Saint Brendan Anglican Church
We would like to give you a hearty “Welcome” to Saint Brendan the Navigator Anglican Church, in Austin, Texas.
We are a family of people who love God and seek to know Him more and to share His love with the world.
We seek to worship God within the framework of the early Church, celebrating the Lord with Spirit led worship, telling the Good News to the world with an evangelical fervor, and receiving His grace through liturgy and sacraments.
We are a Eucharistic community, meaning that our unity is centered around the Table of the Lord. Realizing the importance of receiving the Body and Blood of Christ we have Communion every Sunday and at other Special times of the year such as feast days and special seasons.
We love Jesus, we love people, and we love to worship and sing.
Join us this Sunday morning and be prepared for a life-changing experience with the Lord!
In Christ’s love,
Rev. Jeff Johnston †
Latest Announcements, News, Notes, etc.
The Easter Sermon of John Chrysostom
Friday, March 21st, 2008
Pastor of Constantinople (~400 AD)Is there anyone who is a devout lover of God?
Let them enjoy this beautiful bright festival!
Is there anyone who is a grateful servant?
Let them rejoice and enter into the joy of their Lord!
Are there any weary with fasting?
Let them now receive their wages!
If any have toiled from the first hour,
let them receive their due reward;
If any have come after the third hour,
let him with gratitude join in the Feast!
And he that arrived after the sixth hour,
let him not doubt; for he too shall sustain no loss.
And if any delayed until the ninth hour,
let him not hesitate; but let him come too.
And he who arrived only at the eleventh hour,
let him not be afraid by reason of his delay.
For the Lord is gracious and receives the last even as the first.
He gives rest to him that comes at the eleventh hour,
as well as to him that toiled from the first.
To this one He gives, and upon another He bestows.
He accepts the works as He greets the endeavor.
The deed He honors and the intention He commends.
Let us all enter into the joy of the Lord!
First and last alike receive your reward;
rich and poor, rejoice together!
Sober and slothful, celebrate the day!
You that have kept the fast, and you that have not,
rejoice today for the Table is richly laden!
Feast royally on it, the calf is a fatted one.
Let no one go away hungry. Partake, all, of the cup of faith.
Enjoy all the riches of His goodness!
Let no one grieve at his poverty,
for the universal kingdom has been revealed.
Let no one mourn that he has fallen again and again;
for forgiveness has risen from the grave.
Let no one fear death, for the Death of our Savior has set us free.
He has destroyed it by enduring it.
He destroyed Hades when He descended into it.
He put it into an uproar even as it tasted of His flesh.
Isaiah foretold this when he said,
“You, O Hell, have been troubled by encountering Him below.”
Hell was in an uproar because it was done away with.
It was in an uproar because it is mocked.
It was in an uproar, for it is destroyed.
It is in an uproar, for it is annihilated.
It is in an uproar, for it is now made captive.
Hell took a body, and discovered God.
It took earth, and encountered Heaven.
It took what it saw, and was overcome by what it did not see.
O death, where is thy sting?
O Hades, where is thy victory?
Christ is Risen, and you, o death, are annihilated!
Christ is Risen, and the evil ones are cast down!
Christ is Risen, and the angels rejoice!
Christ is Risen, and life is liberated!
Christ is Risen, and the tomb is emptied of its dead;
for Christ having risen from the dead,
is become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
To Him be Glory and Power forever and ever. Amen!
Saint Patrick’s Day - March 17
Thursday, March 13th, 2008
St. Patrick’s Day this year–March 17, falls during Holy Week and so St. Paddy’s day disappears from the Church calendar. Maybe you might want to celebrate his memory anyway — reading this excerpt from Patrick’s Confession would be a fitting way to honor this spiritual giant.
Through me many peoples have been reborn in God
I give unceasing thanks to my God, who kept me faithful in the day of my testing. Today I can offer him sacrifice with confidence, giving myself as a living victim to Christ, my Lord, who kept me safe through all my trials. I can say now: Who am I, Lord, and what is my calling, that you worked through me with such divine power? You did all this so that today among the Gentiles I might constantly rejoice and glorify your name wherever I may be, both in prosperity and in adversity. You did it so that, whatever happened to me, I might accept good and evil equally, always giving thanks to God. God is never to be doubted. He answered my prayer in such a way that in the last days, ignorant though I am, I might be bold enough to take up so holy and so wonderful a task, and imitate in some degree those whom the Lord had so long ago foretold as heralds of his Gospel, bearing witness to all nations.
How did I get this wisdom, that was not mine before? I did not know the number of my days, or have knowledge of God. How did so great and salutary a gift come to me, the gift of knowing and loving God, though at the cost of homeland and family? I came to the Irish peoples to preach the Gospel and endure the taunts of unbelievers, putting up with reproaches about my earthly pilgrimage, suffering many persecutions, even bondage, and losing my birthright of freedom for the benefit of others.
If I am worthy, I am ready also to give up my life, without hesitation and most willingly, for his name. I want to spend myself in that country, even in death, if the Lord should grant me this favor. I am deeply in his debt, for he gave me the great grace that through me many peoples should be reborn in God, and then made perfect by confirmation and everywhere among them clergy ordained for a people so recently coming to believe, one people gathered by the Lord from the ends of the earth. As God had prophesied of old through the prophets: The nations shall come to you from the ends of the earth, and say: “How false are the idols made by our fathers: they are useless.” In another prophecy he said: I have set you as a light among the nations, to bring salvation to the ends of the earth.
