Scripture Readings: Genesis 1:1–2:4 | Psalm 8 | 2 Corinthians 13:11–13 | Matthew 28:16–20

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.”
(2 Corinthians 13:13).
 
What kind of God do we Christians believe in?
 
This is not an abstract, theoretical question… it’s one that lies at the very heart of our faith, and that lays the foundation for our whole understanding of ourselves, and the world around us. How we see God shapes everything else, whether we recognize it or not. And when we forget, or misunderstand the kind of God that the Church believes in, we can end up creating all sorts of confusion, and make quite a big mess of things… missing the very heart of the Good News we have been invited and called to share.
 
And so today, Trinity Sunday, we Christians take time to contemplate the God we have come to know, and to place our faith in: the Living God, who is always One, and who eternally exists as Three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
 
There is much mystery here. Not mystery in the sense of a puzzle to solve, but as in a profound reality that exists far beyond our capacity to mentally master… calling us to bow our hearts in humble awe and wonder, even as we seek understanding. The doctrine of the Trinity is not an explanation, or a definition… it is an invitation to worship… and a framework… boundaries for speaking truthfully about how the Living God has made Himself known. A framework for faithfully telling the story… the Good News of God.  
 
And right here, we find that the Trinity sets us Christians apart from all other faiths. How we understand the Divine is unique, creating real distance between ourselves and members of similar religious traditions… such as our Jewish forebears, and Muslim neighbours… despite the great deal that we otherwise have in common. And while it might at times be tempting to downplay the things that divide us, the claims of the Trinity are indispensable if we are to remain true to the Christian story. 
 
As an old example of what I mean, we can briefly look at an ancient argument that took place within Church in its early centuries: the argument about the nature of Jesus, and whether or not He is God.
 
From the first days of the Church, Jesus had been worshipped alongside the Father… but there was some debate about how this fits alongside their claims that the Living God is One… the claims of monotheism… the belief that there are not all sorts of competing gods running around in the universe, like the Greeks and Romans assumed, but only One supreme, all powerful, eternal being to be worshipped and adored.
 
And for some Christians, influenced by ideas floating around in Greek culture that argued that the physical world was all bad, they thought that a good God must be well removed from the messiness of the world… but that God might then create other spiritual beings to work in the world on His behalf. These Christians argued that Jesus was some kind of created being… God’s supreme but ultimately subordinate agent, similar to how we might create a robot… even a fantastically realistic robot that looks and acts just like us, but which, under the surface is essentially something entirely different.  

For these Christians, called Arians, (with an I, not a Y), after one of the most vocal leaders of this movement, it was clear that Jesus may be impressive, but He was not the same as God… He was not equally divine, equally eternal, or equally deserving of worship.  
 
But the Church eventually came to a very different conclusion… one that was officially expressed in the Nicene Creed, which we recite together each Sunday. The Church came to be convinced that the truth about Jesus was that He was not just like God on the surface, but all the way through… that He was “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God…” Identical in their divinity.

And the Church claimed that Jesus was not created at some point in the distant past, but that He was “eternally begotten of the Father… begotten, not made, of one being with the Father.” The Father and Son were in some way distinct from one another, but their existence… their relationship as God the Father and God the Son has always been, and always will be. They were One together. For the Church, rejecting Arianism, Jesus is more than just another created being. Jesus is the One God Himself, in eternal union with God the Father.

And soon, the Church would come to the same conclusions regarding the Holy Spirit: that the Spirit was likewise equally divine, equally eternal, and equally worthy of worship… that the Spirit, the Father, and the Son have always equally shared in what it means to be the One Living God. That everything God has ever done, and ever will do, is done through the mutual efforts of these Three in One, and One in Three. From first to last, the Living God exists in this eternal fellowship of love.
 
And it is in the image of this Triune God that all of humanity has been made. We heard in our first reading today from Genesis 1, where in clear contrast to those philosophies that were popular in the Greek world, the Living God creates everything good… without worrying about the messiness of the physical world, God brings the cosmos into being… orders it, and fills the Earth with an abundance of life, all of which He calls good.
 
And in Genesis 1:26-27, we hear God say to Himself: 
“Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”

So God created humankind in his image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.”
 
From the start, God raises up a part of His good world to represent Him… to share His divine goodness and love with His creation… ordering, tending, and caring for one another and all of God’s creation side by side. 
 
In his recent encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence, Pope Leo XIV delves into this amazing claim: “At the heart of the Christian understanding of the human person lies the great biblical affirmation that men and women are created in the image and likeness of the Triune God. Created for relationship, every human person is planned and willed by God to enter into communion with him, with others and with creation. Human dignity does not depend on a person’s abilities, wealth or position in life, nor on the right or wrong choices made; instead, it is a gift that precedes and transcends each person, endowed by God as an expression of his unfailing love.”[1]
 
Humanity is graciously created as God’s image in the world. And although this beautiful, profound reality has never been revoked, sadly the story of Genesis goes on to tell how that image becomes distorted and disordered… how instead of loving God, loving one another, and loving creation, humanity instead tries to seize Godlikeness on their own terms… and end up spreading violence and exploitation everywhere holy love was meant to reign.
 
And yet, Genesis also tells us that the Living God does not give up on His good world, or on His images, despite their destructive rebellion. No, God promises that one day one human would come and finally set things right… bringing to an end the evil one’s work, and restoring humanity’s role as God’s good representatives… turning their hearts back to their Creator, and walking in His ways always. 

Over the centuries, and even today, many have tried to lay claim to this kind of absolute mandate and supreme authority… presenting themselves, if not in word then in practice, as the ultimate saviour and chosen leader who will finally set things right, bringing peace and prosperity at last. Sometimes they have even done so in God’s name, claiming to be God’s special agents, and representatives in the world. But what does their reign turn out to involve?
 
All too often, it turns out to look like the elevation of a select few, and the oppression and devastation of so many others. It looks like violence and bloodshed enacted to the extreme in the name of justice and peace…  and the pursuit of prestige, wealth, and power… selfishness run rampant. When this is all done in God’s name, what can be done? Who can challenge them and their claims that this is actually what God’s Kingdom looks like… that this is what God Himself wants for His world?
 
Well, as it turns out… God Himself can.

God come in the flesh. God dwelling here among us. God humbly embracing human existence, and in the process revealing exactly what it means to live as God’s image.

Against all other claims of divine authority exercised here on Earth, the Christian story is that Jesus is God Himself… and that in taking on our human existence, Jesus became humanity as it was always meant to be! Perfectly embodying and reflecting God’s goodness and likeness out into creation, so that when we see Jesus, we actually see the face of our Creator, the Living God Himself. 
 
