Happy Pascha! 9 April 2023

I have not been writing homilies for the past two or three weeks, and I wish I could have, but I have found myself visiting the Anglican Church of Korea, and other things related to my tough schedule makes public posts rather difficult. Right now, I have to make some tough decisions as I consider the future of this mission. 

St Dymphna's English Mission is something that was birthed out of my desire to be faithful to my transitional diaconate (to become a priest eventually) and evangelistic call. Everyone who knows me will know that I was ordained a few years ago in the Anglican Catholic Church by Bishop Alan Kenyon-Hoare of the Western Cape Diocese.

Of course, due to impracticality and my situation, I found myself in a situation in which I could not sustain my active diaconate; not too long after the passing of Bishop Alan, my thoughts and missional desires were somewhat dashed, and I was almost directionless.

I did, of course, find my way back to a group of then Anglican-Rite churches which were most Eastern, but due to personal reasons (things I will not mention here, I decided to leave). I find myself in a difficult situation yet again that I am almost tempted to complain and rant about -- but I do not believe that such an attitude will serve me well.

Easter Reflections

There is one passage that I have decided to meditate on:

Colossians iii.1-4

    1      Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God 2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3      For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

Verse 1: The verse tells that we, as Christians, have been "raised with Christ." Of course, there is a sense in which have already been risen with Christ, and a sense in which we look forward to the bodily resurrection, the redemption of our bodies.

      "having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead." (Col 2:12)

I am reminded by the eastern Christian tradition which emphasizes our participation in "immanent time," or as one Eastern Orthodox philosopher David Bentley Hart speaks of "the eternal now." We are ever looking forward to the eschatological reality of Christ, and by faith looking forward and hoping, but our present participation is an opportunity to reflect on the breaking in of those realities, not only as a future reality but our participation that we can have now, through prayer, meditation, and the Sacraments.

 The Faithlife Study Bible states concerning the part of "being raised with Christ", "A position of favor, honor, and authority (Psa 110:1; Eph 1:20). In the OT, God’s right hand symbolizes strength and salvation (Exod 15:6; Psa 20:6)."(Barry, 3:1)  I believe this text speaks of our priestly and kingly authority as children of God, and is comparable to the millennial reign of Revelation 20, which the church has historically and now in the majority has declared as the 1000 figurative years of this age.

Verse 2: We are to be heavenly-minded, not focussing on carnal things, but on heavenly realities. Consider Saint Gregory of Nyssa's commentary, "So … if reason instead assumes sway over such emotions, each of them is transmuted to a form of virtue. For anger produces courage, terror caution, fear obedience, hatred aversion from vice, the power of love the desire for what is truly beautiful. High spirit in our character raises our thought above the passions and keeps it from bondage to what is base. Indeed, even the great apostle praises such a form of mental elevation when he bids us constantly to “think those things that are above.” So we find that every such motion, when elevated by loftiness of mind, is conformed to the beauty of the divine image."

Verse 3: We have died with Christ, but we have also been arisen because of Christ, our lives hidden in Christ.

St John Chrysostom states that we have everything which Christ has! 

"This is to prepare the way for drawing them off from pleasure and ease … so that, now, you do not appear. See how Paul has transferred them into heaven itself. For, as I said, he is always bent on showing that they have the very same things that Christ has. Through all his epistles the tenor is this, to show that in all things they are partakers with him. Therefore, he uses the terms head and body and does everything to convey this to them."

Verse 4: In the eschaton, Christ, who is in fact our lives will be revealed. Consider the Faithlife Study Bible on this:

"Paul underscores the significance of Christ for the believer: Jesus is not peripheral to life; He is life. He imparts God’s life, and He is the center around which life should be oriented." (Barry 2016, 3:1)

Final Words

I am awaiting my ordination, and everything seems to be unsure right now. I do not know what the future holds, but I can only live my life in faith and active love; and believe that will God be faithful in dealing with me.

Happy Easter! Christ is Risen! 

Bibliography

John D. Barry et al., Faithlife Study Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016), Col 3:1.