Real Presence

And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”  (Mark 14:22-25)

What are we to make of these words by our Lord? He points to the bread before Him and says. “This is my Body.”? He takes a cup and says, “This is my Blood.”? Much debate goes on about the ‘Real Presence’, that is, how is Jesus present in the bread and wine of our Holy Communion. It may help us to remember again what Jesus was about to do as He led this Passover meal.

He was about to die as an ultimate sacrifice, a perfect sacrifice for our sins. No more need we go to the Temple and offer a bull or a goat for our daily sins. If the shedding of blood was necessary for the forgiveness of sins (Heb. 9:22) then once and for all it will be shed by the sinless Son of God. When we take the cup we are never to forget this! For that very next day Jesus body was broken on that cross for all of our sins. He became the new Passover releasing us from the bondage of our sins. For if there is life in the blood, (Lev. 17:11) then Jesus desires to have us consume His life for our very nature is death (Eph. 2:1) until we are born again! (Jn. 3:3) We are sustained in our exile from Eden where the Tree of Life was withheld by our feeding on Jesus in the here and now for it is in the here and now we are asked to live!

Never are we to forget what Jesus did that guarantees our eternal life. Let us come to the table humbly because we are not deserving but forgiven. And forgiven if we truly repent. Let us not forget the pain endured by our Savior that saves us from eternal torment for our sins. If we are present with Jesus at His table, then He is really present with us.

HE was the Word that spake it;

He took the bread and brake it;

And what that Word did make it

I do believe and take it. 

~ John Donne

CHANGE - Why We Hate It!

It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad. ~ C. S. Lewis


Change is inevitable. Nothing stays the same. As a bumper sticker I saw once read, "Change is a constant. Struggle is an option."


As a pastor, I have often been confronted with complaints from parishioners about changes in parish life usually regarding changes in the liturgy. There seems to be an expectation that when we arrive on Sunday whatever happened last week should be the same this week. Surely we do not expect this in the workplace? After all, what pastor has not heard, "We've never done it that way before."? Why do we not expect change in the Church?


Deep down we all know God is immutable. He does not change. He says so. (Malachi 3:16) So we expect the church to reflect that. Never mind it is made up of people who are not God although I have known many who pretended to be! But it is not God that is the problem. As usual it is us! We need to change. We cannot remain the same. We have to change. And God will change us whether we like it or not!


There have been a lot of changes in my life. I am recently divorced. I am in a new denomination. I do not know where tomorrows income will come from. I have moved back to Atlanta. I spent the last couple of days looking for the first house I lived in after returning to Atlanta. I couldn't find it even asking for help from the town's welcome center. I do not remember the address. I only lived there a year and this was 25 years ago. My suspicions is that that area of town has become a shopping center or an apartment. But to realize I cannot go back to where my professional life began evoked much sadness. And another day I visited a shopping mall that I enjoyed frequenting during my days of being young and single. It too had changed. All of this is to say I am not the same person I was years ago. But I desire that there be constants in my life. The truth is there is only one constant. And that constant is God. But we have to change and God will insure that we do.


The gospel accounts of Jesus begin with John the Baptist's screaming for us to repent. The very nature of the word, 'repent' means to change, specifically, to have a change of heart. We have to change in order to enter the Kingdom of God. We do not come into the world ready to enter into God's presence. We are too sinful for that. Pride says we are not, we are just fine for God. But the Truth says we need God's help to become the people He needs us to be. So like clay in the potter's hand, we are molded into His desire for His creation. We will change.


John Stott reminds us in his study of the Beatitudes that when Jesus says, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted" (Mt. 5:4), Jesus is referring to us mourning our sins. As I look back on my life, I am not the same person I used to be. And this is Good News as the old me could never enter into God's holiness. I can see how poor I was spiritually when I gaze upon my early adulthood. The Bible is full of stories of faithful people being moved from one place to another. Did Abraham ever miss the Oaks of Mamre? Did Moses miss the pastures of Midian? When he was lying on his bed staring at the ceiling of his prison cell, did Paul ever experience nostalgia before running into Jesus on his way to Damascus? The answer to that question can be found in Philippians 3:7-9.


To mourn our past life means we have recognized that we have died to our old self. The Good News is we are a new creation in Christ Jesus. This is a comfort as the days ahead are indeed by God's design and I know it. It also means change is not over. I am still clay in the potter's hand. Praise be to God!


Change is inevitable. It means God loves us!


 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

  a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.

  What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God's gift to man.

  I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him. That which is,already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away.

  Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness. I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work. I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but beasts. For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity. All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return. Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth? So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. Who can bring him to seewhat will be after him? (Ecclesiastes 3)

Born Under the Law

Simeon and Anna Praise the Infant Jesus
Arent de Gelder

“Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”  (Luke 2:35)

When Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the Temple to fulfill the Law’s demands to dedicate the firstborn and for Mary to be purified, a righteous man named Simeon recognized the importance of their child saying “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and for glory to your people Israel.” (Lk. 2:29-32) Looking at this child, Simeon saw our salvation. This is Good News. But he warned Mary that her soul will be pierced as she will witness His crucifixion.

