“May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Romans 15:5

I would like to take one word from this text as the subject of this sermon: Encouragement. The word is an indispensible key to understanding the Christian Gospel. The Greek word is paracaleo and is usually translated “encourage” or “comfort.” Without the grace that this word carries we are aptly described in the hymn “unhelped by thee in errors maze we grope while passion stains and folly dims our youth and age comes on uncheered by faith and hope.”

The need for encouragement is universal. Of all people one would think St. Paul would not need encouragement. Surely, he didn’t need it. Five times he endured 39 lashes, he was beaten three times with rods, once stoned, three times shipwrecked. He was an exceedingly tough guy and with his strong faith and obedience and closeness to God he needed no encouragement. WRONG!

Listen to the Epistle: “. . . when we came into Macedonia . . . we were afflicted at every turn – fightings without and fears within. But God who encourages the downcast, encourages us by the coming of Titus and not only by his coming but also by the encouragement with which he was encouraged in you who told him of the longing and mourning and zeal for me. I am exceedingly joyful in all our afflictions.”

Here the word “encouragement” (paracaleo) is used five times in five verses. It is reminiscent of II Cor. 1:3-7 where it is used 10 times in only five verses. Surely this word is the indispensable key to opening our hearts to confidence and trust in the Gospel, the word that is an antidote to discouragement. It is no accident that when St. John needed a word to name the Holy Spirit he chose paracaleo. The Holy Spirit is our Paraclete and we are called to carry this Spirit to all who are downcast. As Paul was encouraged through Titus, Titus in turn was encouraged through Paul.. They were not messengers of human desires and spirits. They were messengers of a gift they had been given by the Holy Spirit. Paul asked for Timothy, a brother in Christ, to come to him in prison. He wanted the presence of another Christian. The fellowship of Christians is a gift of grace, an encouragement of the Paraclete. Neither you nor I are the Paraclete. But in as much as we have been encouraged by the Holy Spirit, that encouragement with which we have been encouraged, is the very work of the Holy Spirit. We are merely his precious vehicles.

I’d like to give an example. A successful lawyer in Montgomery , Al, for whom I have inordinate respect for his manly strength, talent, and skill, was an undefeated heavy weight wrestler at Princeton. For ten years, following his graduation, he returned and beat the current Princeton champion wrestler. Like St. Paul he was a tough guy. But several years ago he called me saying he was in such a depression he could scarcely get out of bed and was too emotionally paralyzed to practice law.

Fortunately, another friend came to mind, Dr. Joseph Homer Dimon – we call him Scooty. Scooty is a widely respected orthopedic surgeon, once President of the Society of Orthopedic surgeons in America. He, too, had once become completely debilitated by depression. His return to health he attributes to the work of the Holy Spirit (the Paraclete, the encourager). In telling me about what he went through he said, “Fitz, you know how much passing a kidney stone hurts, well, this depression was ten times more painful.” As a fellow kidney stone victim, I simply cannot comprehend such a pain. But Scooty offered to share his experience, with which he had been healed, with anyone I referred to him. I called Julian back and gave him Scooty’s phone number. Scooty shared with him the encouragement with which he had been encouraged. The Holy Spirit whose name is “Encourager” started Julian on the road to complete recovery. I have Scooty’s number if you need it.

Are we encouraging one another or those in our congregations? I had occasion recently to look up in the dictionary the definition of “preach”: “to give earnest advice, and to do so in an obtrusive or tedious way,” “to give religious or moral instruction especially in a drawn-out, tiresome manner,” “to exhort, to discourse in the manner of a preacher – now usually with implications of officiousness or tediousness”

I looked up sermon: “any discourse or speech especially a lengthy and tedious reproof or exhortation,” “a serious address; a lecture on one’s conduct or duty; a homily; hence an annoying harangue”.(New Web. Int.) There is no encouragement there.

