AN APPEAL FROM THE CONTINUING ANGLICAN CHURCHES TO THE ACNA AND ASSOCIATED CHURCHES, With My Commentary and Response

COMMENTARY

On December 18, 2012, an appeal was made from the Continuing Anglican Churches to the Anglican Church in North America and Associated Churches. I believe that the appeal expressed humility, good counsel, and a heartfelt desire for unity. 

I have long prayed and worked for a thoroughly orthodox Anglican Church in our land, and for corporate reunion with the Eastern Churches. A reunion of a large, thriving and growing Western Church with Eastern Christendom would have a real impact on the world and on the continued reform of the Roman Church, and pave the way for a reunited Christendom to face the onslaught of secularism and a revived and militant Islam, the re-evangelization of Europe, the British Commonwealth and North America, and the world-wide advance of the Great Commission.  Our Lord’s intention was for His Church to be one, and there are sins enough on all sides that have contributed to the sorry state of Christendom today. It is our Christian duty to work for renewal, reconciliation, and reunion. There is no room for triumphalism anywhere, East or West. There is only room for an heartfelt Mea Culpa.

In the late 1970s, I left the Episcopal Church in the wake of the Minneapolis General Convention of 1976, and the great St. Louis Church Congress of 1977. I am a priest of the Anglican Church in North America, and this is the second time that I have been a member of a jurisdiction called by that name. The first time was following the St. Louis Church Congress. 

As I write this I have on my desk three publications that I have taken down from one of my bookshelves. The first is the October 1977 issue of the New Oxford Review. The New Oxford Review was at the time published by the American Church Union (ACU), and (the then) Fr. Robert S. Morse was the editor. The cover headline of the October issue was, “The St. Louis Congress: The Affirmation and Addresses by Carroll E. Simcox, Robert S. Morse, Thomas G. Barnes and George W. Rutler.” Perhaps the most moving of the addresses delivered at the Congress and published in the New Oxford Review was a sermon preached on the last day of the Congress by Fr. Robert Morse called, “The Long March into the Desert.” Fr. (now Archbishop) Morse closed his sermon with, “Come with us, join us, march with us into the desert — for God calls us to Himself!” None of us knew just how long that march would be or just how lost we would become and how many wrong turns we would take in the desert, but God has been with us and I would do it all over again.

In September of 2002 there was a large Pilgrimage of Grace and Gratitude to the tomb of Blessed Charles Grafton in Fon du Lac, Wisconsin, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the great St. Louis Church Congress. On September 27th, I gave an address to the pilgrims explaining “The Fundamental Principles of the Anglican Faith.” It was a long address following the outline of The Affirmation of St. Louis, and consisting of fifteen single spaced typed pages. The address was widely circulated after the Pilgrimage, and I continue to believe in all of the principles in 2013 that I spoke of in 2002. At the Solemn Eucharist celebrated near Grafton’s tomb in St. Paul’s Cathedral, rented from the Episcopal Diocese of Fon du Lac for the occasion, Archbishop Robert S. Morse delivered for the second time his sermon preached at the St. Louis Church Congress twenty-five years earlier: The Long March into the Desert. It was a deeply moving experience.

The second publication that I have before me is the November 1977 issue of The Christian Challenge magazine. The headline reads, “The Spirit of St. Louis.” The Christian Challenge was a long running orthodox Anglican periodical published by the Foundation For Christian Theology. The editor at the time was Mrs. Dorothy A. Faber, known affectionately as “The Dragon Lady.” On page 3 of the November issue there is an address given at the St. Louis Church Congress by Mr. Perry Laukhuff, President of the Fellowship of Concerned Churchmen, titled, “This ‘Extraordinary’ Congress.” The Fellowship of Concerned Churchmen sponsored the St. Louis Church Congress, and Perry Laukhuff, its president, was a classical Anglican and the moving force behind the Affirmation of St. Louis.

The third publication that I have on my desk is the Consecration booklet containing the Order of Service for the Consecration of the first bishops of the Anglican Church in North America, which took place at Augustana Lutheran Church in Denver, Colorado “on the Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas, January twenty-eighth, In the year of Our Lord nineteen-hundred-seventy-eight.”

We all had such hopes and dreams in those days, but then came the first synod of the new Anglican Church in North America, and disaster. Of the four original dioceses, two ratified the proposed canons and changed the name of the Anglican Church in North America to the Anglican Catholic Church (ACC). The two dioceses that did not ratify the canons eventually became the Anglican Province of Christ the King (APCK). Tragically, that schism was only the beginning of a decades long time of troubles. Soon, one of the original bishops would split from the Anglican Catholic Church to form the United Episcopal Church of North America (UECNA). Dr. Carroll Simcox, retired editor of The Living Church magazine and a primary speaker at the St. Louis Church Congress, would eventually leave the Anglican Catholic Church for the American Episcopal Church, a small pre-St. Louis continuing Church jurisdiction organized in 1968. Perry Laukhuff would do the same. Fr. George Rutler, a featured speaker at the St. Louis Church Congress left for Rome where he now serves as a priest, and Bishop Peter Watterson, one of the four original bishops also left for Rome where he served as a priest until his death. Division after division continued until the continuum became an alphabet soup of ecclesiastical acronyms. The latest convulsion in the continuum was caused by a leadership clique in the Traditional Anglican Communion/Anglican Church in America (TAC/ACA) that tried to unite that body with Rome against the wishes and beliefs of the vast majority of clergy and members. The attempt failed, but left the TAC/ACA in tatters and trying to reconnect with classical Anglicanism after their bishops had signed the Catechism of the [Roman] Catholic Church.

There were bright spots however. The Episcopal Missionary Church (EMC) was organized in the mid-1990’s when the Missionary Diocese of the America’s of the Episcopal Church USA, under the leadership of Bishop Donald Davies and Fr. Patrick Murphy, left that body. Bishop Davies had been the Dean of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Omaha, Nebraska, before becoming the first Episcopal Bishop of Ft. Worth, Texas, and later the first bishop of the Missionary Diocese of the America’s. Until recently he was the only actively serving Episcopal bishop to have had the courage and faith to leave that increasingly apostate body. Fr. Patrick Murphy, who would become the bishop of the EMC’s Diocese of the Holy Cross, was an exemplary pastor who had once won the Keble Award given by the American Church Union. The award had been presented to Fr. Murphy by Fr. Robert S. Morse of the ACU.

In 1997 Bishop Murphy told me that he wanted me to work to accomplish two things in addition to pastoring a local Church. The first was to help unite the continuum by bringing our jurisdiction into union with a larger Anglican body; and second, to work to bring about corporate reunion with Eastern Christendom.

Working with another priest in the cause of unity, much of the old Episcopal Missionary Church united with the Anglican Province of Christ the King, with the blessing Presiding Bishop Donald Davies. With that unity a reality, Bishop Davies retired from active ministry. I became editor of The Province, the national publication of the Anglican Province of Christ the King, and was eventually appointed Ecumenical Officer of the APCK by Archbishop Robert Morse. As Ecumenical Officer I coordinated a joint pilgrimage to the tomb of Blessed Charles Grafton in Fon du Lac, Wisconsin, with the Anglican Catholic Church and the Traditional Anglican Communion/Anglican Church in America in 2004. From my work as Ecumenical Officer I know many of the bishops, clergy and lay leaders in the Anglican continuum, and worked very hard for Anglican unity and corporate reunion.

In 2006 I was contacted as Ecumenical Officer by Bishop Ray Sutton of the Reformed Episcopal Church. He told me about the newly formed Federation of Anglican Churches in the America’s (FACA), and asked me to present the Federation to the APCK bishops and to extend to them an invitation to join. The Federation was being organized to unite the Anglican continuum, with Archbishop Gregory Venables of the Province of the Southern Cone as Primatial Patron. This was a very positive and significant new effort to unify the continuum. Unfortunately, the bishops of the Anglican Province of Christ the King declined the invitation.

In 2003 there had been a large exodus of clergy and congregations from the Anglican Province of Christ the King, with an even larger exodus in the summer of 2007. Wanting to be part of the unity movement and of a united Anglican Church in North America, my parish and I joined the Reformed Episcopal church in the summer of 2007, some five and a half years ago. Since then, we have seen a complete change in the direction of North American Anglicanism from fragmentation to a strong desire for unity. It seems that the long Good Friday is passing and we beginning to see the dawn of Easter Sunday morning.

First we had the Federation of Anglican Churches in the America’s (FACA) which was organized by the Reformed Episcopal Church to function like the old (Eastern Orthodox) Standing Conference of Orthodox Bishops in America (SCOBA), bringing orthodox Anglican bishops together, jurisdictions into closer relationships, and ecclesiastical order out of chaos. This vital organization is continuing its important ministry today under the leadership of an old confrere of mine, Bishop Paul Hewett of the Diocese of the Holy Cross. Then in 2009, the Anglican Church in North America was organized, bringing together the Reformed Episcopal Church, the four dioceses that had left the Episcopal Church USA, Forward in Faith’s Missionary Diocese of All Saints, and various dioceses and jurisdictions that had taken refuge under foreign Anglican Provinces. Today, there are some 1,000 congregations and more than 100,000 churchmen united in the Anglican Church in North America and its Ministry Partners.

