What is Advent?

The season of Advent begins Sunday November 29th, the Sunday after Thanksgiving. The word "advent" comes from the Latin word "adventus" which means "coming". Advent is a season of preparation during which, historically, the Church has focused both on the coming of Jesus Christ at his birth and his second coming at the end of the age.

For many Christians, Advent is a season of repentance, almost like Lent, in which John the Baptist's call to Israel, "repent and prepare for the coming of the Lord" becomes a call for believers to examine our hearts and lives and, with God's grace, to rid ourselves of those things which we've set in the way of Jesus Christ and his purposes and desires for us in preparation for his second Advent at the end of the age.

There is, however, a tinge of joy also. We are waiting for the coming of a new Kingdom, a new heaven and a new earth, the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ who has already guaranteed the inheritance, resurrection, and eternal life to all who have committed their lives to him.

All this can be somewhat strange feeling...while the rest of the world begins celebrating Christmas right after Thanksgiving (it seems) with carols and lights and decorations, our worship retains a solemn but hopeful feel right up to Christmas Eve (when the church is decked out in lights and color to celebrate the Lord's birth).

But this "hopeful solemnity", because it stands out so much in this season, might also prove to be an opportunity to share the gospel with non-Christian guests--an opportunity to talk about who Jesus is, the virgin born Son of God, the saving work did for us in his life, death and resurrection, and his second coming as both Judge and Deliverer.

Liturgically, you will notice a few changes. The color of my stole (the long scarf-like thing Anglican pastors wear around their necks to symbolize the fact that we are yoked to Christ, or slaves of Christ) and the chasuble (the pancho-like vestment that symbolizes the righteousness of Christ that he has imputed to believers through faith that makes it possible for us to be in communion with the Father) will go from green which is used during "regular time" (during Pentecost and from Epiphany to Lent) to either blue or purple...Blue is used to point to the coming dawn. It recalls the darkness before the birth of Christ and the dawn of his birth and second coming. Purple is the more traditional color that symbolizes repentance and sorrow for sin.

On the third Sunday of Advent, the liturgical color changes, for one Sunday only, from blue or purple to "rose" because that is the Sunday traditionally set aside to honor the faith and faithfulness of Mary. At Good Shepherd, we do not pray to or through Mary. Scripture teaches and so we believe that Mary was a virgin when Jesus was conceived in her womb through the Holy Spirit and remained a virgin until after Jesus was born when she and Joseph had more children. God gave her amazing faith and courage and we revere her as the mother who bore and raised the very Son of God incarnate but recognize that she also was a sinner saved through faith in her own Son. Her song of praise in Luke 1:46-55 is a beautiful testimony to God's grace and saving power in her own life and in ours.

During Advent you will also notice a tall candle standing in the center of the altar area. Near the top, you will see what looks like a Christmas wreath with four candles. This is an Advent wreath. Each Sunday in Advent (there are four) one candle is lit until Christmas Eve when all the candles are lighted. As each candle is lit, over the course of four Sundays, the increasing light represents the light of Christ steadily defeating the darkness of the fallen world and ultimately overcoming it.

If you have any questions during this season (or any other time) please feel free to email me at lambeth@flash.net or give me a call at 773-4810

John Piper: Does the Spirit’s leading have authority over Scripture?

Matt Chandler on the authority of scripture and the importance of knowing what it means

Alistair Begg: Personal Evangelism parts A and B

So how do we talk to people about Jesus? Do we share our experiences, do we say what Jesus has done for us? Or do we lead off with the content of the gospel, who Jesus is and what he has done to reconcile fallen humanity to God? Alistair Begg addresses those questions here

And here is part B.

National Bible Week: Attacks agains the Bible

This week is "National Bible Week" alongside Thanksgiving. I'll try to post various sermons and articles on the truthfulness, clarity, interpretation, and power of scripture throughout the week.

This first post is from a video sermon by Pastor John MacArthur who describes and takes on a number of attacks that have been aimed at the bible both from those inside and outside the church.

You can listen to it here

Sermon: Money and Pleasing God by Katy McFadden

This sermon was preached by Katy McFadden on November 22nd, 2009 at the Anglican Church of the Good Shepherd.

God has entrusted Good Shepherd with a number of incredibly gifted students through whom he will do many wonderful things in the world and in the Church. It is Good Shepherd's task and part of our mission is to equip, train and disciple these young men and women and give them the opportunity to use and sharpen their gifts. Katy is already a very good preacher and in this sermon, she provides an excellent exposition of Malachi 3 and challenges us to use the resources God has given into our care in ways that bring him glory, build up his Kingdom, teach us to trust him, and, ultimately, open the way for his blessings to flow into our lives.

Systematic Theology: Omniscience and Omnipresence

Saturday, November 21, 2009


Download "Systematic Theology: Omniscience and Omnipresence" in MP3 format

The Manhattan Declaration

 The declaration below was just issued today. It is signed by the Archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America (of which we are a part) and provides an excellent model of respectful and yet firm civil disobedience in accordance with biblical precedence:

Manhattan Declaration: A Pro-Life Call of Christian Conscience on Abortion, Liberty

November 20, 2009

The following is the text of the Manhattan Declaration signed by 149 pro-life and Catholic and evangelical and Orthodox Christian leaders. LifeNews.com supports the pro-life aims of the resolution.

Preamble

Christians are heirs of a 2,000-year tradition of proclaiming God’s word, seeking justice in our societies, resisting tyranny, and reaching out with compassion to the poor, oppressed and suffering.

While fully acknowledging the imperfections and shortcomings of Christian institutions and communities in all ages, we claim the heritage of those Christians who defended innocent life by rescuing discarded babies from trash heaps in Roman cities and publicly denouncing the Empire’s sanctioning of infanticide. We remember with reverence those believers who sacrificed their lives by remaining in Roman cities to tend the sick and dying during the plagues, and who died bravely in the coliseums rather than deny their Lord.

After the barbarian tribes overran Europe, Christian monasteries preserved not only the Bible but also the literature and art of Western culture. It was Christians who combated the evil of slavery: Papal edicts in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries decried the practice of slavery and first excommunicated anyone involved in the slave trade; evangelical Christians in England, led by John Wesley and William Wilberforce, put an end to the slave trade in that country. Christians under Wilberforce’s leadership also formed hundreds of societies for helping the poor, the imprisoned, and child laborers chained to machines.

In Europe, Christians challenged the divine claims of kings and successfully fought to establish the rule of law and balance of governmental powers, which made modern democracy possible. And in America, Christian women stood at the vanguard of the suffrage movement. The great civil rights crusades of the 1950s and 60s were led by Christians claiming the Scriptures and asserting the glory of the image of God in every human being regardless of race, religion, age or class.

This same devotion to human dignity has led Christians in the last decade to work to end the dehumanizing scourge of human trafficking and sexual slavery, bring compassionate care to AIDS sufferers in Africa, and assist in a myriad of other human rights causes—from providing clean water in developing nations to providing homes for tens of thousands of children orphaned by war, disease and gender discrimination.

Like those who have gone before us in the faith, Christians today are called to proclaim the Gospel of costly grace, to protect the intrinsic dignity of the human person and to stand for the common good. In being true to its own calling, the call to discipleship, the church through service to others can make a profound contribution to the public good.

Declaration

We, as Orthodox, Catholic, and Evangelical Christians, have gathered, beginning in New York on September 28, 2009, to make the following declaration, which we sign as individuals, not on behalf of our organizations, but speaking to and from our communities. We act together in obedience to the one true God, the triune God of holiness and love, who has laid total claim on our lives and by that claim calls us with believers in all ages and all nations to seek and defend the good of all who bear his image. We set forth this declaration in light of the truth that is grounded in Holy Scripture, in natural human reason (which is itself, in our view, the gift of a beneficent God), and in the very nature of the human person. We call upon all people of goodwill, believers and non-believers alike, to consider carefully and reflect critically on the issues we here address as we, with St. Paul, commend this appeal to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.

