overly literal interpretation. Shamu'a and mishma' are both abstract nouns that mean “literal meaning” as well as “that which is heard.” Likewise, hashshome'a, “he who hears” is often used in the sense of “he who sticks to the superficial, literal meaning of Scripture.” Jesus, then, in introducing his teaching on anger, opposes it to the simplemindedly literal interpretation of the Pharisees: In other words, “You have heard it said, you shall not murder, and you think wrongly that this commandment is just concerned with murder. It is not. It is concerned with the roots and causes of murder; likewise, with the effects and consequences of those causes, other than outright murder.” Or, “You have heard it said, ‘you shall not murder, and only he who murders is liable to the judgment,' but this is a misinterpretation, for many other offences than simple murder are liable to the judgment.” In every case where Jesus introduces some received interpretation of the Law with “You have heard it said”, he immediately juxtaposes, “But I say to you.” Here, Jesus gives his own authoritative exposition of the Torah. Note that he does not appeal to any other authority: There is no, “Rabbi Ela said that Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said that Rabbi Meir used to say…” That's an actual quotation from the Talmud, by the way. The sermon on the mount continues for three chapters, until Matthew 7:29. At at the end, we are told the crowd's reaction: “the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.” That is, despite not having been trained by any rabbi, and despite not having authorization as a scribe to propound binding interpretations of the Torah, and without saying “Rabbi X said in the name of Rabbi Y,” Jesus was declaring, “But I say to you…” That is, on his own authority as the Son of God, not the derived authority of his doctoral dissertation supervisor. Jesus constantly warned against the Pharisees. Why? Because they represented a very real danger. It is a danger that is peculiarly powerful for people who love God and take the Bible seriously and feel culturally and morally besieged. We are in a very similar situation, brothers and sisters. You are in the REC. It confesses the Bible to be the inspired word of God; it recites the Creed on a weekly basis; it has bishops, conforming to the polity that characterized the ancient church and the vast majority of church history since then; it stands for orthodoxy and Biblical morality in the face of howling winds of cultural change and creeping sexual perversion and transhumanism, all encouraged by the false eschatology of progress and a false faith in technology. If we are not careful to obey Jesus's teaching, it will be very easy to fall into Pharisaism, and to pray like the Pharisee in Jesus's parable: “I thank you, Lord, that I am not like other men, leftists, weirdos with dyed hair, or those rainbow flag alphabet soup people. I attend church every week and give a tenth of everything I get.” The danger, that is, is to adopt a view of the church as the beleaguered remnant waiting for God to smite its cultural and political enemies, and to focus on performative acts of boundary-marking. In other words, to focus on being pure and separate, in the hopes that God will reward your heightened effort at boundary marking by destroying those on the other side of the boundaries and rewarding you. Jesus's teaches something different from the Maccabees, both about how to be Israel, and about how to relate to those on the other side of the boundaries of the faith. 23 - “If you are offering your gift at the altar” — even if you are in the middle of the most important performance of Israelite piety, the central act that enabled Israel's God to dwell with His people. This is a shocking inversion of how the Pharisees thought things worked: for them, if you declared some money “qorban”, then you were excused from supporting your aged parents with it; for them, if an apparently dead body were on the side of the road, a priest or Levite on his way to the temple would be fully justified in avoiding it in order to remain in a state of cultic purity so that he could do his work in the temple. The laws of purity and religion were thus exalted over the duties toward neighbours and other human beings. Jesus has the OT on his side on this point: the opening of Isaiah rebukes the Israelites for their chutzpah in offering sacrifices and celebrating new moon feasts and other religious observances while perpetrating the worst sorts of social injustice: “Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations— I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. 14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. 15 When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood…Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not bring justice to the fatherless, and the widow's cause does not come to them.” The idea that you can please God by meeting the external requirements, while simultaneously engaged in the worst sorts of injustice toward your fellow men is formalism. Think of a mafia boss who orders a hit on his enemies or pulls out a tommy gun and mows down sixteen rival mobsters on Saturday; the following morning, he shows up at Mass, dips his fingers in holy water, makes the sign of the cross, receives a wafer on his tongue and a blessing from the priest. Mobsters trust in formalism. God is not fooled. It was easy for faithful and believing Jews in Jesus's day to fall into hating the Romans. They were polytheist Gentiles, sexually immoral, and overweening in their obnoxiousness toward the Jews. Jesus mentions “Those Galileans whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices.” The Romans had installed the wicked Idumean dynasty of the Herodians as rulers over Israel. Roman soldiers had the right to Shanghai any Jew and force him to carry his heavy soldier's pack for a mile. Against all this, Jesus tells his disciples to “put away your sword” and to “turn the other cheek” and “go two miles”. In the face of the power and authority of the Roman governor, he answers Pilate not a word. He does not compete on the Romans' level. He knows that their empire will be His whenever He wants. “Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?” The Sermon on the Mount teaches a different way of being the people of God: not the Pharisees' way of exaggerated purity, social pressure, and violent insurrection. It is a way that manifests itself in a totally different attitude toward the Gentiles: one of compassion, not hatred. Not endorsement of the Gentiles' sins or their idolatry or their sexual immorality or infanticide. But a willingness to lay down His life also for them. A crucified Messiah implies a crucified Israel. That, in fact, is what we are called to be: Israel for the sake of the world. And that is what we find in our Epistle lesson this morning, as St. Paul urges in Romans 6: Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. Followers of the crucified Messiah are to be Israel for the sake of the world. Accordingly, we are to pray for the world — which we are about to do now.
Isaiah 5:20-30, 55:10&11, Matthew 5:19
Before we can truly become "little," we must confront the Pharisee in ourselves. Pharisaism is religious narcissism. The Bible calls it "insolent pride." The label "narcissist" is widely deployed to refer to people who appear to be too full of themselves, but the truth is, we all have selfish, narcissistic tendencies to some degree that we must wrestle with. I believe this "spirit of judgment" is the main wound of the Fall. Jesus' most dire warnings and strongest words were for the blind Pharisees. . Clinically, narcissism is a spectrum, and there are three "types" that give us useful information on how to deal with it in ourselves and others. Ultimately, Paul says we must "come out!" and unto our Heavenly Father in order to heal this father wound. . If you've never explored the "father wound," here 's a whole series o healing the father wound. Thank you with all my heart to my newest Friends of the Show, Patricia E; Emily P; Katie R; Nellie K; Carolynn LB; Tina S; Christine C; Stephanie F*; Amber R; Brittany Y; Rebecca M; Bridget McG; Christina C; Phillip B; Laura E; Amelia S; Kevin G; Jean C; Beth L; David C; Deb N; Elizabeth F; Kathleen W; Colleen G; Toni D; Maureen A; Victoria T; Charles F; Amanda P; Heather D; Meghan S; Kathy B; Victoria H; Kellye B; Karen B; Julie B*; Carol E-D; and Shona M, for loving and lifting me! *Extra thank you for your generosity! :) Friends of the Show get all Premium Content! Our Monthly Meetup Bible study in John is epic! You coming? New Series LOVE the Word® is a Bible study method based on Mary's own practice: lectio without the Latin. Get the book based on Sonja's method in the right margin, How to Pray Like Mary. L | Listen (Receive the Word via audio or video.) O | Observe (Connect the passage to your life and recent events.) Are you narcissistic? How narcissistic are you? How do you feel about yourself, knowing you have narcissistic tendencies? Have you identified the projections inherent in your narcissism? What do you want to say to the Holy Spirit about that? V | Verbalize (Pray about your thoughts and emotions.) Remembering that He loves you and that you are in His presence, talk to God about the particulars of your O – Observe step. You may want to write your reflections in your LOVE the Word® journal. Or, get a free journal page and guide in the right-hand margin. E | Entrust (Rest in the Word.) Dearest Jesus, my love, in the words of little Therese, "For me to become great is impossible." Help me bear with myself and my many imperfections as I seek to follow her means of getting to heaven by a little way--very short and very straight, The Little Way of the Child. Amen + Love Heals. Learn More. Connect Join me (click here) in the Sacred Healing community for our Masterclass and Consultation Group coaching calls, healing prayer livestreams, monthly Bible studies, LOVE the Word® takeaways, a healing masterclass and other courses, a dynamic phone app, and a flourishing community to help you find help, support, and experience deeper healing. What We Discussed | Show Notes Overview: Minutes 00:00-12:00 – Narcissistic Personality Inventory; Jordan Peterson's Understand Myself personality quiz; Narcissus Minutes 12:01-24:00 – Traits of narcissism; it's a spectrum; the grandiosity and shame yo-yo Minutes 24:01-36:00 – Three types of narcissism: 1) abuse and neglect; 2) inter-generational; 3) entitlement Minutes 36:01-48:00 – Appeal to the relationship; narcissism as a worthlessness identity wound, a father wound; worthless and Belial; "Come out!" Transcript Friends of the Show: Protected Content. Click Here to sign in