In 2012 the Anglican continuum in North America was found in two branches. The first, and by far the largest, is the Anglican Church in North America and its Ministry Partners, which is already larger than twelve of the thirty-eight provinces of the Anglican Communion and is growing rapidly. The other is commonly described as the St. Louis Continuum. Within the St. Louis Continuum we have the three jurisdictions that have their roots in the St. Louis Church Congress of 1977: the Anglican Catholic Church is the largest with more than a hundred congregations in North America; the Anglican Province of Christ the King is next with approximately 42 congregations in North America; and then the United Episcopal Church with approximately 23 congregations in North America. Also generally considered part of that movement is the Anglican Church in America with approximately 70 congregations in North America. 

In addition to what is commonly described as the St. Louis Continuum, there is the Diocese of the Holy Cross and the Anglican Province of America. Both of these jurisdictions are well led, with capable clergy and growing congregations. The Diocese of the Holy Cross consists of approximately  21 congregations in North America, is member of FACA, is led by FACA president Bishop Paul Hewett, and all of its congregations are also members of Forward in Faith North America. The Anglican Province of America consists of around 60 congregations in North America, is led by Archbishop Walter Grundorf, is a member of FACA, and is a sister jurisdiction of the Reformed Episcopal Church. APA and REC clergy share a joint Pension Fund, altars, and may freely transfer from one jurisdiction to the other. Outside of these jurisdictions there are a handful of smaller and insignificant bodies, as well as many tiny vagante groups. It seems that the Anglican Church in America (ACA) and the Anglican Province of America (APA) are currently in the process of working toward organic unity with one another, which is another very positive development. 

On December 18, 2012, an appeal was issued from five continuing Anglican jurisdictions to the Anglican Church in North America and Associated Churches. This appeal was signed by FACA president and Bishop of the Diocese of the Holy Cross, The Rt. Rev. Paul Hewett; The Most Rev. Walter Grundorf, primate of the Anglican Province of America; The Most Rev. Brian Marsh, primate of the Anglican Church in America; The Most Rev. Mark Haverland, primate of the Anglican Catholic Church; and the Most Rev. Peter Robinson, primate of the United Episcopal Church of North America. 

I believe that the Appeal exhibited humility, with these bishops confessing that “We recognize that the Continuing Church has failed to present a united front, has failed to grow as we should, and in general has failed to present an attractive alternative to the growing heresy and absurdity of the Episcopal Church.” At the same time, these bishops rightly affirmed that they have kept the faith under very difficult circumstances: “However, we also note that against furious opposition, and often against obstacles set up by those who later formed ACNA, we have built hundreds of congregations in North America, many of which are thriving.” The Appeal offers good counsel to the Anglican Church in North America that must be taken seriously: “We urge you to heed the call of Metropolitan Jonah, whose concerns we share. Anglicanism in North America cannot be both united and orthodox on a partially revolutionized basis. We call upon you to repudiate firmly any claim to alter doctrine or order against the consensus of the Catholic and Orthodox world. We call upon you to embrace the classical Prayer Book tradition.” 

The following is the Appeal as issued by these five bishops and their jurisdictions:

An Appeal from the Continuing Anglican Churches to the ACNA and Associated Churches


The Continuing Anglican Church movement began with the Congress of Saint Louis in 1977. The Anglican Church in North America was born in 2010. Between these two ecclesial movements there are points of contact, but there also is a great gulf fixed.

In regard to points of contact, both of the entities concerned are movements composed of a number of imperfectly united ecclesial jurisdictions rather than perfectly united dioceses or Churches. Both understand themselves to be Anglican and to relate in positive ways to a common history and shared theological and cultural influences.

Both understand themselves to have left former Church homes as an act of fidelity to the teaching of Scripture and in the face of grave aberrations in the Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion.

Both are challenged by the need to present the gospel in compelling and attractive ways to an increasingly secular and indifferent Western society.

The gulf between us concerns mostly the changes accepted in the Episcopal Church (and the Canadian Church) between the mid-1970s and 2010. Those of us who left the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada in the 1970s did so due to the adoption in those years of the ordination of women to the priesthood by General Convention (1976) and General Synod (1975).

More generally, in the roughly 30 years between the Congress of Saint Louis and ACNA's formation, the people who eventually formed ACNA lived in ecclesial bodies which increasingly abandoned elements of classical Anglicanism.

The precipitating cause of the founding of the ACNA was TEC's abandonment of orthodox Christian teaching concerning homosexuality. But prior to 2010 many of those now in ACNA accepted liturgies and prayer books with few connections to classical Anglican worship and accepted female deacons, priests, and bishops contrary to the mind of all Anglicans prior to the mid-20th century.

One of our number, in an earlier letter to Archbishop Duncan of ACNA, wrote in regard to these matters as follows: The notion that women can receive the sacrament of Holy Orders in any of its three parts constitutes, in our view, a revolutionary and false claim: a claim false in itself; a claim destructive of the common ministry that once united Anglicans; and, finally, a claim productive of an even broader and worse consequence.

That worse consequence is the claim that Anglicans have authority to alter important matters of faith and order against a clear consensus in the central tradition of Catholic and Orthodox Christendom.

Once such a claim is made it may be pressed into service to alter any matter of faith or morals. The revolution devours its children. Many of the clergy represented at GAFCON and now joining the ACNA seem to us to accept the flawed premise and its revolutionary claim in one matter while seeking to resist the application of the premise in the matter of homosexuality.

This position seems to us to be internally inconsistent and impossible to sustain successfully over time. All Continuing Anglicans accept this analysis. We note that ACNA has not abandoned the putative ordination of women and that this issue deeply divides the dioceses which compose ACNA.

While we recognize that the Churches through history and today are free to adopt a variety of liturgical forms, as they are not free to accept the ordination of women, yet we also agree that any sound Anglican body today needs to relate more positively to the classical Books of Common Prayer than is the case in many ACNA dioceses.

Many in ACNA effectively accept elements of the revolution since the 1970s. If orthodox Anglicanism in North America is again to unite, then it can only do so on the basis of the pre-1976 state of the Church, without women clergy and with classically Anglican liturgies.

We recognize that the Continuing Church has failed to present a united front, has failed to grow as we should, and in general has failed to present an attractive alternative to the growing heresy and absurdity of the Episcopal Church.

However, we also note that against furious opposition, and often against obstacles set up by those who later formed ACNA, we have built hundreds of congregations in North America, many of which are thriving.

We have established works of mercy, publications ministries, and international missions, and we have trained and ordained a new generation of able clergy.

The Continuing Churches are said to be riven by constant conflicts and to be increasingly divided. This is not true. Those of us who are undersigned below represent the great bulk of the Continuing Church. We have among ourselves cordial relations.

We cooperate on many levels and have at least as great a level of communion as that which exists amongst the disparate groups of ACNA.

Our tendency is towards greater unity and cooperation, whereas we observe within ACNA a tendency, just beneath the surface, to divide along the fault line we have identified above (between many in ACNA and classical Anglicanism). We have no wish to deny or to minimize our own failures or divisions.

But our divisions are largely matters amenable to improvement.

The divisions facing ACNA are fundamental and essential.

We call upon ACNA to heed our call to return to your classical Anglican roots.

We commend to your prayerful attention the Affirmation of Saint Louis, which we firmly believe provides a sound basis for a renewed and fulfilled Anglicanism on our continent.

We urge you to heed the call of Metropolitan Jonah, whose concerns we share. Anglicanism in North America cannot be both united and orthodox on a partially revolutionized basis.

We call upon you to repudiate firmly any claim to alter doctrine or order against the consensus of the Catholic and Orthodox world. We call upon you to embrace the classical Prayer Book tradition.

The 30 years between our formation in 1977 and yours in 2010 were years of sharp decline in TEC numbers and of growing aberrations in all areas of Church life.

We call upon you to look upon all the works of those years with a much more critical eye, and to join us in returning to the doctrine, worship, and orders that preceded the intervening decades.

Yours in Christ,

The Right Reverend Paul Hewett, SSC
Diocese of the Holy Cross

The Most Reverend Walter Grundorf
Anglican Province of America

The Most Reverend Brian Marsh
Anglican Church in America

The Most Reverend Mark Haverland
Anglican Catholic Church

The Most Reverend Peter D. Robinson
United Episcopal Church of North America 

RESPONSE

I want to thank Bishops Hewett, Grundorf, Marsh, Haverland and Robinson for their honest appeal and good counsel, and to invite them to join us in the ongoing work of Anglican renewal and restoration both in North America and throughout the Anglican Communion. 