While the whole scope of Christian moral concern, including a special concern for the poor and vulnerable, claims our attention, we are especially troubled that in our nation today the lives of the unborn, the disabled, and the elderly are severely threatened; that the institution of marriage, already buffeted by promiscuity, infidelity and divorce, is in jeopardy of being redefined to accommodate fashionable ideologies; that freedom of religion and the rights of conscience are gravely jeopardized by those who would use the instruments of coercion to compel persons of faith to compromise their deepest convictions.

Because the sanctity of human life, the dignity of marriage as a union of husband and wife, and the freedom of conscience and religion are foundational principles of justice and the common good, we are compelled by our Christian faith to speak and act in their defense. In this declaration we affirm: 1) the profound, inherent, and equal dignity of every human being as a creature fashioned in the very image of God, possessing inherent rights of equal dignity and life; 2) marriage as a conjugal union of man and woman, ordained by God from the creation, and historically understood by believers and non-believers alike, to be the most basic institution in society and; 3) religious liberty, which is grounded in the character of God, the example of Christ, and the inherent freedom and dignity of human beings created in the divine image.

We are Christians who have joined together across historic lines of ecclesial differences to affirm our right—and, more importantly, to embrace our obligation—to speak and act in defense of these truths. We pledge to each other, and to our fellow believers, that no power on earth, be it cultural or political, will intimidate us into silence or acquiescence. It is our duty to proclaim the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in its fullness, both in season and out of season. May God help us not to fail in that duty.

Life

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10

Although public sentiment has moved in a pro-life direction, we note with sadness that pro-abortion ideology prevails today in our government. The present administration is led and staffed by those who want to make abortions legal at any stage of fetal development, and who want to provide abortions at taxpayer expense. Majorities in both houses of Congress hold pro-abortion views. The Supreme Court, whose infamous 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade stripped the unborn of legal protection, continues to treat elective abortion as a fundamental constitutional right, though it has upheld as constitutionally permissible some limited restrictions on abortion. The President says that he wants to reduce the “need” for abortion—a commendable goal. But he has also pledged to make abortion more easily and widely available by eliminating laws prohibiting government funding, requiring waiting periods for women seeking abortions, and parental notification for abortions performed on minors. The elimination of these important and effective pro-life laws cannot reasonably be expected to do other than significantly increase the number of elective abortions by which the lives of countless children are snuffed out prior to birth. Our commitment to the sanctity of life is not a matter of partisan loyalty, for we recognize that in the thirty-six years since Roe v. Wade, elected officials and appointees of both major political parties have been complicit in giving legal sanction to what Pope John Paul II described as “the culture of death.” We call on all officials in our country, elected and appointed, to protect and serve every member of our society, including the most marginalized, voiceless, and vulnerable among us.

A culture of death inevitably cheapens life in all its stages and conditions by promoting the belief that lives that are imperfect, immature or inconvenient are discardable. As predicted by many prescient persons, the cheapening of life that began with abortion has now metastasized. For example, human embryo-destructive research and its public funding are promoted in the name of science and in the cause of developing treatments and cures for diseases and injuries. The President and many in Congress favor the expansion of embryo- research to include the taxpayer funding of so-called “therapeutic cloning.” This would result in the industrial mass production of human embryos to be killed for the purpose of producing genetically customized stem cell lines and tissues. At the other end of life, an increasingly powerful movement to promote assisted suicide and “voluntary” euthanasia threatens the lives of vulnerable elderly and disabled persons. Eugenic notions such as the doctrine of lebensunwertes Leben (“life unworthy of life”) were first advanced in the 1920s by intellectuals in the elite salons of America and Europe. Long buried in ignominy after the horrors of the mid-twentieth century, they have returned from the grave. The only difference is that now the doctrines of the eugenicists are dressed up in the language of “liberty,” “autonomy,” and “choice.”

We will be united and untiring in our efforts to roll back the license to kill that began with the abandonment of the unborn to abortion. We will work, as we have always worked, to bring assistance, comfort, and care to pregnant women in need and to those who have been victimized by abortion, even as we stand resolutely against the corrupt and degrading notion that it can somehow be in the best interests of women to submit to the deliberate killing of their unborn children. Our message is, and ever shall be, that the just, humane, and truly Christian answer to problem pregnancies is for all of us to love and care for mother and child alike.

A truly prophetic Christian witness will insistently call on those who have been entrusted with temporal power to fulfill the first responsibility of government: to protect the weak and vulnerable against violent attack, and to do so with no favoritism, partiality, or discrimination. The Bible enjoins us to defend those who cannot defend themselves, to speak for those who cannot themselves speak. And so we defend and speak for the unborn, the disabled, and the dependent. What the Bible and the light of reason make clear, we must make clear. We must be willing to defend, even at risk and cost to ourselves and our institutions, the lives of our brothers and sisters at every stage of development and in every condition.

Our concern is not confined to our own nation. Around the globe, we are witnessing cases of genocide and “ethnic cleansing,” the failure to assist those who are suffering as innocent victims of war, the neglect and abuse of children, the exploitation of vulnerable laborers, the sexual trafficking of girls and young women, the abandonment of the aged, racial oppression and discrimination, the persecution of believers of all faiths, and the failure to take steps necessary to halt the spread of preventable diseases like AIDS. We see these travesties as flowing from the same loss of the sense of the dignity of the human person and the sanctity of human life that drives the abortion industry and the movements for assisted suicide, euthanasia, and human cloning for biomedical research. And so ours is, as it must be, a truly consistent ethic of love and life for all humans in all circumstances.

Marriage

The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, for she was taken out of man.” For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. Genesis 2:23-24 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. Ephesians 5:32-33 In Scripture, the creation of man and woman, and their one-flesh union as husband and wife, is the crowning achievement of God’s creation. In the transmission of life and the nurturing of children, men and women joined as spouses are given the great honor of being partners with God Himself. Marriage then, is the first institution of human society—indeed it is the institution on which all other human institutions have their foundation. In the Christian tradition we refer to marriage as “holy matrimony” to signal the fact that it is an institution ordained by God, and blessed by Christ in his participation at a wedding in Cana of Galilee. In the Bible, God Himself blesses and holds marriage in the highest esteem.

Vast human experience confirms that marriage is the original and most important institution for sustaining the health, education, and welfare of all persons in a society. Where marriage is honored, and where there is a flourishing marriage culture, everyone benefits—the spouses themselves, their children, the communities and societies in which they live. Where the marriage culture begins to erode, social pathologies of every sort quickly manifest themselves. Unfortunately, we have witnessed over the course of the past several decades a serious erosion of the marriage culture in our own country. Perhaps the most telling—and alarming—indicator is the out-of-wedlock birth rate. Less than fifty years ago, it was under 5 percent. Today it is over 40 percent. Our society—and particularly its poorest and most vulnerable sectors, where the out-of-wedlock birth rate is much higher even than the national average—is paying a huge price in delinquency, drug abuse, crime, incarceration, hopelessness, and despair. Other indicators are widespread non-marital sexual cohabitation and a devastatingly high rate of divorce.

We confess with sadness that Christians and our institutions have too often scandalously failed to uphold the institution of marriage and to model for the world the true meaning of marriage. Insofar as we have too easily embraced the culture of divorce and remained silent about social practices that undermine the dignity of marriage we repent, and call upon all Christians to do the same.

To strengthen families, we must stop glamorizing promiscuity and infidelity and restore among our people a sense of the profound beauty, mystery, and holiness of faithful marital love. We must reform ill-advised policies that contribute to the weakening of the institution of marriage, including the discredited idea of unilateral divorce. We must work in the legal, cultural, and religious domains to instill in young people a sound understanding of what marriage is, what it requires, and why it is worth the commitment and sacrifices that faithful spouses make.

The impulse to redefine marriage in order to recognize same-sex and multiple partner relationships is a symptom, rather than the cause, of the erosion of the marriage culture. It reflects a loss of understanding of the meaning of marriage as embodied in our civil and religious law and in the philosophical tradition that contributed to shaping the law. Yet it is critical that the impulse be resisted, for yielding to it would mean abandoning the possibility of restoring a sound understanding of marriage and, with it, the hope of rebuilding a healthy marriage culture. It would lock into place the false and destructive belief that marriage is all about romance and other adult satisfactions, and not, in any intrinsic way, about procreation and the unique character and value of acts and relationships whose meaning is shaped by their aptness for the generation, promotion and protection of life. In spousal communion and the rearing of children (who, as gifts of God, are the fruit of their parents’ marital love), we discover the profound reasons for and benefits of the marriage covenant.

