ACE Quiz

The passage from Isaiah speaks of six-winged angels. What are the various types or orders of angels spoken of in scripture?

A) Cherubim
B) Archangels
C) Putti
D) Seraphim
E) Angels (regular grade)



The passage from Isaiah to be read this Sunday refers to angels in the court of heaven, specifically to seraphim (plural of seraph), the six-winged beings who also appear in the Revelation of St. John. The angels continually sing the Trisagion which we sing with them in the eucharistic prayer: “Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory.”

In Isaiah chapter 6 one of the angels removes a coal from the altar and presses it to the lips of the prophet to purify him so that he might speak the word of God. This is one of the biblical sources for the Catholic doctrine of purgatory and for the general doctrine of an act or process of purification before a soul is brought into the presence of God in heaven.

In Anglicanism the doctrine of purgatory as a place where souls are gathered for terms of painful purification that may be shortened by allotment of the Church’s accumulation of merit is nearly universally rejected. However, the idea of a continued spiritual progress and purification of the soul is accepted by many Anglicans as it is among the Orthodox. Perhaps the best known and loved Anglican expounder of purgatory in this sense is C.S. Lewis in his book The Great Divorce. In that short book the purification process is presented as a response to grace, rather than punishment.

As an Episcopalian, both Evangelical and Catholic, I find a lot of hope in the wisdom of the Church that God will straighten me out in the end. Whether by fire as in Isaiah or by a long bus ride as imagined by C.S. Lewis I do not know. As St. Paul tells us, now we see as in a mirror dimly, but then we shall see clearly. God grant me – and all of us -- in this life and in the life to come the grace to accept the firewhich burns away our chaff and melts away our sin so our thoughts, words and deeds may be God’s own.

Answer to the quiz: All except putti. Actually, these chubby babies of Raphael paintings, tire and toilet paper commercials, are what we are most used to seeing in popular culture, but the cherubim of scripture bear them little resemblance. Fat baby angels are definitely cuter.

ACE Quiz

In I Corinthians chapter 13 we read:
“If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have agape, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal . . . “

St. Paul goes on to describe agape in some of the most beautiful words ever written. Of course, St. Paul wrote in Greek, not English, and his agape has been translated using a number or English words.

Which of the following words have been used in English Bibles to translate agape in this passage?

A) Charity
B) Infatuation
C) Love
D) Sugar

The answers are charity in the Geneva, King James and Douay Bibles and love in most modern translations.

ACE Quiz
1) Which of the following is not a part of the Body of Christ as described by Paul
in I Corinthians?
A) Head
B) Foot
C) Parish
D) Eye


This Sunday’s lesson from I Corinthians includes Paul’s image of the Church as the Body of Christ. He draws a picture of the body as a harmonious organism, but also as one that is at times at war among its members. As it once was is now and shall seemingly be forever.

We all know of the fighting that goes on within the Church between East and West, Catholic and Protestant, Protestant and Protestant, liberal and conservative, charismatic and non-charismatic, right down to those who favor cassocks over albs and frankincense over desert sage incense. Today the news is that another parish in our diocese – Blessed Sacrament -- is starting a “discernment process” that seems to aim at leaving the Episcopal Church. As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end.

Wait a minute . . . Nothing is eternal but God and what God makes to be eternal: Christ’s Church. Strife is not eternal, war is not eternal, our bodies are not eternal and our buildings and our General Convention are not eternal. Neither, the animosities that members of a family build up over months and years and later recognize to be of small import compared to the love and affection we feel for each other. My grandmother Alice of blessed memory had a saying –not original to her, I’m sure – “only one life, will soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.” I pray that all of us in this family, this body, will recognize that our lives are short and too precious to be spent on fighting among ourselves, no matter the righteous anger we feel against the offending eye or ear or brother or sister in Christ.

On the other hand, the work we do to build up the Body of Christ, to bring the Gospel and its salvation to the world will be eternal. I pray -- and I ask your prayers as well – for Blessed Sacrament and its pastor Fr. David Bauman. Pray that these members of the Body of Christ recognize their value to the other members of that same body. Pray, too, that we will recognize the ministry of all the parts of Christ’s Body and give up our own tendencies to claim higher value or even the ability to do without another member. Pray, too, that we may all set our hearts, minds, eyes, ears, hands and all ourselves to his service.

Father in Heaven,
Look down in love this day on your sons and daughters. Bless, especially, our brother David and his flock, Blessed Sacrament, as they enter this time of discernment. Grant them ears to truly hear the Word once Spoken, Jesus Christ. Open the doors and windows of their hearts that your Wind, the Holy Spirit, will rush through and fan faith and love among them.

Bless our bishop and pastor Jon as he leads our part of your church in these troubled times. Grant him strength, wisdom and the assurance of your love as he leads us, your sheep.

Grant us, too, the faith and strength to love you and to love our brothers and sisters in Christ. Grant us such kindness, gentleness and patience in our treatment of each other that we may show forth your love to those who have not yet found faith in you. Guide us by your Holy Spirit in all that we think, wish, say and do this day and always.

All this we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.


