AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH
Fifth Episcopal District
Bishop Clement W. Fugh, Presiding Bishop
2017 – 2018
The Season of Epiphany – Restoring the Temple Order
Scriptures:
Acts 6: 2 – 8; Ephesians 4:11 – 14 (NIV)
Background
Today we revel in the benefits of our Watergate experience.
The Watergate (not of the Richard Nixon variety) served as the backdrop to the court where Ezra, priest and scribe stood upon a wooden pulpit to read from the Law. There was wailing and gnashing of teeth, as the diaspora, now returned, lamented the sin that had brought about their exile, and even now as they listened they were convicted of their failure to keep the whole LAW. They prayed for pardon, as they did penance and made oblation for the time when they had behaved as though “they were not a people,” and certainly not the “People of God.”
The stream of fresh, clean water from the Watergate also serves as our reminder that the fountain of God’s love that poured out from Our Savior’s side, enables us to stand in His presence – faultless!
“There is therefore, now no condemnation to them which are in
Christ Jesus. For the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath
made us free from the Law of Sin and Death.
For what the Law could not do…God sending His Own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the
righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
(Romans 8: 1, 2, ,4 KJV)
What God accomplished through Jesus Christ on our behalf moved us from under the Law of Sin and Death, and placed us under Grace!
“I am not under Law, I am under Grace,
It was Grace that rescued me,
It was Grace that set me free.
I sought and I found a hiding place,
I am not under Law, I’m under Grace.”
We rejoice in our renewed, restored relationship with Him!
In obedience to I Peter 2: 9, we have accepted our mantle as a Holy Nation! And in our celebration, we were careful to observe the admonition of Nehemiah 8: 9, to set aside a portion for those who have nothing prepared.
(On a personal note: Thank you for the spirit of hospitality that you demonstrated during the Investiture as you gave up your places at the table to accommodate our guests! The act sent such a resounding message that it still reverberates across the Connection!)
The Season of Epiphany
Introduction
Today we commence Season Two of our Quadrennial Calendar, the Season of Epiphany, our Season of Training, of Illumination, of Edification, and of awakenings (Ah hah!), as we work to Restore the Temple Order.
“Restoring the Temple Order” begins with a new attitude about how we handle the Holy!
THE HOLY!
*Holy Things!
*Sacred (Holy) Spaces/Places!
*Each Other! (Recognizing and relating to the holiness of each of us.)
“You are to be holy to Me because, I, the Lord, am holy,
and I have set you apart from the nations to be My own.”
(Leviticus 20: 26 NIV)
“You are … an Holy Nation…”
(I Peter 2: 9 NIV)
*The Body Temple!
“You realize, don’t you, that you are the temple of God,
and God Himself is present in you? No one will get by
with vandalizing God’s temple, you can be sure of that.
God’s temple is sacred – and you, remember are the temple.”
(I Corinthians 3: 16 17 MSG)
“Those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart,
and they defile the man.
For out of the heart proceedeth evil thoughts,
Murders, adulteries, fornications, theft, false witness, blasphemies:
These are the things which defile a man;
But to eat with unwashed hands, defileth not a man.”
(St Matthew 15: 18 – 20 KJV/MSG)
*The Tithe – First Fruits!
“Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me!
But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’
In tithes and offerings.
…
Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,
That there may be food in My house,
And try Me now in this,”
Says the Lord of Hosts,
“If I will not open for you the windows of heaven
And pour out for you such blessing
That there will not be room enough to receive it.”
(Malachi 3: 8, 10 NKJV)
Epiphany begins with the Practical
“Train up a child in the way he should go
and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6
“Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman…” II Timothy 2:15
Some “relics of the past” still have value, like Sunday School!
Robert Fulghum, author of, ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN SUNDAY SCHOOL, had a list:
“Share everything.
Play fair.
Don’t hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don’t take things that are not yours.
Say you are sorry when you hurt somebody.
Flush!
Live a balanced life – learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.”
I visited one of the historic churches of the Fifth District. I walked through the facility admiring the architecture. Then the person conducting the tour invited me to the lower level of the Church to view the “archives.” The walls were covered in photographs, plaques and memorabilia. As I was leaving the room that was reminiscent of “the good ole days,” I passed by a small room that was filled with miniature sized furnisher – tables, chairs – and toys. I asked my guide, “What is this room?” She said, “Oh, that was a Sunday School room when we used to have children.”
Dr. Monica Coleman, Professor of Constructive Theology and African American Religion at Claremont School of Theology, made an observation that I believe to be true. She said (paraphazing), “First embrace children, make a place for them, let them know that they are valued, LOVED. Once you have achieved this, then they will allow you to make requests of them/set expectations of them/they may even observe some of your rules.” The same rules apply to big kids, too.
The Young People in Southern California, when asked during a workshop entitled, “One Mind, One Body, A New Nation,” what would keep them engaged in Church and increase the participation of their contemporaries, included among their responses, “The lack of support (involvement on their part) comes when directors are appointed (who) do not want to work with the YPD or believe in the YPD. Appoint those who genuinely want to help the YPD Grow, Glow and Go for Christ.” (Workshop – “1 Mind, 1 Body, A New Nation,” by Kara Howard, Facilitator)
Gift Discovery
Acts 6 draws a distinction between the work of Ordained Ministry (Ekklesi/Greek or Ecclesia/Latin), and the Un-ordained (La’os/Greek – the Called-Out People of God).
Ephesians 4 affirms that the different roles in the congregation are of Christ Himself, with clear intent and purpose –
“And He (Christ Himself!) gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the Body of Christ; till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man (unto a perfect woman), unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” Ephesians 4: 11 – 14 KJV
The hard work that falls to us is not to ask, “Where did they come from?” “How did they get here?” But the work that we must be about is that of gift discovery! “The Lord adds to the Church ‘daily’ such as should be saved.’ (Acts 2: 47) The Lord HIMSELF sends them into our midst. Our challenge is to figure out, “for what purpose?” “What ‘gifts’ do they bring ‘for the work of ministry, for the edifying/building up of the Body of Christ?’”
Temporal – Trustees
Spiritual – Stewards
Congregational Care – Class Leaders
Other – Your Passion!
The sooner we figure that out and assist them in assuming their role, the higher the probability that they will stay.
The Hymn for this Season
“How Great the Wisdom”
“How great the wisdom, power and grace,
Which in redemption shine!
The heavenly host with joy confess
The work is all divine,
The work is all divine,
The work is all divine.
“Before His feet they cast their crowns
Those crowns which Jesus gave
And with ten thousand thousand tongues
Proclaimed His power to save,
Proclaimed His power to save,
Proclaimed His power to save.
“They tell the triumphs of the cross,
The sufferings which He bore;
How low He stooped, how high He rose
And rose to stoop no more,
And rose to stoop no more,
And rose to stoop no more!”
(Benjamin Beddome)
The Epiphany Institute
Renaissance Hotel – Glendale, AZ – July 17 – 21, 2018