And through Christ’s life, and death, and resurrection, He has truly come to set things right again, once and for all: breaking the power of sin and death… defeating and freeing us from the grip of the evil one… reconciling us rebellious humans to the Living God, to one another, and to our world… and restoring the image of God in us… the image we all still bear, whether we can see it or not… so that we can truly reflect the goodness and likeness of the Living, Triune God as well.
 
And it is the Holy Spirit’s work that makes this possible… the Spirit of God Himself, now dwelling in us… binding us in faith to Jesus Christ the Eternal Son… and remaking us in Christ’s image… not by erasing our identities, but by raising them… by filling us up with the fullness of God’s own life, and holy love… so that we too can truly begin to love God, and to love everyone created in His image… making His Good Kingdom known throughout the world, and inviting everyone to share in it. 
 
At the end of St. Matthew’s Gospel, which we heard today, Jesus the Risen Lord lays claim to not only the authority over the Earth, which God entrusted to humanity back in Genesis 1… Jesus also claims that: “All authority in heaven and on earth” has been given to Him. (Matthew 28:18). And with this ultimate authority, Jesus tells His disciples, some of whom were still struggling with doubt, to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20).
 
Go make disciples… invite others everywhere to join in this same journey… to take part in this same story… to believe the Good News that Jesus is the Risen Lord… baptized to share in Christ’s death and resurrection life, in the name of the Triune God… Father, Son, and Spirit… and taught to obey everything that Jesus has commanded.
 
And what has Jesus commanded us? To trust in Him… and to love. Not as the world thinks of love… selfishly pursuing our own desires and interests. But love as Jesus Himself has shown us: love for the outcasts and strangers. Love for the lowly and vulnerable. Love for those who can never pay us back. Love for those who have wronged us, and need our forgiveness. Love for those who still make such a mess of things, and still need correction along with compassion. Love that sees past all of our mistakes and failures, and longs for everyone to be set free. The same love that spoke our universe into existence… and raised up Jesus Christ from the dead… the same love that is at work in us, even now remaking us so we can love like God loves. 
 
What kind of God do we believe in? We believe in the Holy Trinity… the God we have encountered in Jesus Christ, who shows us the Father, and shares with us the Holy Spirit… the God who created us all in His image, and restores that image through His Son Jesus Christ, and calls us now to reflect and share His holy love with one another and with our world.
 
I’ll end now with the words of St. Paul, inviting us into the blessed life of the Trinity: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.” (2 Corinthians 13:13). Amen.


[1] Pope Leo XIV, Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence, (2026). Paragraph 50.
https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/encyclicals/documents/20260515-magnifica-humanitas.html

Scripture Readings: Acts 2:1–21 | Psalm 104:24–35 | 1 Corinthians 12:3–13 | John 20:19–23

​“Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’ ” (John 20:21-22).
 
There’s something wonderfully welcoming about gathering around a fire. When I was a young person, back in Northern Ontario, I remember spending many an evening in Summer and Fall hanging around a fire with my friends. Sometimes we’d be roasting hot dogs or marshmallows. Sometimes we’d be burning a huge bonfire of brushwood, and other times we’d sit close to a few dry logs, poking the coals with sticks to stir up the flames. Those are good memories… times I look back on warmly… moments when the main agenda was just spending time together. Sharing unspoken fellowship as we watch the flames dance, and feel the comfort of their heat.
 
This morning, we gather here together as God’s people, welcomed and warmed, and comforted together not by any old fire, but by the presence of the Holy Spirit of God. Today is the feast of Pentecost, fifty days after the Passover, when our Saviour Jesus Christ gave His life at the cross, and was raised again from the dead.

At Pentecost, the Church was born… God’s Holy Spirit arrived like a mighty wind, breathing God’s life into the Apostles, and filling them with His heavenly fire: uniting them to one another, and empowering them to proclaim the Good News of the Risen Lord Jesus, so that the whole world might draw near to Him and receive God’s new life as well.
 
Our Scripture readings today invite us into the story of Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit… calling to mind not only events from the first days of the Christian Church, but also the essential purpose and source of divine power for all God’s people today. 
 
Our Gospel reading this morning from John Chapter 20, gives us St. John’s account of the Holy Spirit’s gifting to the Apostles… not at Pentecost, as we might expect, but at Easter, at their first meeting after His resurrection.
 
That first Easter evening, St. John tells us that the disciples… just a handful of believers, still wrapping their heads around the message of the resurrection that they heard from Mary and the other women who went to the tomb... St. John says these disciples were gathered together behind locked doors… huddled together in fear of their fellow Israelites, the Jewish inhabitants of Jerusalem… whose leaders, just a few days ago had put Jesus to death at the cross.
 
But then, Jesus the Risen Lord Himself arrives, despite all their locked doors and fears, and He says to them: “Peace be with you.” (John 20:21). Then after showing them His wounds… proving to them that He wasn’t a ghost or a vision… He says to them again: “‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” (John 20:21-23)
 
So much is packed into this first meeting! The Risen Lord comes to them pronouncing peace… and commissions them to go out into the world and share in His own ministry… but not before Christ bestows on them the Holy Spirit, God’s own Personal presence and power… who once filled the Tabernacle in the wilderness, and the Temple in Jerusalem with God’s divine glory… and which now filled Christ’s faithful people themselves… turning them together into a living Temple… the ‘place’ on Earth where the Living God is to be made known and encountered.  
 
And along with the Holy Spirit, Jesus entrusts them with the ministry of forgiveness… remaking them into Christ’s royal priesthood and holy nation, as St. Peter would later refer to all Christians… a community set apart to offer others the opportunity to receive the forgiveness of God… and charged with making known God’s Good News and glory… so that the rest of the world can draw near in faith and be reconciled to its Lord as well.
 
One moment, they were a handful of confused and frightened disciples… the next, they were signs and ambassadors of Christ’s Kingdom… transformed from one to the other by the gift of the Holy Spirit, and sent out into the world to share the grace and the gifts they had received from the Risen Lord with God’s wider world.
 
But how would this story unfold? How would the Church grow from that small group gathered together in one room in Jerusalem all those years ago into a truly worldwide family?  
 
Well, for that part of the story, we need to turn to Acts Chapter 2.
 
There we find St. Luke’s account of the Holy Spirit’s arrival on the day of Pentecost… when Jerusalem was filled to the brim with pilgrims from all over the ancient world. But there’s an important detail we need to remember about these pilgrims: St. Luke tells us they were devout Jews, who were gathered to celebrate one of the important Jewish festivals in the Temple, the Feast of Weeks.  
 
By this point in history, there were many communities of Jews living outside the lands of Judea and Jerusalem… with some of these communities reaching back to the days of the Exile, several centuries earlier. And yet, even as they lived as small minorities in the lands of the nations that did not know the LORD their God, many Jews still remained faithful to God’s ways, and made the effort to attend the major feasts as the Torah required.