We acknowledge that there are those who are disposed towards homosexual and polyamorous conduct and relationships, just as there are those who are disposed towards other forms of immoral conduct. We have compassion for those so disposed; we respect them as human beings possessing profound, inherent, and equal dignity; and we pay tribute to the men and women who strive, often with little assistance, to resist the temptation to yield to desires that they, no less than we, regard as wayward. We stand with them, even when they falter. We, no less than they, are sinners who have fallen short of God’s intention for our lives. We, no less than they, are in constant need of God’s patience, love and forgiveness. We call on the entire Christian community to resist sexual immorality, and at the same time refrain from disdainful condemnation of those who yield to it. Our rejection of sin, though resolute, must never become the rejection of sinners. For every sinner, regardless of the sin, is loved by God, who seeks not our destruction but rather the conversion of our hearts. Jesus calls all who wander from the path of virtue to “a more excellent way.” As his disciples we will reach out in love to assist all who hear the call and wish to answer it.

We further acknowledge that there are sincere people who disagree with us, and with the teaching of the Bible and Christian tradition, on questions of sexual morality and the nature of marriage. Some who enter into same- sex and polyamorous relationships no doubt regard their unions as truly marital. They fail to understand, however, that marriage is made possible by the sexual complementarity of man and woman, and that the comprehensive, multi-level sharing of life that marriage is includes bodily unity of the sort that unites husband and wife biologically as a reproductive unit. This is because the body is no mere extrinsic instrument of the human person, but truly part of the personal reality of the human being. Human beings are not merely centers of consciousness or emotion, or minds, or spirits, inhabiting non-personal bodies. The human person is a dynamic unity of body, mind, and spirit. Marriage is what one man and one woman establish when, forsaking all others and pledging lifelong commitment, they found a sharing of life at every level of being—the biological, the emotional, the dispositional, the rational, the spiritual—on a commitment that is sealed, completed and actualized by loving sexual intercourse in which the spouses become one flesh, not in some merely metaphorical sense, but by fulfilling together the behavioral conditions of procreation. That is why in the Christian tradition, and historically in Western law, consummated marriages are not dissoluble or annullable on the ground of infertility, even though the nature of the marital relationship is shaped and structured by its intrinsic orientation to the great good of procreation.

We understand that many of our fellow citizens, including some Christians, believe that the historic definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman is a denial of equality or civil rights. They wonder what to say in reply to the argument that asserts that no harm would be done to them or to anyone if the law of the community were to confer upon two men or two women who are living together in a sexual partnership the status of being “married.” It would not, after all, affect their own marriages, would it? On inspection, however, the argument that laws governing one kind of marriage will not affect another cannot stand. Were it to prove anything, it would prove far too much: the assumption that the legal status of one set of marriage relationships affects no other would not only argue for same sex partnerships; it could be asserted with equal validity for polyamorous partnerships, polygamous households, even adult brothers, sisters, or brothers and sisters living in incestuous relationships. Should these, as a matter of equality or civil rights, be recognized as lawful marriages, and would they have no effects on other relationships? No. The truth is that marriage is not something abstract or neutral that the law may legitimately define and re-define to please those who are powerful and influential.

No one has a civil right to have a non-marital relationship treated as a marriage. Marriage is an objective reality—a covenantal union of husband and wife—that it is the duty of the law to recognize and support for the sake of justice and the common good. If it fails to do so, genuine social harms follow. First, the religious liberty of those for whom this is a matter of conscience is jeopardized. Second, the rights of parents are abused as family life and sex education programs in schools are used to teach children that an enlightened understanding recognizes as “marriages” sexual partnerships that many parents believe are intrinsically non- marital and immoral. Third, the common good of civil society is damaged when the law itself, in its critical pedagogical function, becomes a tool for eroding a sound understanding of marriage on which the flourishing of the marriage culture in any society vitally depends. Sadly, we are today far from having a thriving marriage culture. But if we are to begin the critically important process of reforming our laws and mores to rebuild such a culture, the last thing we can afford to do is to re-define marriage in such a way as to embody in our laws a false proclamation about what marriage is.

And so it is out of love (not “animus”) and prudent concern for the common good (not “prejudice”), that we pledge to labor ceaselessly to preserve the legal definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman and to rebuild the marriage culture. How could we, as Christians, do otherwise? The Bible teaches us that marriage is a central part of God’s creation covenant. Indeed, the union of husband and wife mirrors the bond between Christ and his church. And so just as Christ was willing, out of love, to give Himself up for the church in a complete sacrifice, we are willing, lovingly, to make whatever sacrifices are required of us for the sake of the inestimable treasure that is marriage.

Religious Liberty

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners. Isaiah 61:1

Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s. Matthew 22:21

The struggle for religious liberty across the centuries has been long and arduous, but it is not a novel idea or recent development. The nature of religious liberty is grounded in the character of God Himself, the God who is most fully known in the life and work of Jesus Christ. Determined to follow Jesus faithfully in life and death, the early Christians appealed to the manner in which the Incarnation had taken place: “Did God send Christ, as some suppose, as a tyrant brandishing fear and terror? Not so, but in gentleness and meekness..., for compulsion is no attribute of God” (Epistle to Diognetus 7.3-4). Thus the right to religious freedom has its foundation in the example of Christ Himself and in the very dignity of the human person created in the image of God—a dignity, as our founders proclaimed, inherent in every human, and knowable by all in the exercise of right reason.

Christians confess that God alone is Lord of the conscience. Immunity from religious coercion is the cornerstone of an unconstrained conscience. No one should be compelled to embrace any religion against his will, nor should persons of faith be forbidden to worship God according to the dictates of conscience or to express freely and publicly their deeply held religious convictions. What is true for individuals applies to religious communities as well.

It is ironic that those who today assert a right to kill the unborn, aged and disabled and also a right to engage in immoral sexual practices, and even a right to have relationships integrated around these practices be recognized and blessed by law—such persons claiming these “rights” are very often in the vanguard of those who would trample upon the freedom of others to express their religious and moral commitments to the sanctity of life and to the dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife.

We see this, for example, in the effort to weaken or eliminate conscience clauses, and therefore to compel pro- life institutions (including religiously affiliated hospitals and clinics), and pro-life physicians, surgeons, nurses, and other health care professionals, to refer for abortions and, in certain cases, even to perform or participate in abortions. We see it in the use of anti-discrimination statutes to force religious institutions, businesses, and service providers of various sorts to comply with activities they judge to be deeply immoral or go out of business. After the judicial imposition of “same-sex marriage” in Massachusetts, for example, Catholic Charities chose with great reluctance to end its century-long work of helping to place orphaned children in good homes rather than comply with a legal mandate that it place children in same-sex households in violation of Catholic moral teaching. In New Jersey, after the establishment of a quasi-marital “civil unions” scheme, a Methodist institution was stripped of its tax exempt status when it declined, as a matter of religious conscience, to permit a facility it owned and operated to be used for ceremonies blessing homosexual unions. In Canada and some European nations, Christian clergy have been prosecuted for preaching Biblical norms against the practice of homosexuality. New hate-crime laws in America raise the specter of the same practice here.

In recent decades a growing body of case law has paralleled the decline in respect for religious values in the media, the academy and political leadership, resulting in restrictions on the free exercise of religion. We view this as an ominous development, not only because of its threat to the individual liberty guaranteed to every person, regardless of his or her faith, but because the trend also threatens the common welfare and the culture of freedom on which our system of republican government is founded. Restrictions on the freedom of conscience or the ability to hire people of one’s own faith or conscientious moral convictions for religious institutions, for example, undermines the viability of the intermediate structures of society, the essential buffer against the overweening authority of the state, resulting in the soft despotism Tocqueville so prophetically warned of.1 Disintegration of civil society is a prelude to tyranny.

