Believing: we are able to see; Not Believing: we are blind

Sermon Notes for Sunday, February 19th

   

 We cannot see ‘a blooming thing’ when we do not have faith in Almighty God. It is faith that opens our eyes to God. When our hearts are open to God: when we believe that He is real, then and only then are we able to notice the reality of God at work in our lives. It is strange, yet true that there are like scales over our eyes when we do not believe or when we mistrust God. These scales fell off from Saul when he became a believer (Paul): he was healed of his spiritual blindness which was also manifested in physical blindness (see Acts 9:18).

   The old adage: ‘seeing is believing’ is basically true, however when it comes to matters of the faith it may become even more true that: believing is seeing! We pray, as Paul prays in Ephesians 1:18 that the eyes of our hearts may be enlightened, that we may know the hope to which He has called us. May His true light ~the light of the Gospel of the glory of Jesus Christ~ enter our eyes through faith and shine in our hearts ~giving the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ~ as stated in today’s passage: 2 Corinthians 4:4-6.

   In this way of faith we will no longer be spiritually blind (the work of the ‘god of this world’ who blinds the eyes of unbelievers). We will instead see by faith and recognize the Lord loving us in all His glory.
 

                               2^nd Corinthians chapter 4 verses 3-6

³ And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. ⁴ In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. ⁵ For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 
⁶ For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness”, has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

VirtueOnline - News - News - TONAWANDA, NY: Anglican church assumes central role in new diocese

News : TONAWANDA, NY: Anglican church assumes central role in new diocese
Posted by David Virtue on 2011/8/16 15:00:00 (646 reads)

TONAWANDA, NY: Anglican church assumes central role in new diocese

By Jay Tokasz
NEWS STAFF REPORTER
http://www.buffalonews.com/city/communities/tonawanda/article521170.ece
August 13, 2011

[Rev. Arthur Ward] When members of St. Bartholomew's Church in the Town of Tonawanda decided in 2008 to leave the Episcopal Church, they didn't know for sure where they fit in the larger structure of Anglicanism.

Less than three years later, the parish has become a pivotal congregation within the Anglican Church in North America, a rival to the Episcopal Church that grew from a rift between theological conservatives and liberal Episcopalians over Bible interpretation and the ordination of a gay bishop.

This week, the congregation served as host for a conference of the International Diocese, the new diocese to which it belongs as part of the Anglican Church in North America.

Friday, Bishop Bill Atwood dedicated St. Bartholomew as the diocese's pro-cathedral, giving the church special significance as the site of the bishop's chair.

Atwood cited the church's role as a stabilizing force in organizing the new diocese, which includes congregations in Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas, as well as New York State.

"The people here are magnificent," Atwood said. "It's a resource place with great people."

Unlike most dioceses in the Anglican Church, the International Diocese is not regional.

"It's not geographical by definition, but it's based on a shared mission value," said Atwood.

Congregations within the International Diocese have strong connections overseas, which they expect to maintain and enhance.

When the congregation left the Episcopal Diocese of Western New York, for example, the Rev. Arthur W. Ward Jr., its longtime rector, was able to remain an active priest by transferring to the Diocese of Argentina.

The Argentina diocese is part of the province of the Southern Cone in the Worldwide Anglican Communion - a province that was sympathetic to churches in the United States that disagreed with the 2003 consecration of an openly gay bishop.

Provinces in Africa also provided temporary ecclesiastical homes for American priests and congregations that disputed the consecration.

Those provinces "offered us more than a lifeboat," said Atwood. "They offered us life."

Western churches, he added, can learn from the impact that those Anglican churches have had on the cultures of their countries, he added.

For more than 50 years, the St. Bartholomew congregation had worshipped in a sanctuary at 1064 Brighton Road, becoming the largest single parish in the Episcopal Diocese.

After the split with the diocese, members left their church behind and purchased a former synagogue at 2368 Eggert Road.

The move "energized the parish," Ward said. "We got stronger as a result, not weaker."

The Episcopal Diocese attempted to establish a new parish in the Brighton Road site. But when that failed, the diocesan offices were moved there from their longtime location on Delaware Avenue.

"It's ironic," Ward said, "but it's nice that our old place was a blessing to the diocese that they were able to make it their headquarters."

END

Anglican 1000 Replanting Biblical Anglicanism in North America

Anglican Church in North America

Anglican 1000 Replanting Biblical Anglicanism in North America

“We get to see the fingerprints of what the Lord is doing here in the U.S. and in Canada.”

As the Anglican Church in North America Provincial Council gathered in Long Beach, Calif., The Rev. Canon David Roseberry, chairman of Anglican 1000, and The Rev. Daniel Adkinson, Anglican 1000 associate director, addressed attendees and shared the latest news about the movement.

Father Roseberry reflected on the day two years ago when at his investiture, Archbishop Robert Duncan issued the call for 1,000 new Anglican congregations and communities of faith during his ministry. “You felt that roar of applause,” said Roseberry. “These were words spoken under the Spirit that came to us in power. There was such a reception that that I just felt moved.”

That one line from Archbishop Duncan’s sermon became a strategic Anglican Church in North America initiative with the vision to plant new works to reach North America with the Good News of Jesus Christ.

“All of us have been nurtured by a church,” said Father Roseberry. “We are the beneficiaries of church planting efforts long ago. Anglican 1000 is an effort to return that favor to the future. Our vision is to plant churches and communities of faith that will bring future generations to the Gospel. It’s worth a lot of our money, effort, and attention.”

“We’ve seen church planters step out in faith to replant biblical Anglicanism here in North America,” said The Rev. Daniel Adkinson. “We get to see the fingerprints of what the Lord is doing here in the U.S. and in Canada as well.”

Adkinson reported that Anglican 1000 is currently counting roughly 130 new works, but said there are even more churches that have not yet been reported to Anglican 1000 or are in the process of being planted.

Adkinson said of reaching the Anglican 1000 goal, “By God’s grace, if He moves, we can. It’s about more than the number. It’s about calling people to conversion and transformation.”

(follow this link http://www.anglicanchurch.net/?/main/page/264  for the complete article)   

Archbishop’s State of the Church Address: Provincial Council 2011 (excerpts)

Two years ago we were 706 congregations.  The annual parochial and diocesan reports for 2010 – the first year for which we have a system of statistical reporting in place (another provincial milestone) – identify 952 congregations as part of the dioceses of the Anglican Church in North America and its ministry partners.  Statistically this represents a 34 percent growth in congregations at the end of the first 18 months of Church life.

We focus on the centrality of local congregations as the “chief agency” of our mission in the Anglican Church in North America.[Article IV of the Constitution]  If we are to “reach North America with the transforming love of Jesus Christ” the principal way we will do this is through the local congregation. We say that every Anglican Church congregation is “accountable to the Holy Scriptures, accountable to the Tradition, and accountable for the transformation of society.” 


We understand that congregations are where disciples are formed and that it is through congregations that surrounding environments are changed.  We have a clarity about all of this – about the absolute centrality of congregations – that allows us to focus as a Province. Bishops, archbishops, dioceses, structures, programs all exist in order to make the local congregation strong.