Holy Communion Anglican Church
East Greenwich, RI – Standing Firm on Biblical Truth and Christian Tradition
Our circumstances are constantly changing, but our hope in the Lord Jesus Christ is constant, rooted in the promise of the God with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. This is why if we limit our gratitude to that which is shallow, such as our possessions or our own personal accomplishments, then we will quickly be uprooted when the storms of life hit us.
Disquietude is not a word we hear every day. It refers to a state of anxiety or uneasiness. Understood this way, we pray for eyes of Faith to behold the Transfigured Christ, in light eternal, to transport us from the anxieties and trials of our daily lives, the darkness of our temporal world.
This is not season for discouragement, but season for hope, a season for optimism. We are not alone; we are accompanied by the Triune God and all the heavenly host, as well as all the angels and saints praying for us in heaven and working beside us here on earth. The harvest is ripe, brothers and sisters - what a time to be alive! We know that many people today are hurting, and the only thing that can heal their wounds is the love of Christ.
Eighty men accepted a mission to launch from an aircraft carrier deck, knowing they could not return to the ship. This is the same fortitude it takes to choose to follow Jesus.
We may not be able to see all which God is doing to redeem our present difficulties, but we can see His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, standing before us, ready to sustain us, and asking, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” My dear brothers and sisters, we have seen Him; He is here, and He is able to keep us from falling and bring us to his glorious presence, without fault and with great joy. May we respond like the man born blind, saying, “Lord, I believe.”
Once we acknowledge we are sinners and we cannot save ourselves, we must know we are saved by the Blood of Christ. We can then bring all our troubles, all our worries and problems to the Cross of Christ. And this is done with the support of our brothers and sisters in Christ.
The Epiphany has not ended; it shines forth to this day, radiating out from the day of Christ’s Incarnation; it is the very reason we as Gentiles can share in the riches of Christ’s inheritance. This means that we who have received this light have the responsibility to both continually seek its source and reflect it so that others may do the same.
I am personally very sad and feel a great loss that the last and preeminent orthodox churchman of the Greatest Generation is no more, but immensely glad that Benedict XVI is at last free of this fallen world.
It is important for the Church to continually look forward in prayer to understand as best we can the cultural trends coming our way, that we may faithfully prepare the next generation, and each other, to do the work of ministry. One such trend for thinking Christians to consider is not specifically cultural but instead technological, though the two are closely intertwined. This is the trend of artificial intelligence (AI), a field progressing far more rapidly than many realize.
With the passing of Queen Elizabeth, we lose one of the final links in the chain of history which binds us to the storied history and tradition, and indeed the greatness of Western Civilization, blessed by God and founded on Judeo-Christian principles, to which we owe nearly every comfort and luxury which we enjoy today.