As Christians, we take seriously the Biblical admonition to respect and obey those in authority. We believe in law and in the rule of law. We recognize the duty to comply with laws whether we happen to like them or not, unless the laws are gravely unjust or require those subject to them to do something unjust or otherwise immoral. The biblical purpose of law is to preserve order and serve justice and the common good; yet laws that are unjust—and especially laws that purport to compel citizens to do what is unjust—undermine the common good, rather than serve it.

Going back to the earliest days of the church, Christians have refused to compromise their proclamation of the gospel. In Acts 4, Peter and John were ordered to stop preaching. Their answer was, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” Through the centuries, Christianity has taught that civil disobedience is not only permitted, but sometimes required. There is no more eloquent defense of the rights and duties of religious conscience than the one offered by Martin Luther King, Jr., in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail. Writing from an explicitly Christian perspective, and citing Christian writers such as Augustine and Aquinas, King taught that just laws elevate and ennoble human beings because they are rooted in the moral law whose ultimate source is God Himself. Unjust laws degrade human beings. Inasmuch as they can claim no authority beyond sheer human will, they lack any power to bind in conscience. King’s willingness to go to jail, rather than comply with legal injustice, was exemplary and inspiring.

Because we honor justice and the common good, we will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia, or any other anti-life act; nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent, or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family. We will fully and ungrudgingly render to Caesar what is Caesar’s. But under no circumstances will we render to Caesar what is God’s.

Dr. Daniel Akin President, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (Wake Forest, NC)

Most Rev. Peter J. Akinola Primate, Anglican Church of Nigeria (Abika, Nigeria)

Randy Alcorn Founder and Director, Eternal Perspective Ministries (EPM) (Sandy, OR)

Rt. Rev. David Anderson President and CEO, American Anglican Council (Atlanta, GA)

Leith Anderson President of National Association of Evangelicals (Washington, DC)

Charlotte K. Ardizzone TV Show Host and Speaker, INSP Television (Charlotte, NC)

Kay Arthur CEO and Co-founder, Precept Ministries International (Chattanooga, TN)

Dr. Mark L. Bailey President, Dallas Theological Seminary (Dallas, TX)

His Grace, The Right Reverend Bishop Basil Essey The Right Reverend Bishop of the Diocese of Wichita and Mid-America (Wichita, KS)

Joel Belz Founder, World Magazine (Asheville, NC)

Rev. Michael L. Beresford Managing Director of Church Relations, Billy Graham Evangelistic Assn. (Charlotte, NC)

Ken Boa President, Reflections Ministries (Atlanta, GA)

Joseph Bottum Editor of First Things (New York, NY)

Pastor Randy & Sarah Brannon Senior Pastor, Grace Community Church (Madera, CA)

Steve Brown National radio broadcaster, Key Life (Maitland, FL)

Dr. Robert C. Cannada, Jr. Chancellor and CEO of Reformed Theological Seminary (Orlando, FL)

Galen Carey Director of Government Affairs, National Association of Evangelicals (Washington, DC)

Dr. Bryan Chapell President, Covenant Theological Seminary (St. Louis, MO)

Scott Chapman Senior Pastor, The Chapel (Libertyville, IL)

Most Rev. Charles J. Chaput Archbishop, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Denver, CO

Timothy Clinton President, American Association of Christian Counselors (Forest, VA)

Chuck Colson Founder, the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview (Lansdowne, VA)

Most Rev. Salvatore Joseph Cordileone Bishop, Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland, CA

Dr. Gary Culpepper Associate Professor, Providence College (Providence, RI)

Jim Daly President and CEO, Focus on the Family (Colorado Springs, CO)

Marjorie Dannenfelser President, Susan B. Anthony List (Arlington, VA)

Rev. Daniel Delgado Board of Directors, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference & Pastor, Third Day Missions Church (Staten Island, NY)

Dr. James Dobson Founder, Focus on the Family (Colorado Springs, CO)

Dr. David Dockery President, Union University (Jackson, TN)

Most Rev. Timothy Dolan Archbishop, Roman Catholic Diocese of New York, NY

Dr. William Donohue President, Catholic League (New York, NY)

Dr. James T. Draper, Jr. President Emeritus, LifeWay (Nashville, TN)

Dinesh D’Souza Writer & Speaker (Rancho Santa Fe, CA)

Most Rev. Robert Wm. Duncan Archbishop and Primate, Anglican Church in North America (Ambridge, PA )

Joni Eareckson Tada Founder and CEO, Joni and Friends International Disability Center (Agoura Hills, CA)

Dr. Michael Easley President Emeritus, Moody Bible Institute (Chicago, IL)

Dr. William Edgar Professor, Westminster Theological Seminary (Philadelphia, PA)

Brett Elder Executive Director, Stewardship Council (Grand Rapids, MI)

Rev. Joel Elowsky Drew University ( Madison, NJ)

Stuart Epperson Co-Founder and Chariman of the Board, Salem Communications Corporation ( Camarillo, CA)

Rev. Jonathan Falwell Senior Pastor, Thomas Road Baptist Church (Lynchburg, VA)

William J. Federer President, Amerisearch, Inc. (St. Louis, MO)

Fr. Joseph D. Fessio Founder and Editor, Ignatius Press (Ft. Collins, CO)

Carmen Fowler President & Executive Editor, Presbyterian Lay Committee (Lenoir, NC)

Maggie Gallagher President, Institute for Marriage and Public Policy and a co-author of The Case for Marriage (Manassas, VA)

Dr. Jim Garlow Senior Pastor, Skyline Church (La Mesa, CA)

Steven Garofalo Senior Consultant, Search and Assessment Services (Charlotte, NC)

Dr. Robert P. George McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, Princeton University (Princeton, NJ)

Dr. Timothy George Dean and Professor of Divinity, Beeson Divinity School at Samford University (Birmingham, AL)

Thomas Gilson Director of Strategic Processes, Campus Crusade for Christ International (Norfolk, VA)

Dr. Jack Graham Pastor, Prestonwood Baptist Church (Plano, TX)

Dr. Wayne Grudem Research Professor of Theological and Biblical Studies, Phoenix Seminary (Phoenix, AZ)

Dr. Cornell “Corkie” Haan National Facilitator of Spiritual Unity, The Mission America Coalition (Palm Desert, CA)

Fr. Chad Hatfield Chancellor, CEO. And Archpriest, St Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (Yonkers, NY)

Dr. Dennis Hollinger President and Professor of Christian Ethics, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (South Hamilton, MA)

Dr. Jeanette Hsieh Executive VP and Provost, Trinity International University (Deerfield, IL)

Dr. John A. Huffman, Jr. Senior Pastor, St. Andrews Presbyterian Church (Newport Beach, CA) and Chairman of the Board, Christianity Today International (Carol Stream, IL)

Rev. Ken Hutcherson Pastor, Antioch Bible Church (Kirkland, WA)

Bishop Harry R. Jackson, Jr. Senior Pastor, Hope Christian Church (Beltsville, MD)

Fr. Johannes L. Jacobse President, American Orthodox Institute and Editor, OrthodoxyToday.org (Naples, FL)

Jerry Jenkins Chairman of the board of trustees for Moody Bible Institute (Black Forest, CO)

Camille Kampouris Publisher, Kairos Journal

Emmanuel A. Kampouris Editorial Board, Kairos Journal

Rev. Tim Keller Senior Pastor, Redeemer Presbyterian Church (New York, NY)

Dr. Peter Kreeft Professor of Philosophy, Boston College (MA) and at the Kings Collge (NY)

Most Rev. Joseph E. Kurtz Archbishop, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville, KY

Jim Kushiner Editor, Touchstone (Chicago, IL)

Dr. Richard Land President, The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the SBC (Washington, DC)

Jim Law Senior Associate Pastor, First Baptist Church (Woodstock, GA)

Dr. Matthew Levering Associate Professor of Theology, Ave Maria University (Naples, FL)

Dr. Peter Lillback President, The Providence Forum (West Conshohocken, PA)

Dr. Duane Litfin President, Wheaton College (Wheaton, IL)