During the time of Jesus' life and ministry—but prior to His death on the cross—people were directed to believe the gospel of the kingdom (Matt 3:1-2; 4:17; Mark 1:14-15). The gospel of the kingdom directed Israelites to look to Jesus as the promised Messiah. This meant looking to Jesus as the “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29; cf. Isa 53:4-11). Faith in Jesus would result in their spiritual and eternal salvation. The object of their faith is Christ alone. John wrote, “whoever believes in Him will have eternal life” (John 3:15), and “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16), and “He who believes in the Son has eternal life” (John 3:36). And Jesus pointed others to Himself, saying, “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:40), and “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life” (John 6:47; cf., John 10:28). The gospel of the kingdom also pertained to Israel's theocratic kingdom, where God would rule over His people through Jesus, the descendant of David and rightful King of the nation (2 Sam 7:16; Psa 89:3-4, 35-37; Isa 9:6-7; Jer 23:5; 33:15; Luke 1:31-33; Matt 19:28; 25:31; Rev 11:15; 20:4-6). John the Baptist preached, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt 3:2). To be “at hand” meant the earthly kingdom was being offered to Israel. Additionally, the gospel of the kingdom was preached by Jesus and His disciples even after John had been arrested. Mark wrote, “Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel'” (Mark 1:14-15; cf. Matt 9:35; 10:5-7). Norman Geisler correctly states, “The messianic kingdom is a visible, earthly, political kingdom promised to Israel in which Christ, her Messiah, will reign from a throne in Jerusalem over the whole earth, with His apostles and other disciples serving Him.”[1] Merrill F. Unger states, “The Gospel of the Kingdom [is] the good news that God's purpose is to establish an earthly mediatorial kingdom in fulfillment of the Davidic covenant (2 Sam 7:16).”[2] If the leadership and people Israel would change their minds (i.e., repent) and accept Jesus as their rightful King, they would experience national deliverance from Gentile tyranny, which they were experiencing, being under the rule of Rome. According to Arnold Fruchtenbaum, “Jesus went around Israel, city to city and synagogue to synagogue, proclaiming His Messiahship and preaching the gospel of the Kingdom. He was offering to Israel the Kingdom of the Jewish prophets, but the Kingdom was preconditioned by Israel's acceptance of Him as the Messianic King.”[3] We know that Israel rejected Jesus as the Messiah (Matt 12:24-32; 27:20-23),[4] and the result was the kingdom offer was taken away (Matt 21:43), and judgment was pronounced upon them (Matt 23:37-39; Rom 11:25-26). Afterwards, Jesus was crucified for the sins of the world (John 3:16; 1 John 2:2), was buried, and raised again on the third day (1 Cor 15:3-4). The crucifixion of Jesus was part of God's predetermined plan for the redemption of humanity, regardless of Israel's response. The gospel of the kingdom was postponed until the time of the Tribulation. According to Merrill F. Unger: "Two proclamations of the gospel of the kingdom are mentioned, one already past, beginning with the ministry of John the Baptist, carried on by our Lord and His disciples, and ending with the Jewish rejection of the Messiah. The other preaching is yet future (Matt 24:14), during the Great Tribulation, and heralding the second advent of the King."[5] The gospel of the kingdom that was preached by John the Baptist, and Jesus and His disciples, cannot be the gospel of grace that is preached by Christians today. Why? The content of the gospels are different. Paul preached “the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24), which was “to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Rom 1:16), whereas the gospel of the kingdom was solely “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt 10:6). Furthermore, the gospel of grace includes “the cross of Christ” (1 Cor 1:17), telling us that “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor 15:3-4). But the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus was not communicated by the disciples when they preached the “gospel of the kingdom” (Matt 4:23). How do we know this? After Jesus had been rejected by the leadership of Israel, Matthew tells us, “Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day” (Matt 16:21). Apparently the disciples did not like what Jesus said, as Matthew tells us, “Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, ‘God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You'” (Matt 16:22). For a brief moment, Peter was an enemy of the cross, trying to prevent Jesus from going to the cross, and he was rebuked for it. The Lord said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's” (Matt 16:23). If Peter had had his way, Jesus would never have gone to the cross. The second time Jesus spoke about the events of His crucifixion (Matt 17:22-23), we're told the disciples “were deeply grieved” (Matt 17:23b), implying they did not fully understand the significance of the cross. Jesus mentioned His crucifixion to His disciples a third time (Matt 20:18-19), but there was no response. Later, Peter tried to defend Jesus with a sword to prevent His arrest, which implied he did not understand the significance of the cross (Matt 26:51-52). Though they were saved by faith alone in Christ alone, they did not grasp the significance of the cross, for if they had, they would not have opposed His arrest or crucifixion. In fact, the disciples did not understand Jesus' resurrection until after it happened (John 20:1-8), which is what John revealed, saying, “For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead” (John 20:9). After Jesus' resurrection, they finally understood His words. If the gospel of the kingdom that was preached by John the Baptist and Jesus' disciples included the death burial and resurrection of Jesus, then Peter would not have been surprised and reacted so strongly to Jesus' words. He would have thought, “oh yeah, that's what we've been preaching all along, and now the time is near for His death.” But that was not Peter's reaction. Peter tried to stop Jesus from going to the cross (Matt 16:22; 26:51-52). Renald Showers correctly notes, “The language indicates that although the disciples had already been preaching one gospel [of the kingdom], up to this point Jesus had never told them about His coming death, burial, and resurrection. Therefore, the first gospel contained nothing concerning Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection.”[6] Dr. Steven R. Cook [1] Norman L. Geisler, Systematic Theology, Volume Four: Church, Last Things (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House Publishers, 2005), 461. [2] Merrill F. Unger, “Gospel,” ed. R.K. Harrison, The New Unger's Bible Dictionary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1988), 493. [3] Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, The Footsteps of the Messiah: A Study of the Sequence of Prophetic Events, Rev. ed. (Tustin, CA: Ariel Ministries, 2003), 294. [4] Arnold Fruchtenbaum notes, “From biblical times to the present, the Jewish people have labored under a ‘leadership complex,' meaning, whichever way the leaders went, the people were sure to follow. This can be seen clearly in the Hebrew scriptures: When a king did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, the people follow. Conversely, when a king did that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord, they also followed…In New Testament times, the leadership complex was very strong because of the stranglehold Pharisaism had upon the masses through the Mishna…[The people] were looking for their leaders to give them direction.” (Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Yeshuah: The Life of Messiah from a Messianic Perspective, Vol. 2, San Antonio, TX. 2019, Ariel Ministries, p. 371) [5] Merrill F. Unger, “Gospel,” ed. R.K. Harrison, The New Unger's Bible Dictionary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1988). [6] Renald E. Showers, There Really Is a Difference!: A Comparison of Covenant and Dispensational Theology (Bellmawr, NJ: The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, Inc., 1990), 3–4.
