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

Fellow travelers on the way to the heavenly Jerusalem are given a command to "strive to enter by the narrow gate." Luke 13:22-35 lays out a Lenten call to press in, to fight the good fight, with redeemed effort. With the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness, let us content to enter in ... into the Kingdom of God.

Ivanka Demchuk: Iconographer, Lviv, Ukraine

Today is the first Sunday of Lent, an annual contemplation of Christ, the Word, in the Wilderness. Jesus illustrates for us the way of humble submission as he's challenged by Satan to go the way of worldly glory. Jesus stays on mission and demonstrates what kind of Messiah he would be. On his way to the Cross and resurrection, for us and for our salvation, Christ bound Satan in the wilderness, thus showing us how to overcome, in communion with him.

[Ivanka Demchuk, Iconographer, Lviv, Ukraine]

Title of series borrowed from the Lenten book of poetry by Malcolm Guite.

See Malcolm's blog of poetry: https://malcolmguite.wordpress.com/blog/

Love your enemies ... Luke 6:27-38

The liturgical cycle, this seventh Sunday after the Epiphany is taking us somewhere. We’re moving closer and closer to Holy Week, culminating in the most outrageous act of God ever displayed, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. In this event, the resurrection of Christ, all things are becoming new, restored to the purity of their origins, conformed to the image of the crucified and risen Lord, Jesus Christ.

Since last week, the Gospel readings feature perhaps the heart of Jesus’ teaching. It’s famously called, in Luke’s version, the sermon on the plain, Luke’s account of Matthew’s version, the Sermon on the Mount.

Today’s passage begins with a deeply challenging and perhaps, even disturbing command to love one’s enemies, 6:27 & 35. Challenging and perhaps disturbing because it identifies our human frailty. Let’s just say, it’s hard. It’s hard because of our need to daily take up our cross, discerning where my will and God’s will cross.

This entire Gospel sermon, given to us two Sundays before March 6th, Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, is meant to alert us towards a sincere sense of helplessness without God’s gracious and lavish gift of grace, the very life of God, which is the love of God, poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Might I say, these words are calling us to a divinized life, a life completed immersed and abiding in Christ, and being conformed to be more Christlike, Heavenly Father-like, enabled and energized by the Holy Spirit.

As we briefly reflect on these words, may we take them into the Lenten season to contemplate a new world and a renewed vision of God the Father, who calls us to imagine life in the Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. In such a society, there wouldn’t be any violence. There wouldn’t be any revenge. There wouldn’t be any divisions of class, race or gender. Property and possessions wouldn’t be nearly as important as making sure your neighbor was all right. Imagine if even a few people around you took Jesus seriously and lived like that. Life would be astonishingly different, NT Wright concludes.

This homily considers our vision and mission - to help each other become fully alive in Jesus Christ.

Luke 6:12f.

Our Guest Speaker, William Coker, is a Nazarene Pastor. He is a member of the Order of Mission, an Anglican Order, focused on spiritual formation. Bill is a doctoral student at Nazarene Theological Seminary in the Spiritual Formation and Discipleship Program.

The Scriptures for this message are Jeremiah 1; Psalm 71; Luke 4, Ephesians 1. We look into the eternal realm where we were known, called and consecrated before birth. We consider the ministry of Jeremiah who was called in his youth. May we foster homes of divine attachment, bringing our children along into God's Kingdom purposes for their lives.

Luke 4:14-21 describes the initial days of Jesus' ministry, straight out of forty days of overcoming Satan in the wilderness. His first recorded sermon in Nazareth is prophetic such that the crowd attempted to kill him. He's confronting his own people's exclusivity expressed in nationalism. He points to both Elijah and Elisha and their ministry to Gentiles. He's expanding the Kingdom of God to the whole world. His take on the "acceptable year of the Lord," wasn't acceptable to them.

Ponder this message and mission of Jesus. He's quoting and personalizing Isaiah 61 and he fulfills it through his Church.

Today, we come to the beginning of Christ’s ministry, shortly after his water baptism, wherein he performs his first sign. John’s Gospel never mentions the word ‘miracle’ for the supernatural acts. He, rather, calls them signs, acts which point to something beyond themselves. It appears that John intends to underscore the symbolic nature of this first sign. He’s stressing that the first sign of Jesus is intentional and wraps up the whole intention of his mission. God intends to marry us. Our end is a divine union between Christ and His Church. In this first sign of Jesus, the Marriage Supper of the Lamb is in view.

Luke 3:21f. When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you, I am well pleased.”

New Creation Ministry Begins!

Dr. Bernard Franklin, Vice President of Student Affairs at Mount St. Mary's University, Emmitsburg, Maryland, weaves his personal story of healing in the practice of silence within the story of the Magi.