There was nothing about gospel, good news, and promise – nothing that alluded to comfort or encouragement. What makes this incontrovertible evidence of a culture bereft of the Christian Gospel is that dictionaries do not tell us what words ought to mean but simply what meaning they carry to persons hearing those words. Professor Philip Turner has updated how preaching and sermons are now heard: God approves of us just as we are, to nurture our self-esteem without repentance and without God’s sacrifice and his Holy Spirit who enables us to have our hearts changed and repent which is what is meant by repentance. Exhortation is almost totally lacking for personal behavior except as that has to do with civil and environmental demands. Either way there is no gospel, no promise, and no spiritually enabling encouragement.

It’s fair to say that this reflects our culture’s understanding of Christianity. Without Revelation the secular culture is forced to speculate. The secular world with its repudiation of a fake and counterfeit Christianity is compelled to resort to speculation regarding truth, morality, art, education, family, and sex. This secularism is itself a religion, a trust and faith in something it does not know but merely believes – that this world is all there is ism. This secularism poses as neutral but even the non-Christian deconstructionist Stanley Fish rightly shows that claim to be a merely a shell game. This religion has invaded the churches that have substituted scolding and exhortation for Gospel and Grace. Secularism is a man made religion and the fruit of this religion is corruption in ethics, ugliness in art, inevitable idolatry of penultimate ideals, naivete concerning human nature, hysterical optimism regarding political hopes and depression resulting from a hope relegated to this world, a world without any final and ultimate justice, mercy and love.

This picture is discouraging. None of us is unaffected by its pervasive influence in TV, the universities, and in all aspects of society in which we live and breathe. This sad but arrogant religion is one that results from the proclamation of a false Christianity. There is an excellent book that shows how we can live in trust in such an age of arrogance but modesty forbids the author to be named.

The encouraging news is that we are not in the business of speculation. God has revealed Himself in scripture and supremely in Jesus Christ. Jesus told us that He must depart that the Paraclete might come. We have no two-person Trinity but Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Spirit of comfort and encouragement when we encourage the downcast with the encouragement with which we have been encouraged. There is the Holy Spirit.

As an antidote to secular sadness and discouragement, let us look at the twelfth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. Even here the word translated exhort or entreat is paracaleo. With the authority of 27 pages of Kittel’s Word Book of the Bible, it should read “I encourage you, therefore, brethren. . .” . . . and it continues with 40 beautiful exhortations in a mere 21 verses – almost two in each verse. “Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; Not slothful in business, fervent in spirit; serving the Lord” and 33 more wonderful exhortations. Yet the key here is that little word “therefore”. What has gone before that enables listeners or readers to respond to the exhortations?

What has gone before is a series of declarations, not exhortations but declarations about who God is, what our human condition is, what God has done in Christ, how the Old Testament has prepared us, how when we were yet in our sins Christ died for us, how we are justified by His blood, what it means to be dead to sin, the purpose and limits of the law, how there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus, how God has consigned all persons to condemnation that he might have mercy on all – and only then does he start his long list of exhortations for he has proclaimed the good news that enables us to begin to fulfill the exhortations. Are we not guilty of starting with chapter 12? And if we are is that not why we are discouraged? Encouragement is not permissiveness or sentimentality. Sentimentality is long range cruelty. Are you discouraged?: We don’t say: “Oh, you poor thing!” No. Better is Heb. 12:5 “ have you forgotten God’s encouragement that speaks to you as His children?”

I grew up with a friend who became a physician in Columbia, SC. Another friend, his patient, was killing himself with liquor. Hugh made a house call on his patient the day after his life had been saved in the emergency room. Hugh took his doctor’s bag into the house, examined the patient, and asked a few questions. He said goodbye and left. He put his doctor’s bag down outside and barged back into the living room. He grabbed his friend by the lapels of his bathrobe and shook him till his teeth rattled. He said, “Your doctor just left. Your friend is back. Last night the mortician could have had you in his box. You have too many people who love you and depend on you. And I am one of them. You’re going to quit drinking. God has other plans for you.” It was the beginning of a recovering and productive new life for that patient.

“Your doctor left. Your friend is back” was an expression of love deeper than professional help. It purged what otherwise would be graceless law or cruel Pelagianism. It was true encouragement because the love that is characteristic of the Holy Spirit was there. The doctor was willing not to be a doctor but a friend. He relinquished the authority of his profession for the greater authority of love and the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit changed the man’s life.