There are two ways that this can be done. The first is to formally join the Anglican Church in North America as a federated jurisdiction. This would not mean dissolving your present jurisdiction, but merely entering a federated relationship with others. The Reformed Episcopal Church has done this, making it a jurisdiction of the Anglican Church in North America without giving up its autonomy, and leaving it free to join a new jurisdiction or resume independent status should the ACNA not become fully orthodox. This would also give the bishops of your jurisdictions a seat, voice and vote in the College of Bishops of the Anglican Church in North America. Such an increase in orthodox bishops would speed our work. Reformation and restoration is never easy, and the Ark of Salvation needs pullers at the oars, not merely cheerleaders on the shore.

There is no need to fear that you would have to be in anything but impaired communion with those who have not yet fully recovered their orthodoxy. No bishop that does not uphold Catholic Order would ever be allowed to serve at the altar of Holy Cross parish, and I would never receive the sacraments from such a person, and there are many thousands of churchmen in the ACNA that feel the same way. We have made our voices loud and clear, and our calls for renewal and restoration are bearing fruit. We are winning.

The problem with the Anglican Church in North America is not the same as that of The Episcopal Church. In the Episcopal Church the issue is apostasy. The historic Faith has been knowingly rejected. Within the Anglican Church in North America it is a teaching issue. Thousands who are members of the Anglican Church in North America have a sense of the Faith and want to be faithful Anglicans, but have never seen it modeled or really experienced classical Anglicanism. They have grown up seeing women in collars and may have never experienced worship according to the historic Book of Common Prayer. They need love, careful teaching, and time to work things out in their minds, not condemnation and rejection. Even St. Athanasius worked with the Semi-Arians to defeat the Arians. And the result? The triumph of the Nicene Faith. The Arians were defeated and the Semi-Arians were won to orthodoxy. If we are unwilling to reach out to, teach and win, what might be described as semi-Anglicans, is there any point in even talking about reaching the unchurched?

The Second way that the Archbishops, Bishops and jurisdictions that have signed the appeal can participate in the renewal and restoration of Anglicanism in North America and world-wide — if they are as yet unwilling to become constituent jurisdictions of the Anglican Church in North America - is to join the Federation of Anglican Churches in the America’s (FACA). The Diocese of the Holy Cross, the Anglican Province of America and the Anglican Church in America are already members. I invite the Anglican Catholic Church and the United Episcopal Church of North America to join as well. As FACA members, your jurisdictions will be Ministry Partners with the Anglican Church in North America. As such, you could have your parishes listed on the on-line ACNA parish directory (the ACA still needs to request to be listed), and would be invited to participate as fully in the work of the ACNA as you feel comfortable with. I think that you would find such ministries as the Anglican Relief and Development Fund (ARDF) and Anglicans for Life, just to name two, worthy of your support. You would also be linked to GAFCON and the 70+% of the Anglican Communion that is essentially orthodox, and could have a part in the upcoming GAFCON II meeting in Nairobi, Kenya and the ongoing restoration of world-wide Anglicanism. As Ministry Partners your bishops would not be voting members of the ACNA College of Bishops, but as FACA members you would be represented in that College by FACA president Bishop Paul Hewett.

Exciting things are happening in the Anglican Church in North America and throughout the Anglican Communion. The ACNA has developed warm and growing ecumenical relationships with Rome, Eastern Orthodoxy, the Polish National Catholic Church and Confessional Lutheranism. Archbishop Robert Duncan and Bishop Ray Sutton were recently in Rome where they met with Pope Benedict. They were even honored by being seated with the Pope during a public audience. Our relations with Eastern Orthodoxy are even warmer and are growing, and the retirement of Archbishop Jonah will have no adverse effect. Sixteen years ago I was asked by Bishop Patrick Murphy to work for corporate reunion with Eastern Christendom, and I am very excited about the progress being made. 

In the first three years of its existence the ACNA has seen more ecumenical progress made with the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod then the LCMS has made with any other Church in its history. The two Churches have already agreed to joint work in areas of corporal works of mercy, seminary exchanges and the sharing of church buildings. Ecumenical meetings between the Anglican Church in North America and the Polish National Catholic Church have already begun, and ACNA bishops are going to be meeting regularly with the bishops of the PNCC. Both sides want to restore the full communion that was ended after the Minneapolis General Convention in 1976, and it seems certain that this will be accomplished just as soon as women’s “ordination” is ended in the Anglican Church in North America. 

The “ordination” of women is on the way out in the Anglican Church in North America, and will end. The Reformed Episcopal Church, which is the largest constituent jurisdiction of the Anglican Church in North America, does not ordain women to any Order and does not license women lay readers. The same can be said of many other dioceses and jurisdictions.

The GAFCON Primates Council has called for a study of Women’s Ordination, and is in the process of organizing a theological committee from the various national Churches. Calls for an end to women’s “ordination” in North America are also being heard. The ACNA has formed a committee to study the issue. It is led by an REC bishop and will include input from our ecumenical partners. What do you think Rome, Eastern Orthodoxy, the Polish National Catholic Church and the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod are going to say about women’s ordination?

You may have already heard that Bishop Jack Iker of Ft. Worth has ended the “ordination” of women deacons in his diocese. In his January 3rd digest David Virtue (www.virtueonline.org) reports, “The Diocese of Ft. Worth has announced it will no longer ordain women to the Diaconate. Speaking at the Dioceses' 38th Annual Convention, Bishop Jack Iker stated that he was in a small minority of bishops in the Anglican Church in North America who ordained women to the Diaconate and that the practice was ‘an issue’, especially among diocesan clergy. To resolve this and to bring its practice into line with the majority of ACNA jurisdictions, the Diocese of Ft. Worth will discontinue such ordinations."

This renewal and restoration is sweeping through the Anglican Communion. Canterbury has become all but irrelevant, and the Church of England will have no more of a negative effect on this New Reformation than The Episcopal Church has had in recent years. 

On January 3rd, Anglican Journalist David Virtue wrote on Virtue Online:  “The Primate of the Anglican Church of Kenya says the tables have turned in the Anglican Communion thus it is time for the Global South to assert itself and take the gospel back to the West.

“In his New Year sermon delivered at All Saints Cathedral, Nairobi, The Most Rev. Eliud Wabukala commented that, ‘...in our modern context we need now to be thinking of mission beyond our borders. In the past we have been the recipients of missionary endeavour and we thank God for those who brought the gospel to this land, but now the sending nations of the West are in deep spiritual and moral crisis and it is time for us to take a lead in global mission.

“‘The majority of Anglicans are now in the Global South and that means we need to take greater responsibility in global leadership. We cannot simply stand by as we see many of the Anglican Churches in the West, including the Church of England itself, being severely compromised by the deepening spiritual and moral darkness of the societies in which they are set.’

“The evangelical archbishop noted, ‘The GAFCON movement is one way in which global Anglicans are responding to this need and I am very happy that in October this year, we are expecting the second Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON 2) to be held here in Nairobi and we look forward to welcoming Anglican leaders from around the globe.’”

Years ago Pope John Paul II said that at the beginning of the third millennium if we are to overcome the divisions of the second millennium we must return to the consensus of the first millennium. That is what Anglicanism is all about - The Faith of the undivided Church. We have an important part to play in the plan of God. Join with us, “for God calls us to Himself!” The Third Millennium of Christianity may yet prove to be a new springtime for the Church. 

JOY TO THE WORLD

Christ is born! Glorify Him!

Merry Christmas!

I hope that you are having a Merry and Blessed Christmas. Having? Shouldn’t it be had? No, “having” is correct! The Christmas celebration only begins on Christmas Day, December 25th. The celebration actually lasts for twelve days, until the feast of the Epiphany on January 6th, when we remember the coming of the Magi or Wise Men to see the Christ-child. As I write this it is the seventh day of Christmas and I am listening to Christmas music, drinking a hot cup of Celestial Seasons Candy Cane Lane decaffeinated Green Tea, and enjoying the sounds, smells and tastes of this holy season.

Christmas Day at Holy Cross parish was a joyful experience. As always, we kept the Mass in Christmas by celebrating a Mid-night Holy Communion (“commonly called the Mass” - 1549 BCP). Our new choir sang for the first time, leading us in worship. After the Liturgy on the Fourth Sunday in Advent our church family had decorated the church with a beautiful Christmas tree near the communion rail, a traditional Nativity Scene (thank you St. Francis!), wreaths hanging from pew ends and on a wall, the largest poinsettia that I have ever seen, and more. A traditional Anglican church decorated for Christmas gives one an overwhelming sense of peace on earth and good will towards men.

After our Mid-night celebration of the Holy Communion we enjoyed a wonderful birthday party in honour of the Nativity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I have seldom seen so much delicious food and drink. The warm fellowship and holy day cheer went on into the wee hours of the morning and Cheri and I did not get home until after 4:00 AM. After about four hours of sleep we spent the rest of the day celebrating Christmas with family. Cheri and I want to thank our church family for the beautiful Christmas card and the thoughtful gift. Your love is felt and deeply appreciated!  