And so when God’s Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost upon Christ’s disciples, empowering them to speak in all sorts of languages and tongues they had not known before, they had as a ready audience God’s faithful people who were already gathered in obedience to the Lord from all around the ancient world… unaware that this Pentecost, God had a great surprise in store: the Good News of the death and resurrection of their Messiah, and the invitation to repent and believe in Him.
 
So the very first step of the Church… the first way in which it grows beyond the handful of those first disciples, involves the restoration and gathering together of God’s own scattered and divided people. God’s power poured out at Pentecost was first put to work overcoming the barriers between God’s own children! Reconciling them to one another by the clear and miraculous communication of the Good News of Jesus the Risen Lord, drawing these diverse brothers and sisters into one family… not just in abstract ideals or theory, but in actual practice, as many of these pilgrims end up staying in Jerusalem and creating the first multi-cultural Church community.  
 
Now there’s so much going on here in Acts Chapter 2, that we can’t really get into this morning… like how what happened with the speaking in tongues is the undoing of the divisions that took place at the Tower of Babylon in Genesis 11. Or how this gathering together of God’s people who had been scattered among the nations brings to mind many of the words of the prophets, like Ezekiel… who pointed forward in hope to God’s plan to restore His children, not only to their land, but also to one another, healing their shattered relationships so they might all share in His blessed life together.
 
Through a small handful of Apostles, not long ago spending their time hiding from their Jewish neighbours, God’s Spirit reached out to devout Jews from all over, and invited them to respond to the Good News of their crucified and risen Messiah. The power of Pentecost was first put to work uniting God’s people around the Good News of Jesus. 
 
And where does the story of the Church go from there? Well, everywhere!
 
The Book of Acts goes on to tell of the expansion of the Church throughout the whole region… from Jerusalem, to Judea and Samaria, and beyond towards the farthest ends of the Earth. And all through Acts, we hear how the early Christians responded to the Spirit of God constantly pushing them and expanding their horizons, and transforming their expectations of what was possible… and where the LORD was leading them.
 
In Acts, we hear St. Paul’s story, who goes from being one of the most devout persecutors of the Church… to one of the most devoted proclaimers of the Good News of Jesus among the Gentiles… the nations who had not known the Living God, or followed His holy ways. Rather than ignoring all these ungodly strangers, the Holy Spirit of God sent folks like St. Paul to share the Good News with them too, inviting everyone, everywhere to draw near to Jesus Christ the Risen Lord in faith… encountering God’s forgiveness and glory up close, and welcoming them into this new Christian community as well.
 
As we know, many of the best things in life aren’t easy, and that was true as the Church continued to spread, and as more and more people from diverse backgrounds and cultures were trying to grow together as God’s people. One of the major areas of tension and controversy in the first decades of the Church revolved around how to handle the diversity of God’s growing family… a challenge each generation of the Church has had to wrestle with in our own ways.
 
And sadly, after two thousand years, a lot of us are still quite scattered and divided… looking around at our fellow Christians and asking ourselves: how are we ever going to get along with those kinds of people? We speak different languages, sing different songs, eat different foods… wear different clothes… and so on.
 
Wouldn’t it be better if we just do our own thing over here, while they do theirs over there?
 
Well, no. What’s better is that we begin to understand that the unity of Christ’s Church is not optional! It’s not a nice add on, it’s the point! We are called to be ground zero of God’s reconciling love at work in the world… beginning with those who already know the Good News of Jesus the Risen Lord… practicing the implications of this Good News together, seeking to be a people of peace… and hope… and love… and forgiveness… so that the rest of the world may come to know and draw near in faith to their Lord and Saviour.
 
Faced with the challenges of trying to help a diverse and fragmented Church learn to come together, St. Paul wrote some powerful words in his letters to the Corinthians.
 
And in our second Scripture reading today from 1 Corinthians 12, we hear the Apostle to the Gentiles offer a profound way of understanding the complex but complimentary reality of the Church, which finds its source of life, unity, and shared identity in the Living and Triune God: 1 Corinthians 12:4-, “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.”
 
He goes on to list a number of different ways that God’s Spirit empowers God’s people to share in God’s work and for the good of all: through words of wisdom, or insight, faith, and healing, miracles, prophesy, discernment, speaking in tongues, and interpreting them… all these Spirit powered activities aren’t meant to stand alone, but to serve as one note in the harmony of God’s symphony, and compliment the contributions of others.
 
He then moves on to make explicit that even though the Church is comprised of all sorts of diverse people with different backgrounds, and cultures, and ways to contribute, we are all united by the same Spirit at work in us all:
 
1 Corinthians 12:12-13, “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.”
 
Whatever our natural differences may be… differences of ethnicity, culture, or class… God’s Spirit at work in us makes us one. And the wide variety of gifts within the Church are not grounds for greater division, but for our coming together as we all work together for the common good. 

The story of Pentecost, of the arrival and work of the Holy Spirit through the Church is our story. It’s the beginning of the story of how the Good News spread from that room in Jerusalem where a handful of disciples had gathered, and how this Good News made its way across the centuries and the globe all the way here to meet us in this place today in Gondola Point.
 
And it is also our story in the sense that, if the same Spirit who has done all this is at work in us… then we too are being drawn into the same movement of God, and the ministry of Jesus Christ the Risen Lord in the world.
 
Beginning here in this room… with this handful of disciples as we seek to wrap our heads around the Good News of Jesus the Risen Lord, and learning to walk together in His holy ways. Right here and now God’s own Spirit is drawing us nearer to Jesus in faith, to receive God’s peace from His hands… along with our shared calling to be His own royal priesthood, and holy people… a community set apart to help one another, and those around us experience God’s forgiveness, glory, and grace.
 
And then, moving beyond this room, God’s own Spirit is drawing us nearer to the rest of God’s people… to our Christian brothers and sisters… be they down the street, throughout New Brunswick, or around the world. Of course, we may have some pretty big differences, but we still have the same Lord, and God, and Spirit at work in and through us, who is able to overcome all the obstacles we keep erecting withing the body of Christ… and to reunite us, God’s often scattered and fragmented people through Jesus Christ our Lord.
 
In more concrete terms, how can we work towards closer co-operation and fellowship with our fellow Anglican sisters and brothers here in the Valley? And how can we also honour, and pray for, and support, and extend our sincere love to our Roman Catholic, and Wesleyans, and United, and Baptists, and Pentecostal brothers and sisters as well? How can we see ourselves not as rivals, or as distant acquaintances, but as different members of the same body, each with our own gifts to share, and ways to contribute to the work of Christ’s Kingdom, and the good of all?
 