The focus of the Evergetinos this evening was on praying the psalms. However, as always with the writings of the fathers, the focus isn't simply on the external actions, but the meaning of them. How do we pray as members of the body of Christ? Is there a kind of liturgical asceticism that must match our bodily asceticism? What is the measure of our prayer? In other words, as those who live in a spirit of repentance and seek purity of heart, how do these realities shape the way we pray. The fathers this understood very well our tendency to focus on externals and that we can fall back into a modern day Pharisaism. We can be satisfied with the appearance of religiosity while giving scant attention to what God has revealed to us and the life that he has called us to embrace. Whenever this happens, it not only weakens our capacity to bear witness to Christ but it can undermine the life of the Church as a whole. If our hearts are fragmented by our sin this will manifest itself or be mirrored in liturgy. And when this takes place the entire culture around us - as well as within the church - can collapse. It's a sobering presentation, but something that afflicts the Church in every generation. If the Evil One is going to attack the Church, he is going to attack it at its heart; that is, how we pray. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:25:00 Kate : There's also the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary which is very suitable for the laity. 00:25:13 Vanessa: Reacted to "There's also the Lit..." with ❤️ 00:25:22 Adam Paige: Reacted to "There's also the Lit..." with ❤️ 00:39:40 iPad (2): That is a wonderful book and he also has a podcast series on the book 00:50:47 Rod Castillo: The Endarkenment 00:54:30 Bob Cihak: Reacted to "The Endarkenment" with
The New World Order, Agenda 2030, Agenda 2050, The Great Reset and Rise of The 4IR
Show Notes:This session is designed to deconstruct the delusional religious ideological Matrix we've been plunged into by Western Teachers for the past 2000 yrs. [YESHUA the (Mashiakh) i.e. Christ] Rejected Pharisaism and its offspring in modernity called “Judaism”! (Road Session) Please support the [Show] and its [Research] with Donations, please send all funds and gifts to :$aigner2019 (cashapp) or https://www.paypal.me/Aigner2019 or Zelle (1-617-821-3168).}
The Gospel according to Luke is the longest and most thorough account of Jesus' life that we have. A key attribute of this gospel is the way Jesus is portrayed interacting with people of all kinds of backgrounds and walks of life, and showing them that he's come to seek and save the lost. Jesus truly is for everyone. Reflection Questions: In what ways do we see Pharisaism still at work today? Why can't we mix the old covenant with the new? What qualities of a Pharisee do you see in your own life? What steps will you take to behold and become more like Jesus this week? --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/central-city-assembly/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/central-city-assembly/support
The point in "healing the inner child" is illustrated and affirmed by an ancient psychological/mythological idea that the way to full maturity is to find what you lost as a child and regain it. The recovery of the child revivifies the adult by teaching the adult how to play, trust, and wonder without judgment again, but with the added maturity and knowledge of being an adult who knows how to organize and protect oneself in the world. The inner child finally gets to express him/herself from a place of safety rather than fear and danger. In this wrap-up episode, I offer a case study that might help put all the pieces together, and a reminder from St. Thérèse to stay "little," give Jesus your littleness and little sacrifices, and leave the rest to Him. Thank you with all my heart to my newest Friends of the Show, Barney C; Corinne C; Laurie D; and Lee Ann K, for loving and lifting me! Friends of the Show get all Premium Content! Our Monthly Meetup Bible study in John is epic! You coming? LOVE the Word® is a Bible study method based on Mary's own practice: lectio without the Latin. Get the book based on Sonja's method in the right margin, How to Pray Like Mary. L | Listen (Receive the Word via audio or video.) O | Observe (Connect the passage to your life and recent events.) Has this series taught you anything more than you knew about St. Thérèse and being "little"? Are you more comfortable with younger parts of yourself than before? Are there parts that you still have trouble "welcoming"? What do you want to say to the Holy Spirit about that? V | Verbalize (Pray about your thoughts and emotions.) Remembering that He loves you and that you are in His presence, talk to God about the particulars of your O – Observe step. You may want to write your reflections in your LOVE the Word® journal. Or, get a free journal page and guide in the right-hand margin. E | Entrust (Rest in the Word.) Dearest Jesus, my love, in the words of little Therese, "For me to become great is impossible." Help me bear with myself and my many imperfections as I seek to follow her means of getting to heaven by a little way--very short and very straight, The Little Way of the Child. Amen + Love Heals. Learn More. Connect Join me (click here) in the Sacred Healing community for our Masterclass and Consultation Group coaching calls, healing prayer livestreams, monthly Bible studies, LOVE the Word® takeaways, a healing masterclass and other courses, a dynamic phone app, and a flourishing community to help you find help, support, and experience deeper healing. What We Discussed | Show Notes Thérèse of Lisieux sacrifice beads at Vianney beads on Etsy. Overview: Minutes 00:00-12:00 – Back to Thérèse and her last year; Sister Marie and the linen room Minutes 12:01-24:00 – Case study on the late-life illumination of a personality projection Minutes 24:01-36:00 – Self-sufficiency and Pharisaism block healing Minutes 36:01-48:00 – Seeing and accepting personality projections (underneath behavior issues) without allowing them to rule; how judgments in our vocations are meant to help us "see" and experience ourselves, God, and others in deeper communion Transcript Friends of the Show: Protected Content. Click Here to sign in
Listen, Pharisee, the reason you're lonely, the reason you don't feel "chosen," the reason God hasn't thrown you a party (Parable of the Prodigal), is because you're full of judgments that block communion within yourself and between you and the Father, so that you can't feel comfortable enough with Him to even ask for a party. And if he threw you one now, in the state of Pharisaism you're in, you'd just condemn yourself for wastefulness and not deserving it. As soon as we turn back to our inner child, as soon as we extend some sympathy, boundaries, and forgiveness - for ourselves and others - the Pharisee steps in to judge: "How dare you let yourself or them get away with that!" Pharisaism is the wound of the world, because while the "sinful" have obvious evidence of their need for healing love, the Pharisee has his shit together, and therefore cannot see the dark, dead judgments inside himself that prevent healing communion. Thank you with all my heart to my newest Friends of the Show, Clement O; Connie V; Jackie B; Gaylene M; Holly R; Carolyn C; and Mary G, for loving and lifting me! Friends of the Show get all Premium Content! Our Monthly Meetup Bible study in John is epic! You coming? LOVE the Word® is a Bible study method based on Mary's own practice: lectio without the Latin. Get the book based on Sonja's method in the right margin, How to Pray Like Mary. L | Listen (Receive the Word via audio or video.) O | Observe (Connect the passage to your life and recent events.) Did the Holy Spirit bring to mind a judgment that you've been projecting onto others or Him in this episode? Can you discern the contradiction underneath with Him? V | Verbalize (Pray about your thoughts and emotions.) Remembering that He loves you and that you are in His presence, talk to God about the particulars of your O – Observe step. You may want to write your reflections in your LOVE the Word® journal. Or, get a free journal page and guide in the right-hand margin. E | Entrust (Rest in the Word.) Dearest Jesus, my love, in the words of little Therese, "For me to become great is impossible." Help me bear with myself and my many imperfections as I seek to follow her means of getting to heaven by a little way--very short and very straight, The Little Way of the Child. Amen + Love Heals. Learn More. Connect Join me (click here) in the Sacred Healing community for our Masterclass and Consultation Group coaching calls, healing prayer livestreams, monthly Bible studies, LOVE the Word® takeaways, a healing masterclass and other courses, a dynamic phone app, and a flourishing community to help you find help, support, and experience deeper healing. What We Discussed | Show Notes Overview: Minutes 00:00-12:00 – How the inner Pharisee steps into the Little Way process Minutes 12:01-24:00 – Unforgiveness and Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes; Catholics and Protestants; Pharisaism as anger at self and God Minutes 24:01-36:00 – Psychology 101 on judgments as projections; fear of God as projection of anger Minutes 36:01-48:00 – Seeing and accepting personality flaws (underneath behavior issues) without allowing them to rule; how judgments in our vocations are meant to help us "see" and experience ourselves, God, and others in communion Transcript Friends of the Show: Protected Content. Click Here to sign in
1 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” 3 He said to them, “Have you not…
The Ordination of Rev. Jonas Ellison Is. 6:1-8 + Ps 139:1-18 + 1 Cor. 4:1-5 + Luke 24:13-35 On Saturday, October 14, 2023 St. Columba's Episcopal Church had the joy and privilege of hosting Bishop Claire Burkat of the ELCA in celebration of the ordination of Rev. Jonas Ellison to the Ministry of Word and Sacrament. To the good people of Christ Lutheran, Aptos, CA, we are delighted to have shared in the joy of this moment for all of you. To Jonas, my friend and brother in Christ, know Fernando and I are grateful to have participated in your ordination and trust that I commit to walking with you, Alex and Rory on this journey of your ministry. May our sister churches grow ever closer in shared ministry, fellowship and communion as the fruit of our deep friendship. I am blessed by the invitation to have preached at your ordination, and pray that these words will inspire you to be a gentle pastor and shining example of Christ's love in the world. The church is better today for counting you among her ministers. May your ministry bear fruit abundant. As Ever in Christ our Lord, Fr. Vincent Pizzuto, PhD., Vicar, St. Columba's Episcopal Church, Inverness, California WELCOME on the Occasion of the Ordination of Rev. Jonas Ellison Good morning! Bishop Claire, beloved members of Christ Lutheran, friends and family: on behalf of my congregation here at St. Columba's it is my pleasure to welcome you all to our little church and retreat house here in Inverness for such a joyous occasion. My name is Fr. Vincent I am a professor at the USF where I have taught for the past 20 years, and priest here at SC where I serve as the vicar. It would be hard for me to put into words the joy and pride, and hope I feel at being a part of Jonas' ordination. He and his wife Alex and their daughter Rory have become fast friends and people with whom I share a deep spiritual resonance and wicked sense of humor. I want to extent hearty congratulations to the Call Team of Christ Lutheran for the work you have done in summoning Jonas to this work of ministry with you. And I look forward to getting to know you better at our reception and in creating deeper partnerships in the years ahead. SERMON Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. + I speak to you today in the Name of the Three in One and One in Three. Amen. Sisters and brothers, the church is dying. Our congregations are hemorrhaging. And Christianity is losing its capacity to speak to a world exhausted by conflict, scandalized by human depravity and unspeakable violence, wearied by the existential threats of climate collapse, terrified by the resurgence of fascism, and reeling by the need to come to terms with a tradition that has been coopted or complicit in a history of colonialism and racism. This is the church and the world into which Jonas is being called to serve as a minister. And make no mistake, it is because of people like him – who carries within himself a pastor's heart -- that I am filled with profound hope. Hope for the church and for the world. And so I speak most directly today to you, good people of Christ Lutheran. And I ask you to hear me with a tender heart. To listen with an open mind. Because I don't want to waste your time today offering a few light hearted jokes, some shallow comments to make us all feel good, a proverbial pat on Jonas' back -- and call it sermon. No. I want to talk with you about the radical, scandalous beauty of Christianity that the modern church has all but forgotten, but about which I believe Jonas has the capacity to summon you. I want to remind you of what Christ calls the kingdom of God. Not just a quaint idea or a future promise, but that great and redemptive interruption of the terror of human that breaks upon us – even now -- not with the ferocity of a divine warrior but with the vulnerability of an infant messiah. I want to remind you of what it is we profess in Christ: nothing less than God's journey into every living soul. I want to proclaim anew this unspeakable joy of Christ, whose light has arisen in history, and extends now to the shadows of every human heart. This is the good news the world is desperate to hear. For all our social media and its efforts to connect us, we still crave for spiritual intimacy, deep down what we hunger for is not a church that will be just another social club, but a compassionate spiritual community that will nurture us into our most authentic selves; a place where we can hold a communal faith even as we are accompanied in our deepest interior lives. It is all the more tragic, then, that Christianity has become associated in the popular mind with a body-hating worldview or with certain forms of doctrinal rigidity, institutional hypocrisy, scientific ignorance, and religious intolerance—assessments that too often bear merit. The rise of modern secularism in the West along with the precipitous decline in church attendance must be understood, at least in part, as a purifying corrective to the spiritual, moral, and imaginative failures of our religious institutions. The consequence of these failures is the church's diminishing capacity to convey beauty. We have forgotten how to communicate the radical, scandalous beauty of the incarnation. It is, after all, beauty that attracts the human spirit and beauty that compels the human conscience toward the good, not the dry, rigid formulas of doctrine, nor the clinical dissection of biblical texts, nor the petty infighting among our denominations, nor the ethical demands to love even before we ourselves have been made to understand not only that we are lovable, but that we are indeed love itself. We are love incarnate! And this truth flows from the very heart and center of Christian faith: Ours is a God who will not tolerate confinement in a far-away-heaven, forever distant and transcendent, but who tears beyond the veil of eternity who breaks into time itself, to enter the very flesh of our flesh, the very marrow of our bones, as One who is “crazy” in love and who begs to be loved in return. If it is true, as the early Fathers insisted, that the church is most herself at liturgy, it is because every time we gather around word and sacrament, we gather to realize that very truth, to celebrate and embody the very reality that each of us are members of Christ's very body still incarnate in the world. It is what the early church called, the Incarnatio continua. The Church as the “continuation of the incarnation” in the world. Just, hold that thought for a moment. Ponder it. We are, each of us, members, of Christ's body. Paul insists upon this repeatedly throughout his letters, 2 Peter tells us “We are partakers of the divine nature” and Jesus teaches us in the gospel of John, “I am the vine you are the branches.” Notice what he is saying there! Where the vine ends and the branch begins is not marked by a radical break or a separation but an organic continuity. “I am the vine you are the branches.” Where my body ends and yours begins is marked by separation but endless continuity. The very fine of my body gives live, gives being, gives divinity to the branch of your body. The early church called this deification or theosis: the affirmation that in Christ, God became human that humanity might be made divine. As St. Augustine would tell us: “God is more interior to us than we are to ourselves.” And if the world is to know this, we must not only preach it, but live it. And not only live it but celebrate it. The fact that most Christians today would be confused and even scandalized by this almost unqualified union between Christ and humanity as expressed by the early church marks a radical failure of the church to communicate to the modern world its greatest spiritual treasure: The incarnation has made mystics of us all. In its wake, the modern invention of biblical literalism has rushed in to fill the void. As a result, Christianity has been reduced to a new kind of Pharisaism centered on moral scrupulosity and obsessed with personal salvation. Unable to see Christ immanent in one's own body, in material flesh, in creation itself, Christ remains a distant overlord rather than the Cosmic Christ whose life-giving energy pulsates through every living atom. Having forfeited the cosmic dimension of salvation history, we have no way of conveying what it means that in Christ heaven and earth interpenetrate the other. That all ground is holy ground. All water is holy water. All bread is Eucharist. All life—not merely human life—is sacred. And this is the very mystery of our faith, the very truth we come to celebrate in the liturgy. The incarnation has made mystics of us all! And this truth is deeply embedded in the gospel we heard proclaimed today. Now I understand that when many of us here, the word “Mysticism” we think of individuals, perhaps the medieval Mystics with their visions of heavenly things, or their experiences of divine union, and so forth. But that is not the earliest nor the most essential understanding of Christian mysticism. From its beginnings, mysticism was never the possession of any one individual or an elite spiritual class, but a possession of the entire church. Collectively, as a whole, the church is by its very nature, mystical. And mysticism, as it became associated with early Christianity, took on three interrelated dimensions. Specifically, an unveiling of the hidden presence of Christ in Word, in Sacrament, and in the depths of the human heart. And thus, the Christian liturgy was understood as essentially mystical because by its very nature it unveiled the hidden presence of Christ in Word, in Sacrament and ultimately in one's own heart. And this connection between liturgy and the mysticism underlies the whole of the gospel we heard this morning. Among our most cherished of resurrection narratives, The Road to Emmaus, as it has come to be called, is unique to Luke's gospel and reflects in its overall structure, the very pattern of the early Christian liturgy and this three-fold understanding of mysticism understood by the early church. And that pattern, as I will briefly spell out here, is still discernIble today. Suggestive of a liturgical procession, the story begins with two disciples – Cleopas and an unnamed companion – walking to Emmaus outside Jerusalem on the first Easter morning. Alone on the desert road, some distance from the city, Luke tells us that Christ “drew near and walked among them” just as he promised whenever two or three would gather in his name. Unable to recognize him (*notice Christ is present but still ‘hidden'), we learn that Cleopas and his companion are downcast because of the recent crucifixion of Jesus to say nothing of their bewilderment about rumors concerning his now empty tomb. Their state of mind is much like many in the world today: downcast, bewildered, overwhelmed. Yet, they are captivated as Jesus gently chides them for their lack of faith, even as he unfolds the meaning of the scriptures as they relate to himself (Again, notice how Christ is unveiling how he is, indeed, present in the scriptures themselves). This is not unlike our own Liturgy of the Word, where we too proclaim the scriptures and offer sermons to reveal Christ hidden within them. As they approach Emmaus, the disciples invite him to gather with them in table fellowship, whereupon Luke describes Jesus' actions precisely as he does at the Last Supper: “He took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them.” Indeed, even now these are the same words we will proclaim at the Eucharist. “With that,” Luke tells us, “…their eyes were opened and they recognized him in the breaking of the bread,” even as he vanished from their sight. Here again, the hidden presence of Christ in the Eucharist is revealed, even as his former, bodily form disappears. Amazed, they depart immediately again for Jerusalem, exclaiming to one another, “Where not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us along the way…!” “Where not our hearts burning” – here we see that third element of the mystical essence of the liturgy: The intuitive sense that Christ is present within our own hearts that burn with recognition even before we have words to describe it. Perhaps most importantly but least appreciated, they do not stay in Emmaus basking in their private mystical encounter, but immediately begin to make their way back to Jerusalem. This reflects precisely the liturgical dismissal or “sending forth” as it is sometimes called. And indeed, like the disciple's mystical encounter with Christ in Emmaus, the dismissal is the precisely moment to which our