It is among that people that I want to wait for the promise made by him, who assuredly never tells a lie. He makes this promise in the Gospel: They shall come from the east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This is our faith: believers are to come from the whole world.
Holy Week
Wednesday, March 12th, 2008
Holy Week
- Palm Sunday - Liturgy of the Palms & Holy Eucharist - March 16, 10 am - On Palm Sunday we re-enact Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem with the waving of palm branches. The Gospel takes us through the events leading up to Jesus’s crucifixion and we end in a somber tone as we enter Holy Week
- Maundy Thursday - Holy Eucharist with Footwashing - March 20, 7 pm - The name Maundy Thursday comes from the Latin word mandatum (mandate) and refers to John 13:34: “a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another.” The liturgy commemorates the Last Supper. Two distinct features of the liturgy are 1) the shared ministry of foot washing, recalling the ministry of Jesus to his disciples on the eve of his death, and 2) the ceremonial stripping of the altar, preparing for the barrenness of Good Friday. It is our tradition at St. Brendan’s to share our bounty with others who are suffering during Holy Week. The Maundy Thursday plate income and designated checks will go to Hands on Housing.
- Prayer Vigil - follows Maundy Thursday service. The Maundy Thursday “watch” is a tradition of prayer based on the story in which Jesus, having asked his disciples to “stay awake with me” in the Garden of Gethsemane, finds them sleeping. In Matthew’s gospel, we are told that after finding them, “Jesus said to Peter, ‘So, could you not stay awake with me one hour? Stay awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.’” Our watch extends from the end of the Maundy Thursday service until the Good Friday service for any who wish to share in this opportunity for prayer and reflection. Sign up is not necessary; the chapel will be open for you to keep watch for an hour.
- Good Friday - Good Friday Liturgy - March 21, 7 pm - This Liturgy is a continuation of Maundy Thursday, continuing the commemoration as we re-enact and participate in the drama, culminating in death, which Christ endured in Jerusalem. The mood of the Church during this time is somber, repentant, and desolate.
- Easter Sunday - A festive Eucharist celebrates the Resurrection on March 23 at Sunrise - 6 am
Hands on Housing Project - April 26
Monday, March 10th, 2008
On April 26, the members of St. Brendan’s will minister to the needy by our participation in the renovation of another home here in greater Austin.
Smaller mission parishes have something in common, and that something is often a feeling of not being big enough, not having enough resources to make a difference in ministry to a community. We have found a way to overcome that sense (or excuse) of being too small to make a difference.
In Austin, the Hands on Housing ministry is overseen by Austin Area Interreligious Ministries. Hands on Housing is dedicated to providing essential volunteer-based home repair services to the marginalized in our society - the elderly, the poor, the disadvantaged, the disabled. This ministry is the largest volunteer home repair effort in Austin. We repair and revitalize homes for homeowners that cannot afford to do needed repairs and thus enable them to remain in their own homes.
The typical client served is over 70 years old living on less than $10,000 per year in a home he/she owns and loves but cannot maintain. The clients are often approached to sell their homes but they do not want to leave the home they love and have lived in for often well over 20 years. Our repair efforts enable them to remain in their homes in safety and dignity.
While making such repairs, we help build relationships across social and geographic boundaries. Working with others, we help our neighbors in need. It is wonderfully satisfying to be united with other faith communities to foster respect, partnership and transformation in service of the common good. We, the small, are called to be, and can be instruments of His transforming love.
An Holy Week and Easter Blessing
Monday, March 10th, 2008
May you find in Jesus Christ, our risen Lord, a companion for your journey, a sure ground for your hopes, the peace that passes understanding and the joy that life is eternal.
Fifth Sunday in Lent Sermon (March 9)
Sunday, March 9th, 2008
Our text for today is a lengthy section dealing with the raising of Lazarus from the dead. It is filled with many possibilities for sermon and for discussion, but I am struck by two aspects of our text –– waiting and weeping.
First, the waiting.
The story begins with the message sent by Lazarus’ sisters, “Lord, the one whom you love is ill.” They didn’t even have to say who it was. They were such close friends that they knew Jesus would know who they were talking about. But this closeness makes what happens next very hard to understand.
Jesus waits. He doesn’t seem to be moved at all by the information that his good friend is ill. He downplays the importance of the message. He says,
“This illness will not lead to death,
instead it is for God’s glory,
so that the Son of God will be glorified because of it.”
That’s not the kind of message that would make Lazarus feel any better. The idea that Lazarus’ sickness would merely provide a sermon illustration for Jesus must have blown Mary and Martha away. It was as if Jesus said, “Lazarus is sick. So what, it’s no big deal. It’s just something that God will use for his own glory.” And Jesus waits for two full days before beginning the two day journey to Bethany.
This is really puzzling behavior. How can Jesus be so calloused? How can he jump into philosophy and theology about the illness of his beloved friend? Why in the world does he wait? I must confess to you that I don’t have ready answers for those hard questions.
When we look closely at this text in John, we find no real explanation for why Jesus waited. Theologians have speculated and supposed, but in the end, we must simply conclude that John does NOT say why Jesus waited.