And like He did with folks like St. Paul, God’s own Spirit can work through us to make the Good News of Jesus the Risen Lord known to those all around us. Not by following some formula, or impersonal technique… but by being attentive to the actual person God places in our path, and to God’s Spirit… a closeness to Him nurtured through times of worship and prayer… and strengthened by our acts of obedience, and our knowledge of God’s good ways made known to us in the Scriptures… trusting that the Spirit of God can give us the right words and the right time. 
 
So as we celebrate the gift of God’s Holy Spirit this Pentecost, may we be open to all of the ways that He wants to work in and through us as Christ’s people today. May we experience the warmth of God’s welcome, forgiveness, and grace as we draw near to Christ’s table in faith. May we receive the comfort that comes from trusting in the Good News of Jesus Christ the Risen Lord. And may we be empowered to share all that we have received from God… for the good of all. Come Holy Spirit, and fill us with Your heavenly fire. Amen.  

Today we celebrate the coming of the Spirit of God to dwell with us in holy power, filling us with His holy presence, and preparing us to live as His holy people in the world, faithfully following Jesus Christ, our Risen Saviour King.

Here is a great video from the Bible Project exploring the implications of Pentecost as it relates to the empowering of the whole Christian Church as God's royal priesthood at work in His world today: 

For even more on this important topic, check out the other 5 videos in this series, and the podcast episodes that go into even more depth:

Scripture Readings: Acts 1:1–11 | Psalm 47 | Ephesians 1:15–23 | ​Luke 24:44–53

​“While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God.” (Luke 24:51-53).
 
Today starts off the final week of the season of Easter, when we celebrate Ascension Sunday… the enthronement of Jesus Christ the Risen Lord at the right hand of the Father. As we heard in our readings today, forty days after His resurrection, Jesus was taken up into Heaven… not to leave us to fend for ourselves, but to take up His rightful place as the glorious King of all creation. At its heart, the feast of the Ascension is a day of hope: celebrating the wonderful truth that our Saviour King Jesus is the One in charge, and the One on the throne.
 
But many in our world today see very few reasons to celebrate, and find hope harder and harder to hold onto.
Looking around, lots of things seem to be on the rocks: our societies are fractured, and keep clashing over all sorts of issues that show no signs of resolution. So many don’t seem to have what they need, while others exploit the system, and end up with far more than anyone can use.

Our planet is facing a time of unprecedented, and unpredictably shifting climate, and we don’t really know the best ways to repair the damage done, or prepare for an uncertain future.
 
And on top of all this, the Church (at least here in Canada) is in decline. More and more pews sit empty each week, and after centuries of playing an active role in our country, more and more we’re just watching from the sidelines… or worse, when we get swept up into political movements that bear no resemblance at all to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
 
Yet it is precisely now… in times just like these that we are given the hope that we need. Not a hope for a return to the glory days gone by, but a real hope for today, and for every tomorrow: the hope of Christ’s good Kingdom, which our Scriptures this morning help us to explore.
 
In our second reading this morning, from St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, we hear some of the apostle’s opening words to this community of Christians in what is now Western Türkiye. This church family was facing its own challenges. Like many of the Christian communities that St. Paul founded, the Ephesian Church was a mixture of Jews and Gentiles… people with very different histories and ways of life, now learning how to follow Jesus together, and to live as brothers and sisters in God’s family… while being surrounded by a world that saw them as out of sync with what really mattered… and with neighbours preoccupied with things like status, honour, prosperity... and staying in the gods’, and the Emperor’s good books.    
 
Being a Christian back then, like today, wasn’t easy. But the Ephesian Christians seemed to have been on the right track, as St. Paul commends both their faith in the Lord Jesus, and their love for the saints… their fellow believers. But in one area, the apostle senses that they needed some help: they seem to have been struggling when it came to holding onto a Christian hope.
 
Ephesians 1: 15-18, “I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you…”
 
Notice that St. Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians was not that God change their circumstances… taking away the challenging situations they were facing. No, St. Paul prays for a change of their own hearts, and minds to help them receive the hope that was already available, and would be regardless of any difficulties they might experience. A change within was needed for them to recognize and respond rightly to the hope Christ gives to us… which St. Paul refers to as the hope of “the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and… the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. (Ephesians 1:18-19).
 
The hope of a shared inheritance as one of God’s holy and chosen children, experiencing even now the greatness of God’s power. Sounds pretty good to me.
 
The inheritance part seems pretty clear: we’ve been adopted into God’s blessed and eternal family. No longer cut off from God and neighbour, but united to one another forever.

But what kind of power are we talking about here? The power that Emperors back then and today use? The power exercised through violence, coercion, and amassing wealth?
 
Far from it. When it comes to the greatness of God’s power that is the source of our hope, Paul points us to the cross, and to the empty tomb. That is, to the resurrection and the royal ascension of Jesus Christ.
 
Ephesians 1:20-21, “God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come.”
 
At the cross, Christ Jesus was crushed by his foes and those in power… apparently put in His place, and proved to be a complete failure. But His Father in Heaven raised Jesus up, and completely vindicated His faithful Son, lifting Him up not only from the grave, but to His own right hand... to rule on high above every other contender… completely without rival as the King of all God’s creation.

And His good Kingdom will not only extend into the age to come… Christ’s unending reign has already begun! It’s fulness is yet to be seen, but our Saviour King already reigns as the risen Lord of Lords.
 
The hope that St. Paul prays for the Ephesians to experience, along with all of God’s people, back then and today, is that there is no stopping Christ’s Kingdom! There are no rivals who are able to threaten or end His reign, and there is no waiting necessary: Christ’s good Kingdom has already begun. 
 
Now St. Paul knew full well that most of the world didn’t see things that way… yet. The Apostle spent his days trying to share the Good News that Jesus is Lord with those who still lived under Caesar’s thumb, and he continually faced opposition, hardships, and persecution… and was eventually put to death by those who refused to recognize the claims of Christ’s Kingdom. But despite all of this, St. Paul, and all those like him, who served the true King even under incredible pressures, helped so many others to come to know and be transformed by the same hope, serving as signs of Christ’s Kingdom at work here on earth.

And the Church, despite all our challenging circumstances and host of struggles is to be a living sign of Christ’s Kingdom today. We are His witnesses, pointing our world to the One that’s really in charge. And even though we may face our own hardships, and opposition… surrounded by  those who don’t yet understand the hope we have at work in us, we are those who already share in Christ’s reign right now… co-members of His One body, a communion uniting Earth and Heaven in Him. 
 
This kind of Christ-centred hope transforms us into a new kind of people, reshaping our imaginations and priorities, as our Saviour King is pursuing a very different agenda from what the world around us is used to.
 
He’s not preoccupied with the economy… but with setting us free from greed, and filling us with the Father’s generous love to care for our neighbours in need.
 
And He’s not preoccupied with politics… but with setting us free from pride and fearmongering, and filling us with Christ’s own humility, and courageous service.
 