We have no two-person Trinity. We have the three-person Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God. Amen

Let us pray:  Heavenly Father, take these imperfect words of mine, and speak through them a word for us this morning.  Lord Jesus, be present with us as you were present with your disciples and be our teacher.  Holy Spirit of God, come and take our hearts, and set them on fire with love for you.  Amen. 

It is a pleasure to be in the Diocese of South Carolina.  I am very thankful to Bp. Lawrence for his invitation to preach this morning—although he may not have known what a risk he is taking.  You see, seminary professors and deans are used to lecturing for 50 minutes!  

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Our lesson this morning is from Luke 11.  Most of this passage consists of words that are very familiar to us.  They are the Lord’s Prayer.

“And it came about that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray.” And He said to them, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be Thy name.  Thy kingdom come.  Give us each day our daily bread.  And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.  And lead us not into temptation.’”

Notice that, as this section on prayer begins, Jesus is praying.  Jesus didn't just use words to teach on prayer.  He taught by example—He prayed.  Jesus’ disciples see Him praying; they see his relationship with the Father, and they want what he has.  And so they say, “Lord, teach us to pray…”  There are several lessons in this passage that I want us to see this morning, but first I want us to notice this simple observation:  The disciples see Jesus praying and so they ask him, “teach us to pray.”  And I want to ask the question, “Are people around us seeing the quality of our spiritual lives and, as a result, asking us to teach them how to have that life?” 

 Today is a votive of the Holy Spirit, and in the next few minutes I want us to look at the relationship between the Holy Spirit and prayer, but before I do, I want to plant the question, and I ask that you keep it in the back of your minds: “Is the world around us seeing us in prayer, and, seeing the quality of our spiritual lives, desiring to experience what we have in Christ?”

Now, let’s look at this Gospel passage and let Jesus teach us about prayer.  He knows about it from both ends: he prayed as a one who was fully human; and he receives and mediates prayer as the One who is fully God.  There is no better teacher on prayer.

Lesson #1.  Prayer is always supposed to be God-centered and God-exalting.

The disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray and the first thing he does is give them a sample prayer—a kind of summary prayer:  “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be Thy name.  Thy kingdom come.’” 

The first thing we notice is that the name of God is the first and main thing to be prayed about in prayer.  “Hallowed be thy name.”  That is, “Lord, I ask that your name—your reputation, your character, and your honor—be revered and worshipped and glorified and exalted and esteemed and cherished.”  First and foremost in prayer, we ask God to work in human hearts to cause them to hallow his name.

And notice that we are to pray this “when” (literally the Greek says: “whenever,” hotan) we pray.  In other words, this isn't just a formal prayer that we pray on Sunday morning.  This is the model for our everyday prayers.  “Whenever you pray,” express a desire for the name of God to be valued more in your own heart and in the church and in the world.  “Hallowed be thy name,” is a prayer that there will be greater passion in our souls, revival in our congregation, our diocese, and the church, and spiritual awakening throughout the world.  And Jesus is teaching us to desire this “whenever” we pray.

Lesson # 2.  God answers prayer for penitent sinners, not perfect people.

I am emphasizing this as a balance to the teaching, also found in Scripture, that unconfessed sin can shut the door of heaven.  Psalm 66:18 says, “If I regard wickedness in my heart, The Lord will not hear.”  This truth should make us search our hearts every time we pray and especially after every prayer that doesn't get answered the way we hoped.  Did we fall short because of sin in our lives—attitudes or actions that are displeasing to the Lord and hinder our prayers?

I have a friend from Texas who told me several years ago about something funny he had seen.  In was in the days right after the infamous September 11, 2001, when our country had been attacked by terrorists.  He was driving through a town in east Texas and he stopped at a traffic light.  While he was sitting at the red light, he happened to look over at a building on the corner of the intersection.  It was a sort of “honky-tonk” bar.  In the window of this “honky-tonk” bar was a sign that said, “Live Nude Dancers.”  But then, because this was in the days right after 9/11/2001—when the whole nation was feeling patriotic—below that first sign was another sign that said in big letters, “God bless America!”   We are like that sometimes.  We want God to bless us.  We believe God ought to bless us; but there are, unfortunately, things in our lives that are incongruous with receiving God’s blessing.