Paul reminds us, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” (Gal. 4:4-5) When a law is written, there is a penalty attached to it for those who break it. If I break a traffic law by going faster than the speed limit, I must pay a fine or lose my license. When we break God’s Law which is perfect, we pay a fine called death. The penalty is eternal punishment. (Rom. 6:23) The Law is meant for lawbreakers not for God. Those who are born of God, his heirs, do not need the law.  (Gal.5:18)

When we are born again, we are born of God. He adopts us as His own and we become His heirs inheriting eternal life, not eternal punishment reserved for the lawbreaker. When we compare ourselves to the Law taking an inventory of our thoughts and deeds, we see we are nothing more than lawbreakers. In other words, our hearts have been revealed. Before Jesus grew up, Simeon could see in this Child our salvation. Jesus would teach us His Father’s will and then go to the Cross to suffer under the Law! Only Jesus could perfectly fulfill the Law.

Those who are born again walk by the Spirit of God as Spirit gives birth to spirit. (John 3:6, Gal. 4:6) Let us measure our thoughts and deeds to the Law of God. And let us accept with faith Jesus fulfillment of the Law’s demands for this is Good News.

The Holy Name of Jesus

XVIII. Of obtaining eternal Salvation only by the Name of Christ.
They also are to be had accursed that presume to say, That every man shall be saved by the Law or Sect which he professeth, so that he be diligent to frame his life according to that Law, and the light of Nature. For Holy Scripture doth set out unto us only the Name of Jesus Christ, whereby men must be saved. (The Articles of Religion)

When people ask me what my faith is I reply, ‘I am a Christian!’ I do not say I am Anglican or Episcopalian or Protestant or Catholic. I am a Christian.

To say I am Christian is to say I am not a Buddhist, nor a Muslim, nor a Hindu nor a Jew. Our Articles of Religion are quite clear, “only the Name of Jesus Christ, whereby men must be saved.”

Why did Jesus come to us at all? Because we must be saved! Saved from what? From the fires of hell! And how does He do this? He imputes His righteousness into us exchanging it for our sins and their penalty. (2 Cor. 5:21, Is. 53:6) Buddha cannot do it. Mohammed cannot do it. Krishna cannot do it. And we cannot do it!

As St. Paul writes:

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:10-11)

So the next time someone says to you is doesn’t make a difference what one believes, remind them of the consequences of sin and the only hope for salvation that can be found in Jesus alone.

The Holy Innocents

Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:

  “A voice was heard in Ramah,
   weeping and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
   she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.” (Mt. 2:16-18)

Death comes to everyone. (Heb. 9:27) It is our wage for the sin we bear (Rom. 6:23) And this is what rubs us the wrong way. Don't we really see ourselves as innocent?

The killing of the Holy Innocents is one those passages that atheists use to justify their lack of belief. After all, how can anyone believe in a god who would stand by letting innocent children die and selfishly protect his own son? And the modernist 'Christian' rationalizes that this is just midrash equating Jesus birth with the Passover. For a historical argument opposing such a rational see Gordon Franz article here. That still leaves the atheist's conundrum, how could God allow such an evil to happen?

My answer to that question is to acknowledge a few basic Christian doctrines with the most basic being the doctrine of original sin. Original sin is the sin we inherit from Adam. It is a part of our nature. (See Article 9 of The Articles of Religion) How many parents are amazed by the ability of their child to lie to them at such a young age. "Where did they learn to do that?" they exclaim. Scripture has the answer! (Psalm 58:3) We are in denial that we are wicked from birth. On more that one occasion, Jesus reminds of us how wicked we are (Lk. 11:13) A healthy dose of this reality keeps us humble and reminds us why we need the cross. And it reminds us that if we don't see our sinfulness and the need for repentance we are all like King Herod.

Death is the norm of mankind.

Whether we die young or old, it is the judgment for our sinfulness. The cure for death is Jesus and His death upon the Cross. (Col. 2:14) But everyone of us must see ourselves guilty deserving death before we can with faith trust Jesus with His forgiveness. To believe otherwise is to believe we can work our way into heaven by our good deeds, a notion even God finds objectionable (Is. 64:6)

Everyday children die. They die from birth defects and abortions, from violence  and disease. Those who are alive to witness it have been shown God's mercy. Not because we are good, but because in God's sovereignty, He is showing us His mercy in order that we may repent. (2 Peter 3:8-10) The death of others reminds us of our death to come.

In the 12 Days of Christmas, we are reminded of death in the midst of Jesus birth. The very Second Day of Christmas we remember the first martyr, St. Stephen, who was stoned for his faith. And the Fourth Day we remember children who by accident of their birth found themselves the object of a mad king's rage. Both witness to Christ's glory. For Stephen he died because of the Wisdom he found in the One True God (Acts 6:10) For the toddlers in Bethlehem, they had no opportunity to be self-reliant on their righteousness, but were totally dependant on God's mercy after death. In Jesus, we die to self and are raised to new life in Him alone! 

