Dear Creator Family,
I am delighted to introduce you to Leilani Allwine. After interviews with several highly qualified applicants, Leilani has joined our Creator Family as our new church secretary. She is a delightful person, eager to tackle the various and assundry of our parish processes. Cheryl Duhon, one of your vestry members and our “office volunteer” for the past several months, is spending this week helping Leilani get onboard. I am looking forward to working with Leilani as we strive to follow the Lord’s call for Creator. Please give her a call or stop by to welcome her to our parish home. We are also so happy for Delisa Downing on her long-anticipated move to Williamsburg. We are sorry to see her go but hope and pray for her and her family's happiness after so long a wait. Delisa served as our MCEF representative, so we are now in need of filling her service. Delisa was primarily responsible for taking our food donations to the food closet each month, as well as serving as our link to news and events. If you feel called to this ministry, please let the office know so we can help set you up. It is a valuable ministry to the needy in our own community, and it helps our parish live into its stewardship and outreach. I will be leaving for Maine next week for a week-long vacation, returning on Wednesday, August 7th. Details of next week's activities and the following Sunday service will be in our next Creator Calling. Peace in Christ to you all. Fr. Bill+
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Agape: Christian Charity
Many dictionaries define charity as “Christian love,” and in turn, Christian love is described as agape love -- "the love of Christians for other persons, corresponding to the love of God for humankind." (Webster's online Dictionary) Perhaps this is where we need to start then, not with charity, but with agape. Ancient Greek society understood eight different concepts of love, each embodied by a different word:
So often we are afflicted because we are trying to feel love or to make or manifest love in ourselves, thinking that this is what God wants. God knows that this is impossible for us and has told us so by offering himself to us. We urgently need to understand the right definition to love. Love isn’t self-determined, and much of what is called “love” isn’t love at all. Rather than turn to the noise of this world to tell us what love is, we must turn to God who properly defines love. Spoken of over 200 times in the Bible, Agape is the fatherly love of God for humans. It is the transcendent love of God that rises above the self to the good of the beloved. Agape is love at the highest level, a selfless, sacrificial love found in the very being of God and shown to us in the absolute sacrificial self-giving of Jesus. St. Paul describes this love in one of the most beloved passages in the New Testament, I Corinthians 13: 13 If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. This is the love of God that we aspire to, this is the love we are called to, this is the likeness of Christ and communion with God. This love is all consuming and bears no likeness to selfish desire, warding or protectionism. This love is absolute. It would be hard to exaggerate the significance of charity (agape). It is from love that God bestowed His grace on His people (Eph. 1:4–5). It’s His love that gives rise to our love (1 John 4:10–11). It’s evidence of the Spirit’s life within (Gal. 5:22). It nourishes godliness in our hearts (Eph. 3:17). It’s the pathway we walk (Eph. 5:2), the contemplation for our mind (Phil. 4:8), the bridle for our tongue (Eph. 4:15), our protection in darkness (1 Thess. 5:8), the bond of our fellowship (Col. 2:2), and the measure of Christian perfection (1 John 4:18). Charity is, as Paul said, not only an excellent way but the most excellent way (1 Cor. 12:31–13:13). In Christian theology and ethics, agape is translated as charity since agape is not simply a feeling--far from it, agape is an action. Agape cannot be agape if love does not act, since agapic love is sacrifice. In this way, agape may be better understood as charity, as charity is understood as an act of caring and selflessness. St. Augustine summarized much of Christian thought about charity when he wrote: “Charity is a virtue which, when our affections are perfectly ordered, unites us to God, for by it we love him.” Using this definition and others from the Christian tradition, the medieval theologians, especially St. Thomas Aquinas, placed charity in the context of the other Christian virtues and specified its role as “the foundation or root” of them all. Writing in Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis explains this foundational aspect in the modern sense: . . .'Charity' now means simply what used to be called 'alms'—that is, giving to the poor. Originally it had a much wider meaning. . . Charity means “Love, in the Christian sense.” But love, in the Christian sense, does not mean an emotion. It is a state not of the feelings but of the will; that state of the will which we have naturally about ourselves, and must learn to have about other people. I pointed out in the chapter on Forgiveness that our love for ourselves does not mean that we like ourselves. It means that we wish our own good. In the same way Christian Love (or Charity) for our neighbors is quite a different thing from liking or affection. We “like” or are “fond of” some people, and not of others. It is important to understand that this natural “liking” is neither a sin or a virtue, any more than your likes and dislikes in food are a sin or a virtue. It is just a fact. But, of course, what we do about it is either sinful or virtuous. Natural liking or affection