Holy Communion Anglican Church
East Greenwich, RI – Standing Firm on Biblical Truth and Christian Tradition
Beloved, the victory that Christ won over sin has given us greater blessings than those which sin had taken away from us. Let Lent be a reminder to us that there is a much higher purpose that exists beyond our mortal pain, as we march on to the joy of our Easter Vigil in this life, and eternal reward in the next. O happy fault!
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.”
Since the days of the Early Church, the season of Lent provided a time when converts to the Faith were prepared for Holy Baptism; when those who were separated from the Body of the Faithful were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness and restored to the Church; and all Christians reminded of their need to renew their repentance and faith.
Few hurts are more personal than that of betrayal. Yet, Jesus loved his betrayer radically and sacrificially, with full knowledge of the evil that would befall him.
When we give our attention to worthless things, we are robbing God of that same attention. Not that God needs our attention, but that we abandon His ways, and we allow our relationship with Him to wither. We give our attention to that which we value most at that moment in time. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
The Baptized live in God’s heart. This is a Christian’s greatest trust. This creates love and in love His People move towards the Triune-God. If God the Father has given His own Son for all who believe, no one can accuse the saints, no one can condemn us, nothing in all creation can separate us from His immeasurable love .
Lent is an opportunity for the renewal of our mind. It is a time to discern God’s will through meditation and prayer. To stay focused on renewal, it will be necessary to put aside the pleasures that distract us.
When speaking in purely physical terms, we innately understand that serious threats require equally serious defenses. But what do we affirm about our adversary, the devil? He “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). We would not dare fight a lion with our bare hands! Why then, do we not take the Scripture seriously?
Those of us who have (from an early age) spent our lives being active in Church life know that, as committed disciples of Jesus Christ, this endeavor can be a challenging, growing, difficult, learning and, yes, even a fun, joy-filled experience. These facts provide a snapshot into the reasons why many of us have been showing up at Holy Communion Anglican Church for the service of Holy Eucharist, week-after-week for just about a year now! We deeply desire to live the Christian life together with others who (in this very often hostile world) dare to let it be publicly known that they are Believers in Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior of the world.
Beloved, the mystery of the human dilemma can be reduced into just a few words: We are created with an unbreakable approachableness to the Triune-God who made us in the divine image. Indeed, this relationship is the very foundation of our existence. Therefore, Lent is about the Truth and the truth of our very relationship to the Creator.