Whatever the reasons were for waiting, we can readily see that the sisters of Lazarus didn’t appreciate Jesus’ attitude. They were looking for Jesus to be the kind of friend who drops everything to come stand with them in their pain. They didn’t want a lecture, they wanted someone to suffer with them –– to help them.
But Jesus didn’t drop what he was doing. Jesus didn’t respond to the emergency note. He didn’t rush to the bedside of the sick man or to the aid of the concerned sisters. John says, “After having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.”
Each sister in turn took Jesus to task for his tardiness. They wanted to be kind to Jesus whom they loved, but they just couldn’t help themselves. They both blurted out the identical words, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Surely, they had both rehearsed what they were going to say when Jesus did finally appear. Martha says exactly the same words in verse 20 that Mary says in verse 32.
While I can’t explain the waiting of Jesus, I can certainly identify with the waiting of Martha and Mary. Can’t you? How many times have we waited just like they did? “Why isn’t Jesus here when we need him?” “Why doesn’t God hurry up and do something?” “Where were you, Jesus?” “Where was God on September 11?”
We hear their pain, and we share it because in too many of our homes Lazarus has died. For some it is not the literal death of a loved one. It may be the death of a dream, the death of an ideal, or the death of hope. Where has Lazarus died in your heart or your home? Where has Jesus disappointed you? You’ve prayed, but no answers have come. You’ve pleaded, but God has delayed. You’ve waited, but he hasn’t arrived. You’ve held the funeral, but he didn’t attend. Or so it seemed. Where are you waiting for God to show up and be God for you?
We don’t know why Jesus waits, and we don’t know why God waits. No amount of theologizing and explaining can satisfy us while we wait. And wait we do.
My only conclusion is that something critically important happens to us while we are waiting. Life is lived while we wait. Faith is proved while we wait. Hope is tested while we wait.
Mary and Martha were not the last to wait for Jesus. And neither will we be the last.
And now comes the weeping.
When Mary broke down in tears before him, Jesus asked, “Where have you laid him?” And when he stood in front of the tomb, according to the King James version, “Jesus wept.” He must have wept out loud and long, and those who saw it were moved to say, “See how much he loved him.”
We knew immediately why Martha and Mary were weeping. Their brother had been dead for four days now. Theirs were tears of grief. Those tears we all understand. We, too, have stood by the graveside and poured out our heart in great tears. We have cried because we can’t help but cry. Our emotions seem to take over our bodies, and the tear ducts open and the waters flow.
But what about that shortest verse in the Bible –– “Jesus wept.” Why? Why did he cry?
There is no shortage of answers to this question. I believe your answer to this question says a lot about your Christology, your theology of Jesus as Christ.
Why did Jesus cry? Here are some of the reasons offered by various theologians:
1) Some argued that Jesus was crying for the crowd because of their lack of faith. He looked deep into their hearts and realized that they did not understand him or his mission. They didn’t understand the matters about life and death the way he did. They didn’t understand that he had the power to bring Lazarus back to life. He was weeping for the crowd because they didn’t believe in him.
2) Some say Jesus was weeping because he hated to bring Lazarus back from heaven. He knew that heaven was a wonderful place, and he was crying because he had to bring him back to earth to show his glory.
3) Others say Jesus was weeping tears of rage at the evil of death and sin. He grieved because of the sinfulness of humans and the death that followed that sin into the world.
4) Many say that Jesus was weeping for himself. He was crying in anticipation of his own death. He knew that the miracle he was about do perform would inflame the situation in Jerusalem and turn the Pharisees against him. And, in fact, John says that’s exactly what happened after this miracle. He was weeping because he was thinking about his own coming death on the cross.
All of these are suggestions, and we must remember that they are only suggestions because John does NOT make clear why Jesus wept. Certainly any of these could be the very reason that Jesus cried. But I want you to notice that all of these suggestions rely heavily on the divine nature of Jesus. They all assume that Jesus had special knowledge of the future, of heaven, or of the inner thoughts of the crowd.
Personally, I reject all of these proposed reasons. I reject them because no human being would ever cry for any of those reasons. If he cried for any of those reasons, then none of us mere mortals can really understand or identify with the tears of Jesus. I will never cry because I can see the future. I will never cry because I understand all about heaven. I will never cry because I can read other people’s thoughts. If that’s why Jesus was crying, then he is far, far from being like me. He is not a high priest with whom I can identify.
Do you picture Jesus as human like us or divine like God? I think it is impossible for our tiny minds to perfectly balance the creedal statement that Jesus was fully human and fully divine. Our little brains automatically tilt to one side or the other. We make Jesus a little more divine or a little more human. I think the Gospel of John tilts toward the divine side much more than do Matthew, Mark and Luke. Personally, I prefer the views of Jesus that I find in the synoptic gospels. That’s because I prefer to think of Jesus’ humanity.
I want to believe that Jesus experienced this life as much like me as possible. Hebrews says,
“We do not have a High Priest
who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,
but we have one who has been tempted in every way,
just as we are ––
yet was without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).
I lean heavily on Philippians 2 for my Christology. There Paul writes of
“Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness” (Philippians 2:5-7)
5) That’s why I believe he cried for a fifth reason. I believe he cried because he cared. He cried for the same reason that we cry at funerals. He grieved with Mary and Martha. Jesus loved them and Lazarus. He grieved that Lazarus had died. He identified with their pain and he understood their tears. That’s what friends do. They cry when you cry.
