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

Bill Baldwin presents #7 of St. Aidan's Catechism ... On the Third Day, He rose again.

The Apostles Creed

I believe in God, the Father almighty,

creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.

He was conceived by the Holy Spirit

and born of the virgin Mary.

He suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died, and was buried.

He descended to the dead.

On the third day he rose again.

He ascended into heaven,

and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the holy catholic Church,

the communion of the saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and the life everlasting. Amen.

The Feast of Christ the King: Collect

Proper 29

Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

Icon: van Eycks' Ghent altarpiece

Our Bishop, Stewart Ruch, shares some of his personal life and elements of the Anglican Diocese of the Upper Midwest.

Our Bishop, Stewart Ruch, Upper Midwest Diocese, speaks on making spiritual sons and daughters, after which he Confirmed 18 new members at St. Aidan's.

I. The Disciple-making Design: 78.1-6

a. Incarnational Design: 1-5

i. The teaching of God—the Gospel—is designed as incarnational

ii. In OT: Tent of meeting, ark of the covenant, stone tablets, parents, People of God

iii. In NT: the Word became flesh and the Word is ministered by spiritual fathers (1 Cor 4) and spiritual mothers (2 Tim 1)

iv. An Incarnational Gospel Incarnates Disciples

b. Imitative Design: 5-6

i. The pedagogy of imitation is deeply Gospel

ii. Dship is sonship and daughterhood

iii. Over 10 references to imitation

iv. 1 Cor 4—Paul says imitate me—so I am sending Timothy—so that you can imitate him as he imitates me

v. VERY KEY leadership lesson here

c. Three generations of imitation

i. Focus on the second generation

ii. Find, together, the third generation

iii. Fight against false teaching for the fourth generation

II. The Disciple-making Urgency: 78. 4-8

a. Forgetting: 7-8

i. Sin: setting hope somewhere else, forgetting the power of God

b. Share the Word: 5

c. Share the Wonders: 4

i. We must have God stories and we must tell them

ii. How I tell the story of Resurrection

Deacon Aaron Williams continues in the Apostles Creed, ... was crucified, died and was buried; He descended to the dead. Apologies for the audio quality. Better next time!

The Apostles Creed

I believe in God, the Father almighty,

creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.

He was conceived by the Holy Spirit

and born of the virgin Mary.

He suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died, and was buried.

He descended to the dead.

On the third day he rose again.

He ascended into heaven,

and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the holy catholic Church,

the communion of the saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and the life everlasting. Amen.

We reflect on the development of Ancient Christian Initiation - baptism, chrismation and Eucharist in light of the western development of delayed Confirmation.

The Apostles Creed

I believe in God, the Father almighty,

creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.

He was conceived by the Holy Spirit

and born of the virgin Mary.

He suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died, and was buried.

He descended to the dead.

On the third day he rose again.

He ascended into heaven,

and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the holy catholic Church,

the communion of the saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and the life everlasting. Amen.

Jesus Comes to Zacchaeus’ House

19 Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. 2 Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. 3 And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way. 5 And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up [a]and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, [b]make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” 6 So he [c]made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully. 7 But when they saw it, they all [d]complained, saying, “He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.”

8 Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.”

9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; 10 for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Not read but foundational in understanding God's heart for the needy: Deut. 15.7-11.

7 “If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, 8 but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. 9 Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release is near,’ and your eye look grudgingly[a] on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the Lord against you, and you be guilty of sin. 10 You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. 11 For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’

This is the fourth in a series of catechetical lectures. Our Instructors are Deacon Aaron Williams, assisted by Bill Baldwin.

4. The Incarnation of Jesus Christ considers, I believe ... he was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary.

Our third lecture failed to record and will be re-recorded at some point in the series.

The Apostles Creed

I believe in God, the Father almighty,

creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.

He was conceived by the Holy Spirit

and born of the virgin Mary.

He suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died, and was buried.

He descended to the dead.

On the third day he rose again.

He ascended into heaven,

and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the holy catholic Church,

the communion of the saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and the life everlasting. Amen.

Luke 18:9-14 --- He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax-collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: God I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get. But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.

The contrast from ego to heart humility - Galatians 2:20 --- I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Paul's ego was transformed into the indwelling life of Christ.