Yesterday, on the First Sunday after Christmas, I preached on the Epistle lesson: Galatians 4:1-7. The Apostle Paul has such Good News for us: “But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ” (Gal. 4:4-7). Calling this merely Good News is almost an understatement! We have been redeemed and adopted into the family of God. We are no longer servants but sons! We address God not merely as Lord or King or Master like servants, but as Abba, Father, because we are His sons and daughters! How can this be?

In his Letter to the Romans, St. Paul writes: “Therefore being [present tense] justified [declared righteous] by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Rom. 5:1). Our righteousness is “by faith” according to St. Paul, not by our works. If we could earn our salvation then Christ died in vain. Even the best of our good works are flawed and imperfect. As Isaiah the Prophet says, “All our righteousness are as filthy rags” (Is. 64:6). Our righteousness as relating to our justification is external to us. It is the righteousness of Christ imputed to us by faith. 

The Apostle Paul continues: “By whom also we have access by faith into his grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Rom. 5:2). We have access to God’s grace by faith, not by works. Do you mean that we cannot merit grace? No, we cannot. Grace means “unmerited favor” or “undeserved kindness.” You cannot merit unmerited favor, and you cannot deserve undeserved kindness. St. Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, writes “we have access by faith into his grace wherein we stand...” We have our right-standing with God by His grace (unmerited favor, undeserved kindness) through faith. Now thats Good News indeed! And because of that Good News the Apostle Paul says that we are to “rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” Rejoice. Yes, rejoice! “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). 

We all know that God loves the world in general, but many Christians do not live as though they believed that God loves them in particular. But the truth is far different. He knew you before the creation of the world!  I have some more Good News for you. You can actually take the words “the world” out of John 3:16, and replace those words with your name without changing the meaning of the text. Yes, God loves each of His sons and daughters, as though there were only one of us! 

St. Paul the Apostle continues: “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). Did you get that? We cannot merit God’s favor and we do not earn God’s love, or obey to gain His love. The Scripture says plainly, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”  This is indeed Good News, but St. Paul has even more Good News for us. “Much more then, being now [present tense] justified [declared righteous] by his blood [not by our works or personal righteousness, but by His shed blood], we shall [not may, but “shall”] be saved from wrath through him [Christ]” (Rom. 5:9). “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall [there is that word “shall” again!] be saved by his life [because Christ is Risen from the dead!]” (Rom. 5:10). “And not only so, but we also joy [we have good reason to be joyful!] in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now [present tense] received the atonement” (Rom. 5:11). 

Atonement! Don’t let anyone ever tell you that the death of Christ upon the cross was not an atoning sacrifice. “[W]hile we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8)... “being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved” (Rom. 5:9)...”we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son” (Rom. 5:10)...”by whom we have now received the atonement” (Rom. 5:11). Christ died for our sins and rose for our salvation, but our redemption was assured in the Incarnation. Christmas is a blessed time to be merry and to rejoice, and that joy should carry us through every day of our lives because it reminds us that “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son...” (John 3:16). Christians should be a people of joy and the Christian life a life of joy. As St. Catherine of Siena says, “All the way to Heaven is Heaven.”

It is so sad to see joyless Christians, Christians who live as though they had a perpetual  toothache. They have little or no joy in their relationship with our Lord, with their pastor or with their brothers and sisters in Christ, and have no Good News to share with others. Such people have no feeling of assurance in their relationship with Christ and no sense of security in the love of God. In fact, they often condemn the ideas of assurance and security as presumption. But is it presumption to believe the sure Word of God written? St. Teresa of Avila used to pray to God, “From sour-faced saints, deliver us.” Joy is one of the fruits of the Spirit named by the Apostle Paul in his Letter to the Galatians; and even while under arrest in Rome he could write: ”Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice” (Phil. 4:4).

We have received Glad Tidings, Good News, the Gospel, and have good reason to be a people of joy in the Lord. God is our dear Father and we are His beloved children. As St. John the Divine has said, “These things have I written unto you that believe on the Name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life” (I John 5:13). Now that’s Good News!

My prayer this Christmas season is that my Christian readers will begin to see themselves as sons and daughters of God, rather than merely His servants (as wonderful as even that would be!); and that they will begin to truly see God as their dear Father, and to have the assurance and security that comes from knowing that they are the beloved sons and daughters of a loving Father, are secure in His love, and heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. My prayer is, “that ye may know that ye have eternal life” (I John 5:13), that you will be a people of joy, and understand that “All the way to Heaven is Heaven.” We have received Good News, and have Good News to share to a lost, dark and hurting world. As St. Francis of Assisi said, “Preach the Gospel always, and when necessary use words.” 

This Coming Sunday, January 6th, is the Feast of the Epiphany. If you are anywhere near the Greater Omaha area I hope that you will join us for worship as we commemorate the coming of the Magi. Morning Prayer is at 9:30 AM, followed by the Holy Communion at 10:00 AM. Wise Men still seek Him!

Holy Cross Anglican Church is a local church with a local, national and global outreach. I would like to invite my readers to help us in our ministry. Please prayerfully consider going to our Holy Cross Media Site, www.holycrossmedia.com , and making a donation to the work of Holy Cross Anglican Church. You can do so by following the “Make a Donation” link, and using the Donate button. The Donate button is now working and we have just begun taking online donations. Your gift will be safe and secure with Pay Pal, and we will make good use of it. Thank you!

I wish all of my readers a Merry and Blessed Christmas. “Alleluia. Unto us a child is born; O Come let us adore Him. Alleluia” (Morning Prayer, 1928 BCP).

KEEP THE MASS IN CHRISTMAS

What does the word "Christmas" mean? It means Christ's Mass, or the Mass for Christ's Nativity. What is the Mass? It is another name for the Lord's Supper or Holy Communion. The Liturgy of the Lord's Supper is called by various names. In the Bible it is called the Lord's Supper, the Breaking of Bread, and the Holy Communion. From the Greek we call it the Eucharist (Thanksgiving) because on the night in which he was betrayed Jesus took bread, gave thanks, broke it and said, “This is my Body...” In the East, Christians often call it the Divine Liturgy. Divine because it was instituted by our Lord. Just as the "Eucharist" comes to us through the Greek, the "Mass" comes to us from the Latin. The term Mass goes back to the early Church. For instance, it is used in the writings of St. Ambrose of Milan an early Church Father. Who was St. Ambrose of Milan? He was the bishop who baptized the great theologian St. Augustine of Hippo! In the first English language Book of Common Prayer in 1549, the Lord's Supper or Holy Communion was described as "commonly called the Mass." Anglicans still commonly call the Holy Communion the Mass to this day.

We will be keeping the Mass in Christmas at Holy Cross Anglican Church this Christmas Day, just as we do every Christmas Day. We will be celebrating Christmas with a Mid-night Mass on Christmas morning, Tuesday, December 25th. Why mid-night? So we can put Christ first and foremost! After all, as the Christmas carol says, "It came upon a midnight clear..." Is it too much of an effort to come to church at mid-night? Tell that to St. Joseph and the nine-month pregnant St. Mary who travelled to Bethlehem from Nazareth on foot or on a donkey. Tell it to the shepherds who were watching their flocks by night in the cold fields. Tell it to a young woman giving birth in a stable. Tell it to the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger. Believe me, it is worth coming out in the cold night air. Mid-night Mass is very special. You will feel like you were there at the stable 2,000 years go.

Christmas is the best time of the year, and one of the most beautiful and wonderful Services of the year is at Mid-night on Christmas morning. This year will be even more special as our new choir will be leading us in worship for the first time. We will be singing some of the greatest Christmas music ever written, including O Come All Ye Faithful, Silent Night, What Child Is This?, and Angels We Have Heard On High. The church will be beautifully decorated with a Christmas tree, wreathes, a Nativity Scene and more, the music will be uplifting, and we will have the opportunity to gather around the Throne of grace and welcome our newborn King. A Mid-night Eucharist on Christmas morning is an ancient Christian tradition, and is something you will never forget. So invite family and friends. Bring the little ones. You will be making Christmas memories that will last a life time. Don’t worry if they fall asleep on the pew, it is all part of the Christmas experience. Beginning your Christmas with Jesus will bless you and ensure that you and you children recognize that Jesus is the reason for the season.

Everyone is invited to reman after Worship for a Christmas party in our parish hall. There will be delicious festive treats, warm drinks, good fellowship and beautiful Christmas music. You won't want to leave! Come and be blessed!

HOLY CROSS ANGLICAN CHURCH

7545 Main Street

Ralston, Nebraska 68127

www.holycrossomaha.net

www.holycrossmedia.com

(402) 573-6558

MID-NIGHT MASS ON CHRISTMAS MORNING

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Wise Men Still Seek Him!

AS BIRDS FLYING, The Miracle of December 8th

“Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but He revealeth his secret unto His servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7).