Rev. Herb Lusk Pastor, Greater Exodus Baptist Church (Philadelphia, PA)

His Eminence Adam Cardinal Maida Archbishop Emeritus, Roman Catholic Diocese of Detroit, MI

Most Rev. Richard J. Malone Bishop, Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, ME

Rev. Francis Martin Professor of Sacred Scripture, Sacred Heart Major Seminary (Detroit, MI)

Dr. Joseph Mattera Bishop & Senior Pastor, Resurrection Church (Brooklyn, NY)

Phil Maxwell Pastor, Gateway Church (Bridgewater, NJ)

Josh McDowell Founder, Josh McDowell Ministries (Plano, TX)

Alex McFarland President, Southern Evangelical Seminary (Charlotte, NC)

Most Rev. George Dallas McKinney Bishop, & Founder and Pastor, St. Stephen’s Church of God in Christ (San Diego, CA)

Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns Missionary Bishop, Convocation of Anglicans of North America (Herndon, VA)

Dr. C. Ben Mitchell Graves Professor of Moral Philosophy, Union University (Jackson, TN)

Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr. President, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville, KY)

Dr. Russell D. Moore Senior VP for Academic Administration & Dean of the School of Theology, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville, KY)

Most Rev. John J. Myers Archbishop, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark, NJ

Most Rev. Joseph F. Naumann Archbishop, Roman Catholic Diocese of Kansas City, KS

David Neff Editor-in-Chief, Christianity Today (Carol Stream, IL)

Tom Nelson Senior Pastor, Christ Community Evangelical Free Church (Leawood, KS)

Niel Nielson President, Covenant College (Lookout Mt., GA)

Most Rev. John Nienstedt Archbishop, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, MN

Dr. Tom Oden Theologian, United Methodist Minister and Professor, Drew University (Madison, NJ)

Marvin Olasky Editor-in-Chief, World Magazine and provost, The Kings College (New York City, NY)

Most Rev. Thomas J. Olmsted Bishop, Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix, AZ

Rev. William Owens Chairman, Coalition of African-American Pastors (Memphis, TN)

Dr. J.I. Packer Board of Governors’ Professor of Theology, Regent College (Canada)

Metr. Jonah Paffhausen Primate, Orthodox Church in America (Syosset, NY)

Tony Perkins President, Family Research Council (Washington, D.C.)

Eric M. Pillmore CEO, Pillmore Consulting LLC (Doylestown, PA)

Dr. Everett Piper President, Oklahoma Wesleyan University (Bartlesville, OK)

Todd Pitner President, Rev Increase

Dr. Cornelius Plantinga President, Calvin Theological Seminary (Grand Rapids, MI)

Dr. David Platt Pastor, Church at Brook Hills (Birmingham AL)

Rev. Jim Pocock Pastor, Trinitarian Congregational Church (Wayland, MA)

Fred Potter Executive Director & CEO, Christian Legal Society (Springfield, VA)

Dennis Rainey President, CEO, & Co-Founder, FamilyLife (Little Rock, AR)

Fr. Patrick Reardon Pastor, All Saints’ Antiochian Orthodox Church (Chicago, IL)

Bob Reccord Founder, Total Life Impact, Inc. (Suwanee, GA)

His Eminence Justin Cardinal Rigali Archbishop, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia, PA

Frank Schubert President, Schubert Flint Public Affairs (Sacramento, CA)

David Schuringa President, Crossroads Bible Institute (Grand Rapids, MI)

Tricia Scribner Author (Harrisburg, NC)

Dr. Dave Seaford Senior Pastor, Community Fellowship Church (Matthews, NC)

Alan Sears President, CEO, & General Counsel, Alliance Defense Fund (Scottsdale, AZ)

Randy Setzer Senior Pastor, Macedonia Baptist Church (Lincolnton, NC)

Most Rev. Michael J. Sheridan Bishop, Roman Catholic Diocese of Colorado Springs, CO

Dr. Ron Sider Director, Evangelicals for Social Action (Wynnewood, PA)

Fr. Robert Sirico Founder, Acton Institute (Grand Rapids, MI)

Dr. Robert Sloan President, Houston Baptist University (Houston, TX)

Charles Stetson Chairman of the Board, Bible Literacy Project (New York, NY)

Dr. David Stevens CEO, Christian Medical & Dental Association (Bristol, TN)

John Stonestreet Executive Director, Summit Ministries (Manitou Springs, CO)

Dr. Joseph Stowell President, Cornerstone University (Grand Rapids, MI)

Dr. Sarah Sumner Professor of Theology and Ministry, Azusa Pacific University (Azusa, CA)

Dr. Glenn Sunshine Chairman of the history department of Central Connecticut State University (New Britain, CT)

Luiz Tellez President, The Witherspoon Institute (Princeton, NJ)

Dr. Timothy C. Tennent Professor, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (South Hamilton, MA)

Michael Timmis Chairman, Prison Fellowship and Prison Fellowship International (Naples, FL)

Mark Tooley President, Institute for Religion and Democracy (Washington, D.C.)

H. James Towey President, St. Vincent College (Latrobe, PA)

Juan Valdes Middle and High School Chaplain, Flordia Christian School (Miami, FL)

Todd Wagner Pastor, WaterMark Community Church (Dallas, TX)

Dr. Graham Walker President, Patrick Henry Univ. (Purcellville, VA)

Alexander F. C. Webster Archpriest, Orthodox Church in America and Associate Professorial Lecturer, The George Washington University (Ft. Belvoir, VA)

George Weigel Distinguished Senior Fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center (Washington, D.C.)

David Welch Houston Area Pastor Council Executive Director, US Pastors Council (Houston, TX)

Dr. James White Founding and Senior Pastor, Mecklenberg Community Church (Charlotte, NC)

Dr. Hayes Wicker Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church (Naples, FL)

Mark Williamson Founder and President, Foundation Restoration Ministries/Federal Intercessors (Katy, TX)

Dr. Craig Williford President, Trinity International University (Deerfield, IL)

Dr. John Woodbridge Research professor of Church History & the History of Christian Thought, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Deerfield, IL)

Don M. Woodside Performance Matters Associates (Matthews, NC)

Dr. Frank Wright President, National Religious Broadcasters (Manassas, VA)

Most Rev. Donald W. Wuerl Archbishop, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.

Paul Young COO & Executive VP, Christian Research Institute (Charlotte, NC)

Dr. Michael Youssef President, Leading the Way (Atlanta, GA)

Ravi Zacharias Founder and Chairman of the board, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (Norcross, GA)

Most Rev. David A. Zubik Bishop, Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, PA

Good Shepherd Update Thursday November 19th, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving Week:  I love Thanksgiving. It's one of my favorite holidays...mostly because I love to cook and I love to eat. It's also great to have such a big family this year around the table and most of them able to talk. I can't even begin to number the things that I am thankful for. A home, clothes, food. God has been gracious and merciful to me and provided all that I need to live. As a husband, he's brought me an incredibly smart, wise, interesting and beautiful wife who deserves much better. As a father, God's given me five fascinating little human beings in the house to love, raise, and take care of. And for a ministry God has given me the privilege of serving you as pastor. And it is a privilege. You have withstood trials, faithfully, this year that would have ripped apart most congregations--you have grown through them in depth and in numbers--and now that we are relatively safe, no one seems to want to sit around and rest--everybody is ready to do what God has called us to do in our new neighborhood. I am so very thankful for all of you.

As a congregation how do we even come close to adequately expressing our gratitude to God for his grace and mercy in bringing us here to this place and for protecting and providing so abundantly for every need? I really have no idea. What can we do or say. Nothing is sufficient. God has poured out his blessings, "a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, has been set onto our lap." (Lk 6:38) There is no way to repay.

We can only let gratitude and thanksgiving shape us and serve as an antidote to any sense of pride or vanity. This has been his work and his plan and his gift to us. We can do nothing but express our thanksgiving by honoring and obeying his word, following his call to serve those in need, seeking the lost, proclaiming his word, and by loving each other and those in the world as he has loved us. And with his help we will do all those things.

Ecumenical Thanksgiving Service: the Annual Southside Ecumenical Thanksgiving Service will be held at Ross Memorial Presbyterian Church on Tuesday November 24th at 7pm. All are invited. Both Anne and I will be giving very short five minute talks as will all the pastors of south-side churches.

Stewardship Sunday: We are all so very thankful to God for the abundant outpouring of generosity in 2009 that made it possible to purchase our property, maintain mission and ministry initiatives, pay salaries and the mortgage. It has been an incredible year.

We hope, by God's grace, to do far more in 2010 and to more fully invest the resources of Good Shepherd, financial and human, in the great mission given to us by Jesus Christ to proclaim his word and truth, feed the hungry, help the poor, make disciples and train them to follow his commands.  I pray that you will commit to participating in this mission financially and personally by tithing or committing to work toward a tithe.

If every member of Good Shepherd tithed, we would have more than enough to fully provide for those in need in our own congregation and give abundantly and strategically in ways that would accomplish the same end in this neighborhood, the city, and beyond--all in the name of Jesus Christ.

This Sunday you will find a pledge card in your bulletin. Please take it home, think and pray about what to give, and then return it by Sunday December 13th.

For those of you who are new to Good Shepherd:

1. As rector, I purposefully do not know and do not ask how much individuals give. I have no idea nor do I want to have any idea what you individually pledge or do not pledge. The only time I am informed is if a member suddenly and significantly reduces the amount they give. I am informed in those cases because it can sometimes signal that the person has a financial problem we can help with or has a concern that needs to be addressed.

2. Pledges to Good Shepherd are promises between you and God not between you and me or you and the vestry. If, during the year, difficult circumstances arise and you are unable to give as much as you thought, we understand. We do not sit around and compare what you pledge to what you give. No one from Good Shepherd will ever call you to "collect".

3. We do not ask nor do we care how much money you make. If you tell us that you are tithing, we take you at your word. If you tell us that you are working toward a tithe, we take you at your word. The way you handle your finances is between you and God. We will do our best to present the biblical model and biblical principles regarding money. The rest is up to you.

4. Every pledging member of Good Shepherd has the right to see the budget. This year's budget is pretty much non-existent since we lost everything in January and have been operating without a true budget since then. We will have a defined budget in January 2010 that will be presented to the congregation for approval at the Annual meeting in January. 

Christmas Pageant: This Sunday kicks off the first of five practices for the Christmas Pageant. Even if you didn't make the parent meeting last week and have no idea what's going on, PLEASE STAY for the practice. This week we'll be assigning parts and passing out scripts. There are parts for everyone and plenty of other jobs if you want to be involved. The practice will start DIRECTLY after the 10:30 service. Everyone involved should stay upstairs and gather in the front two pews. This is a busy time of year and I know everyone gets hungry and tired after church, so the sooner we can begin practice the better. See you all on Sunday!

What is Advent?: The season of Advent begins Sunday November 29th, the Sunday after Thanksgiving. The word "advent" comes from the Latin word "adventus" which means "coming". Advent is a season of preparation during which, historically, the Church has focused both on both the coming of Jesus Christ at his birth and his second coming at the end of the age.

For many Christians, Advent is a season of repentance, almost like Lent, in which John the Baptist's call to Israel, "repent and prepare for the coming of the Lord" becomes a call for believers to examine our hearts and lives and, with God's grace, to rid ourselves of those things which we've set in the way of Jesus Christ and his purposes and desires for us in preparation for his second Advent at the end of the age.

There is, however, a tinge of joy also. We are waiting for the coming of a new Kingdom, a new heaven and a new earth, the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ who has already guaranteed the inheritance, resurrection, and eternal life to all who have committed their lives to him.

All this can be somewhat strange feeling...while the rest of the world begins celebrating Christmas right after Thanksgiving (it seems) with carols and lights and decorations, our worship retains a solemn but hopeful feel right up to Christmas Eve (when the church is decked out in lights and color to celebrate the Lord's birth).

But this "hopeful solemnity", because it stands out so much in this season, might also prove to be an opportunity to share the gospel with non-Christian guests--an opportunity to talk about who Jesus is, the virgin born Son of God, the saving work did for us in his life, death and resurrection, and his second coming as both Judge and Deliverer.

Liturgically, you will notice a few changes. The color of my stole (the long scarf-like thing Anglican pastors wear around their necks to symbolize the fact that we are yoked to Christ, or slaves of Christ) and the chasuble (the pancho-like vestment that symbolizes the righteousness of Christ that he has imputed to believers through faith that makes it possible for us to be in communion with the Father) will go from green which is used during "regular time" (during Pentecost and from Epiphany to Lent) to either blue or purple...Blue is used to point to the coming dawn. It recalls the darkness before the birth of Christ and the dawn of his birth and second coming. Purple is the more traditional color that symbolizes repentance and sorrow for sin.

On the third Sunday of Advent, the liturgical color changes, for one Sunday only, from blue or purple to "rose" because that is the Sunday traditionally set aside to honor the faith and faithfulness of Mary. At Good Shepherd, we do not pray to or through Mary. Scripture teaches and so we believe that Mary was a virgin when Jesus was conceived in her womb through the Holy Spirit and remained a virgin until after Jesus was born when she and Joseph had more children. God gave her amazing faith and courage and we revere her as the mother who bore and raised the very Son of God incarnate but recognize that she also was a sinner saved through faith in her own Son. Her song of praise in Luke 1:46-55 is a beautiful testimony to God's grace and saving power in her own life and in ours.

During Advent you will also notice a tall candle standing in the center of the altar area. Near the top, you will see what looks like a Christmas wreath with four candles. This is an Advent wreath. Each Sunday in Advent (there are four) one candle is lit until Christmas Eve when all the candles are lighted. As each candle is lit, over the course of four Sundays, the increasing light represents the light of Christ steadily defeating the darkness of the fallen world and ultimately overcoming it.

If you have any questions during this season (or any other time) please feel free to email me at lambeth@flash.net or give me a call at 773-4810

Systematic Theology  will meet this Saturday. We'll finish our discussion of the "incommunicable attributes"  of God" and move into a discussion of the communicable attributes. I forgot to record last week's class but you can still listen to the review from the week before here. Looking forward to seeing you Saturday at 3:30pm in the parish hall.

Anglican Church Women: Around 30 women gathered for the ACW luncheon last Saturday to discuss ways that the women of the church can support the mission and ministry of Good Shepherd and, especially, to gather resources for those in need. As most of you know, the proceeds from the upcoming Christmas Bake Sale will go to the ACK Kwenda church in Nairobi. The ACW also discussed a number of other projects...one of which is to organize Christmas gift-giving for needy children in the community (you can read more about this below). Thank you to all who attended this meeting and thank you to those who put forth the time and effort to organize it. The ACW can look forward to a great future.

ACW Christmas Outreach: If you or a family that you know is in need of help with Christmas gifts, please speak to Anne or Matt. The women of the Church of the Good Shepherd (ACW) will be organizing a Christmas outreach. A Christmas tree with ages, sizes, and genders of needy children will soon be displayed in the Parish Hall. Parishioners may select one or more children for whom they may purchase an appropriate article of clothing and a toy. These should be brought to the church wrapped and labeled before Christmas Eve. If you have questions, see Pat Chaney or Carmen.

Thanksgiving week schedule: I will not be in the office from Wednesday until Sunday during Thanksgiving week. There will be no Tuesday night, Thursday night, Friday morning or Saturday bible study and no Systematic Theology. There may be Tuesday morning bible study but I am not sure about that yet. More info will be coming. Good Shepherd traditionally takes a sabbath on Thanksgiving week. Enjoy the extra time with your family.

Shepherd's Bowl: Team 4 is scheduled to serve tonight at the Shepherd's Bowl.

Team 5 is forming up rather well. Lee Bronson has volunteered to cook. His wife Jane and Joseph and Andrea Kovac along with perhaps a contingent of students will launch team five the Thursday December 3rd after Thanksgiving:

There will be no Shepherd's Bowl on Thanksgiving Day--one day we hope to serve on Thanksgiving, but this year the logistics are not in our favor. Let's pray and think about the possibility of serving turkey next year.

