NEWS
Reflection: Bearing Burdens and St. Paul's Pantry
By Fr. Wesley Walker
“Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” -Galatians 6:2 (KJV)
One of the most compelling Scriptural depictions of the Church is somatic: we are the Body of Christ (Rom 12:4–8; 1 Cor 12:12–27; Eph 3:6; 4:15–16; 5:23; Col 1:18, 24). This genius metaphor allows for St. Paul to emphasize the vocation, gifts, and contributions of the individual member of the body while also maintaining a strong emphasis on unity. Your hand is not your foot, but they are both part of you. Further, the Body that is the Church finds its unity under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, its head.
You are a body and a soul. No one sees your soul, however. We only see the a person’s body. Bodies are sacramental then because they visibly express an invisible reality. Just as your body expresses who you are, so the Body of Christ expresses who he is. We are the hands and feet of Christ, showing him to the world and to other members of the Body.
Our organic unity as the Body means that the health of the individual member and the health of the collective are intricately tied together. "If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad" (1 Cor 12:26). This entails solidarity between the members, as St. Paul instructs in Romans 12:15: “Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.”
For these reasons, I am excited about a new ministry we’re launching here at St. Paul’s that we’re calling St. Paul’s Pantry (see Lynn's announcement above). The goal is for us to be able to provide meals for members of our parish who may be ill, injured, or otherwise unable to cook meals. As many have learned from experience, being a caregiver can feel overwhelming and isolating. We hope and pray that this ministry will work to care for those in need and help us better come alongside those in tough situations. We want to bear each others burdens.
Here’s what this looks like practically. I was able to acquire a freezer that will go in the shed behind the church. We’re hoping to collect frozen meals that we can store there. When an emergency happens and a family may need meals, we will coordinate with them and make sure they’re provided for. If you feel led, you’re welcome to prepare a frozen meal and bring it by the church! And remember, this isn’t just a meal, it’s an opportunity to share God’s love with those in our parish community who are in need of prayer, support, and care.
Epiphanytide House Blessings
As we enter the season of Epiphanytide (Jan 6-Feb 1), we invite you to join us in blessing the homes of our community. This is a time-honored tradition in which we ask God's protection and guidance for the spaces in which we live and work.
The clergy at St. Paul’s are happy to bless your homes anytime but this is an especially appropriate season for it! We will be offering house blessings for anyone who would like to participate. You can sign up for it by emailing Fr. Wesley (wwalker@stpaulscrownsville.com).
During the blessing, the priest asks for God's presence to be felt in every room and bless the home with holy water. It’s important for us to create and cultivate sacred spaces in our lives, and this begins at home! We hope you will join us in this meaningful tradition and take this opportunity to invite God's blessings into your home.
Newcomers Class: Saturdays from 11a-12p January 21-March 4
You are cordially invited to join us for our Newcomers class at St. Paul's Anglican Church. The class will take place on Saturdays from 11am-12pm, starting January 21 and running until March 4.
This class is designed for those who are new to the church or interested in learning more about the Anglican faith. We will be exploring the basics of our beliefs, practices, and traditions, and we welcome any questions you may have.
This class is open to everyone, even those who are already members. We hope you will join us for this opportunity to learn and grow in your faith. Please RSVP by contacting Fr. Wesley (wwalker@stpaulscrownsville.com; 919-830-2990) if you plan to attend. We look forward to seeing you there!
Winter Retreat: "My Soul Doth Magnify the Lord"
Mark your calendars for February 18, 2023, from 8:30-12:30pm for a special retreat focused on prayer. "My Soul Doth Magnify the Lord: The Benedictus, Magnificat, and Nunc Dimittis as the Entryway to Prayer" will be led by Fr. Wesley Walker, Pr. Carl Roemer, and Dcn. David Hodil, and will explore the rich history and meaning behind these beloved prayers that we as Anglicans pray daily at Morning and Evening Prayer.
Join us for a morning of reflection, worship, and deepening our connection to the divine through these ancient prayers. All are welcome, so invite your friends and family to come along. See you there!
Reflection: "Heaven"
“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitters on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” -Colossians 3:1-2
Dante and Beatrice gaze upon the highest heavens; from Gustav Dore’s illustrations of the Divine Comedy
“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitters on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” -Colossians 3:1-2
Heaven is a slightly less controversial topic than judgment or Hell. Still, our thinking about eschatology is often imprecise. It’s admittedly a difficult topic because the Scriptures use disparate and complex images to describe what Heaven will be like. Many people like to create mental pictures of what they think Heaven will be like. We see this in the proliferation of books like Heaven is for Real, Proof of Heaven, To Heaven and Back, etc. These books are helpful in providing testimonies that counter many of the materialist assumptions of our modern age, but they heavily rely on experiences rather than the Scriptures or the teachings of the Church. This is a topic that we could talk about at length, but for today, there are three important lessons about Heaven that are especially helpful because they have practical implications for how we live.
Last week, I mentioned that Hell is both an eternal destination and a present reality. The same is true about Heaven. Heaven is often associated with the term “eternal life” which is usually interpreted to be a quantity, a never-ending paradise. It is that! “Eternal life,” however, also refers to a quality of life. When we grow in grace and virtue, when we live in accordance with God’s design for human flourishing, when we participate in the sacramental life of the Church, we experience a preview of what is to come for those who love and serve God. “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21).