And He’s not preoccupied with waging war, or erecting borders… but with freeing us from all our hatred and prejudice… and filling us with the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, forging us into one world-wide family… one body, made up of diverse yet interdependent members, and with Him alone as our head.
 
Because Christ Jesus has risen, and ascended to the Father’s right hand to reign forever… we know the ultimate fate of our world rests in His hands. And this hope sets us free from all these other power trips, and pitfalls, and distorted ways of seeing and treating those around us. Because Christ Jesus reigns, we don’t need to despair when things don’t go our way… or desperately scramble to seek other sources of security and control when we get scared.
 
Instead, we can turn our minds and our hearts to Him in prayer, knowing that whatever hardships or trials we may face, today or tomorrow… He will not abandon us, but will give us the help we all need to remain faithful to the end… and raise us up with Him to share in the blessings of His good Kingdom… the only Kingdom with no end. []
 
As Jesus told His eager disciples who longed to see Christ’s Kingdom arrive all at once in their own time and place, the timing for the Kingdom’s full arrival is in the Father’s hands, not ours. We can certainly anticipate and pray for Christ’s Kingdom to come in its fulness, but in the meantime our Saviour King’s got work for us to do... the work of being His witnesses. Of showing others the truth of the Gospel in our words and our actions… and in all times and places, including right here in Gondola Point.

Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
 
There truly is a universal scope of the Kingdom of Christ. It’s not just a destiny for certain countries and nations to pursue… especially on their own terms. No, we are to be Christ’s witnesses, living signs of His good Kingdom which knows no borders. And which can only be accomplished by the power of God’s Holy Spirit… whose fruit in our lives looks like: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23). This is the power at work in Christ’s Kingdom. Without this Spirit at work in us, were just playing games. 

And as we heard in our Gospel reading, the path of Christ’s Kingdom is not an obviously successful one, but rather the path of suffering. The Risen Lord Jesus tells His disciples that the cross had always been a part of God’s plan to rescue the world… that the whole Old Testament, the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms, had all pointed in this same cruciform direction.
 
Luke 24:45-48, “Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.”
 
The Messiah must first suffer… crucified… definitely defeated in the world’s eyes… before rising from the dead… not to seek revenge on His enemies, or to rallying an army to overthrow the other Empires of this world. But to send out His apostles, His royal ambassadors, His witnesses with the message of repentance and forgiveness… the summons to turn around and leave behind the ways of life that lead us and those around us to death… and in their place to receive God’s forgiveness… God’s mercy and grace… His saving love offered to us all in Jesus’ name. 
 
Our Saviour King ascended to God’s right hand after first descending to the depths of the grave. The path to God’s glory first of all called for faithfulness in the face of great suffering… and this is a path that Jesus Christ calls us all to follow Him on, taking up our own crosses along with Him as well… trusting in His victory over all the powers of sin, and death, and the evil one… and leaning on His forgiveness and grace, and His Holy Spirit to see us through.
 
The ascension of Jesus, the crucified and Risen Lord reminds us that our hope is not founded on how things look from where we stand, but on the One who is seated at God’s right hand.
 
So even when we face real challenges, and hardships, and times of discouragement, may we always remember who’s really in charge. With the Holy Spirit’s help and power at work in us, may we face today and all tomorrows as Christ’s faithful witnesses… pointing those around us towards His Good Kingdom.

And may we be transformed inside and out by the hope that our Saviour King has given us… refocusing our lives on His Kingdom’s priorities, and empowering us to share the Good News of repentance and forgiveness for all in His holy name. Amen.

Today we celebrate the Ascension of Jesus Christ the Risen Lord to the right hand of God the Father, where He reigns as Lord of Lords. ​Our service of Morning Prayer, Bulletin, and Sermon this week can be found here:

Scripture Readings: Acts 17:22–31 | Psalm 66:8–20 | 1 Peter 3:13–22 | John 14:15–21 

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”
(John 14:15).
 
Have you ever wondered why certain rules exist?
I mean, the rationale for some rules seem pretty self-evident. Like don’t use your hands in soccer. Or be sure to drive on the right side of the road… unless you’re in England, of course.
 
But sometimes the reasons behind rules can be a bit less obvious… making them seem kind of arbitrary, and maybe even irrelevant for our day to day lives. When that happens, it can become easy for us to just ignore them… or if we do obey them, to do so merely out of a sense of obligation, or out of fear of getting into trouble.
 
But today in our Gospel reading, Jesus our Saviour offers us a different insight: He draws a clear line for His disciples between loving Him, and keeping His commandments. Now I know lots of things come to my mind when I hear the word love… but obeying commandments isn’t exactly that high on my list. But if we sit with this connection for a moment, I think it starts to make more and more sense.

I mean, for starters, when we really love someone, we develop a sense of devotion… a commitment to them that opens us up to serving their interests, and seeking to do what we can to make them happy. Love also invites us to trust the other person… to believe that deep down, they have our best interests at heart as well. And so, if someone we love tells us to do something, it becomes a whole lot easier to oblige them… even if what we’re being asked to do ends up being far from easy itself.
 
In our Gospel passage today, Jesus wants us to see that there is an essential relationship between loving Him and obeying His commands. To recognize that His words to us are not arbitrary rules, given for no real reason, even if we don’t always understand them. And He’s also not setting up some sort of spiritual fitness test, designed to weed out all those who are unworthy… and promote those who love Him ‘enough’… based on how well they perform.  
 
No, He’s doing something much more important. He’s teaching us… He’s training us how to love. Showing us what it looks like, and what it takes to have our lives reshaped and realigned by God’s holy love.

Jesus said: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (John 14:15). Keeping Christ’s commandments is how we love Him. He’s spelling out for us that loving Him and living His way must go hand in hand.
 
And what has Christ commanded us to do? All sorts of things! Far more than we can cover this morning. The four Gospels are full of His teachings, and directions for His disciples to follow, back then and today. A great place to start looking would be the famous Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew Chapters 5-7… but as Christians, we are called to make ourselves well acquainted with our Lord’s whole story, and all that He teaches us to do.
 
On top of the Gospels, there’s also the writings of the Apostles… the New Testament letters, which are full of the wisdom, and guidance, and yes commands that have arisen from the Good News of Jesus Christ the Risen Lord. And these in turn have also been shaped by the whole story of the Bible, beginning way back in Genesis… and all the way through the Living God’s dealings with Israel, and their calling to be faithful to the covenant the LORD made with them.

In other words, all of Jesus’ commands come to us in the context of the Holy Scriptures… the grand narrative of God’s rescue mission for His creation, unfolding through the centuries, and reaching its climax in Christ Himself. And while the Bible is not primarily a rule book, despite how some of us might have been taught to read it… the Scriptures do paint a pretty consistent picture for us of the character of life God wants for us. And so, we can, and often do, sum up that way of life… that commandment with the word love. 
 