Answer to the quiz: C

ACE Quiz

1. Which of the following is not a Gift of the Holy Spirit?
A) Wisdom
B) Understanding
C) Frankincense
D) Fear of the Lord

2. Which of the following is not a Fruit of the Holy Spirit?
A) Charity
B) Generosity
C) Kindness
D) Cynicism


This Sunday’s lectionary readings include the miracle at Cana in the Gospel of John and also the enumeration of the gifts of the Holy Spirit in I Corinthians. While the changing of water into wine at Cana is familiar to us, the listing of the Gifts of the Spirit are less known. What are the gifts of the Spirit, how many of them are there, and how do they relate to the Fruits of the Spirit?

There are four places in the epistles where Gifts of the Spirit are mentioned or listed and there are up to twenty-three separate gifts among the four lists. These gifts are always mentioned in the context of service to the whole church and not for one’s personal use or gain. At the time of the Pentecostal Revival in the Church they were much discussed and a matter of dispute whether the gifts were given for all time or only for the time of the early Church. Speaking in tongues is the most obvious of these charisms, or gifts, in dispute among modern Christians.

In contrast, the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit in Catholic and Anglican tradition refer to the list of spiritual gifts enumerated in Isaiah 11:2-3. These gifts are Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, and Fear of the Lord. These are gifts that all Christians are to pray for that their lives might be more holy or sanctified.

The Fruits of the Spirit: Charity, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness,
Goodness, Generosity, Gentleness, Faithfulness, Modesty, Self-Control,
and Chastity are the obvious signs of the Gifts at work in our lives. These fruits are the virtues we all wish for in our lives, or do we? They are not the traits we are educated to value. Drive, Ambition, Self-Sufficiency, Endurance, Leadership, Competitiveness, Excellence, Self-Confidence and even Self-Promotion are the traits and slogans of professional school in business and other fields including education and --to a degree – ministry. The latter are the traits needed in the arena or the jungle, on the playing field or job market or any place where there is scarcity and a limited number of winners and a necessity for losers.

The Kingdom of God, the world of the Gospel, is a place where there need not be victors and vanquished, losers for there to be winners, prey and predator, or Ins and Outs. The Kingdom of God within us and among us is a place where we in live in love not strife, Agape not Polemos. The Gifts or the Spirit are our stepping stones on the Way and the Fruits of the Spirit are the blocks of which we build a temple for our Lord to dwell. Are you ready to pray for them to be ever more a part of your life?

As a new priest, as your new priest, I pledge to pray for them everyday for the next week. Heck, I’ll pray for them for the next month! I will also be praying for them as a dad, a husband, a neighbor, a coworker, a brother, a son-in-law and as a regular guy living in LA. Maybe in a week I’ll notice a difference, maybe it will take longer for anybody to see any results. But, I will keep praying for these gifts and their fruits in my life, in yours, and in our church. Pray for me and for all of us Christians in Christ Church, laity and clergy, that our lives will bear much fruit.

God Bless You

Bill+


Answers C & D

ACE Quiz

1) Who are the ministers in the Church?

A) Lay people, deacons and priests
B) Deacons, priests and bishops
C) Acolytes, deacons and priests
D) Lay people, bishops, priests and deacons

2) How are priests ordained?

A) Vote of the Diocesan Standing Committee
B) Vote of the Vestry
C) Letter from the Archbishop of Canterbury
D) Laying on of hands by the Bishop







This week I prepare to be ordained a priest or presbyter in the Episcopal Church. This is what I have prepared for for fifteen years and I approach the day with both exhilaration and trepidation. I will now serve Christ Church and the whole of Christ’s Church in some ways very familiar to me as a lay chaplain and deacon: counseling, teaching, preaching and officiating at services. In other ways my ministry will be completely new: according to the ordination rite I will join in the councils of the Church, declare God’s forgiveness to penitent sinners, pronounce God’s blessing, share in the administration of Baptism and in the celebration of the Eucharist.

I feel ready to take on these new roles and duties in some ways like I felt ready to take on a promotion from seaman to petty officer in the Navy. But that view on my new role is to miss the point like if to be a parent meant only to take on the tasks of feeding, diapering and chauffeuring. To be a parent is that and much, much more. It is to care for and participate in new life, which transforms the parent just as the child is formed in body, mind and soul.

Father Bob has been in these last six months a friend and mentor in my new life of ordained ministry. Now, he is also something of a midwife in my new birth as a priest and as I pass into this new life he has given me new way of seeing what is happening this Saturday and in the coming years: as a priest I will be singing a new song and the singing will transform me. I will sing at the altar the new song brought into the world by Jesus Christ: that song of a love so great that it turns the world upside down, that turns enemies into brothers, strangers into neighbors and sinners into children of God.

As a priest in God’s Church I will share in the job of leading the divine song. Thank God that he doesn’t only recruit divas or American idols to sing his song – tone deaf voices better suited to chant are welcome, too. As I prepare to sing, I am grateful to join a great chorus of angels and saints in heaven and the great chorus of Christ Church from the back pew to the acolytes and clergy around the altar. Thank you all and bless me as I serve God and you as a new priest.

Answers: D & D

All members of the Church are ministers in proclaiming the Good News in word and deed.

While the vestry and the standing committee must approve an ordinand, the bishop ordains the priest by laying on of hands.