In August of 1914 the Great War broke out in Europe. General Edmund Allenby of the British Army began the war in command of a cavalry division on the Western Front. He was later promoted to command the 5th Corps of the British Expeditionary Forces in Europe. In October 1915 he took command of the Third Army, which in 1916 took part in the battle of the Somme.

The War in Palestine really began in 1915, with a Turkish offensive against the Suez Canal. It was beaten back, but in late 1916 and early 1917, when the British launched a counter offensive, they were severely repulsed by the Ottoman Turks. British Prime Minister Lloyd George commented at the time, “Nobody could have saved the Turks from complete collapse, but our General Staff.” In June 1917, General Allenby was ordered to leave his Third Army and take command of the British war effort in the Middle East. 

Allenby was not excited about his new assignment. General Sir Beauvoir de Lisle saw Allenby at the Grosvenor Hotel in London before the latter left for Cairo. Allenby said to him, “The last man failed, and I do not see why I should succeed.” Sir Beauvoir, who was later to preach a sermon at St. Martin’s in the Fields about the capture of Jerusalem, consoled him with Bible prophecies of the deliverance of Jerusalem. He told General Allenby that the Bible said that Jerusalem would be delivered in that very year, 1917, and by Britain.

In 1886, Dr. Grattan Guinness had written a book titled “Light for the Last Days” in which he demonstrated from the Scriptures that Jerusalem would be delivered from Turkish rule in 1917. In 1898, Dr. H. Aldersmith, another eminent student of Bible prophecy, wrote  a book called “Fullness of the Nations,” in which he said that Jerusalem would be delivered by Great Britain in 1917. In personal conversations, Dr. Aldersmith would say that he believed that Jerusalem would be delivered by some sort of flying machine, although the airplane had not yet been invented. 

Before sailing to Cairo to take command, General Allenby was summoned to a meeting with Admiral Lord Fisher, the First Sea Lord. In one of the most extraordinary military conferences of war, recorded by Lord Fisher’s secretary, Allenby was told that he would be God’s instrument for the deliverance of Jerusalem in December 1917. Stunned by Lord Fisher’s words, he asked him to explain his deduction. Admiral Lord Fisher, First Sea Lord, then spent several hours in discussing the Bible with General Allenby, showing him the prophecies that related to the rise of Great Britain, and lastly the prophecies relating to the deliverance of Jerusalem in December 1917. Armed and strengthened by this knowledge, General Allenby sailed for the Middle East.

I won’t take the time to review the Palestinian campaign during the Great War, but God’s hand was clearly in evidence. Under Allenby’s command was the famous Thomas Edward Lawrence - Lawrence of Arabia. Many books and articles have been written about the exploits of T. E. Lawrence, and continue to be written. One of the great adventure stories of English literature is “The Seven Pillars of Wisdom” by Lawrence.

Allenby was a devout Christian. He often consulted the Bible for spiritual direction, and for historical and geographical military guidance for an army fighting in Palestine; and would frequently ask his staff officers to bow their heads with him and to pray for success in battle with few casualties.  In his biography of Allenby, Field Marshall Wavell recounts a saying among the Arabs at the time, “When the waters of the Nile flow into Palestine, then will a prophet of the Lord deliver Jerusalem from the Turkish yoke.” Under Allenby the waters of the Nile did flow into Palestine via a pipeline laid by the Royal Engineers to supply the British forces. The Arabs called General Allenby “Allah en Nebi” which means prophet of God.

After many battles the British Army finally made its approach to Jerusalem. Allenby’s plan was to partially encircle Jerusalem, intentionally leaving a safe way of escape in hopes that the Turkish Army would withdraw, avoiding a siege of the Holy City.

When the British forces had come within striking distance of Jerusalem, and were coming under fire from Turkish batteries within the city, Allenby did not want to return fire because he believed that it was unworthy of Christian Britain to fire on the Holy City. He cabled Prime Minister Lloyd George for instructions. George replied that the Cabinet was leaving him free to do whatever he thought best. Not satisfied with such an answer, he cabled the King for guidance. King George V replied simply, “Pray about it.” Gathering his staff together, General Allenby followed the King’s counsel.

This takes us to the morning of Saturday December 8, 1917. The British chaplains that morning led the troops in prayer. The first lesson from Morning Prayer on that day was from Isaiah chapter 31. The very prophecy that was to be fulfilled on that day was found in that lesson: “For thus hath the LORD spoken unto me, Like as the lion and the young lion roaring on his prey, when a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him, he will not be afraid of their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them: so shall the LORD of hosts come down to fight for mount Zion, and for the hill thereof. As birds flying, so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also He will deliver it; and passing over He will preserve it” (Is. 31:4-5). That day, December 8, 1917, was also the Feast of Hanukkah, commemorating an earlier deliverance of Jerusalem by Judah Maccabee two centuries before Christ.

In the reading from Isaiah, General Allenby saw the lion in the prophecy as representing Great Britain and the young lion as representing his ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand) troops. When Isaiah spoke prophetically of God defending, delivering and preserving Jerusalem “as birds flying,” Allenby knew exactly what that meant. 

By this time the Royal Flying Corps had complete air supremacy over Palestine. That morning General Allenby ordered British planes to make reconnaissance flights over Jerusalem and to drop leaflets calling upon the Turkish garrison to surrender, but were directed not to strafe or bomb the Holy City. With all of the British air activity, panic broke out among the garrison who had no air support to speak of, and the Turkish officers could not get the situation under control. That night Izzet Bey the governor of Jerusalem smashed all of the equipment in the telegraph office, and wrote a letter of surrender. At 2:00 AM, on December 9th, the Turkish garrison began leaving through the Jaffa Gate. By 7:00 AM the last of the Turkish soldiers were passing through St. Stephen’s Gate making their way along the Jericho Road. Bey and a few frightened policemen came out of the city bearing a white flag and surrendered Jerusalem to General O’Shea of the 60th division. The Holy City had been delivered without a shot being fired.

On December 11, 1917, General Edmund Allenby entered Jerusalem silently on foot and without fanfare. No guns were fired in salute. Only the bells of Jerusalem’s churches rang. Isaiah 35:5 had been fulfilled, “As bird’s flying, so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem, defending also He will deliver it, and passing over He will preserve it.”  “As birds flying,” God had used the Royal Flying Corps to frighten the garrison into leaving. As foretold, God had delivered the Holy City and preserved it. There was no siege.  

After the war General Allenby was appointed British High Commissioner of Egypt, and made a peer of the realm, becoming Viscount Allenby of Megiddo and Felixstowe. He died in 1936, and is buried in Westminster Abbey - a great honor for a great, nobel and pious man.

But how do we arrive at the year 1917 in Bible prophecy? When making His covenant with the people of Israel, God warned them that if they sinned they would be corrected, and that there would be a “seven times” punishment (Lev. 26:28) for national apostasy.

A “time” in the Bible is 360 days (Dan. 7:25, 12:7, Rev. 12:6 and 12:14). In Bible prophecy, a day often means a year, “each day for a year” (Num. 14:34; Ez. 4:6). Students of Bible prophecy call this “the Year/Day Principle.” A year of 360 days is known as a “prophetic year” as distinct from lunar or solar years.

There are seven references in the Bible which help us understand the seven times punishment of Leviticus 26:28:

Time, Times and the dividing of times (3 1/2) Dan. 7:25

Time, times and an half (3 1/2) Dan. 12:7

Forty and two months (3 1/2 years)                 Rev. 11:2

A thousand, two hundred and threescore days Rev. 11:3

A thousand, two hundred and threescore days  Rev. 12:6

Time, times and a half time (3 1/2)                  Rev. 12:14

Forty and two months (3 1/2 years)                 Rev. 13:5

A “time” is a prophetic year of 360 days, and a day represents a year. The Seven Times Punishment for national apostasy was to last 2520 years.

King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon invaded the apostate Kingdom of Judah in the Hebrew month of Kislev, corresponding to our November/December, in the year 604 BC.  Jerusalem surrendered in the middle of Kislev, or early December on our Calendar, becoming a vassal state. Judah later tried to break free from Babylonian domination, but was invaded, and Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed in 586 BC.

Jesus told us that Jerusalem would be trampled down by the heathen (Gentiles) until the time of the heathen be fulfilled. Leviticus 26:28 tells us that the punishment for national apostasy was to last 2520 years. The prophesied 2520 years stretched from 604 BC to AD 1917 (a year must be added because the calendar goes from 1 BC to AD 1 without a year zero). Christians saw this prophecy in the Bible well before it was fulfilled, and Admiral Lord Fisher, First Sea Lord, General Allenby, and many other devout Christians, were confident that this prophecy would be fulfilled to the letter. And it was. 

