News from the Pews

Hello my brothers and sisters in Christ. In the next two months in the life of the Church we will celebrate Harvest, Dedication and Holy Cross festivals.

During the month of September, the focus of the Church is on God’s creation, our own creativity and a time of self-examination and repentance. A time when we give thanks for all the goodness of God over us. A time when we try to Give God the best portion of all He has given to us. I say try because we can never be over generous to God.

The Church also focuses on ‘Disciples’ and ‘sin’. In the Gospels, Jesus begins his ministry by calling people to ‘Follow him’. At the end of the Gospels, the calling becomes a sending: ‘As the Father has sent me, so I send you’; and ‘Go and make disciples of all nations’

We are reminded this month about this calling to discipleship by Jesus. This calling and sending applies not just to individuals but to the whole company of Christ’s people. We have a shared calling as a Church. The question is, what does that calling look like in practice?

What is it exactly that the Church is trying to be and do. What is it, that all of us, together as a body of Christ, here at St Andrew’s are trying to be and do?

When we are willing to acknowledge our need of Christ and stop striving to find happiness but receive Him into our lives, then like the disciples, we have reached our destination but it is also the beginning of the journey of faith and trust in Christ. Reflecting on the words of Apostle Paul’s to the Corinthians: “Apart from Him and His redemptive love as expressed through the cross and the resurrection, we would be most miserable.” Someone also put it another way: “Now that I know Christ, I’m happier when I’m sad than before when I was glad.”

I remember what Helen, our dear departed sister in Christ said in one of our Bible study sessions when we were discussing our righteousness’s before God. In her responses she said, “we are not good yet but we are trying…”

A humble place for all of us to be. None of us can claim to be completely righteous before God. When we begin to feel comfortable with ourselves to the extent that we can justify ourselves in our conduct, we have stopped learning from Christ and will not be able to continue our journey of faith and trust in Christ. Learning and living a righteous life is a lifelong journey, a destination we may never reach… but all is well as long as we do not stop.

We are also reminded this month as we listen to the words of the Scriptures not to fall into the path of sin and wickedness. Again and again, we have constantly been reminded of the dangers of sin and the temptations to sin. Unless we are vigilant and put our conscious effort to reject sin and evil, more often than not we may find ourselves stumbling and falling yet again because we are unable to resist the strong pull and allure of sin which can drag us down the path towards condemnation to eternal punishment.

This month the Church also celebrates Holy Cross festival. In Christian liturgy calendar, there are several different Feasts of the Cross, all of which commemorate the cross used in the crucifixion of Jesus. Unlike Good Friday, which is dedicated to the passion of Christ and the crucifixion, these feasts days celebrate the cross itself as the sign of salvation in Christ. In some part of Anglican Communion, the feast is called “Holy Cross Day” or “Holy Rood Day”.

In October the Church focus shifts to Dedication festivals. Dedication Festivals tend to be about buildings, about the consecration and dedication of a new Church and then the annual celebration of its place in its local community.

The gospel reading for this festival reminds us that buildings, even Church buildings, should not dominate our attention, however beautiful or historic they turn out to be.

In St John’s Gospel account of the cleansing of the temple, we are not simply told of Jesus clearing away all the tables of the people changing money from Roman to Jewish coinage in order that pilgrims can use Jewish money to buy the animals to be offered in the temple for sacrifice. Nor that Jesus simply condemns animal sacrifice as not the way to bring people into communion with almighty God.

In this Gospel account, we are told that what really matters is not the temple and all its false animal sacrifices but the body of Jesus himself, that will be crucified and buried but will rise from the dead on the third day.

Also, as St Paul said in accordance to our Lord Jesus’ Christ teaching, we are being built spiritually into a dwelling-place for God. The Church and all its members, all of us together as the Body of Christ, as being built into this spiritual temple, holy temple not made with hands.

God dwells in us. We should not simply think of God as dwelling in the temple in Jerusalem, or dwelling in any particular Church building. God dwells in us. So, we are called and enabled to be holy, as the saints of God are holy. We find within ourselves the holiness of the living God dwelling in us and transforms us into the eternal life we are destined to enjoy beyond this life.

Thanks be to Jesus Christ, our Lord, who in His loving kindness has claimed us for His own. May we be worthy of our calling. Amen.

God’s blessing and Grace always

Reverend Olasupo Ogunyinka.

LECTIONARY READINGS FOR SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER