St. Aidan's Anglican Church, Kansas City - weekly talks

Luke 14:25-33; Philemon are paired together to reflect on how Paul's discipleship bore the fruit of the Kingdom in his successors.

Luke 14:1, 8-14

In Luke 14, Jesus offers three parables pertaining to the Great Messianic Banquet, known elsewhere as the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. These are parables that are comprehended only when they are experienced. Merely reading them without finding oneself in the middle of them won’t suffice.

The third parable, verses 15-24, helps us interpret the first two. At the end of the age, God's Kingdom will be filled with the marginalized described as the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind. In Jesus' day, these could include the Gentile nations coming to Christ and his Church. May we ever seek to invite the marginalized in our day. Who are they? How may we be open to them?

This will require following Jesus. He will lead us there. Taking the yoke of Jesus, learning to learn... from him is necessary for character transformation, becoming humble and gentle. As we take his yoke upon ourselves, we find rest for our souls. Then we are ready to live on the margins with Jesus. The Kingdom come... on earth as it is in heaven.

Our dear friends and co-labors in God's Vineyard, Andrew and Annette Comiskey go back to the early 90's with us. We were all in the Vineyard Christian Fellowship. Desert Stream, their ministry, founded some 43 years ago to the sexually broken, found it's way into our church in San Francisco. In God's providence, we all moved to Kansas City and have come to worship together again!

Who is Andrew Cominiskey?

Participating in healing the sexually and relationally broken renews me; after over 37 years, I want to do nothing else. I founded Desert Stream Ministries in 1980 while serving on staff at the Vineyard West Los Angeles; Annette and I were engaged to be married that year, which also marked the start of our first healing group in West Hollywood. That one group evolved into the in-depth Living Waters program. These groups now flourish on every continent. God likes them because they help people grow to love Him and each other with integrity.

Our family grew to six and we moved Desert Stream to the Vineyard Anaheim, the ‘mother’ church of that vital healing movement, and home of its founder John Wimber. We then moved from Southern California to Kansas City, Missouri in 2005 to serve alongside Mike Bickle at IHOP. Both the Vineyard and IHOP richly blessed and built us up, even as we imparted our healing offerings there. Recently, I confirmed my love for the Catholic Church by becoming a member. I now serve as an active lay minister at St. Thomas More’s Parish where I love to do Living Waters! I love the whole church, and am grateful that Living Waters helps prepare her to become a united and pure bride.

My delight in healing others grows out of an ongoing commitment to overcome homosexuality and to love my wife and kids as a substantially whole man. I am the author of Pursuing Sexual Wholeness (Creation House), Strength in Weakness (IVP), Naked Surrender: Coming Home to Our True Sexuality (IVP) and the recently revised Living Waters healing program. I want to keep helping Christians become who they are: good gifts to God and to one another.

About Dr. Douglas Hardy: I understand my calling to be primarily about “coming alongside” others as a spiritual guide. I do this as a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in service to the church for the sake of the world. To do this with integrity, I study and practice Christian spiritual formation and assist others to do the same, especially those preparing for ministry through formal theological education. My roles have varied across time—counselor, parish pastor, undergraduate psychology professor, spiritual director, graduate theology professor—and across contexts—Canada, the U.S., Africa, Ireland, in the classroom, on retreat, on pilgrimage, in my office, or at a coffee shop.

I especially enjoy the opportunity to teach and learn with students. My classes are experientially-oriented, with a mix of lecture, discussion, and practice. Drawing on both the ancient Christian contemplative tradition and contemporary research in contemplative studies, I intentionally create time and space for silence, listening, and reflection so that learning is accompanied by a personal transformation that goes deep.

My current research includes participation in a moral virtues consultation with Point Loma Nazarene University, a Wabash-funded cohort of theological educators examining embodied pedagogies, and, as president-elect of the Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality.

Throughout the letter to the Colossians, Paul is stating the most radical thing that could happen to a human being. He challenges our modern, materialistic, scientific conditioning with the claims of Christ and his rescue plan for the cosmos. Just a few statements to provide context.

1:13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Colossians 1:13-14).

1:16 For by him [Christ] all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. (1:16-20).

What could read like an epic fantasy, through faith becomes the power of God unto salvation. The Gospel of Jesus Christ addresses our deepest needs and longings and speaks to the disorder of creation and our passions, the problem of evil in the world, and the mystery of origins.

And Paul is saying to the church at Colossae and to us this morning that what is true of Christ IS true of us.

HOW IS THIS SO?

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

Fellow risen ones, last week we looked back in 2:11-12 to understand Paul’s bold statement, since you have been raised with Christ… What resurrection is he referring to?

2:11

In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.

What is true of him is true of us. “You may not feel like it. Learning to believe what doesn’t at the moment feel true is an essential part of being a Christian… This is what the life of faith is all about.”

N.T. Wright, Paul, for Everyone, the Prison Letters, p. 175.

"If then you have been raised with Christ (in water baptism), seek the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father."

We explore the magnitude of our baptism, a participation in the power of the cross, and resurrection.

Why House Communities? Fr. Derek Metcalf 07.24.22 by St. Aidan's Anglican Church, KC

While personal identities abound, the Christian, born of water and Spirit, has only one, collective, universal, eternal identity. If anyone is in Christ, NEW CREATION. The old is past, all things have become new. The Christian's identity is Jesus, a shared identity through participation in his new creation life.

The parable of the Good Samaritan is interpreted Christologically.

Galatians and Romans are running in the background of this proclamation. The key text is Romans 6, considering opposing kingdoms - Christ and Satan. We reflect on the tension between the present and the future.