The Seventy Weeks prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27 is interpreted using the same prophetic year/day rule, with a day representing a year. The Seventy Weeks (seventy weeks of years) prophecy begins in 457 BC with the decree of Artaxerxes to restore and to build Jerusalem ( Dan. 9:25). The 69th prophetic week ends in AD 27 with the baptism of Jesus, “until Messiah the Prince.” In the midst of the 70th week, AD 31, “shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself.” And at the end of the 70th week, AD 34, Stephen the protomartyr was stoned, signaling the final rejection of the Messiahship of Jesus by the Jewish authorities (Acts 7:58-8:4) and ultimately resulting in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70.

Christians argue about many things, often dividing over minor differences. Opinions and personal preferences that cannot be proven objectively one way or the other continues to absorb the attention of believers and divide Christians into often hostile camps, yet hundreds  of Bible prophecies have been fulfilled to the letter and still many Christians have no interest in them, or will even doubt or dispute what I have shared with you today. 

They will tell you that although everything happened just as I have described it, for history bears witness to it, yet it was merely a coincidence. They will insist that we have to believe everything that was revealed 2,000 or more years ago, while doubting or denying what God is doing all around us and the fulfillment of prophesies in our day. For many, Christianity is a religion about what happened long, long ago in a land far, far away, but not about what God is doing today and will do tomorrow. This “Christianity” is little more than Deism. A parishioner of mine recently told me of a Jewish friend that does not practice his faith because God hasn’t spoken to the Jewish people since the time of Malachi some 2,400 years ago. He says, “God has forgotten us.” Sadly, many Christians act as though God hasn’t had a word for them for nearly 2,000 years. But that is not true. God has not abandoned His people. He continues to speak to us through His prophets as recorded in the Holy Scriptures. We need only to study the Holy Scriptures and search it out. The miracle of December 8, 1917 is a wonderful reminder that our God will neither slumber nor sleep, but that he is working out His purposes all around us.

“Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but He revealeth his secret unto His servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7).

“It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the honour of kings is to search out a matter” (Prov. 25:2).

“By measure hath He measured the times, and by number hath He numbered the times: and He doth not move nor stir them until the said measure be fulfilled”  (II Esdras 4:37).

POST-ELECTION SHOCK AND DISMAY

Since Barack Hussein Obama was declared the winner of Tuesday’s presidential election it seems that every Christian I meet is in a state of shock and dismay. The same feelings have been expressed by millions of Americans from coast to coast.

The day after the election, Christopher Ruddy of Newsmax wrote, “It was the worst of times and the worst of times. With the 2012 election results in, there are no short or even medium-term ‘silver linings’ for Republicans. President Obama has won a decisive victory and the GOP, expecting to gain Senate seats, actually had a net loss of three.”

On the same day, in an article titled, “America Pronounces Judgement On Itself," Joseph Farah of World Net Daily wrote, “For many of us, the unthinkable has happened. America has decisively turned the corner away from the constitutional principles of limited government and self-government with the re-election of Barack Obama. There may be no way home for us. For those of us who fundamentally reject Obama’s policies, things are going to get very rough for the next four years. We have allowed our fellow Americans to pronounce judgement on the nation. That’s what Obama represents to me - God’s judgement on a people who have turned away from Him and His ways and from everything for which our founders sacrificed their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor.”

Millions of Americans sat down Tuesday evening to watch the election returns thinking that they were still in some sense living in Ronald Reagan’s America and that everything was about to be set right, only to learn that a seismic demographic shift had taken place and caught them unawares. The election results demonstrated the shocking fact that Ronald Reagan could not be elected in today’s Amerika.

On the day after the election I was repeatedly asked, “How could this happen? We prayed so hard for the election. Why didn’t God answer our prayers?” Many have had their faith shaken and are in utter despair. Millions of hard-working, God-fearing, patriotic Americans are in post-election shock and dismay.

Why didn’t God answer the prayers of His people? I believe that He did. God will not force people to do the right thing. He has given people the gift of free will. However, God did answer the prayers of His people by making the choice crystal clear on election day, and giving the nation every opportunity to begin to right itself.

The choice between the two establishment candidates and parties was crystal clear. On one side was the most pro-abortion president in American history. On the other was a candidate that was openly pro-life and had been endorsed by the Right to Life movement.  On one side was a president that openly embraced homosexual “marriage” and the agenda of the homosexual movement. On the other was a candidate that believed in traditional marriage and family life, and in Biblical morality. One party stated clearly in its platform that it advocated keeping abortion safe and legal, “regardless of ability to pay.” A position that can mean nothing less than taxpayer funded abortion or an eventual HHS Obamacare mandate to require insurance companies to provide free abortions. The other party platform was pro-life. One candidate and party was utterly committed to Obamacare with its unelected fifteen member death panel, while the other candidate and party was committed to its repeal. One party and its candidate supported using the power of government to restrict religious liberty, while the other strongly supported religious liberty.

For those who wanted to vote for parties outside of the beltway, there were four other parties on enough state ballots to potentially win the presidency: the Constitution Party, the Libertarian Party, the Green Party and the Justice Party. As with the two establishment parties, God answered His peoples prayers by making the choices crystal clear. The Libertarian, Green and Justice parties, and their presidential candidates, were strongly on record supporting legalized abortion and same-sex “marriage;" while the Constitution Party and its presidential candidate were strongly pro-life and committed to traditional marriage and family values. 

The choices were clear and unmistakable. The recessional hymn sung at our church on Sunday, November 4th, was Hymn  #519. The first verse of that thought-provoking hymn reads, “Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide, In the strife of truth with falsehood, for the good or evil side.” The moment to decide came to the American electorate on Tuesday, November 6th. The choice was crystal clear. The election was free and fair. The electorate freely and overwhelmingly made their choice. This is no longer George Washington’s America. This is no longer Ronald Reagan’s America. How did this happen?

Demographics is destiny. Although the old America overwhelmingly voted for Mitt Romney, it was not enough to win. Until recent years, the percentage of the vote that Mitt Romney won from the American majority would have given him a landslide victory. But no more. There has been a seismic shift in demographics due to mass third-world immigration. Barack Obama received the votes of more than nine out of ten blacks, seven out of ten hispanics, and seven out of ten asians.   

The Democratic Party favors mass third-world immigration because these people become Democratic voters. In a February 3, 2010 article titled, “Obama Advisor: Amnesty to Ensure ‘Progressive’ Rule”, World Net Daily columnist Aaron Klein wrote,  “Granting citizenship to millions of illegal immigrants would expand the ‘progressive‘ electorate and help ensure a ‘progressive‘ governing coalition for the long term, declared a recent advisor to President Obama whose union group is among the most frequent visitors to the White House. ‘We reform the immigration laws, it puts 12 million people on the path to citizenship and eventually voters,' stated Eliseo Medina, international executive vice-president of Service Employees International Union, or SEIU.” Klein continues, “Medina said that during the presidential election in November 2008, Latinos and immigrants, ‘voted overwhelmingly for progressive candidates... Can you imagine 8 million new voters who care about our issues and will be voting? We will be creating a governing coalition for the long term, not just an election cycle.’”  

Unfortunately, the Wall Street wing of the Republican Party has been no better. They have supported exporting jobs and importing cheap third-world labor to take many of the jobs that cannot be exported. On October 23, 2012 the Washington Times reported, “Two-thirds of jobs go to immigrants during Obama’s four years.” We must be loyal to more than the bottom line. The economy must serve the nation. Even considering more immigration in the face of 23 million unemployed, with millions more under-employed is immoral, and bringing to our shores the best educated from third world countries is equally immoral. This causes in third-world nations what Ralph Nader described as a “brain drain,” preventing these countries from advancing and improving because their best and brightest are recruited by American companies to replace American workers because they will work for less money. 

Much of the electorate, especially among the young, have been mesmerized by the oft repeated saying, “Diversity is our strength.” But nothing could be farther from the truth. Diversity is anything but a strength. Homogenous societies are united, stable and safe, while multicultural societies are just the opposite. In the Bible, nations are homogenous societies, while empires are multicultural ones. History demonstrates that multicultural societies are inherently unstable and either deteriorate in ethnic conflict, or are held together by a strong-man using oppression. Long ago, Theodore Roosevelt said, “The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, or preventing all possibility of it's continuing as a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities.” Twelve years ago Pat Buchanan warned, “If America continues on its present course, we could rapidly become a country with no common language, no common culture, and no common identity.”  

Political pundits often talk about a “gender gap" between the Democratic and Republican parties, saying that men favor the GOP while women support the Democratic party. This is very misleading. Married women supported Mitt Romney by a  twenty point margin over Barack Obama. However, single women supported Barack Obama by a thirty point margin. Why? Let’s look at the demographics.

For the first time in history there are more single than married adults in America. Forty percent of all children in America are born out of wedlock, with more than two out of three black children born out of wedlock. The American divorce rate is about 50%. There are vast numbers of single parent households with women struggling to raise one, two, three or more children on their own. These single women are often mired in poverty and look to government for help. 