We are sometimes like “the Curates Egg.”  (I am sure some of the clergy will know this story.)  There was a young curate, in England, who was invited to spend the night at his Bishop’s house.  The next morning at breakfast with the Bishop and his wife, the young curate began eating his egg (in one of those little egg cups you may have seen), and he discovers that his egg is rotten.  Not wanting to give offense, he picks at his egg and pretends to eat it.  Finally, the Bishop, seeing the curate’s predicament, looks over and says, “I’m afraid you’ve gotten a bad egg, Fr. Jones,” to which the curate, still desperate not to offend his host, replies, “Oh, no, my Lord, I assure you that parts of it are excellent!” 

Our lives are like the curate’s egg.  Parts of us may be excellent, but we have been touched by evil that pollutes everything we do.  We are simultaneously sinners and redeemed.  And so we pray, “forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.” And, if we are honest about our sins and look to the cross of Christ as our hope, then God will hear us and answer our prayers.

Lesson # 3.  Our Father in heaven never gives us a snake when we ask for a fish.

The key verses here are verses 11-13:

“Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he?  Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?  Jesus says that, just as ordinary parents will not give snakes and scorpions to their children when they ask for fish and eggs, neither will God our heavenly Father.”

Why then are our prayers not always answered as we would like?  We must keep this simple fact before us: God is Father and we are children.  The Father always keeps the right to do what is best for the children even if they don't understand why it is best.  If we ask him for a fish he will not give us a snake, but he may give us Tylenol or Penicillin, or grapefruit.  He will give us what is good for us.

Lesson # 4.  Persistence in prayer will prevail where giving up won't.

This comes from verses 5-8.  Jesus tells a parable to illustrate exactly this point.

And He said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him;’ and from inside he shall answer and say, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything’  I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs.”

Why does Jesus compare God to a friend who is unwilling to get out of bed for the sake of friendship, but willing to get out of bed to stop the knocking on his door?  Is it to say that God is tired or irritable or stingy?  That can't be, because elsewhere in our lesson, God is portrayed as being so ready and able to give.  Then why does Jesus put it this way?
I think it is simply Jesus’ way of saying that God has his reasons for waiting that for us may seem as strange to us as a friend who doesn't want to get out of bed but then does.  If the man had gone home after the first refusal, he would not have gotten the bread he needed.  But since he stayed and kept on knocking, he got “as much as he needed” (verse 8).  The point for us is: Keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking. 

Lesson # 5.  The reason for prayer and the aim of abiding in prayer is that we will come to know life in the Holy Spirit. 

“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”  I can still remember years ago when I first gave this passage serious consideration.  I thought, “That’s not even good sentence construction.  It ought to say something like: ‘If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give good gifts to His children or good gifts to those who ask Him?’”  But that isn’t what it says.  It is always a problem when Scripture doesn’t say what we think it ought to, isn’t it?  How many of you know people who think, “Cleanliness is next to godliness” is in the Bible?  Or at least it ought to be?  Or how about, “God helps them who help themselves?”  It’s not in the Bible, is it?

So what does this passage actually say?”  It says, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

I said in beginning that we would see the relationship between the Holy Spirit and prayer, and here it is: The reason for prayer and the aim of abiding in prayer is that we will come to know life in the Holy Spirit. 

Did you ever stop to think what the Church was like before Pentecost?  The band of disciples and the other followers of Jesus waited in Jerusalem.  They went to the temple.  They knew Jesus was the Son of God.  They knew he had risen from the dead, and that because of his death and resurrection their sins were forgiven.  They would have continued as faithful followers of Jesus to the end of their days.  But, they did not proclaim the gospel with boldness.  They did not see thousands come to faith in Christ.  They did not see the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness gentleness and self control—Galatians 5:22).  They did not see miracles and works of great power being done in their midst, both to be a blessing to them and as a sign to the world.  And they were not the Church that would change the world, and that is still changing the world in those places where the power of the Holy Spirit is working in fullness through the Church.