for people makes it easier to be “charitable” towards them. It is, therefore, normally a duty to encourage our affections—to “like” people as much as we can (just as it is often our duty to encourage our liking for exercise or wholesome food)—not because this liking is itself the virtue of charity, but because it is a help to it. . . . . . . The rule for all of us is perfectly simple. Do not waste time bothering whether you “love” your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him more. If you do him a good turn, you will find yourself disliking him less. . Consequently, though Christian charity sounds a very cold thing to people whose heads are full of sentimentality, and though it is quite distinct from affection, yet it leads to affection. The difference between a Christian and a worldly man is not that the worldly man has only affections or “likings” and the Christian has only “charity.” The worldly man treats certain people kindly because he “likes” them: the Christian, trying to treat every one kindly, finds himself liking more and more people as he goes on--including people he could not even have imagined himself liking at the beginning (Mere Christianity 115-117). American revivalist preacher, philosopher, and Congregationalist theologian Jonathan Edwards reflected on charity when he wrote that Christian charity “is one as to its principle, whatever the object about which it is exercised; it is from the same spring or fountain in the heart, though it may flow out in different channels and diverse directions.” There are many practical opportunities for you to show Christian charity. In your own family, in your circle of friends, and around you every day there are people in need of help. Charity begins by embracing a selfless perspective and seeing the other as a “beloved one,” not as a curtailer of freedom. You can offer your personal attention by helping at a soup kitchen, donating food or clothing, writing encouraging notes, volunteering at your church, and so on. Still, there are other forms of charity no less faithful to God, as long as the action is taken to the glory of God and without undue attention to self. Material gifts, donating money to the less fortunate or to the Church or Christian aid organizations is an acknowledgment of the blessing God has given you and your ability to reach out in Jesus' name. Jesus taught that love to God and love to neighbor are the greatest and second commandment: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” (Mark 12:30–31. BCP pg. 324) Love is to characterize our relationship to God through Jesus Christ. Because we are united to Him, charity must also characterize the same in our relationships with those who bear His image. In this, love is upward and outward focused and characterizes every single relationship in our lives—marriage, parenting, friendship, and fellowship. In love and charity with the neighbor, Fr. Bill+ Dear Creator Family,
How fleeting and hot, hot, hot our days have been! It is a joy for me to be able to take time to slow down (and cool down) on Sunday morning as we gather in the Lord. Our time together is both a beckoning call and a refreshing balm where we are illuminated by God and soothed by the intervention of the Holy Spirit. Much has been happening at Creator between our Sundays with our ongoing office concerns, our building needs and our secretarial search. We have received six viable and exciting aspirants for this position, and I will be making a request to the Vestry to hire one of them next week. We are still in the stages of “clean out – clean up” with the classroom shed in the parking lot now almost empty. We have also removed most of the accumulation in the Parish Hall with a bit more to do. This is a very purposeful endeavor, as we are actively looking for a ministry to share our building. The Wednesday night Book Study is drawing to a close in just a few weeks and we will be excitedly launching Season 4 of The Chosen. Our Chosen study last year was both illuminating and joyful as we approached and received the Scriptures in this dramatic way. Be looking for our announcement for our start date and get your Bible and popcorn ready! Please continue to pray for each other and our Parish as we continue our labors. If you have time to help with putting our spaces to rights or tackling an office need, please reach out. I must say the list is long and we can always accomplish so much more when the company is plentiful. In the meantime, please pray for those on our prayer list and all of our endeavors here at Creator. Peace in Christ, Fr. Bill+ Happy Independence Day! July 4, 2024
For many, the Fourth of July means sun tans, parades and picnics, hot dogs and Coca-Cola, ice cream and apple pie, baseball and bombs bursting in air (Thank the Lord our framers signed the Declaration of Independence in July and not January!) For 248 years the significance and seasonal timing of Independence Day have made for the best outdoor celebrations of the year! As Americans, most feel a renewed sense of pride and accomplishment on the Fourth of July. Hearts and minds are enticed by stories of patriotic sacrifice and providential guidance, and we enjoy a moment of peace amidst the current political drama. For Christians, however, there may be an inner conflict simmering, an unease amidst the celebration. First, let’s be clear about where the Christian’s deepest identity lies. If we are in Christ, joined to him by faith, all other pledges of allegiance have been relativized, whatever our nation of origin or naturalization. We still love our country, are patriotic to the core, but all of our loyalties no matter how deep are subservient to the One. No one can serve two