eucharist is oriented. Perhaps then, reflecting the very structure of the Christian liturgy would perhaps be better named, “The Road from Emmaus.” Because what matters for them and for us is that once they depart Emmaus, they go out into the world to proclaim the Good News: “Christ is risen!” And this is why the liturgy ends so abruptly once we have shared Communion. As the Christian commemoration of the first Passover, where Israel too was instructed to eat quickly (sandals on their feet, and buckles around their waists) so too in the liturgy, there is but a brief benediction, a hymn to get the procession going, followed by some version of the dismissal: “Go! This Mass has ended!” Looking at it this way, much like the disciples on the Road from Emmaus, even today Jonas and his family will literally “eat and run” as it were, to make their way to Aptos where the fruits of his ordination will hold out the promise of new life. As Jesus reminds us repeatedly throughout the gospel, there is little time to waste. The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few! And yet today we blessedly celebrate the commissioning, the ordination of a new laborer…and that is no small thing. Good people of Atos: You have called as your shepherd a man who is not interested in the church as social club, but as agent of transformation. He is not interested in expediency but the radical and transformative beauty of the Christian tradition and the liturgy that celebrates it. He understands the beauty of the tradition and he desires to foster a community of people who learn what it means to be authentic and spiritually intimate. But above all, he knows in the very marrow of his bones the presence of Christ in all things, and he holds within him the very heart of a pastor. Open your hearts to him as I know he desires to open his heart to you. Cleopas is on his way – and with news of a joy unspeakable. Jonas and Christ Lutheran, may your journey ahead be swift, but above all, blessed by the Christ hidden in all things! + Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Christianity is no less susceptible to Pharisaism than Judaism was. The second of two episodes on incarnation highlights Christ's teaching that we are not better than others, just better together. Scriptures: Gal 6:1-3, 14, 20, 6:9-10 Eph 3:17-19, 4:1-4, 11-13 James 5:14-20 Luke 23:24 Acts 7:58-60 John 3:17 Referenced Episode: Meek and […]
Keep finding Him by waking up in every appearance and asking, "Is this here, or is God here?" "Is that problem here, or is God here?" "Is this worrying thought here, or is God here?" "Am I here, or is He here?" "What is 'here'?' Love. Only That. I Love you, Nikki nikki@curlynikki.com Support the show: ▶▶https://www.patreon.com/goodmornings GoOD Mornings merch: ▶▶https://www.patreon.com/goodmornings _________________________________ Today's Quotes: "Our Father (God) who art in Heaven (eternal reality), hallowed be thy Name." Prayer is the remembrance of the Divine Name. The Kingdom is come, the Will is done, when the Name is remembered." -Jay Matthews via Quora "When God wishes to help, He lets us weep. Wherever water flows life nourishes. Wherever tears fall, Divine mercy is shown." -Rumi "Nothing can make you happy until Nothing can make you happy." -Jeff Foster "The Light of God surrounds you, The Love of God enfolds you, The Power of God protects you, The presence of God watches over you, Where ever you are God is, And all is well." -Ray Rarmilo via FB "I am pleased with you, My Child. Allow yourself to become fully aware of My pleasure shining upon you. You don't have to perform well in order to receive My Love. In fact, a performance focus will pull you away from Me, toward some sort of Pharisaism. This can be a subtle form of idolatry: worshiping your own good works. It can also be a source of deep discouragement when your works don't measure up to your expectations.Shift your focus from your performance to My radiant Presence. The Light of My Love shines on you continually, regardless of your feelings or behavior. Your responsibility is to be receptive to this unconditional Love. Thankfulness and trust are your primary receptors. Thank Me for everything; trust in Me at all times. These simple disciplines will keep you open to My loving Presence. - @jesuscalling.daily via IG "Where we see waves we have a God who makes highways. Where we see dead ends, we have a God who makes a Red Sea Road. The brave trust Him unwaveringly and know that it's okay if things feel kinda unsteady when your heart's fixed on Him because: Faith feels like waves. And your heart takes a deep breath, smiles wide, takes its own wild leap of faith and believes: The brave ignore waves." -Ann Voskamp "I was a black ant, on a black stone, on a dark night, but God has found me." -Sufi Proverb
Doc Ryan & Dr. Matt with Expedition 44 discuss the “5-fold gift” of the shepherd-teacher. At the end of this episode we were joined by Dr. Steve Cassell and Pastor Ryan Smith of Beloved church to talk about how they live out this gifting in their community Shepherding/Teaching o Cares for and develops the people of God by leading, nurturing, protecting, and discipling them o The teaching aspect clarifies the mind and will of God as found in the Bible so that people can gain wisdom and understanding in following Jesus as a disciple. Focus/Tasks o Cultivate a loving and spiritually mature network of relationships and community o Discern o Guide o Help the faith community to explore and seek to understand the mind of God o Disciple Impact when Shepherding is a monopolized gift o Closed, non-missional community o Co-dependency between the church and pastor (hierarchy/CEO mentality- messiah complex) o Don't rock the boat approach to organization o Too passive and insider focused Impact when Teaching is a monopolized gift o Theological dogmatism o Christian Gnosticism (saved by knowledge) o Bible and Theology replaces the Holy Spirit o Control through ideas (Pharisaism- is it lawful?) Summary o Jesus is the Shepherd. Pastor is not an office or position in the Bible but a function o The chief task of the shepherds/teachers was to help the church in times of personal crisis (shepherding) and to enlighten and cultivate the church's spiritual life by revealing Christ through the exposition of Scripture (teaching). o One must learn before they teach o Those who function in shepherding are to be mature believers (“elders”). o Teaching and shepherding are gifts for the unity and building up of the body to reflect Jesus Christ. o Shepherding is about service and discipleship and not rule or authority. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/expedition44/support
The Gospel of Grace sets us free from the performance treadmill of trying to earn God's love with our works. Instead, we are set free from Pharisaism into a life of joy as beloved daughters and sons of our Heavenly Father. We will spend this semester exploring the hope the Gospel offers for recovering Pharisees through the book of Galatians.
The Gospel of Grace sets us free from the performance treadmill of trying to earn God's love with our works. Instead, we are set free from Pharisaism into a life of joy as beloved daughters and sons of our Heavenly Father. We will spend this semester exploring the hope the Gospel offers for recovering Pharisees through the book of Galatians.
The Gospel of Grace sets us free from the performance treadmill of trying to earn God's love with our works. Instead, we are set free from Pharisaism into a life of joy as beloved daughters and sons of our Heavenly Father. We will spend this semester exploring the hope the Gospel offers for recovering Pharisees through the book of Galatians.
The Gospel of Grace sets us free from the performance treadmill of trying to earn God's love with our works. Instead, we are set free from Pharisaism into a life of joy as beloved daughters and sons of our Heavenly Father. We will spend this semester exploring the hope the Gospel offers for recovering Pharisees through the book of Galatians.
For years on this program, in homilies and personal discussions with parishioners, family, and friends — I have explained that there is no such thing as progress. That you can't earn anything. That nothing you have belongs to you. No one owes you anything, and even what you seem to have will be taken away, so give it away now because you owe God and your neighbor a debt you can never repay. That you are not a victim - on the contrary - you are the abuser, and you should not keep tabs when you help others because your life does not belong to you. I have insisted that Scripture is the Pearl of Great Price. The only treasure of value. It is so precious that any time spent talking about anything else is wasted breath. That is why people are sometimes nervous around me during coffee hour, let alone family gatherings. In recent years I have directed my parish council not to use words like “progress,” “success,” “legacy,” “build,” or “engagement“ during meetings or in printed materials and notes. I have doggedly acted out Pharisaism publicly so that with each breath when I preach the judgment forcefully, everyone present is certain that I am a hypocrite so that on the off chance that anyone submits to the biblical commandment, they are absolutely clear that it is the righteous commandment that guides their steps and not my example. I have ridiculed the abuse, criticism, and disrespect of parents (evangelized by popular culture and Disney children's sitcoms) not because our parents are good (no one, according to Jesus, is good) but because, as the Good Book proclaims, whatever we are, we are no better, if not worse, than what came before us. I have ridiculed parents, too, because I am a Pharisee, and my job is to preach Psalm 78, like it or not. Richard and I have dismantled our culture, politics, identity, and ideologies of every flavor on this podcast - and still, people want to say, “I agree with you, Father…”Beloved, in Christ, you can't possibly agree with me. Even I disagree with me. Only the dead agree with Scripture. One day, God willing, Richard and I will have a chance to read the Book of Revelation on this program - a book that handles the function of the martyrs elegantly. In the meantime, with respect to our inability to agree with Scripture, we'll continue our discussion of the genealogy in Luke 3:28. (Episode 482) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
The Gospel of Grace sets us free from the performance treadmill of trying to earn God's love with our works. Instead, we are set free from Pharisaism into a life of joy as beloved daughters and sons of our Heavenly Father. We will spend this semester exploring the hope the Gospel offers for recovering Pharisees through the book of Galatians.
The Gospel of Grace sets us free from the performance treadmill of trying to earn God's love with our works. Instead, we are set free from Pharisaism into a life of joy as beloved daughters and sons of our Heavenly Father. We will spend this semester exploring the hope the Gospel offers for recovering Pharisees through the book of Galatians.