Friends, many of us and many of our churches are living as if Pentecost never happened.  We continue to worship and have godly fellowship.  We know and believe that Jesus is our Lord, and we would be faithful followers of his to the end of our days.  But, we aren’t proclaiming the Gospel with clarity and boldness to those in our communities who need the Savior.  We aren’t experiencing the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives and the gifts of the Spirit in our congregations.  And we are not being used to change the world around us to any appreciable extent.  We are living as if Pentecost never happened!

What are we to do?  The answer is in our lesson:  ““If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”  Even as Jesus teaches us this important lesson on prayer, he teaches us that the ultimate thing for which we should be praying, and the fruit of our abiding and persevering in prayer, is the power of the Holy Spirit.  God wants to give the power of the Holy Spirit to empower his Church. 

Not long ago, a group to whom I was speaking asked me what I thought were the three greatest issues facing the Church today.  I am sure they expected me to mention the issues we read about in the newspapers—issues having to do with sexuality, and the other controversial issues of our day.   They were quite surprised when I answered that I thought the three greatest issues facing the Church are: 1. Evangelism, 2. World Missions, and 3. Youth Ministry. 

1. Evangelism.  We must evangelize, because, unless we do, our congregations will die.  The average Episcopalian is 57 years of age.  That means that, given average life expectancies, one half of our membership will die in the next 18 years.  How many congregations will survive the loss of half their membership?  But we do not evangelize simply to insure that our congregations will survive.  We must evangelize because there are hundreds, and even thousands, of people in our communities who need to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and come into the fellowship of His Church. 

2. World Missions.  Through world missions we have the opportunity to be a part of what God is doing through his Church around the world.  We can be used by God to be a blessing to others; and we will be blessed and transformed by being a part of what God is doing.  The Diocese of South Carolina has done great things through your mission activities, in your companion relationship with overseas dioceses, and in the other opportunities you have to be involved with the Church throughout the Anglican Communion.  I strongly urge each of you who are here this morning to become involved, in whatever way you can, in what your Diocese is doing in missions.

3. Youth Ministry.   Statistics for the Episcopal Church statistics tell us that 59% of their adult members have come from another religious tradition.  In a Church that is growing that would be a marvelous statistic.  But in a Church that is not growing, it points to the fact that we are doing a deplorable job of keeping our own young people.  The Diocese of South Carolina has far surpassed what most dioceses are doing.  But let’s be clear:  We do not call priests and youth directors to do youth ministry for us.  Each of us has a part to play in helping our young people to deepen their faith in Christ and to grow in commitment to his Church. 

Evangelism, World Missions, and Youth Ministry—these are the real issues that are vital to the Church.  God has commissioned his Church to do each of these things, but we cannot do them as we should without the power of the Holy Spirit.  The precious promise of the words we have heard from the Gospel this morning is that God gives us what we need to do his work, and he will give the renewing power of his Holy Spirit to us when we truly and earnestly ask him. 

Heavenly Father, pour out your Holy Spirit on us.  Fill us, renew us, and empower us to do your will.  For yours is the majesty, O Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, now and for ever.  Amen.

220th Convention Focuses on Growth, Expansion and the Gospel; Resolution Pass

By Joy Hunter, Director of Communication

The 220th Convention of the Diocese of South Carolina was held February 18-19, 2011 at the Parish Church of St. Helena’s in Beaufort.

Two resolutions, both of which passed at the previous convention, passed again, by more than the required two-thirds margin in both the clergy and lay orders, amending the Diocesan Constitution. The first resolution removed the accession clause to the Canons of the Episcopal Church, and the second, enabled the Convention to meet more frequently than annually, if needed. These resolutions seek to protect the Diocese from any attempt at un-Constitutional intrusions in our corporate life in South Carolina and were in response to the revisions to the Title IV Canons of the Episcopal Church.

The vote on the resolutions, however, was not the focus of the Convention. The Rev. Ian Boyd, Associate Rector of Trinity, Myrtle Beach was overheard saying, at the close of the gathering, “Of all the conventions I’ve attended this is the one that got me the most excited about doing the work of the church.”

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