The American family is under incredible assault. The cultural-Marxists of the Frankfurt School have long been working for the deconstruction of the family, the culture and the traditional institutions of American society. By breaking these down they can make people more and more dependent on government for their sustenance. This makes them safe “progressive” voters.

America has been changing while we have been asleep. The United States has more churches today than ever, but never has Christianity had so little influence. Since the cultural revolution of the 1960s and the liberal-modernist takeover of so many denominations, many churches are doing more harm than good. Soon there will be an attempt to require non-profits not to “discriminate” against sodomy. Like Pavlov’s dog, Americans have been trained to react strongly when confronted with “discrimination” and millions will support persecution and prosecution of churches that refuse to conform. Like the old Soviet Union, the time may soon come when there are thousands of open and seemingly flourishing churches, but they will be little more than Potemkin churches, beautiful on the outside but rotten on the inside. 

Since Tuesday’s election, the Republican elites have been proclaiming that the election results  demonstrate that the GOP must moderate and move away from the Right if it is to win. Away from the Right? When has the GOP nominated a Rightist since Ronald Reagan? George Bush Sr., Bob Dole, George Bush Jr., John McCain, and Mitt Romney were all establishment candidates. The elites want the Republican Party to embrace third-world immigration and distance the party from social issues such as abortion, traditional marriage and family values. If the American electorate follows the elites it will complete the demographic shift and the destruction of America as a Western, Christian-oriented, Constitutional Republic.  

So what are we to do? We must continue to do what we have been doing, and more, much more. At Holy Cross parish we must continue to teach the uncompromised Word of God, and we must continue to fulfill our mission of proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those who do not know him and the fullness of the apostolic faith to those who do. We must all become more involved in fulfilling our civic responsibilities than ever before, — and that means political involvement. The Republic needs every one of her sons and daughters.

Christians must get their children out of the public school system regardless of the cost or sacrifice required. They must use solid Christian schools or chose home schooling. Distance learning is now even available at the college level! At the same time, Christians must seek to reform the public school system by serving as teachers or running for school board.

Last Sunday I preached on the National Message of the Bible. Most Christians do not even know that there is a National Message in the Bible. The truth is that about one-third of the Bible contains the National Message. We must preach and teach this message like never before. Christians must learn what the Bible says to the nation, and act upon it.

Two centuries ago there was euphoria in the colonies when the minutemen fired the shot heard around the world and drove the British army back in disarray, just as there was euphoria leading up to Tuesday's election. We thought that we would replace the president, repeal Obamacare and restore the Republic in one blow. Like the Minutemen, we have learned that our foe is much, much stronger than we had thought. George Washington’s Continental Army lost battle after battle, and knew nothing but retreat until they reached the apparent winter safety of Valley Forge. There, with the coldness of that brutal winter, many defeated and demoralized soldiers lost heart and faith, and slunk away. Washington stood to lose his entire army. Yet, he never gave up, and when the coward, the faithless and the sunshine patriot had fled, only a faithful remnant remained. God then used that faithful remnant. Soon Washington took his little army across the river and won a stunning victory at Trenton without losing a man. There were many hardships yet to endure and long years of fighting, but these Christian patriots remained firm in their faith and commitment, and eventually the tide of battle turned and they triumphed over the greatest army in the world. This is our time of testing. May we prove worthy of our Christian-patriot forefathers!

I would like to close this with the last two verses of Hymn #519 from the 1940 Hymnal:

Though the cause of evil prosper

Yet ‘tis truth alone is strong;

Though her portion be the scaffold,

And upon the throne is wrong,

Yet that scaffold sways the future,

And, behind the dim unknown,

Standeth God within the shadow

Keeping watch above his own.

Voting, and the National Message of the Bible

“Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people”( Proverbs 14:34).

“When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when the wicked rule, the people mourn” (Proverbs 29:2).

All Christians are aware that the Bible has a message for the individual and for the Church, but many, many Christians are unaware that the Bible also has a message for the nation. In fact, about one-third of the Bible speaks to the nation. This is the National Message of the Bible.

Most Christians understand that God held the people of Israel accountable under the Old Covenant, but many have never considered the fact that the Prophet Jonah was sent to Nineveh, the capital of Assyria. Had the people there not repented, their nation would have been destroyed. Later, God used Babylon to punish Assyria, and later still God used Medo-Persia to punish Babylon. God even described Cyrus, the ruler of the Medo-Persians, as  His anointed. The Old Covenant prophets had many messages for the other nations of the world, because even though these nations did not know the true God, they were still accountable to the natural law. 

Under the New Covenant, the faith has become catholic or universal. The earliest Christians, and their successors today, have been commissioned to make disciples of all nations. With the advance of the Great Commission, Christendom was built in Europe. From Europe many nations have received the Gospel. The people of the United States were not converted to Christ, but our nation was established by Christians and built on a Christian foundation. Patrick Henry said, “It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ!”

The Supreme Court of the United States concurred in 1892, officially declaring the United States a Christian nation: “Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that it should be otherwise; and in this sense and to this extent, our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian.”

If Assyria, Babylon and other pagan nations were held accountable to God for their behavior, how much more will Christian nations be held accountable? If to whom much has been given, much will be required, how much more will the greatest and most blessed nation in the history of the world - the United States of America - be held accountable? America’s Founding Fathers certainly understood this accountability.

At the Constitutional Convention on June 28, 1787, Benjamin Franklin said, “We have been assured Sir, in the Sacred Writings, that ‘except the Lord build the House, they labor in vain that build it.‘ I firmly believe this: and I also believe that without His concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel.”

In 1781, Thomas Jefferson said, “God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are a gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.”

In 1821, Daniel Webster said, “If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper; but if we and our posterity neglect its instructions and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity.”

Sadly, since prayer and Bible study were outlawed in America’s public schools in 1962, America’s Western Christian civilization has been under constant assault, and in retreat, until it has become a free fall in recent years. 

In 1965, some 95% of all Americans were self-described Christians, with most of the remainder being Jews; but as a result of the 1965 immigration act the United States has become the most religiously diverse nation in the world. To that non-Christian diversity can be added a growing secularism. Today, one in five people in the United States are religiously unaffiliated, with about one in three people under the age of thirty unaffiliated. 

For the first time in American history a majority of adults are unmarried, and the birthrate in 2011 was the lowest in American history. Today 40% of all babies born in America are born out of wedlock, with more than two-thirds of babies born in the black community born outside of marriage.

The divorce rate in the United States is about 50%. Some 40% of all first marriages end in divorce, 60% of second marriages and 73% of third marriages. However, only 6% of marriages between practicing Christians who attend the same church on a weekly basis end in divorce!

In the 1950s abortion was a felony. Today it is a civil right. One in three conceptions end in abortion, more than 3,000 every day. Since Roe vs. Wade in 1973, more than fifty-five million pre-born children have been killed in abortion chambers. Less than 1% of these abortions were what are often called “hard cases.” I have heard the heart beat of a pre-born baby only twenty-eight days after conception. It is a child, not a choice.

Abortion never solves a woman’s problems, it only creates new ones. As a pastor I have worked with post-abortive women. Abortion either hardens a woman’s heart, often eventually leading to a second abortion, or even a third, and sometimes more; or it devastates her and causes physical, mental, emotional and spiritual problems. I have seen women who have had abortions, even after later repenting, who have had emotional meltdowns year after year as the date of their abortion and the due date of their unborn child approaches. 

Abortion does not solve problems, it only creates new and long lasting ones. The only ones that benefit from abortion are those in the abortion industry. They are literally making a killing.

The ongoing redefinition of marriage is not about love or fairness, it is about what kind of nation America will be. When marriage is redefined, homosexual couples are allowed to adopt children. This is very, very serious. In addition, Christian adoption agencies have been forced to close down when they have refused to place children with homosexual couples. And this is just the beginning. Christians have suffered persecution and even prosecution for “discriminating” against those who chose to engage in this lifestyle. Orthodox churches themselves may soon face loss of their tax exempt status for upholding Biblical morality in the face of the ongoing homosexual offensive.

Christians can disagree politically about many things. For instance, Christians can disagree about corporate tax rates, capital gains taxes, foreign policy and more. We all have to make prudential judgements. However, there are non-negotiables. Abortion, euthanasia and traditional marriage are non-negotiables. As Christians we must stand up and protect the innocent and the vulnerable from conception to natural death. If the right to life is not guaranteed, no other rights matter.

In 2008, the Democratic Party platform called for abortion to be “safe, legal and rare.” That was bad enough, but in 2012 the Democratic Party dropped the word “rare” from its platform and added “regardless of ability to pay.” Regardless of ability to pay? That means either taxpayer funded abortion or forcing insurance companies to offer free abortions under Obamacare. As Dennis Miller has said, “The Left believes in cradle to the grave assistance, it’s just sometimes really tricky making it to the cradle.”