We love Jesus Christ our Lord, by obeying His commandments… which in turn are about training us to love. And who are we being commanded to love?
 
Well, when our Lord was asked what the greatest commandment in the Torah and Prophets… the Old Testament was, He replied: “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment.” (Matthew 22:37-38).
 
Christ’s commandments first of all train us to love God. To offer our trust and devotion to our Creator… to our Father in Heaven.
 
And we really need this training! We humans have always tended to struggle pretty hard when it comes to loving the Living God. And one of the big reasons for this is our general human tendency towards idolatry… to worshipping and giving ourselves over to things that are categorically not God… devoting ourselves to gods of our own invention and imaginations… or even trying to reduce God Himself, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, into something concrete we can manage, contain, and manipulate, instead of giving Him the honour and glory as the Almighty and untamable One.
 
And when we worship things that are not God, these idols distort and reshape us in their image… messing around with our hearts, and our minds, and our relationships with those around us. For instance: when we worship money, making it the most important thing in our lives, we become self-centred, and find it much harder to spend our resources to care for those who cannot repay us. Not to mention the fact that all the money in the world can’t save us. In the end, we can’t take one cent with us.
 
I could go on with lots of examples of idols we people worship: pleasure, power, security… not all bad things in and of themselves, but totally destructive when we give ourselves over to their command.
 
Thankfully, Jesus offers the world an alternative to idolatry, as He is the Living God Himself in the flesh… revealing the character, and heart of the Father to us, once and for all… so we can truly come to know our Creator, to turn our hearts and lives to Him. 
 
In our first reading today, from the book of Acts, we heard the words of St. Paul, speaking to a crowd of Greek Gentiles in Athens… and inviting them to respond to the Good News of Jesus. Paul notes that they appear to be a deeply religious community… worshipping all kinds of gods… and even putting up a shrine to an “unknown god”, to make sure that they didn’t offend any spiritual beings they hadn’t heard of yet. Many people in those days lived in perpetual fear of offending the gods… who often were thought to act in unpredictable, and often vengeful ways… so it was normal to hedge your bets and offer sacrifices to them all… giving gifts at every altar to keep in everyone’s good books. But like paying mobsters for protection… you’re never quite sure if they’re really on your side.
 
In complete contrast to this vision of the divine, St. Paul invites his listeners to worship the God they had not yet known: “The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, [who] does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things.” (Acts 17:24-25).

Unlike the fickle gods and idols that they were familiar with, this God was not looking for a bribe… but for them. Graciously providing for and sustaining them… already up close and at work in their lives… even before they knew of Him… and eager for them to find Him… to set aside their empty idols, and instead look for the true Lord of life, and come to experience His love.
  
And Paul goes on to say that “While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, [to turn around] because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:30-31).
 
Paul’s basic message was for the Athenians to leave behind their old ways of life that lead only to death, and instead to place their faith in the one who will judge all rightly, the risen Saviour and Lord of all.
 
And hearing his words today, we are reminded that loving God as Christ commanded us isn’t about trying to appease or bribe our Heavenly Father… but about expressing our faith in Him, and putting our devotion to Him into practice… and our gifts are offerings of thankfulness and praise to the Living God, who has already given us everything. In Jesus Christ, God is no longer unknown, and we have come to know what He wants from us… and that is love. But not just directed towards Him, but also to all those around us as well.
 
Back in Matthew Chapter 22, right after Jesus says that the first and greatest commandment is to love God, He says that a second commandment is just like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:39-40).
 
The heart of the Christian ethic… our whole way of life is to share God’s holy love with everyone. To treat all our neighbours the way that we would want to be treated… with compassion, patience, and grace. To recognize in every single human being a beloved child, created in God’s own image. And to even extend this love to our enemies… to those that don’t have our best interest at heart… not enabling evil, but refusing to be caught up in it… resisting the urge to demonize, those we disagree with, and doing everything we can to work for the good of all.
 
But alongside this general commandment to love all our neighbours, Christ Jesus gives us a very specific commandment in John Chapter 15 to love our fellow Christians, making this a central part of the Church’s life.

John 15:12-14, Jesus said: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.”

It can’t get much clearer than this: if we’re Christians, we’re called to love one another… as Christ has loved us… beyond the normal neighbourly limits of love… but as beloved brothers and sisters… as true friends, willing to lay down our lives for one another… to suffer alongside and for one another. Bearing with one another, especially when it isn’t easy.
 
After all, love isn’t easy. It’s good, and it’s a great blessing… and it’s something that all of us need, and long for… but it also comes with all sorts of risks and challenges, and moments when it hurts deeply. In other words, love often involves suffering. But it is also the best reason we can suffer.
 
After all, as we heard in our second reading today, from 1 Peter Chapter 3, Jesus our Saviour Himself suffered at the cross to save the world that He loves… and as His disciples if we suffer like Him, it’s no shame at all.
 
1 Peter 3:17-18, “For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil. For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God…” (1 Peter 3:17-18).

Christ Jesus our Lord suffered and died at the cross to save us… but that suffering was not a tragic loss. It is the way that God’s love wins, breaking the power of sin with unexpected mercy. Breaking the power of fear with forgiveness. Breaking the power of selfishness with generous grace. Breaking the power of hatred and pride with compassion and incredible humility.
 
And Christ’s commandments to love others, even when it’s hard draws us into this great victory of God… involving us in the risks of sharing God’s saving love with God’s beloved world… knowing that, even if it isn’t easy, it’s what’s best for us all… bringing us all that much closer to our loving Creator. 
 
Which leads us to our final point: the conviction that keeping Christ’s commandments is not just what’s best for our neighbours, or even fellow Christians… it’s actually what’s best for us too! It’s in our best interests to obey the voice of our Saviour. Christ gives us commandments precisely because He loves us… and He knows they are exactly what we need too! He knows we need to be guided away from our old ways… to have the power of our sins and fears and selfishness and hatreds and pride, and all the rest put to death, through practicing His holy love… and sharing in His way of life.  
 
We keep His commandments because we love Him… and because we’re learning to believe… to trust that He really loves us! That everything we receive from His hand, even when it’s hard, is a gift intended to bring us deeper into His own blessed life.
 
And even though we will struggle and fail at times to keep His commands… the Good News is that our Saviour’s still on our side! He knows we can’t do this all on our own. He knows we need His help, and thank God He is there for us in our great need!
 
Immediately after Christ makes the connection between loving Him, and keeping His commandments, Jesus promises to send an Advocate, the Holy Spirit of God, to abide with and in us, forever. He then promises to return… coming back to bring us into complete communion with our Father in Heaven forever.