Christmas Acolyting: So far we have three volunteers and only need two more. I know it is tricky because we want most of our current acolytes to be in the pageant so we are looking for people who are either adults and will not be in the pageant or who are young and are not going to be in the pageant. Christmas Eve service is one of the more important ones of the year so we pull out all the stops. If you are not going to be out of town and are not going to be in the Christmas Pageant which takes place during the service itself, and you are willing to serve as an acolyte please let me know so that I can fill the spaces. We need five acolytes for Christmas Eve.

Soren Kierkegaard on Scripture and its interpreters:The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world? Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament.

Beginner's Bible Study: Beginner's Bible Study is on for tonight. We will be in John 2 this evening.

Women's Bible Study: Meets this Saturday in the parish hall at 10:00am. They are currently studying the book of Isaiah. All women are welcome.

Audio and Video of Last Sunday's Sermon: Here's the video of last Sunday's Sermon: Sexual Purity
http://binghamtongoodshepherd.blogspot.com/2009/11/sermon-sexual-purity.html

Men's Bible Study and Breakfast: SOMEONE is scheduled to cook...I just don't know who. Breakfast is served at 6:30am and the study starts at the same time. All men are welcome.

Christian Education: Science and the Bible/Creation and Evolution.  This Sunday we'll finish viewing the film Expelled by Ben Stein. After the film, we'll discuss it a bit and then open our discussion of Old Earth creationism. Hope to see you there.

Youth Group Update from Ife: I'm sorry for the lack of updates regarding youth group for the last few weeks. I realize that it is a way for the whole church to be aware of the progress and challenges of this ministry.

Both groups have been meeting every week. The Senior group meets on Sundays 6 - 730p and the Junior group meets on Mondays 630 - 800p. This week the Senior High group is going bowling and the Junior High will be watching a movie (Skate Estate is closed). Both are at the regular time.

Our primary goal in youth group is to grow young adults who are transformed by the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and who commit to lifelong discipleship. It is our purpose to study the bible and to provide a sound foundation of faith and to learn to articulate and live out the truth's of God's Word.

This means our weekly meeting is centered around bible study except  on occasions like this week when we have Fun Nite. We've been studying SALVATION : the work of the Trinity in the salvation process, the process of atonement and Jesus' final atoning sacrifice, common grace and saving grace. Here is a defining statement that the kids in the Junior High group arrived at by themselves in our discussion about the trinity

"The Father, Son and the Holy Spirit have always been together and have never done anything separately and they've each played a part in everything they've ever done"

I dare you to find a more doctrinally sound and concise summation of the Trinity. My purpose in sharing this is not only to boast about them (although I proudly do so) but more importantly to relay the importance of the youth group and the way God uses and can use the deposit of His word to shape these young lives. Pray for the youth group and if you are a parent please see the importance of this time. Instead of working it around your kids schedule let me encourage you to work the basketball and soccer practices around the youth group time. One has lasting eternal value while the other does not.

Sermon: Sexual Purity

Preacher: Matt Kennedy
Text: 1st Thessalonians 4:1-8
Sunday, November 15, 2009

This is the audio:


Download "Sermon: Sexual Purity" in MP3 format

Here's the video:

Good Shepherd Update Thursday November 12th, 2009

Dear Good Shepherd,

I hope you are all doing well this week. I am more tired than I have been in a long time now that Murielle is on a more or less regular eating schedule (every two hours night and day). But, thankfully, she's getting nice and plump like a new baby should.

I recorded a video this week addressing the topic of giving--not giving to the church but the church giving to people in need. Christians can sometimes fall prey to the false dichotomy that congregations can "either" help people in need locally "or" help people in other parts of the world.

The New Testament model, found in 1st Corinthians 16 and 2nd Corinthians 8, is that the church does both. Paul, called congregations--poor congregations, not rich ones--in the first century not only to help the poor in their own churches but to send offerings to support impoverished Christians in Jerusalem (which, at the time, was experiencing a famine).

God used other churches not only in Binghamton but across the United States and Canada to support us during our time of need, how can we fail to pass on the grace and generosity we have received?

At the same time some ask: Isn't one of our five year goals to pay off our mortgage? How can we do that when we are giving money away and not doing as many fundraisers?

There are several answers to that question:

1. All of "our" resources are, in reality, God's resources. We are mere stewards or caretakers, charged with spending God's money in accordance with his principles. One of those principles is that when you do what God calls you to do with your finances, God provides. I am not suggesting that we must "give" in order to "get", nor am I suggesting that God will "necessarily" bring prosperity if we give a certain amount to the poor. I am saying that God provides all that is necessary and more so long as we are seeking to honor him with our finances and not hoarding our resources. As we give, God provides so that we can continue to do what God has called us to do (Malachi 3:6-12; Matthew 25:14-28)

2. On a practical level, believing people are drawn to congregations that are mission focused. As we align our priorities with God's priorities, we become an attractive place for those looking to use their gifts in mission and ministry. This is not mechanistic--again we must not "give" in order to "get" this result. Rather, this simply part and parcel of God's economy (or the way he works). God will equip Good Shepherd with the people we need, the funding we need, the people we need so long as we are focused on accomplishing his purposes using the resources he provides.

3. Fundraisers are good. I am not "against" them. I am concerned by the fact that the most corporately energizing things we do, the events that get everyone charged up and ready to sacrifice time talent and treasure, are fundraisers. It's great to get fired up about fundraisers, its better to get fired up about the gospel of Jesus Christ and bringing the knowledge of Christ and the love of Christ to people who do not know him. That must be our consuming ambition and passion. If we put the same effort, teamwork, and cooperation into evangelism and outreach that we put into fundraisers I believe God will bless our efforts work through us to expand his kingdom in this neighborhood.

4. In total in a year we make about $3000.00 to $5000.00 bucks a year on fundraisers, total. That's good. But what this means is that, bottom line, while fundraisers are certainly helpful they are no longer essential to our survival.

5. I think we should continue to do some fundraisers for the church, and we will, but as you can see above, they are not vital to the survival of the church. What is vital to the survival of the church is serving the needy pouring ourselves out for the sake of the gospel and doing what God has called us to do.

It is crucial to think through, corporately, how we spend money and how we collect it. Does our financial life reflect the purposes and principles God has revealed in scripture and do we make manifest the kingdom of God by the use of our resources?

Good Shepherd is such a caring and friendly congregation. I am always so encouraged by the generosity and love you exhibit toward people in need. I think, given our current growth and vitality, God is calling us to do that even more than we have in the past

If we do, if we seek the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, then all of these other things we worry about will be added to us (Matt 6:33).

Here is the video discussion I shot yesterday:


Good Shepherd Update Thursday November 5th, 2009

Systematic Theology  will meet this Saturday. We'll continue our discussion of the "incommunicable attributes of God" picking up with the questions Anna raised last week regarding God's eternity--whether God is present at all times at the same time--and bridge into a related discussion of God's omnipresence. Here is the recording of last week's class. Looking forward to seeing you then.

This Saturday: Anglican Church Women invites all the women of the church to a luncheon on Saturday, November 14th to discuss future plans and mission projects.

Acolyte Practice: This month's practice will be held on Sunday November 29th after the 10:30am service. If you are not an acolyte but have volunteered to acolyte for the Christmas service, please be sure to be there for this practice. Also, if you are a LEM and confused about what to do, then please be there for this practice.

Shepherd's Bowl: Team 3 is scheduled to serve tonight at the Shepherd's Bowl.

A Note from Carmen: Heartfelt thanks for the concern, love, and sympathy expressed in so many ways to me and my family during my mother's illness and at her passing. I am overwhelmed, and so grateful for my church family.

Carmen

 To Veterans at Good Shepherd: Thank you to everyone who served and sacrificed in any way in the United States armed forces. May God bless you for your service and may you enjoy the freedom you have helped to defend.