masters, Jesus said, only one can be primary. In Jesus, we have one final allegiance, and thus in this world we will always be, in some real sense, pilgrims, strangers and aliens, sojourners and exiles. As St. Peter proclaimed, Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul (1 Peter 2:11). For the Christian, our citizenship in any nation aims to be “worthy of the gospel of Christ” (Philippians 1:27), not merely worthy of that political state. At the most basic level, “our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,” who will do for us what no political entity in this world will ever do — “transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself”(Philippians 3:20–21). We proudly stand shoulder to shoulder as we sing the National Anthem together and pledge allegiance side by side and enjoy the parades and fireworks as we create and strengthen the ties of friendship and national unity, but that only goes so far. The blood of Jesus runs deeper than the blood that flows in defining or defending any nation. Our fellows in political liberty are important, but not as significant as our fellows in Jesus from every tribe and tongue. Yes, we seek to do good to our fellow Americans as we uphold and defend our home, but our deeper allegiance is to those who are of the worldwide household of faith. As St. Paul wrote, So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith (Galatians 6:10). It is good and healthy to have real affection for the nation we call our own. It is right for the Christian to be patriotic and reserve a special kind of love for city and country. In fact, it’s a sign that something may be amiss spiritually if the Christian doesn’t have some tempered but tangible sense of belonging to his “kin and country.” It’s not only okay for American Christians to enjoy being American on the Fourth; it’s commended. God means for us to be appropriately enmeshed in this world (as Jesus prays in John 17, not of the world, but sent into it). Christ and country aren’t irreconcilable. In Jesus’s perfect arithmetic, there is space not only to render God our everything, but render to Caesar his share as well, he said, "Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away. (Matthew 22:19–22). St. Paul made it clear that Christians render respect to whom respect is owed, and honor to whom honor is owed, “Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed” (Romans 13:7). Though there are times we may disagree and oppose the governing authorities, ultimately God is our guide and is our true King. Under His authority we live where we are and honor God’s plan (though we may not understand it). “Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor” (1 Peter 2:17). Third, it follows that as God’s common goodness is manifested in our political state, we should be genuinely grateful. We give thanks when thanks is owed. Perhaps we balk at being “proud to be an American”—and would prefer to be “humbled” by it. That’s wise and good. And we need not make any such alteration to the call to be thankful. Given the fallen condition of our world because of human sin, we should be amazed how much common goodness God continues to create and uphold in nations good and even bad. In the same breath St. Paul instructs Christians to be good citizens--“to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people” (Titus 3:1–2) — he also reminds us about our native condition: “For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy . . .” (Titus 3:3–5). Given our depravity, and the diabolical desires that have a foothold in humanity for now, it is extraordinary mercy not only that any are saved at all, but also that any of our nations aren’t in worse shape than they are. We betray the far-reaching effects of God’s kindness when we’re so consumed with frustrations about our homeland that we can’t see many good things to be grateful for. Finally, for now, it continues to be legal to speak the Gospel in public in these United States, and even to press for repentance and faith. This is a glorious liberty. Let’s make the most of it by remembering that we Christians have a true country, which will satisfy our inconsolable longing like no nation in the present can. And let’s double our joy by bringing as many others with us as we can. It’s hard to say it any better than C.S. Lewis: If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or to be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that country and to help others to do the same. (Mere Christianity) Embracing, renewing and proclaiming such a perspective as sung about in the "Star-Spangled Banner" over our Independence Day celebrations with family and friends, we would find them richer than ever. We are profoundly grateful for the freedom we have in this country to recruit for the true one, and let’s be unashamed to seize upon our fellow Americans’ desire for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and show them in whom such joy is truly found. Our Country Tis of Thee, verse 4 Our father's God to, Thee, Author of liberty, To Thee we sing. Long may our land be bright With freedom's holy light; Protect us by Thy might, Great God, our King! The Star Spangled Banner, verse 4 O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand Between their lov’d home and the war’s desolation! Blest with vict’ry and peace may the heav’n rescued land Praise the power that hath made and preserv’d us a nation! Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, And this be our motto - “In God is our trust,” And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave. In Christ Jesus, Fr. Bill+ |
AuthorFather Bill Burk† Archives
February 2025
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