And I can take great comfort in this reason for Jesus’ tears. It tells me that God still identifies with people who are hurting. When we cry, God cries too.
There’s a story of a little girl who came home late from school one day. Her mother was furious and went on and on for about five minutes ranting and raving at the girl. Finally she stopped and asked, “Why were you late anyway?”
To which the girl replied, “I was helping another girl in trouble.”
“What did you do for her?” asked the mother.
“Oh, I just sat down beside her and helped her cry.”
I believe those simple words, “Jesus wept,” reveal as much about Jesus as all the other words ever said about him. He weeps for all who pray for God to come and nothing happens. He weeps for all who face the tragic experiences of this life and thrust their painful, “Why?” toward heaven. He weeps for those who have hard questions. He weeps for those who do not walk quietly to death’s dark door. He weeps for those who ask for a miracle and do not get it.
Here is not a picture of a god who is immutable, immovable, unemotional or uninvolved. Here is a God with a weeping heart. Here is the Lord of the universe with tears in his eyes.
For me, it is important to believe that Jesus understands what life is like for me. He knows my temptations. He knows what it was like to be fully human just like me, yet he did it without sin. He knows my suffering, my disappointments, my problems, my questions. And more importantly, he not only knows, he understands. He has literally walked in my shoes. And because Jesus knows and cares, then I know that God knows and cares.
Suffering has a way of isolating us. When we cry, we cannot help but think that we are the only ones to ever experience such pain, and we feel alone. We think no one else feels our pain or knows our grief.
But Jesus tears tell us that there is someone we can lean on for strength, for wisdom, for comfort. In our confusion, Jesus is there for us. While we wait, he waits with us. In our sorrow, he will hold us.
Across the street from the bombed out Federal Building in Oklahoma City, where 168 people died needlessly and senselessly, there stands a memorial. At the heart of that memorial is a nine foot statue of Jesus. But this statue is not one of a stony Jesus with arms out wide like you may have seen in the Ozarks or in Brazil. No, this is a nine foot statue of Jesus with his face in his hands, turned slightly away from where the acts of terror took place, and the plaque reads, “And Jesus Wept.”
For thousands and thousands of mourners and survivors that image of Jesus has brought resurrection and hope and new life. It is a pillar of comfort for all who pass by.
What does God do for us? He sits down beside us and helps us cry. And sometimes that’s all we really need.
Christ-Centered Fiction - Worth the read!
Thursday, February 28th, 2008
At the prompting of a Missionary Society of Saint John brother Priest, I went against my mind’s poor image of all Christian fiction and recently completed The Shack. My apprehension was a carry-over from the “Left Behind” series and my presumption that Christian fiction could never be done well.
This new Christian novel was suggested with many warnings - those of the “this is not the typical Christian fiction you are used to” type. Here is what is on the back cover of William P. Young’s novel:
Mackenzie Allen Philips’ youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his Great Sadness. Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend.
Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack’s world forever.
In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant The Shack wrestles with the timeless question, “Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?” The answers Mack gets will astound you and perhaps transform you as much as it did him. You’ll want everyone you know to read this book!
I too, want you to read this book. Finally, Christian fiction worthy of the title. It challenges your thoughts, it gets you “out of your box” and draws you to your ultimate center - Jesus Christ.
Eugene Peterson said this about The Shack, “When the imagination of a writer and the passion of a theologian cross-fertilize the result is a novel on the order of The Shack. This book has the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress did for his. It’s that good!”
Michael W. Smith said, The Shack is the most absorbing work of fiction I’ve read in many years. My wife and I laughed, cried and repented of our own lack of faith along the way. The Shack will leave you craving for the presence of God.”
Theologically this book is challenging; there are times where the author sounds almost universal in regards to religion, but I assure you something in this book will grip your soul and twist it. Something in this book will make you rethink your walk and evaluate your faith. It makes you ask questions, search scripture, and begin to trench the depths of your core beliefs - what I believe a true “Christian novel” should do. Along with facing your fears and the tragedies of this life, you may find yourself reluctantly not wanting to put this book down. This is more than a quick read, a light devotional, this book has the potential to take you to new places in your faith.
Go out and buy a copy today and then share one with a friend.
First Sunday in Lent Sermon (Feb. 10)
Wednesday, February 13th, 2008
They may surprise us, these forms that temptation takes when Jesus fasts out in the wilderness. The devil does not present a slice of chocolate cake, or offer piles of money, or any illicit activities. The devil is not working from a view of sin like that of our society. He doesn’t concern himself with simply the illicit, ill-gotten gain, or excessive, tasty calories.
What the devil does is to fly below the radar of conventional morality to present a series of temptations that can very effectively cripple all our relationships at their core: relationships with creation, God, and people. These temptations are not concerned with simply loaves made from stones, jumping off a tall structure, and a chance for world domination. They are concerned with what for us seems closer to home, such matters as skill, trust, and power.
Skill, trust, and power. Here all of us have the opportunity to wreck our lives or allow our lives to become what they are meant to be: vehicles of grace.
Consider the first temptation, bread from stones, the one that has to do with skill.
Jesus has been fasting a very long time, and his hunger is severe. The devil, never one to miss a chance to get us, appears and challenges him to prove his identity and satisfy his hunger at the same time. He points to the stones visible everywhere in that desert. “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread.”