John 14:18-21, “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”
 
The reason behind Christ’s commandments is for you and I and all who will keep them, to be graciously invited into the eternal love of the Living God… united to the blessed Trinity in and through our Saviour Jesus Christ. Without Jesus, and all He’s done for us, there’s no way. But He Himself is the Way, the Truth, and the Life… reconciling us to our Heavenly Father, and to one another. Trusting and following Jesus Christ is how we begin to share in God’s love even now. And through the Holy Spirit’s help, we really can turn around, and turn away from our old ways… and have our lives reshaped and realigned by God’s holy love… even when it’s hard… trusting that this really is how God is at work in the world: bringing the Good News of His Son to all the earth through people like us, so that everyone might find the freedom, the forgiveness, and the new life that Jesus our Saviour alone can give.
 
I’ll bring this time to a close with a prayer written by the Lutheran pastor and theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, while he was in prison during World War II… suffering for striving against the Nazi regime, and eventually losing his life… devoted to the end to Jesus Christ, our world’s only Saviour and the Lord of all Lords... and to the world Jesus gave His own life to save. Let us pray.

“O God, early in the morning I cry to you.
Help me to pray
And to concentrate my thoughts on you;
I cannot do this alone.
 
In me there is darkness, but with you there is light.
I am lonely, but you do not leave me;
I am feeble in heart, but with you there is peace.
In me there is bitterness, but with you there is patience;
I do not understand your ways, but you know the way for me.
 
O heavenly Father,
I praise and thank you for the peace of the night;
I praise and thank you for this new day;
I praise and thank you for all your goodness
And faithfulness throughout my life.
 
You have granted me many blessings;
Now let me also accept what is hard from your hand.
You will lay on me no more than I can bear.
You make all things work together for good for your children.”[1]
Amen.


[1] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters & Papers from Prison, pg. 139.

Scripture Readings: Acts 7:55–60 | Psalm 31 | 1 Peter 2:2–10 | ​John 14:1–14

​“Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
(1 Peter 2:4-5).
 
As you may know, two weeks ago our Diocese held a special synod in Fredericton to discuss together, and to advise Archbishop David of our hopes and concerns regarding the future of Christ Church Cathedral, in light of the significant, multi-million dollar repairs that this  historic building requires.
 
In my opinion, it was a really good meeting, in which Anglicans, clergy and lay people from across the province, shared their wisdom, and their hearts with one another… even though we had been gathered to face a pretty daunting reality. Over the past years and months leading up to this meeting, our Diocese has been forced to recognize that we have a lot more work to do than we imagined. Problems had been quietly developing that had escaped our notice, but have clearly become a big concern.

Now there are all sorts of reasons why we’re in this situation now. Some resting within our Church’s control, and some that were always out of our hands. This is not about pointing fingers and placing blame, but about finding a better, effective, and faithful way forward together.
 
And thankfully, at this last synod we saw that as a diocese we really do desire to come together and all do our part to preserve this sacred building.[1] And much more than that, we see this as a faithful way for us to come together as brothers and sisters in service of the Gospel… building up our shared community and bonds of Christian love across New Brunswick, as visible signs of the Spirit’s work and God’s New Creation unfolding here and now through the lives of His people. 
 
That kind of hopeful vision can be easy to lose sight of at times in a world so full of problems. Everywhere we look, it seems like there are signs of things falling apart: of old challenges not being looked after, as well as new and unforeseen issues suddenly coming to light… threatening all that we have known and held dear. At times, this can all feel pretty overwhelming, and frightening… leaving us uncertain about how best to keep moving forward… and maybe even wondering if there will still be any place for us in the years to come?
 
Thankfully, we’re not the first people to feel this way, and to receive assurance and hope from the Lord. And our Scripture readings this morning remind us that even in uncertain times, God has given us both the way forward, and visible signs intended to keep us on track… faithfully pointing us towards the bright future and New Creation that God Himself has in store. 
 
On the night before His arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was speaking to His disciples… that is, His students… His apprentices… those seeking, not just to walk around learning from Him… but who sought to become like Him. To practice His teachings, and embody His whole way of life. To set aside their own plans to share in His work, and His story… building their lives on the foundation that He was setting into place.
 
That fateful night, Jesus tried to prepare them for His coming departure… His immanent arrest, rejection, and death on the cross… not wanting His beloved followers to lose heart. He knew this was all a part of God’s plan, and that there would be far more to the story then they could yet imagine… but Jesus also knew that it would all still be really hard for them to understand. That soon it would seem like everything was lost, and that there was absolutely no way forward. So Jesus encourages them to stay faithful… to trust that God was not done yet! To trust in Him, and trust that He was not abandoning them, but was leading them into God’s new life.
 
John 14:1-4, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.”
 
Knowing just how hard the next few days were going to be, Jesus assures His disciples that, no matter what lay ahead, their ultimate fate was to rest safely in God’s house… a place not built by human hands, but prepared for them, and for us by Jesus Himself.
 
That sounds great, of course. But how do we get there from here? As we face uncertain and unsafe days ahead, how can we be sure that we’re on the right path?
 
John 14:5-7, “Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
 
Jesus Christ is the way, and the truth, and the life. The heart of the Gospel… the Good News of God is Jesus Himself. Not our buildings, not our ministries, not our traditions… there’s no other substitute… no other foundation for our faith, or sure path leading towards God’s future. All our buildings, and ministries, and traditions are intended to help us faithfully tell Jesus’ story… and to help us as His disciples to take our own part in it, and to invite those around us to do the same. Jesus Himself is the source of our life and our connection to our Heavenly Father.

John 14:8-10, “Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works.”
 
If we have seen Jesus, we have seen the Father! There is no other God behind the back of Jesus for us to fear, as the theologian T.F. Torrance once put it.[2] Jesus Christ is God in the flesh… God among us… God Himself who chose to suffer the rejection and hatred of His human children… and even be put to death at their hands… only to rise up again to be their Saviour, and the Saviour of the world. Forgiving even those who killed Him, and making the way for all to return to His loving arms.
 
If we have seen Jesus, we have seen God. This is the incredible, world-changing Good News of the Gospel. But how in the world do people see Jesus today? Where are we to look to catch a glimpse of God in the flesh? To see His mercy, and holiness, and saving love at work here and now?
 
Well… they’re supposed to be able to see Jesus by looking at us… at the Church… at Christians like you and me.
 
That’s because, as His disciples, we’re also on a journey not just to learn from Jesus, but to become like Him. Not just moved to adopt a few of His teachings, or to be a bit nicer now and then… but to be filled with His own Spirit to share in His ongoing work in the world… to be a people set apart to both carry on His story, and to help anyone who will believe to draw closer to the One who alone is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
 
As Christians… as Christ’s ones… God is actively and graciously reshaping and molding us for a clear purpose: so that together we may become the place on earth where God’s New Life in Jesus is made known and experienced.