Heaven may conjure up images of floating on clouds and playing on harps. This caricature often distracts us from the real nature of Heaven. Heaven is where we experience the Beatific Vision where we see God, our Creator. In Scripture, humans are not allowed to see God. In Exodus 33:18-20, Moses was only allowed to see God’s back because “Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.” Yet, we also have the words of our Lord in the beatitudes: “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” (Matt 5:8). St. Paul anticipates this vision in 1 Corinthians 13:12, “For now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” This is what you were made for! This is what we were all made for: intimate union with our Creator.
If it’s true that Heaven is breaking into the present and if it’s true that it can be characterized by the Beatific Vision, then it means right now is significant because we have our end goal in mind. When you take a road trip, the destination determines your route. If our ultimate destination is the Beatific Vision, then that determines the choices we make now. It’s important to note the words of Jesus in Matthew: “the pure in heart shall see God.” For us to arrive at purity of heart, we must embark on the journey of sanctification. Abbot Moses exhorted John Cassian and his companion Germanus to, “follow completely anything that can bring us to this objective, to this purity of heart.” This means that “anything which pulls us away from it must be avoided as being dangerous and damaging…With this as our continuous aim, all our acts and thoughts are fully turned toward its achievement…For a mind which lacks an abiding sense of direction veers hither and yon by the hour, and by the minute is a prey to outside influences and is endlessly the prisoner of whatever strikes it first.” Heaven, the Beatific Vision, and sanctification are different ways of expressing our goal; the Christian life is about acquiring the virtues that will help us along that trajectory.
It’s hard to believe Christmas is almost here. On Christmas, we celebrate the fact that the Word of God, the Second member of the Trinity, assumed a human nature by uniting a body and soul to his Person. In the Christ child lying in the manger, we see the convergence of Heaven and earth. He shows us who we are supposed to be. He was effectively constantly in the Beatific Vision, experiencing perfect union between humanity and divinity. So as we celebrate this wonderful festival, we must remember that being conformed to his image is the most important thing. “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitters on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth” (Col 3:1-2).
Our Christmas Service Schedule
Here at St. Paul’s, we love to celebrate the Nativity of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Here’s how we’re doing that this year!
Almighty God, who hast given us thy only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and as at this time to be born of a pure virgin; Grant that we being regenerate, and made thy children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by thy Holy Spirit; through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Spirit ever, one God, world without end. Amen.
Reflection: The Four Last Things - Hell
By Fr. Wesley Walker
“Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed.” -Abraham to the Rich Man in St. Luke 16:26
“Hell” in “The Last Judgment” by Fra Angelica (c. 1425)
The existentialist philosopher Jean Paul Sartre once remarked that “Hell is other people.” From a Christian perspective, this couldn’t be more backwards. Hell isn’t other people; it’s isolation from community and a rejection of God’s continual offer of love. Today, we are talking about the third of the four last things: Hell. Much like last week’s topic of judgment, Hell is certainly not a popular doctrine in our modern context, but faithful Christians must grapple with its reality since it’s a common topic in Our Lord’s teachings. Hell is the ultimate deprivation that results from turning inward away from God and others. The fact that hell is real provides us an opportunity for reflection and prayer.
We often think of Heaven and Hell as eternal destinations. They are those; however, they’re also present realities. Being separated from God through sin is Hell, albeit in a foreshadowing of an ultimate reality that will be fully unveiled after the final judgment. What this means is that Hell as an eternal destination is the culmination of a present trajectory that refuses God’s love now. It’s true that people who aren’t Christians can often appear happy—they may have loving families, good jobs, lots of money, they might be productive members of society, etc.—but in the end those things will fall away and the misery that’s shrouded under a thin veneer of temporal success, materialism, and hedonistic indulgence will be experienced in full force. Still, when we see people who reject the Gospel—explicitly or implicitly—there is a sense in which they are experiencing Hell now. We experience Hell now when we reject God through sin.
What this means is that CS Lewis was right when he said that “the doors of Hell are locked on the inside.” God doesn’t arbitrarily send one group of his creatures to Hell while allowing the other group into Heaven; we choose Hell when we persist in rebellion and reject his love. God is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet 3:9). He “will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:4). At the same time, God gives us what we want. Rejection of him calcifies our hearts and makes us increasingly resistant to the Truth. We choose Hell when we turn inward, away from God and away from others.
Ultimately, Hell is the anguish of rejecting God’s love. In Scripture, God’s presence is often depicted as a fire. In a positive sense, the fire of his presence burns away our impurities. He is the refiner’s fire. In a negative sense, however, this fire is a torment for those who spurn God’s love. There can be no greater torment than knowing than the intentional rejection of what is True, Good, and Beautiful.
As I mentioned above, the doctrine of Hell usually doesn’t play well in our modern context. For us, however, Hell offers a chance to reflect on our lives and to pray for others. Theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar explains that the Church’s teaching on Hell “is to be contemplated strictly as a matter which concerns me alone.” In other words, our job is not to decide whether other people are going to Heaven or Hell. We should hope that the Gospel reaches and saves every soul. Still, we should heed St. Paul and “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil 2:12). So the reality of Hell should be the ultimate impetus for us to reflect on our own lives by which we assess what trajectory we are traveling. Even more, the doctrine of Hell gives us a reason to pray by interceding for souls, recognizing that the sacrifice of Christ is “a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world” (BCP 80).