Jesus counters this proposal with words from Scripture. “It is written,” he says, “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
This confrontation is about more than whether Jesus gets lunch that day. Jesus is asserting that his identity as Son of God––our identity as children of God––does not depend on what we do, or what we have, but who we are, and who we listen to.
Jesus is God’s Son and listens to God. We too are God’s children, and we listen to God, we hearken when God speaks to us.
Yes, we have skill, we have technique, but these must be subordinated to the gracious purposes that God makes known to us. Just because we are capable of doing something does not mean that we should do it. Certain choices, though technically possible, contradict what God hopes for from us; they are not consistent with our identity as God’s children.
A couple of questions for any of us to consider.
• Do I look upon myself or others simply in terms of doing and having, or do I recognize myself and others for who we are: children of God?
• Do I view my skills and opportunities as simply mine to use how I see fit, or do I treat them as entrusted to me for use in accord with God’s intention?
Consider the second temptation, jumping off a tall structure, the one that has to do with trust.
The devil takes Jesus into Jerusalem, to the very top of the temple. He invites Jesus to prove who he is, and to do so in a spectacular way. “If you are the Son of God, then jump down, Jesus,” says the devil. “For remember what it says in the Bible: ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus counters this temptation, laced as it is with scripture quotes, with his own answer from the Bible: “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
The devil knows the words of scripture, but is ignorant of its spirit. Yes, guardian angels are commissioned by God to help us here on earth. But to trust God does not mean the assumption that God will protect me regardless, even if perform some life-threatening stunt as an affront to the law of gravity.
Trusting God does not mean that God will enable our stupid behavior. What it does mean is that we accept the life God offers us with its challenges, its risks, its disappointments. It means living our lives and trusting God to make sense of them.
For Jesus this means that he comes to accept the cup of suffering God offers him in the Garden of Gethsemane, a cup he would readily refuse except that he trusts the One who offers it.
As children of God, it is not sufficient for us simply to trust God. We must trust God in the right way. We cannot expect God to endorse the products of our egotism as though the Holy One were a cosmic enabler.
Not all risks are good ones. Some are ill-advised and destructive. Others are offered to lead us into the future God intends for us, a future marked by blessing.
A couple of questions for any of us to consider.
• Do I trust God only about my own wants and plans, or do I trust even when God invites me to risk in a way that seems strange?
• Is some hardship in my life a cup offered to me by God or a leap I have taken off a tall structure?
We come now to the third temptation Jesus experiences out in the wilderness, a chance for world domination, the one that has to do with power.
This time the devil takes Jesus to a very high mountain that offers a panoramic view of all the countries of the world. Not only are the territories visible, but so too is their splendor.
No longer does the devil raise questions about the identity of Jesus, nor does he have scripture to misquote. He simply proposes a deal. Is there a note here of impatience? “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”
Jesus senses that he has gained the upper hand. “Away with you, Satan,’ he says, “For it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’”
For whatever reason, Jesus does not contest Satan’s claim of control over the countries of the world. What he attacks instead is the propriety of treating Satan as ultimate. God alone is worthy of worship.
Just as he does not condemn all technique or all trust when addressing earlier temptations, so here Jesus does not condemn all power. What he insists on is that power, like technique or trust, must be subordinated to the purposes of God. Power sought and obtained for its own sake, power purchased at any price amounts to devil worship. Power must be used instead in obedience to God, in service to the benevolent purposes of God.
Each one of us exercises some power in life. Some of us may appropriately seek a further sphere to exercise power, perhaps through our work or some form of community involvement. By exercising any form of power, we end up serving someone. The choice of whom we serve is a moral and spiritual matter of the greatest consequence.
Two more questions, then, for any of us to consider.
• Where are the places in my life where I exercise power?
• Do I worship the Lord God alone through my use of power or do I worship something else?
Skill, trust, and power. These themes appear in the story of Jesus, not only during his wilderness temptation, but at other times as well.
• Jesus refuses to turn stones into bread at the devil’s suggestion. On several occasions, however, he multiplies bread when many are hungry and people give up their meal in order to help others.
• Jesus refuses to jump off the top of the temple, but he does accept that cup of suffering God offers him, and does so because he trusts God.
• Jesus turns down the devil’s bargain of gaining all the world in exchange for worship of someone less than God. What Jesus does is announce the kingdom of heaven come to earth, and then die and rise so we may enter that kingdom.
Jesus makes it possible for us to decide about skill, trust, and power in a way that acknowledges his triumph. We are free to find our identity through our participation in him as children of God, heirs of the kingdom by grace.
Yes, Jesus refused to turn stones into bread. But he turns bread into himself at every Eucharist. We are here to share that meal as we trust in God and enjoy a taste of his kingdom. May it be so. Amen.
Second Sunday in Lent Sermon (Feb. 17)
Wednesday, February 13th, 2008
Born again! People respond to those words very differently. Some people love them, but others hate them. Herb Caen says,
”The trouble with born-again Christians is that they are an even bigger pain the second time around.”
Born again! There seems to be no middle ground — no one who just shrugs their shoulders and says, “Yeah! That sounds about right.” Everyone has an opinion about “born again.” It’s a hot-button topic.
Born again!
The problem is that when we hear those words, we tend to think of those annoying people who stop us on the street and ask, “Have you been born again?” — implying that there is something wrong with us if we have not been.
But those words, “born again” come from the Bible — from Jesus’ lips, no less!
Jesus said that we must be born again. He should know.
Maybe I should be more exact. Jesus did not say that we have to be born again. The New Testament was written originally in Greek. In Greek, Jesus said, “You must be born anothen. (AN oh then)
Anothen is one of those words that have two meanings. It can mean “again” or it can mean “from above.” I believe that Jesus chose this word for both of its meanings. He means that we must be born a second time — “again” — and this time “from above.” He means that we must have a Heavenly Father, just as we have earthly parents. Nearly all Christians believe that! Baptists believe it! Lutherans believe it! Catholics believe it! Nearly all Christians believe that we must be “born again” — “born from above.” Christians believe that we need the Heavenly Father to remake us — to reshape us — to take our broken parts and make us whole again. Christians might argue about the details — what it means to be born again — how that happens — but the differences aren’t really that great.
It comes down to letting God transform our lives — letting God help us become more God-like. When you stop and think about it, that makes a lot of sense.
When we are born physically, we take a great deal from our fathers and mothers. We get genes from both. We probably look a lot like one or the other. When we talk, we sound a lot like one or the other. Whether we are short or tall has a great deal to do with our parents. Whether we have brown eyes or blue eyes depends on our parents. Even if both of our parents have brown eyes, we might inherit a recessive gene from one of them for blue eyes — but that blue-eyed gene still comes from our brown-eyed parent.
And we learn a lot from our parents. They teach us to walk and talk. They nurture us and help us along the way. They feed us nutritious food so we can grow. They make us go to school so we will have a good foundation in life. They impart certain values to us.
Who we are has a great deal to do with who our parents were.
For many of us, that’s good. Our parents loved us and did a good job of getting us ready for life. For some of us, it wasn’t so good. Some parents don’t do such a good job. But when Jesus says, “You must be born again” or “born from above,” he is saying that we don’t have to be limited by our parents. He is saying that we can have another parent — this time a Heavenly Parent:
- A parent who will guide us
- A parent who will nurture us
- A parent who will love us
- A parent we can trust
- A parent who will help us to grow strong
- A parent who will prepare us to handle the ups and downs of life
- A parent who will help us to succeed in life
- And a parent who will welcome us into a heavenly home when we die.
Let me tell you a secret. It isn’t just children who need good parents — it’s all of us. All of us need good parents. Even if you are old when your parents die, you will still grieve their passing. You will still miss them. You will still feel their loss. All of us need good parents — even those of us well along in years.
Jesus is telling us that, just as we need earthly parents, we need God. We need a Heavenly Father/Mother.
That is an exciting idea. It says that we aren’t limited by the genes that we got from our earthly parents, because God can make something new of us. It tells us that we don’t have to settle for the person that we are, because God can make us better. The early church had a wonderful way of expressing its faith in the rebirth that people experience when they become Christians.
As I understand it, in the early church (3rd-10th centuries) people weren’t baptized in the church sanctuary. They were baptized in a separate baptismal building which was dimly lighted. Men and women were baptized separately, and they were baptized naked in a pool of water. Then they were dressed in white clothing, anointed with perfumed oil, and taken into a brightly candle-lighted sanctuary where they took Holy Communion. They would never have seen Holy Communion before — because they would always have been dismissed at the mid-point in the service.
These actions dramatized their “new birth” — their “taking off” the old life and “putting on” the new. I read a story that illustrates well what God wants to do with us — with our lives.
Lindsay Clegg was a businessman who owned a London warehouse that had stood empty for quite some time. He wanted to sell it, but the building looked terrible. Vandals had broken windows and scattered trash. But Clegg found a prospective buyer who showed an interest in spite of the building’s appearance. He tried to reassure the buyer that he would replace the broken windows and clean up the trash and make any other necessary repairs. But the buyer cut him short. He said, “When I buy this place, I’m going to build something completely different. I don’t want the building; I want the site.”
That’s what God says to us. “I’m going to build something completely different. I don’t care who you are now, because I’m going to make you into a new person.
Many people feel like they have nothing to offer God. They can’t imagine that God would want anything to do with them. They look at their lives and see only the broken windows and trash. They think that they must somehow lift themselves by their bootstraps so that they will be worthy of God, but that seems impossible. They think of themselves as poor specimens — unworthy — unlovely.
But the Good News is that God just loves finding a person like that– a humble person — someone who recognizes her neediness. A person who knows that he is lost is open to being found.
God says, “I don’t really care who you are now. You don’t have to be responsible for the repairs. I intend to make you into a new person. All I need is your heart.”
That’s Good News!
• It’s Good News to those who feel that they have done something terribly wrong — unforgivably wrong.
• It’s Good News to those who constantly struggle to do the right thing, but constantly fail.
• It’s Good News to those who can’t imagine that God would want anything to do with them.
• It’s Good News, because it offers the reassurance that God can make the best out of the worst.
• It’s Good News, because it reassures us that no one is hopeless.
But it’s also Good News for those of us who call ourselves Christians — for those of us who were baptized and go to church every week — for those of us who are accustomed to the ritual of Holy Communion.
It is Good News to those of us who have supposedly been reborn, but who still struggle to do the right thing.
It’s Good News to those of us who have supposedly been reborn, but who wonder if God is really doing anything in our lives.