The Gospel of Grace sets us free from the performance treadmill of trying to earn God's love with our works. Instead, we are set free from Pharisaism into a life of joy as beloved daughters and sons of our Heavenly Father. We will spend this semester exploring the hope the Gospel offers for recovering Pharisees through the book of Galatians.
The Gospel of Grace sets us free from the performance treadmill of trying to earn God's love with our works. Instead, we are set free from Pharisaism into a life of joy as beloved daughters and sons of our Heavenly Father. We will spend this semester exploring the hope the Gospel offers for recovering Pharisees through the book of Galatians.
The Gospel of Grace sets us free from the performance treadmill of trying to earn God's love with our works. Instead, we are set free from Pharisaism into a life of joy as beloved daughters and sons of our Heavenly Father. We will spend this semester exploring the hope the Gospel offers for recovering Pharisees through the book of Galatians.
The Gospel of Grace sets us free from the performance treadmill of trying to earn God's love with our works. Instead, we are set free from Pharisaism into a life of joy as beloved daughters and sons of our Heavenly Father. We will spend this semester exploring the hope the Gospel offers for recovering Pharisees through the book of Galatians.
The Gospel of Grace sets us free from the performance treadmill of trying to earn God's love with our works. Instead, we are set free from Pharisaism into a life of joy as beloved daughters and sons of our Heavenly Father. We will spend this semester exploring the hope the Gospel offers for recovering Pharisees through the book of Galatians.
Recently, at a CPAC Rally, Donald J. Trump said that he shows strength as US President, in that no country from without will touch the US, but what about the implosion within from policies and talking points that promote divisiveness and vitriol, leading to a January 6th Insurrection. Such hypocrisy: here's a former President that incited/aided and did nothing to protect against the January 6th Insurrection talking about taking on corruption, imprisoning Marxists for toppling confederate statues. How duplicitous & pharisaical where Donald J. Trump can get away with Crimes yet create laws that punish criminality. All this talk accusing people of being Marxists and Nikki Haley spewing out the same nonsense yesterday calling the other side Socialists seems to suggest the potential marriage between Trump/Haley's campaigns. He, like Ron DeSantis, Florida's Governor, want to get rid of Critical Race Theory (they, some ultra-GOP, call Woke) thereby preventing black academics & black authors from academia & from financial gains; the usual strategy that prevents black people from wealth & prosperity. Black outlets, bookstores: please support black authors! Don't gatekeep, we have to face Trump, DeSantis and the Republican Party blocking our books. Please do not add to the list. Help the local community authors and black and brown authors. Suddenly all black writers are deemed part of Critical Race Theory. Thus, our books become branded as such. Needless to say, Critical Race Theory is important; how can we truly heal without appropriating the past? Submissions: Submissions@theneoliberal.com Email: info@theneoliberal.com. Subscribe: https://anchor.fm/theneoliberal --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/theneoliberal/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/theneoliberal/support
The Gospel of Grace sets us free from the performance treadmill of trying to earn God's love with our works. Instead, we are set free from Pharisaism into a life of joy as beloved daughters and sons of our Heavenly Father. We will spend this semester exploring the hope the Gospel offers for recovering Pharisees through the book of Galatians.
The Gospel of Grace sets us free from the performance treadmill of trying to earn God's love with our works. Instead, we are set free from Pharisaism into a life of joy as beloved daughters and sons of our Heavenly Father. We will spend this semester exploring the hope the Gospel offers for recovering Pharisees through the book of Galatians.
The Gospel of Grace sets us free from the performance treadmill of trying to earn God's love with our works. Instead, we are set free from Pharisaism into a life of joy as beloved daughters and sons of our Heavenly Father. We will spend this semester exploring the hope the Gospel offers for recovering Pharisees through the book of Galatians.
The Gospel of Grace sets us free from the performance treadmill of trying to earn God's love with our works. Instead, we are set free from Pharisaism into a life of joy as beloved daughters and sons of our Heavenly Father. We will spend this semester exploring the hope the Gospel offers for recovering Pharisees through the book of Galatians.
The Gospel of Grace sets us free from the performance treadmill of trying to earn God's love with our works. Instead, we are set free from Pharisaism into a life of joy as beloved daughters and sons of our Heavenly Father. We will spend this semester exploring the hope the Gospel offers for recovering Pharisees through the book of Galatians.
The Gospel of Grace sets us free from the performance treadmill of trying to earn God's love with our works. Instead, we are set free from Pharisaism into a life of joy as beloved daughters and sons of our Heavenly Father. We will spend this semester exploring the hope the Gospel offers for recovering Pharisees through the book of Galatians.
The Gospel of Grace sets us free from the performance treadmill of trying to earn God's love with our works. Instead, we are set free from Pharisaism into a life of joy as beloved daughters and sons of our Heavenly Father. We will spend this semester exploring the hope the Gospel offers for recovering Pharisees through the book of Galatians.
From Graham Greene's novel The Power and the Glory, set in Mexico during the Communist persecution of the Catholic Church in the twentieth century, there is a great line from an atheist, who fully embraces his “faith.” It's interesting, in hindsight of my own experience: to not believe in God takes every bit as much faith in the end as does believing in God. However, the outcome of how you see the world is radically different. The character is an angry man who is hunting down the “Whiskey Priest,” a drunk, corrupt, unheroic hero who needs to be snuffed out, because snuffing out the priest will kill off God for good (this is another Herschel Walker Trade, which I'll discuss in future posts). Of course, this “kill ‘em all” approach has been the error of anti-Catholics since Nero first blamed followers of Jesus Christ for the fire in Rome. An unbeliever writhes at the stereotype of the faithful fool. He loathes the idiot who prays and believes in angels and demons. Why? Because he knows better. He knows that religion is all smoke and mirrors. It's all b******t, and he knows it. He knows that sees the wizard behind the curtain. These words could have come from my mouth or mind, even though I wasn't physically hunting priests to kill them:“It infuriated him to think that there were still people in the state who believed in a loving and merciful God. There are mystics who are said to have experienced God directly. He was a mystic, too, and what he had experienced was vacancy – a complete certainty in the existence of a dying, cooling world, of human beings who had evolved from animals for no purpose at all. He knew.” Yes, he knew. I knew. But I know now, too. Don't we all know? That is, after all, the point of the “tree of knowledge” in the garden. When we eat from that tree, we know, and we think we know better than God. We turn away from God. Genesis, what a timeless old thing it is! How on earth did the sacred writer know how to craft it so elusively and accurately throughout all the ages? Oh, right. I forgot: it's because God inspired the sacred author of Genesis (and I'll refer you to Dei Verbum for expansion on that idea, which is a worthy read for Catholics and anti-Catholics alike, and I would recommend followups of Faith and Reason (Fides et Ratio) and The Splendor of Truth (Veritatis Splendor). And if you've gone that far, you might as well read the Prologue and Part One of the Catechism). What the atheist “knows” is not known any more than what the believer “knows,” but assumes a similar kind of faith. In other words, to quote The Big Lebowski, you can say to either one, “That's just, like, your opinion, man.” But of course, one is right and one is wrong, but neither can ever prove it. After adopting the ideas of unbelief for about fifteen years, I realized that I do not have enough faith to be an atheist, particularly after witnessing addiction recovery miracles and seeing, literally, the power of prayer in real people's lives, including my own. The unbeliever's belief requires a kind of assent that is not at all different from the person of faith (and I'll refer you to John Henry Neumann and G.K. Chesterton for expansions on the idea of assent). We are assenting to a faith, like it or not, whichever way we lean, and the reason endless debates rage over the existence of God is because both sides “know” they are right and have ample arguments to defend their view. Yet only one can be right. Only one will be proven correct, and the test date is usually unscheduled, kind of a pop quiz, that happens with the final beat emitted from of our hearts. This makes for a lot of anger between the tribes of believers and unbelievers, because both “know” they are right. However, the unbelievers should never be mocked, because that is their job: to mock us believers. They get to keep that for themselves. They don't have much else to hold onto, so mockery and condescension remains theirs. To be mocked for having faith in God should not bother any person of faith. Seriously, faith is a gift. If you've been to a party where everyone received a gift except for you, the feeling results in sadness or anger, but the wound of being left out leads to envy. Sour grapes, insults on intelligence, accusations of inbreeding, and variations on the phrase “I don't need a crutch” are just some of the results of envy. The error of envy plays out in toddlers and adults in interesting ways. You'll notice that Jesus never exhibits any behaviors related to envy. Believers, as always, should imitate him and pray for strength daily. All adversity should be received as exercises in humility and for every insult for faith we should give thanks