Christmas Acolyting: So far we have three volunteers and only need two more. I know it is tricky because we want most of our current acolytes to be in the pageant so we are looking for people who are either adults and will not be in the pageant or who are young and are not going to be in the pageant. Christmas Eve service is one of the more important ones of the year so we pull out all the stops. If you are not going to be out of town and are not going to be in the Christmas Pageant which takes place during the service itself, and you are willing to serve as an acolyte please let me know so that I can fill the spaces. We need five acolytes for Christmas Eve.

Mark Galli: Yawning at the Word
"This article first appeared in the November 5th, 2009 issue of Christianity Today. Used by permission of Christianity Today International, Carol Stream, IL 60188."

Again: I do not claim that I have transcended this cultural impatience with the Bible. I'm as irritated as the next person when it comes to the public reading of Scripture. Doesn't this person have anything original to say? I think. Isn't he going to address this issue, or that concern? Get on with it! At least I hope he says something funny soon … .

I try to laugh at myself when I catch myself in such moods: bored with the very revelation of God! We have this extraordinary gift, this miracle book, from the Creator of Heaven and Earth, the Mystery of the Universe, the Infinite One whom we (the finite) cannot begin to fathom, the Holy One whom we (blinded by our unholiness) cannot begin to comprehend. The One who can answer our deepest questions but could remain The Question, the One who can restore our broken humanity, but could remain a vague Hypothesis—this One has revealed himself in Law, Prophets, and Gospel—in the words of a collection we now call Holy Scripture.

Whenever the Bible is read, a hush should come over us. We should be inching toward the edge of our seats, leaning forward, turning our best ear toward the speaker, fearful we'll miss a single word—the deeds and words and character of Almighty and Merciful God are being revealed! In a world of suffering and pain, of doubt and despair, of questions about the meaning and purpose of existence, we are about to hear of God's glory, forgiveness, mercy and love, of his intention for the world, of his promise to make it all good in the end, of the way to join his people, of the means to abide with him forever! And there we sit, tapping our feet, mentally telling the preacher to get on with it.

But if we take the trouble to listen, really listen, to that Word, we'll discover something else marvelous: that the One being revealed is as patient with us as we are impatient with his Word, and as enamored with us as we are bored with him. Ah yes, even more enamored.

A Parent Meeting for the Christmas Pageant will be held on November 15th, after the 10:30am service. Please mark your calendars!

Thank you: Bill Woollett has made some cross magnets for your refrigerator in order to raise money for the Anglican Church in the Kwenda slum in Nairobi. You can pick up one of his crosses for a donation of any amount. Thank you to Bill and thank you to everyone who contributed. His crosses will also be available this week.

What are we doing here anyway? What is the Church supposed to be doing? Alistair Begg deals with the question based on Acts 2. Listen to it all here

Baptism: Siyi will be baptized on December 6th, 2009. Mark your calendars


Stewardship Sunday: is coming up Sunday November 22nd. On that Sunday we will hand out pledge cards and begin to mail out pledge letters. It is important for the budget committee that we have pledges returned by Sunday December 13th in order to plan a budget for the coming year. If you have committed to the three year Capital Campaign, there is no need to recommit so long as you continue contributing in accordance with your commitment. We are jfinally at the point of getting our finances in order after the move. Thank you for your patience with us and

The Fifth Yearly Goal: The fifth goal is: To establish a Hospitality ministry and new member program. We seem to be a good way toward getting our hospitality program organized. Every visitor receives a visitor packet (that is presently being updated to include a newer brochure with up to date information) in the form of a colorful bag with information about the church, a small booklet explaining the gospel, and some small toy or treat depending on the age of the person receives the bag. Visitors also receive a "thank you for visiting hope you come again letter" letter from me during the week with more information about the church and an invitation to check us out. Visitors are also invited down to the parish hall for coffee and from what I have seen they are welcomed very warmly and introduced by our greeters. I think the hospitality part of this is going well... 

What needs a great deal of work is our new member program...the problem is that we don't have one. We have grown by about 30 new people this year who attend regularly but it is difficult for many of them to be integrated into the life of our community and we have not designed a program to facilitate that. In the past it was very easy, people started coming to services and bible studies, they started to help out with various events and programs and eventually they just became a part of the community. We're getting too big for that now. People can get lost much more easily.

It's always a great thing to see so many new faces at bible studies and Christian ed and, of course, in the church service itself, but I regret not having a more organized way to help people feel like they are a part of the community.

One problem has been that we have not defined what membership means. So if someone  decides that he wants to be a member, there is no defined pathway toward that end. In the Episcopal Church, if you breath and are baptized, you are counted on the membership roles. Sometimes even breathing is optional. There are some churches that have not cleaned up their rolls in years and they have a number of departed people still counted as members.

I don't want to duplicate that system. A much better definition of membership I think would look something like the sketch that we drew up at the vestry retreat: A member is someone who: 1. Commits to worship regularly with the body on Sunday morning 2. is both a believer and publicly committed to Jesus Christ either through baptism or confirmation and agreement with basic Christian doctrines 3. commits to serve regularly in some ministry of the church in keeping with his or her gifts and skills. 4. Commits to a tithe or to working toward a tithe.

We would also want to set up periodic "new member" classes--a series of three or four sessions to help orient people to Christianity in general, Anglicanism in particular, and, even more particularly, Good Shepherd.

We will hopefully have this ironed out by the Annual meeting. I welcome and invite your input by email or phone. As always, be sure to sign your name.

Beginner's Bible Study: Beginner's Bible Study is on for tonight. We should move to John 2 this evening.

Women's Bible Study: Meets every Saturday in the parish hall at 10:00am. They are currently studying the book of Isaiah. All women are welcome.

Grace and patience with music: The music ministry at Good Shepherd is going through an interim period while we search for a new director of music. During this period, the choir is taking an extended sabbath (until Christmas) so that when the new director comes he/she will be able to start fresh, with a choir that is rested and ready. Please be patient with those who have so graciously volunteered to use their musical gifts for our sake during that time. We hope and pray to have a new music ministry director in the next two months.

Sermon this Sunday: The sermon this Sunday will focus on the following text from 1st Thessalonians  4:1-8

 ¹Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. ²For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.

 ³It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; ⁴that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, ⁵not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; ⁶and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. ⁷For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. ⁸Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.

Stewardship Sunday will be November 22nd. How we deal with our money is a good way of assessing our spiritual health and the state of our heart. Personally, I hate talking about money because it plays into all kinds of stereotypes that people have about preachers, but scripture does deal with the topic at length and so if I ignore it or pass over it, I will not only be sinning against God but against you as well. Matt Chandler recently preached a very powerful sermon on the topic that might help to get our brains and hearts readjusted. Here is a link:

Video of Last Sunday's Sermon: Here's the video of last Sunday's Sermon: The Heart of an Apostle:
http://binghamtongoodshepherd.blogspot.com/2009/11/sermon-heart-of-apostle.html

Men's Bible Study and Breakfast: Charles is scheduled to cook...I just don't know who. Breakfast is served at 6:30am and the study starts at the same time. All men are welcome.

Question Box: Someone suggested that we create a question box for people to write down questions for me to answer or to make suggestions. I think that is a good idea especially since not everyone in the congregation has email. We should have a question box up within the next few weeks. Now sometimes these sorts of things cause more problems than they solve so here are some quick guidelines:

1. Please recognize that I may not have time to get to your question right away. I am pretty loaded up at the moment, so I'll do my best but it may be a week or so.

2. Please understand that I may not act on your suggestion--either because we are already overloaded with work or for some other reason. If you have signed your name I'll be able to explain the reasons

3. Please sign your name and speak only for yourself...sometimes question boxes can be used for sniping rather than asking or suggesting, so we ask that if you leave a note, please sign it with your full name. Unsigned notes will be discarded before they are read (that is my general policy anyway).

Christian Education: Science and the Bible/Creation and Evolution.  This Sunday we'll be viewing part of the film Expelled by Ben Stein. Here is the trailer detailing the systematic expulsion of scientists who accept Intelligent Design from the academic community.

http://binghamtongoodshepherd.blogspot.com/2009/11/intelligent-design.html

Next Sunday we'll deal with the Old Earth position.

Next Education series: Spiritual Disciplines...more information about this series will be coming soon.