To make this point, in our second reading today, St. Peter speaks of Christians and the Church community in terms of construction materials… stones arranged in their proper place to create a sacred structure, and sharing in the work of our Saviour.  
 
1 Peter 2:4-5, “Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
 
Now I know St. Peter ends up mixing his metaphors a bit… but he paints a pretty powerful picture for us nonetheless! Christians are to be like living stones in the great Temple of God that is Jesus Christ Himself. You and I are being built into the meeting place for heaven and earth… distinct but united parts of Christ’s body… individual but carefully shaped and assembled stones in His Temple… not just to look nice, but so that all creation can be reconnected with their great Creator, Saviour, and King… drawing near to Jesus in faith, and receiving from Him the gift of God’s New Life.

Like living stones, we are being chiseled and shaped to become like the great stone… our Saviour Jesus Christ. So that, bound together by and with Him, the world around us can also come to know and receive His salvation.
 
But being made like Jesus means that we might also face times of serious challenges. Like our Master, we might well face rejection… we too may be misunderstood, and slandered… and be accused of all sorts of evil… and even face our own persecution or death, like so many of our brothers and sisters around the world. 
 
In our first reading today from the book of Acts, we heard one such story: the death of St. Stephen… the first Christian martyr… murdered for testifying truthfully about the Risen Lord. But while this truly was an act of injustice and terror, it is not a story of Stephen’s failure! Far from it! No, this is St. Stephen’s victory! Remaining faithful to the Good News even to the very end… becoming like His Saviour in His sufferings, and entrusting His fate completely to the One who raised Christ from the dead.
 
Just like Jesus Himself was rejected, but was later vindicated by God, so too those of us who remain faithful to our Saviour, even if we suffer, will be vindicated with Him: His victory and glory will one day be ours as well.
 
And so, in our own contexts, when we face serious challenges of all sorts… when we face times of great uncertainty, and we don’t fell like we have what we need… when we feel pressured to compromise our commitments to Jesus Christ, and the calling He has placed on us to live as His chosen people… when we feel threatened by our surroundings, and concerned about our future… we are also being given our own opportunities to choose to be faithful, to remain true… or to fall away to try to save ourselves.
 
In those moments, may we remember Christ’s words to His disciples… before Good Friday, and to us all today, when He said: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6). Will we believe this?
 
Our whole existence as the Church is intended to be about helping one another and our world to believe and to live this Good News… drawing our eyes, and our hearts, and our minds to Christ, and living each day as His disciples… becoming like Him… a people set apart to share His holy love with the world… so they can see God’s Spirit at work in us, and join us as living stones in the New Creation that God is building.
 
1 Peter 2:9-10, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people;
once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
 
That is our purpose. But are we actually doing this? Are we as Christians, as a Parish family, as a Diocese, and as a Church consistently pointing people to Jesus, or are we sending mixed signals… or worse yet, getting in their way?
 
Looking around at our communities, our world… and even at ourselves… maybe we have more work to do on this than we had imagined. Maybe we’re seeing some real problems that have been left unattended… the absence of the fruit of God’s Spirit, like kindness, faithfulness, patience, and love… or the presence of dangerous things like indifference, arrogance, prejudice, greed… sins that have become a big concern. And maybe we’re just disheartened by how many seem not to care about the Good News we’ve come to cherish… looking around at pews that were once full, and wondering why that’s no longer the case.
 
Now there are all sorts of reasons why we’re in this situation today. Some resting within our control, and some that were always out of our hands. This is not about pointing fingers and placing blame, but about finding a better, effective, and faithful way forward.
 
The good news is that today we’re all being given a chance to rediscover and reaffirm our faith in our Saviour King Jesus, and in what He can do in and through His people, when we trust and follow Him. Today, we can come together as brothers and sisters to do the hard work of discipleship… of seeking to become more and more like Jesus, through the power of God’s Spirit at work in us.

Today, we can recommit to our mission… which is more than simply preserving our buildings, and ministries, and traditions… not less, mind you… but more… much more… which is to use all that we have, and are, and do to point everyone in our world to Jesus Christ the Risen Lord… the One who alone is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
 
I’ll close now with a poem called Not One Stone, inspired by the recent Cathedral Synod, and inviting us to remember our place in the story of Christ our Saviour.

Not one stone / upon another
Thus You spoke Lord / long ago
That we serve not / what must falter
But Your Kingdom’s / glory know
 
Long we laboured / in days gone by
Trusting in Your / gracious hand
Gathered from / quarry and quarters
Stones and servants / of this land
 
Every stone an / act of worship
Placed atop the / one below
Drawing eye, mind, / and heart upward
Signs of paradise / to show
 
Bound by something / more than mortar
And aligned by / wisdom true
So that those who / come long after
May come face / to face with You
 
In these stones we / found Your shelter
Voices lifted / up in prayer
Sinners gathered / at Your Table
Grace and love You / give to share
 
Rainbow light shines / down upon us
Scripture stories / all around
Windows into / sweet communion
With Your saints warm / welcome found
 
Here were countless / humble hands laid
To the trowel and / to ordain
Workers for Your / harvest ready
Sent to labour / not in vain
 
Stone on stone has / caused the stranger
To ask questions / or admire
Amid all life’s / many worries
For what purpose / we aspire?
 
Not one stone / upon another
Will endure / forevermore
Yet as Living / Stones we gather
In hope for what / lies in store
 
And so Father, / keep us faithful
Jesus Saviour / bound to Thee
Spirit breathe new / life into us
Built together / to be free
 
Not one stone / upon another
Thus You spoke Lord / long ago
That we serve not / what must falter
But Your Kingdom’s / glory know
 
And ‘til New / Creation coming
Keep us steadfast / in Your way
That as Stones we / point all to You
Built for Love’s / eternal day

Amen.


[1] For a great summary of the events of Synod, I encourage you to read this article by Gisele McKnight: https://nb.anglican.ca/news/synod-resolves-to-work-together-to-safeguard-cathedral-building

[2] “During those years what imprinted itself upon my mind above all was the discovery of the deepest cry of the human heart: Is God really like Jesus? This came home to me very sharply one day on a battle field in Italy, when a fearfully wounded young lad, who was only nineteen and had but half an hour to live, said to me, ‘Padre, is God really like Jesus?’ I assured him as he lay upon the ground with his life ebbing away that God is indeed really like Jesus, and that there is no unknown God behind the back of Jesus for us to fear, to see the Lord Jesus is to see the very face of God.” T.F. Torrance, Preaching Christ Today.

And here is a link to an article by ​Gisele McKnight, our Diocesan Communications Officer, writing about our recent Diocesan Synod discussing our Cathedral.