to God for the opportunity to be tested and grow in faith.The meaning of life is wrapped up faith in God. It fills the Big Empty. Those without faith cannot grasp this. It's impossible. If I try to explain that I believe in miracles to an atheist, the wall around them is built up so tall that they cannot even hear a word I'm saying. I had the same wall. The atheist will often say, “I just need more evidence,” meaning a sign, like the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, but even if Jesus flew around in the sky in front of them, they would start explaining the physics and asking for a video to review if he was wearing a jetpack. In fact, I had this very conversation about miracles recently with an atheist, and we spoke about the “calming the storm” miracle, and his answer was that science can do that, it can control the weather now. But I have yet to see a meteorologist reach out his hand and stop the wind and waves instantly. I didn't bother to ask, “What about the walking on water?” but surely he would have had a material cause, like a reef beneath Jesus' feet, or a first century paddleboard. My point is that you must take a leap of faith on miracles in order to believe. The alternative is to find material reasons for divine things, or deny the stories altogether. Many modern people have done all the way in trying to solve the problem, denying that Jesus ever existed. The problem with that is, like the ostrich, God still exists even while the head is underground. The walling-in of our wonder is what keeps us from opening up, from filling the God-shaped hole in our hearts. (This is where I start praising Protestants and Evangelicals if any are still here...) Many believers of non-Catholic faith are enriched and filled with the Holy Spirit, and many understand the faith part better than Catholics. I'm talking about Evangelicals and Protestants. (Here is where I even praise “faith alone” a little bit…) The great thing about “faith alone” is that people meet Jesus this way, without having to assent to the whole Catechism of the Catholic Church and go through an RCIA class for six months. Luther lowered the barrier of entry, and Jesus certainly criticized the Pharisees for keeping the kingdom of God from the people. Catholics can trend toward Pharisaism, and this is a well-known charge against the Church. Rules and regulations are needed, and must be adhered to, otherwise the whole thing falls apart. After all, Jesus said he didn't come to throw out the law but to fulfill it, and he also said that we must do more than just pray and say “Lord, Lord!” There are things that must be done. There are works like “Be baptized and believe” and “If you love me, keep my commandments” and “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.”While I don't believe that ease of entry into salvation is true with sola fide, that idea certainly gets people through the door. The ball gets rolling very quickly when someone is ready to change. So if someone is drawn to Jesus through a concert-style service or an altar call, there are far worse things I can think of people doing. I just don't think that it's the fullness of the faith. I believe that there is more to it, and that the Tradition that goes back to Peter is the Church, the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church that is guided by the Holy Spirit. The simple invite of “Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior?” has always seemed too easy to me, but I have seen it change lives in dramatic and stunning ways when someone takes it to heart, when it is not coerced or faked. I know Evangelicals and Lutherans who are on fire for God, and even though they say “works” are not necessary, these on-fire believers are engaged in mucho works, body and soul, helping people pray and get along in this world. And that is a beautiful thing. But the problem is that it leads to the Pink Cloud too often. What is the pink cloud? Addicts who get sober can experience a Pink Cloud after about thirty days of sobriety, and everything is wonderful. Life is amazing. Love is everywhere. And then the euphoria wears off. Many relapse because this new high of sobriety has dulled. The new feeling of being reborn in sobriety fades as real life plods along with the march of days. Thus are newly sober people warned, “Beware of the Pink Cloud.”In a similar way, the euphoria of an altar call or instant conversion lacks long-term staying power, because it's too easy. Having attended a few services in my life where sinners feel moved to come up to the altar, I watched with skepticism as it felt too dramatic. Perhaps too emotional, as feelings do not always last. This is why watching Marcus Grodi's “Journey Home” conversion stories is so compelling. These are five year or ten year or twenty year conversion stories. There is meat and potatoes in these stories, of life, learning, hard knocks, and revelations. Recently, a celebrity, Shia Leboeuf, did an interview on his conversion and said that “It didn't feel like they were trying to sell me a car.” He nailed it. He nailed the problem of cheap and easy evangelization. It's too glossy, too polished, too impersonal, too much sugar. Let me give some examples of this problem of feeling “sold” instead of assenting to Church teaching through a process of both reason and faith, as Chesterton and St. Augustine did. I can recall several attempts by people to evangelize me to Christianity while I was fallen away that repulsed me and pushed me further away from God than if they had scourged me with a whip. It was the sell. The approach. I think of these often now that I've returned to believe in Jesus, because they make me realize how obnoxious it is to sell religion to someone like it was soap or a gadget. Example #1: I was on a beach during spring break, drinking heavily, just like any good useless college student raised on Nirvana and Sublime, when a few attractive college girls approached. They wanted to hang out, but then within a short time, they asked if I had accepted Jesus as my personal savior. I said, “No,” and returned to the comfort of liquor.Example #2: I had paid $50 to do an “ejector seat” ride where bungee cords shoot you up into the air for three seconds of bliss, and right before we were about to eject, the operator said, “I can only hit this button if you've accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior.” And rather than say, “No, let me off,” I said “Yes,” because I had paid $50 and didn't want to get off the ride. But it irritated me and ruined the experience because at that time I was still happy on the side of the devil. Example #3: I recall retreat groups coming to church as a kid, with super motivated adults and teens who wanted to stir up the spirit in us. But I didn't get it. I also didn't get it when some kids would apparently feel the spirit and start crying and want to give their life to Christ. The retreats just kind of hit me like pie in the face. I just wasn't ready to eat. The thing was, the people were trying hard and probably did convert some people, but I just couldn't buy in. Example #4: I attended an “all-night party” as a kid thinking it would just be bowling and basketball and movies, but then it turned out to be a Christian rock concert and an altar call where the singer needed, “Just ten more of you to come up to the stage and give your lives to Christ.” All the hand-waving and teary eyes didn't phase me, as I eyed the pizza from the open side doors. Example #5: I remember Jehovah's Witnesses knocking on the door and running an elevator pitch at me while I was hungover and watching football. It reminded me of when I had to sell candy bars for the local booster club as a kid, and I hated it then, and I knew the candy bar buyers hated forking over a dollar for sub-par milk chocolate. Likewise, I cringed watching these people try to sell religion to me when I was not yet in the market. I also knew just enough about Jehovah's Witness theology to realize that it would be betraying my reason altogether to engage with them, so I said goodbye. Now, with all that said, I can tell you this: every single one of those people who tried to convert me had a lot better grip on life than I did, since drinking was my escape, my idol. Drinking and goals was the game, I thought, and despite having a decent sense of Biblical stories, I had zero idea why anyone was pushing these old tales my way. All I saw was a bunch of rules. I felt like Cool Hand Luke, when he said, “I ain't heard that much worth listenin' to. There's a lot of guys layin' down a lot of rules and regulations.” I'm pretty sure I actually wanted to be Cool Hand Luke, come to think of it. At the start of this series I talked about selling, because that is what people do with their worldviews. What's so strange about the Catholic Church is that it does not feel like a sale, because much of what they teach runs against our desires and instincts. What an awkward pitch it is. It's almost an anti-sales pitch, which is why we have to wrestle with it for so long. Just as Jesus confounded us and refuted our expectations, so does the Church. But for those of us who end up buying Catholicism, it's eventually purchased because it works. It is proven to work. People arrive at this place because nothing else has worked. Peter famously said to Jesus, “Master, where else will we go?” The Catholic Church is the last stop after all other sources of “truth” have been tried and found untrue. This has been the conclusion of people in every generation for 2,000 years. We may not like the pitch or the demonstration, but the application of it works. It offers sanity in a world of half-truths. It requires elevating faith ever so slightly over reason, but just barely. The beauty of Catholicism is that you get to keep your reason - all of it - and add on the mysteries of faith to it. It enriches reason because it tears down the wall of needing material answers for everything. It throws out religious fundamentalism while keeping the laws of physics, the Commandments, miracles, and the richest trove of literature and stunning architecture the world has ever known. Also, it's not forced upon anyone. It doesn't feel like trickery. How could it? The pitch takes away things that we perceive to be pleasure, so the gloss is off the flyer. The pitch is not easy, not a quick solvent or pill to swallow, but more of a tough love. It's like a stern but loving family that sits you down to say: “This will be difficult, but you can be holy. First, grow up and take responsibility, and second, be humble and return to the faith of a child. Now start praying and serving others.” What bothers me about saying “I accept Jesus as my personal savior” and being done with progressing to salvation is this: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.whydidpetersink.com