Orthodox Christians must be sure to vote as it is their Christian and civic responsibility. Before casting any ballot for any candidate for any office of any party, be sure to do your research. Compare the candidates, look for endorsements from National Right to Life and from State and local Right to Life organizations. Vote as if someone’s life depended on it. It does!

The solution to our nation’s problems is found in the Bible: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (II Chron. 7:14).

Now you know about the National Message of the Bible. God judges individuals, the Church, and the nation. There is no “once saved, always saved” for people or for nations. Christians are called to be light and salt in society, and to occupy until Christ’s comes.  

On election day, Tuesday, November 6th, there will be prayers for our country at our church at 12:10 PM. We will pray the Penitential Office and the Litany. Join us for prayer for America and bring your friends. Let us humble ourselves, repent of our personal and national sins, pray for our country, and then go out and vote.

WHAT DOES REVIVAL LOOK LIKE?

As we look around and see all of the problems in our country, the turmoil in the world, and the apparent weakness of the Christian Church, Christians are praying for revival. But what does revival really look like?

Writing to the congregation in Rome, the Apostle Paul said, “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world” (Rom. 1:8). The Christians in Rome were setting an example for other Christians far and wide, and I think that the same can be said for the congregation of Holy Cross Anglican Church in Omaha, Nebraska. What does revival look like? It looks like what God is doing right here in Omaha.

Holy Cross parish is a congregation of real disciples, and what these disciples are doing amazes me. At the beginning of the year we set a goal of contributing 100 lbs of food to the Open Door Mission every month - 1,200 lbs for the year. That is a lot of food! However, the congregation has blown that goal away. Our last contribution, covering a mere two weeks, totaled 275 lbs; and our food bin is already overflowing again! In addition, we are picking up day old gourmet bread from a local shop and delivering it to two other homeless shelters, the Francis and Sienna Houses, five times every month. Each of these deliveries total 150 to 200 lbs of gourmet bread! 

In Advent and Lent we use parish mite boxes to raise money for the Anglican Relief and Development Fund. The ARDF does important work in impoverished and devastated areas of the world. Among the most important things that they do is to dig clean water wells in third world villages.

In August, we sponsored a speaker from the Voice of the Martyrs ministry, and raised $404.00 to support their work in assisting the persecuted Church around the world. This year the Board of Foreign Missions asked local churches to consider donating $500.00 in support of the Work of the Gospel in Croatia and Serbia. Our parish Women’s Group immediately went to work. They held a rummage sale, raised the full amount requested, and sent it on to the Board of Foreign Missions.

We have a wonderful ministry called the Holy Cross Love Squad. The Love Squad is a lay led ministry that has a priest as a chaplain. The Holy Cross Love Squad visits hospitals and long term care facilities every month, bringing prayer, music, jokes, fellowship and companionship to the sick, the lonely, and the forgotten. Squad members visit with residents, help them write letters, and listen to their stories. Our chaplain is always available for spiritual counsel.

We have a full time rector, a retired priest who assists, a salaried music director, a beautiful leased facility that consists of a traditional chapel, modern parish hall and classroom space; we support the diocese financially every month, and do a tremendous amount of ministry; and we have around forty in attendance on an average Sunday. Yes, we accomplish all of this, and more, with a congregation that averages around forty on Sunday. How? Because God has sent revival here, and our church family is made up of real disciples. In the average church only about 20% of the people are active. At Holy Cross it is about 100%. We actually have about as many active Christians as the average church of 200. A Roman Catholic Priest-friend of mine who has been in the ministry for decades once told me that he would be lucky to have 5% of those in the pews on Sundays to be active in church. That means we have as many really active people as a Roman Catholic parish of 800! Holy Cross parish is large enough to meet your needs and minister powerfully, but small enough to be a real church family.

Revival has come through worship and sound teaching. At Holy Cross parish we gather for worship, not entertainment. We use the liturgy of the historic Book of Common Prayer and sing the great, theologically rich, hymns of the Church. Why the historic Book of Common Prayer? Because it is thoroughly orthodox and is the most Biblical liturgy in Christendom. It is the liturgy that reformed the Church of England, inspired the Wesleyan Revival, spiritually formed the founding fathers of the United States, has spread the Gospel from a small island kingdom to more than 160 nations of the world,  has stood the test of time, and continues to touch hearts and change lives today. 

In a day when most Christians do not know the Ten Commandments, the Apostles Creed or pray regularly the Lord’s Prayer, we use them every week in worship. At Holy Cross we emphasize both the Law and the Gospel. We preach real sermons, sermons that last 30 to 45 minutes and are filled with spiritual meat. We exegete the Scriptures in our sermons and preach for personal conversion. We also balance Word and sacrament, celebrating the Eucharist every Sunday. We kneel in prayer, stand to sing, and receive the sacrament of Holy Communion on our knees.

We take prayer requests and thanksgivings every Sunday morning before the sermon; have occasional healing Services during the Sunday Eucharist, anointing the sick with oil, and have seen God work in wonderful and powerful ways.

Like all congregations, we have had members pass on or move away, and have sadly seen some fail to persevere, but we continue to grow steadily both in numbers and in spiritual maturity. We began by crawling, then began to walk, and are now running. We now have as many or more in attendance at our Wednesday mid-week Eucharist as we used to have on a Sunday morning! People cannot get enough of the Eucharist. I celebrate it every Sunday and Wednesday, and our assisting priest celebrates it on Thursdays.

Our adult Christian Education class is taught at the college level. We have had courses in such diverse topics as Reformation History, classic works of Christian devotion, and an introduction to Biblical Hebrew. Our class is now covering comparative religions and apologetics.

While many churches are made up primarily of women, a typical Sunday congregation at Holy Cross is about half male and half female. We teach a muscular Christianity, and the men of the parish are very involved and committed. We use only adult male acolytes and lay readers, men who are active in the parish and set good examples of discipleship. We do not use boys. We never have. And we do not ask for volunteers. 

The Sisters of Holy Cross is our parish Women’s Group. It is a vital, active and very effective parish organization. They meet monthly for prayer, study, fellowship and service, and serve they do! The Sisters of Holy Cross are always involved in advancing and supporting the Work of the church. We couldn’t get along without them!

Holy Cross Anglican Church is not just a place where people go to worship. It is a really community, a church family. Less than half of the members have Anglican backgrounds. Members come to us from every spiritual tradition, and none. We have members with spiritual roots in Byzantium, Rome, Geneva, Wittenburg, Azusa Street and elsewhere, and they all contribute spiritual riches from the Christian traditions from which they came. We have no cliques or factions at Holy Cross, and the Vestry is united, effective and always supportive of me as pastor, and is made up of men and women with a servants heart.

I cannot begin to tell you all that the people of Holy Cross parish are doing. We have a Pro-Life Coordinator, a parish Librarian, many nursery attendants, Sunday School teachers, and active Women’s and Men’s Groups. We feed the poor, visit the lonely, have a Bible study group at a nearby retirement apartment complex, have acolytes and lay readers, ushers, and more. In November our Music Director plans to organize a church choir.

We draw people from all across Eastern Nebraska, into Western Iowa, and up into South Dakota.  But we also minister all across America and around the world. In addition to our very effective parish website, we have this blog that you are reading, and a state of the art Media Site where visitors can see teaching videos, listen to educational podcasts, and be introduced to liturgical worship and Anglican liturgy. Seeing a need for sound classical Anglican theological education, we even have a family in the parish that recently purchased the North American Anglican. This quarterly theological journal is the only orthodox Anglican theological journal in North America, and it is going to be published right here in Omaha. I have been asked to serve as theological advisor. Look for the first issue under the new management in Advent!

We have fellowship and refreshments every Sunday after Services, with a potluck luncheon on the last Sunday of the month. We really enjoy being together. We are a a church family. We have also enjoyed activities such a Lenten Fish Fry, Dinner and a Movie Nights in our parish hall, an annual Summer Church Picnic, and our annual Fall Hayrack Ride, Bonfire and Potluck. In fact, the Hayrack Ride, Bonfire and Potluck are coming up on Saturday, October 27th. I hope you will come!

Frankly, I could go on and on about the people of Holy Cross parish. I give thanks for them every day. It is a blessing to be their pastor. Holy Cross Anglican Church is a serious church for serious Christians. We are anything but a “youth group for adults.” When someone says they don’t go to church because of all of the hypocrites, I tell them they need to visit Holy Cross. At Holy Cross parish they will be spiritually fed, encouraged, and supported, they will make friends that will last a lifetime, will grow spiritually, and they will help make a difference in the lives of others through the many ministry activities of the church. 

Now that you know what revival is really like, I hope that you will accept my personal invitation to worship with us on Sunday. Christian Education is at 9:00 AM, followed by Morning Prayer at 9:30 AM, and the Holy Communion at 10:00 AM. Nursery Care for children under the age of four is available during the 10:00 AM Service. Fellowship and refreshments in our parish hall follows worship. We are a faithful, friendly and welcoming congregation, and we have a place for you. I hope to see you on Sunday!