Let me remind you that a newborn baby is pretty helpless. Newborn babies can’t program a computer or play quarterback. Newborn babies can’t even feed themselves or change their own diapers. Newborn babies are adorable, but they will spend a lifetime growing and changing.
A mother who happened also to be a physician once commented on her struggles with her teenage children. She said, “Their brains don’t quit growing until they are 25 years old. It’s no wonder that they have such a time making it through their teenage years.”
And so it is with those of us who have been born again — and all of us who have given our lives to Christ have been born again. When we were baptized, it didn’t seem like baptism did much for us. We weren’t taller. We weren’t stronger. We weren’t smarter. We weren’t prettier.
But something did happen. We invited God to make a new person of us, and God began that work. We became “infants in Christ.” That’s what the Apostle Paul called the Christians at Corinth — infants in Christ. The church at Corinth was a troubled church, and the Christians at Corinth were troubled people. Paul wrote a letter to guide them onto a better pathway. In his letter, he called them “people of the flesh — infants in Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:1).
”People of the flesh” — that was just another way of saying “sinners.”
Those Christians in Corinth were sinners. But they were also “infants in Christ” — people who had been born into a new life. They weren’t yet the people that God wanted them to be — and they weren’t yet the people whom they would become — but they had been reborn. They had asked God to make them into new people, and God had started that work. God would be working on them for the rest of their lives.
If you haven’t become a Christian yet, the word that Christ has for you is that God can do great things with your life if you will let him.
If you are a Christian, the word that Christ has for you is that God is at work in your life, chipping away the sharp edges, restoring you to the image of God (see Genesis 1:27).
You aren’t yet the person that God wants you to be.
You aren’t yet the person whom you will become.
But God has started the work, and he will complete it. So next time someone asks, “Have you been born again?” don’t get angry. Say, “Yes, I have, thanks!” And then just keep walking.
Who is Saint Brendan
Thursday, November 1st, 2007
Saint Brendan of Clonfert or Bréanainn of Clonfert (c. 484 – c. 578) called “the Navigator”, “the Voyager”, or “the Bold” is one of the early Irish monastic saints whose legends have overshadowed their history. He is chiefly renowned for his semi-legendary quest to the Isle of the Blessed . The Voyage of St. Brendan could be called an immram (Irish voyage story).
His feast day is May 16.
Early life
In 484 Saint Brendan was born near what is now Fenit the port of Tralee, in County Kerry in the south west of Ireland.[1] It was known as Ciarraight Luachra in those days. He was baptized at Tubrid, near Ardfert, by Saint Erc. For five years he was educated under Saint Ita, “the Brigid of Munster”, and he completed his studies under Saint Erc, who ordained him priest in 512. Between the years 512 and 530 St. Brendan built monastic cells at Ardfert, and, at the foot of Mount Brandon, Shanakeel— Seana Cill, usually translated as “the old church”— also called Baalynevinoorach. It was from here that he set out on his famous seven years voyage for the Land of Delight. The old Irish Calendars assigned a special feast for the Egressio familiae S. Brendani, on 22 March; and St Aengus the Culdee, in his Litany composed at the close of the eighth century, invokes “the sixty who accompanied St. Brendan in his quest for the Land of Promise”.
Brendan discovering the Faroes and IcelandStamp sheet FR 252-253 of Postverk FøroyaIssued: 18 April 1994Artist: Colin Harrison
Brendan discovering the Faroes and Iceland
Stamp sheet FR 252-253 of Postverk Føroya
Issued: 18 April 1994
Artist: Colin Harrison
Legendary journey
St Brendan is chiefly renowned for his legendary journey to The Isle of the Blessed (also called Tír na nÓg) as described in the ninth century Voyage of St Brendan the Navigator. Many versions exist, that tell of how he set out onto the Atlantic Ocean with sixty pilgrims[2] (other versions have fourteen, plus three unbelievers who join at the last minute), searching for the Americas. If it happened, this would have occurred in around 512-530 AD, before his travel to the island of Great Britain. On his trip, Brendan is supposed to have seen a blessed island covered with vegetation. He also encountered a sea monster, an adventure he shared with his contemporary St. Columba. The most commonly illustrated adventure is his landing on an island which turns out to be a giant sea monster called Jasconius or Jascon. This too, has its parallels in other stories, not only in Irish mythology but in other traditions, from Sinbad the Sailor to Pinocchio.
Early Dutch version
One of the earliest preserved written versions of the legend is in Dutch Des Reis van Sint Brandaen (Dutch for The Voyage of Saint Brandon), written in the 12th century. Scholars believe it derived from a now lost middle High German text combined with Celtic elements from Ireland and combines Christian and fairy tale elements. Des Reis van Sint Brandaen describes “Brandaen,” a monk from Galway, and his voyage around the world for nine years. The journey was begun as a punishment by an angel who had seen Brandaen not believe the truth of a book on the miracles of creation and saw Brandaen throw it into the fire. The angel tells him that truth has been destroyed. On his journeys Brandaen encounters the wonders and horrors of the world, such as Judas frozen on one side and burning on the other, people with swine heads, dog legs and wolf teeth carrying bows and arrows, and an enormous fish that encircles the ship by holding its tail in its mouth. The English poem Life of Saint Brandan is a later English derivative of the Dutch version.[3]
Context
Sculpture of St. Brendan, The Square Bantry, County Cork
Sculpture of St. Brendan, The Square Bantry, County Cork
While it is generally assumed that the story is a religious allegory, there has been considerable ink spilled over the question of whether the legends are based on actual events, and whether the Isle of the Blessed that Brendan reached was actually America. There is a St. Brendan Society that celebrates the belief that Brendan was the first to discover America. Tim Severin demonstrated it is possible that a leather-clad boat such as the one described in the Navigatio could have potentially reached North America.[4][5] Some have alleged that Christopher Columbus relied on the legends told of St. Brendan as part of his argument that it was indeed possible to travel to Asia by crossing the Atlantic[citation needed]. Some propose St Brendan as a ancient visitors to the Americas.