The Holy Fathers teach that prayer, fasting and almsgiving are a means of acquiring the grace of God. Although many Orthodox Christians observe these holy practices, spirituality in the Church is steadily decreasing. While there are many reasons for this, the chief cause is that there are few spiritual guides with the gift of discernment. Because of this, pride and Pharisaism have spread like a disease among the faithful.In this talk, Father Kosmas explains why observing spiritual practices can actually be harmful and can even lead to the loss of one's soul. Citing the ancient and contemporary Fathers, he confirms that afflictions and illnesses have been given by God as a safer means of salvation for Orthodox Christians in the last times.The following questions are also discussed: can one be holy but unable to guide? Why has the Church become more lenient with regard to serious sins? What did Christ mean by “when you pray, do not use vain repetitions”? Why did 100 monks die from fasting? Why did Elder Paisios wish that he might lose his legs? What did Christ mean by “do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing”? What is the first gift God gives to those who struggle? Why should spiritual fathers be aware of those with cunning minds?Other points covered in this talk include: the dangers of self-imposed ascetic labors; the purpose and importance of imposing penances in confession; why many people fast with no benefit; the ecumenists' blasphemy against the miracle of Saint Euphemia at the Fourth Ecumenical Council; heresiarchs that were known for their prayer and asceticism; an explanation of Saint John the Baptist's words, “Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance”; and why Christ continually warned against vainglory.Talk 43 duration: 3hrs 14minsChanting duration: 9mins (Service to St Euphemia)Visit our website: www.OrthodoxTalks.com
Keep finding Him by waking up in every appearance and asking, "Is this here, or is God here?""Is that problem here, or is God here?""Is this worrying thought here, or is God here?""Am I here, or is He here?""What is 'here'?' Love. Only That. I Love you, Nikkinikki@curlynikki.comLOVE CHARGING STATION, Live, Daily, Group Practice- 6:30am ET (Spotify LIVE):▶▶ https://apps.apple.com/id/app/spotify-live/id1517524960Support the show:▶▶https://www.patreon.com/goodmorningsGoOD Mornings merch:▶▶https://www.patreon.com/goodmorningsWeekly LIVE Meditation, Tuesdays at 7pm ET (FREE on Spotify)▶▶ https://spotify.link/meditation_________________________________Today's Quotes:"Our Father (God) who art in Heaven (eternal reality), hallowed be thy Name." Prayer is the remembrance of the Divine Name. The Kingdom is come, the Will is done, when the Name is remembered."-Jay Matthews via Quora "When God wishes to help, He lets us weep. Wherever water flows life nourishes. Wherever tears fall, Divine mercy is shown."-Rumi"Nothing can make you happy until Nothing can make you happy."-Jeff Foster "The Light of God surrounds you,The Love of God enfolds you,The Power of God protects you,The presence of God watches over you,Where ever you are God is,And all is well."-Ray Rarmilo via FB"I am pleased with you, My Child. Allow yourself to become fully aware of My pleasure shining upon you. You don't have to perform well in order to receive My Love. In fact, a performance focus will pull you away from Me, toward some sort of Pharisaism. This can be a subtle form of idolatry: worshiping your own good works. It can also be a source of deep discouragement when your works don't measure up to your expectations.Shift your focus from your performance to My radiant Presence. The Light of My Love shines on you continually, regardless of your feelings or behavior. Your responsibility is to be receptive to this unconditional Love. Thankfulness and trust are your primary receptors. Thank Me for everything; trust in Me at all times. These simple disciplines will keep you open to My loving Presence.- @jesuscalling.daily via IG "Where we see waves we havea God who makes highways.Where we see dead ends, we havea God who makes a Red Sea Road.The brave trust Him unwaveringlyand know that it's okay if thingsfeel kinda unsteady when yourheart's fixed on Him because:Faith feels like waves.And your heart takes a deep breath,smiles wide, takes its own wildleap of faith and believes:The brave ignore waves."-Ann Voskamp"I was a black ant,on a black stone,on a dark night,but God has found me."-Sufi ProverbSupport the show
A lecture with Q&A with Davenant Teaching Fellow Tim Jacobs entitled "Duty or Virtue: Which Does the Church Need More?" Many Christians assume morality starts with duty to commands. We search the Bible looking for commands to obey. Yet swiftly we invent new rules, and eventually accidental legalism is born. Even healthy churches struggle with this subtle moralism that breeds Pharisaism, with honesty sacrificed for appearances, or compassion for authoritarianism. How can we reform our view of duty? In this lecture, Tim Jacobs will show how biblical commands point us to the more fundamental source of ethics: the natural law based in human nature, which is itself founded on God's nature. Attendees will learn the sources and dangers of duty-based ethics, the case for New Testament virtue ethics, and how the Reformed tradition has understood virtue. This talk will make use of Aristotle, Aquinas, John Calvin, Peter Martyr Vermigli, and Jonathan Edwards.
8 Signs Of A Modern-Day Pharisee” Written by Christian Author, Frank Viola 1) Pharisees spend more time focusing on what they hate rather than on what they love. And what Pharisees hate are people. Well, people who sin differently than they do. Because of Pharisaism, Christians are known for what they are against rather than for what they are for. It's because of them that “evangelical” has come to mean fanatical zealots who have perfected “culture war” tactics and represent the grotesquely hateful versions of Christianity commonly peddled by ambitious politicians. 2) Pharisees magnify the sins of others while minimizing — or even ignoring — their own. Jesus said to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. A.W. Tozer put it this way, “A Pharisee is hard on others and easy on himself, but a spiritual man is easy on others and hard on himself.” 3) Pharisees believe (and spread) accusations against others without ever going to them directly, something you'd insist on if it were you being slandered (Matthew 7:12). Regrettably, “Christian” Pharisees produce more vitriol and spread more poison than a Chernobyl-like nuclear disaster. Dispensing slander is labeled “poison” by the Bible because it exposes innocent souls to toxic substances which are spiritually lethal. Pharisees are adept at vilification, bombing others “with God on their side.” In fact, many of them don't know what to do with themselves unless they're fightin' for Jesus. 4) Pharisees are quick to pass judgment, but slow to inquire and listen to those they're judging. Pharisees wake up with criticism in their hearts, plotting against those they wish to destroy, even before the coffee gets cold. In this regard, Pharisees minister toxicity and death to those who love God (all in the name of God). As E. Stanley Jones rightly pointed out, “The measure of my spirit of criticism is the measure of my distance from Christ.” 5) It breaks a Pharisee's jaw to admit they're wrong or apologize to those they've mistreated. In this regard, Pharisees exhibit a remarkable lack of self-awareness. This also accounts for why they are so belligerent. They exist to correct others, never turning the spotlight inward. 6) Pharisees only hang out with other Pharisees. Because Pharisees establish dubious doctrinal criteria by which every Christian is judged and condemned to hell, they only hang with their own kind. In addition, they aren't a terribly happy bunch of people. They weren't in Jesus' day either. 7) Pharisees impute evil motives to the hearts of others (but are clueless that they're merely revealing what's in their own). NEWSFLASH: Only God has the ability to read the motives of mortals. And as I've contended elsewhere, the New Testament has zero tolerance when humans engage in it. On that score, Pharisees need to listen to Anne Lamott who said: “The difference between you and God is that God doesn't think God is you.” 8) Pharisees cannot tolerate correction, even when it's given in the spirit of Christ. A Pharisee hasn't caught on to the fact that no human sees every angle of everything. Pharisees are quick to join the bandwagon of brother/sister bashing, crafting special attacks against those who don't line up with their unique interpretations of Scripture. And they break out in boils whenever someone points out their own flaws. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/antonio-myers4/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/antonio-myers4/support
Romans 12:1-2 — Avoiding the world is not an option for Christians. Some still try it anyway by setting up rules and regulations because fear of conforming to the world drives their choices. A great distance is then placed between the Christian and the world. History has shown the various extremes which men and women will go and all of it is contrary to the gospel. In this sermon on Romans 12:1–2 titled “The World (2),” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones is concerned that Christians who seek to live a life of holiness may fall into this sort of trap of legalism or Pharisaism. All of it is governed by fear and this is not what the apostle Paul had in mind. Listen in as Dr. Lloyd-Jones addresses this grave misstep. The Christian is not to be so focused on the world that their pursuit of holiness becomes driven by it. What God has given the Christian is His word and they must not be concerned about the additional regulations that some say the Christian should follow. On the contrary, what one must be concerned about is simply the expression of their new character in Christ. This is what drives the believer: the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is a natural human tendency to Pharisaism where we establish our own righteousness. But the gospel is all about grace, so we need to make sure we understand real Christianity.
© 2020-2025 Ivy Podcast Discovery LLC