O ALMIGHTY God, who out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast ordained strength, and madest infants to glorify thee by their deaths; Mortify and kill all vices in us, and so strengthen us by thy grace, that by the innocency of our lives, and constancy of our faith even unto death, we may glorify thy holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Santa, Jesus and Bobby Hull Table Hockey

When I was a little boy, Christmas was a time of Advent Calendars, anticipating Santa Claus and midnight Mass. Of course, the most exciting of the three is Santa Claus. One year I wanted a Bobby Hull Table Hockey Game. It was in the Sears Wish Book. I do not remember exactly how old I was but I do remember I was in grade school and that Santa was actually my father. But I did ask Santa for it.


That year Santa did not bring what I had asked for. And I cried. I spent the next few days crying. And I finally got it. I remember my mother coming to me and telling me the reason that it was not under the tree is because my parents could not afford it. As a child I never knew our financial situation. I just knew I had it better than my parents who grew up in the depression. They eventually bought it for me because they felt sorry for me. And that was a mistake. 


What I know as an adult I just didn't know as a child. And as a child I did not learn to deal with unreasonable expectations nor disappointments. And I, too, am guilty of trying to keep my children happy with their temporal wants. 


The truth is Santa Claus is not real but Jesus is. He is the Christ in Christmas. God condescended to us. As the classic carol goes:


Away in a manger, no crib for a bed,
The little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head.
The stars in the sky looked down where He lay,
The little Lord Jesus, asleep on the hay.

Unfortunately our Christmas season has become one of covetous greed. We are all children wanting what we don't need. And we are parents forgetting that the pain of not getting what we want is temporary and a discipline to be learned! 

I am still learning that lesson in my middle age. And I know what my Lord teaches me in His adult years, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal." (Mt. 6:19-20) I know these words and I know where I need to repent!

If God was content with a manger for a bed for His only Son, should we not be content with what God has provided for us? (Heb. 13:5-6)

Steve Jobs, Christopher Hitchens and Pascal's Wager

1. "God is, or He is not"
2. A Game is being played... where heads or tails will turn up.
3. According to reason, you can defend neither of the propositions.
4. You must wager. (It's not optional.)
5. Let us weigh the gain and the loss in wagering that God is. Let us estimate these two chances. If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing.
6. Wager, then, without hesitation that He is. (...) There is here an infinity of an infinitely happy life to gain, a chance of gain against a finite number of chances of loss, and what you stake is finite. And so our proposition is of infinite force, when there is the finite to stake in a game where there are equal risks of gain and of loss, and the infinite to gain.  ( Pensées, part III):

Much is said when a noted celebrity dies. And a lot is said when a celebrity has spent a life denying God's existence dies, especially by Christians who hold out hope for salvation. When Steve Jobs died he was remembered for being born into Lutheran home but as an adult became a Buddhist. Yes, many people have benefited from Jobs technical visions. When atheist Christopher Hitchens died, author of your god is not great, people reminisced over how well he 'knew' the Gospel because, after all, he grew up in the Church of England. And for both, I read blogs on how maybe, just maybe while in the very last moments of their life, they realized Jesus was real and they accepted Him as Lord & Savior. I am simplifying some of these sentiments. But the crux of the issue is our desire that we can live our life as we please and then at the very last we hedge our bets and say some prayer just in case they were wrong along. Isn't this the hope we have for all of our lost friends? 

Let's be clear, true repentance can happen on a death bed. A soul sees his life in the rear view mirror and understand that what follows after death should be hell. They know the only escape is to realize they cannot enter on their own merit but accepting Jesus' death upon the cross as a propitiation, in its fullest meaning which is to satisfy God's wrath, can they go to heaven. My most effective moments in ministry has been to the dying. They know death is eminent and they know life is eternal. I share the Good News of Christ and they receive it with joy because they understand their guilt. But I feel too many of my Christian friends see salvation as Pascal's wager, a bet to made just in case I am wrong.

Many will ask, "What about the thief on the cross?" (Luke 23:39-43) Well, what about him? He was a criminal sentenced to death! He knew what was coming and when it came he understood that he justly deserve to be crucified. (Lk. 23: 41) He did not ask to be removed from the cross and saved some pain. He recognized who Jesus was. (Lk. 23:41) He asked for mercy. (Lk. 23:42) He did not command Jesus to save him from what he deserved. He even rebuked his friend in his insolence. He truly was sorry for his condition. That's repentance. Waiting to the end to make an act of contrition is not the same for being sorry over one's sins.

After his death, many will read your god is not great and be influenced by it. God knows that. Many will download sermons onto their iPod. God knows that too. But He also knows whom his elect are. (Eph. 1:5) There is no chance throwing of the dice. We, Christians, do a disservice putting out a hope that there is always an act we can do at the very last to save ourselves. After all, we will never know if we will be in a fatal car accident or struggling for breath during that massive heart attack. We all die. And so we all must repent for it is this life we have only one chance to come to Christ on bended knee!

Yes, Hitchens knew the foolishness of Pascal's Wager