As a genre, The Voyage of St. Brendan (in Latin, the Navigatio Sancti Brendani) fits in with a then-popular form of literature, peculiar to Ireland, called an immram, that describes a hero’s series of adventures in a boat. For example, there appear to be similarities with The Voyage of Bran written much earlier. In the Navigatio, this style of storytelling meshed with a religious ascetic tradition where Irish monks would travel alone in boats, the same way their desert brothers used to isolate themselves in caves.
Effects
Naturally, the story of the seven years voyage was carried about, and soon crowds of pilgrims and students flocked to Ardfert. Thus, in a few years, many religious houses were formed - at Gallerus, Kilmalchedor, Brandon Hill, and the Blasket Islands - in order to meet the wants of those who came for spiritual guidance to St. Brendan.
Saint Brendan is the Patron Saint of sailors and travelers.
Further travels
Later, he travelled to Wales and the holy island of Iona, off the west coast of Scotland; returning to Ireland, he founded a bishopric at Annaghdown, where he spent the rest of his days. He was recognised as a saint by the Irish church, and his feast day is May 16. Having established the bishopric of Ardfert, Brendan proceeded to Thomond, and founded a monastery at Inis-da-druim (now Coney Island), in the present parish of Killadysert, County Clare, about the year 550. He then journeyed to Wales, and thence to Iona, for he is said to have left traces of his apostolic zeal at Kil-brandon (near Oban) and Kil-brennan Sound. After a three years’ mission in Britain he returned to Ireland, and did more proselytizing in various parts of Leinster, especially at Dysart (Co. Kilkenny), Killiney (Tubberboe), and Brandon Hill. He established churches at Inchiquin, County Galway and at Inishglora, County Mayo.
His most celebrated foundation was Clonfert, in 557, over which he appointed St. Moinenn as Prior and Head Master. Brendan was interred in Clonfert.
Modern re-enactment
In 1976, Irish explorer Tim Severin built an ox leather curragh and over two summers sailed her from Ireland via the Hebrides, Faroe Islands and Iceland to Newfoundland to demonstrate that the saint’s purported voyage was feasible. On his voyage, he encountered various sights such as icebergs and sea animals such as whales and porpoises which he suggests are factual counterparts to the fantastic sights from the legends of Brendan. See The Brendan Voyage, ISBN 0-349-10707-6.
List of Places Associated with St. Brendan and their General Location
* Ardfert, Kerry
* Mount Brandon, Kerry
* Brandon Hill, Co. Kilkenny
* Faroe Islands
* Bristol, Gloucestershire.
* Iona Island, Scotland
* Gallarus Oratory, Kerry
* Clonfert
* Killadysert, Co. Clare
* Dysart, Co. Kilkenny
* Killbrandon, near Oban, Scotland
* Kilbrennan Sound
* Killiney
* Inchiquin, Co. Galway
* Inishglora, Co. Mayo.
* Hebrides
* Iceland
* Newfoundland
* Canary Islands
References
* Donnchadha, Gearóid Ó. St Brendan of Kerry, the Navigator. His Life & Voyages. OPEN AIR ISBN 1-85182-871-0
* Meijer, Reinder. Literature of the Low Countries: A Short History of Dutch Literature in the Netherlands and Belgium. New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc., 1971.
1. ^ Allen, John Logan (1997). North American Exploration: A New World Disclosed. Volume: 1. University of Nebraska Press, p. 18.
2. ^ One of these companions is said to have been Saint Malo, the namesake of Saint-Malo.
3. ^ Meijer 1971:9-10.
4. ^ Severin, Tim. The Brendan Voyage: A Leather Boat Tracks the Discovery of America by the Irish Sailor Saints. McGraw-Hill Book Company. 1978. ISBN 0-07-056335-7.
5. ^ (1964, Robert Reily) Irish Saints page:37, Wing Books, New Jersey, ISBN 0-517-36833-1
See also
* List of people on stamps of Ireland
* Saint Amaro, a semi-legendary Spanish navigator and saint
* Timeline of pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact
* Brandane
External links
* Catholic Encyclopedia St. Brendan
* Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
* Biography from A Little Book of Celtic Saints Saint Brendan the Navigator
* Navigatio sancti Brendani abbatis (Latin)
* The Voyage of Beyond the Sea Simon Young writes about St Brendan’s journey in Fortean Times
* Wall Street Journal: “Of Sainted Memory”
* Faroestamps.fo - Faroese stamp edition (English, German, French, Danish, Faroese)
* Brendan’s Fabulous Voyage - 1893 lecture by John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute, available from Project Gutenberg
