From The Bishop's Desk

Globalization with its logic of power and domination of one group over another began long before it became linked to the liberalization of the global economy. In the West Indies it began with the arrival of Europeans and the Trade in human labour, resulting in some 400 years of slavery unleashed on the peoples of Africa. Full Message...

Sermon at the Consecration of The Rev. Robert Thompson
Tuesday May 31, 2005
[Kortright Davis]

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." (Colossians 3:16-17)

My Dear Sisters and Brothers in the Lord, I wonder if you ever noticed that Christianity has always been a very fashion-conscious religion. It has always placed a great emphasis on clothes. I am not referring so much to our cultural habits of turning our Sunday morning services into fashion parades, especially at Easter, or Harvest, or Christmas. Indeed, for many people, church-going can be a very expensive affair that some people just cannot afford - if for no other reason than they do not want to be seen in the same clothes too often. No, I am really referring to Christianity's origins, and its history, and to its symbolic teachings about clothing. Clothes are mentioned everywhere. Clothes often get featured in the reports and the teachings, in the rituals and ceremonies, the symbolisms and styles.

For example, we know what the Baby Jesus wore as soon as he was born - it wasn't pampers; it wasn't a diaper; but just swaddling cloths, or if you prefer the King James version, "swaddling clothes". On the Mount of Transfiguration his clothes are mentioned in dramatic fashion - they become dazzling white. Just before his final walk to Calvary the Roman soldiers mock him by adorning him in a scarlet robe, and putting a crown of thorns on his head, and mocking him - "Hail King of the Jews!" We know what he was wearing just before he was stripped for crucifixion - it was a custom-made coat woven without a seam from top to bottom, too good to be ripped, but good enough to be raffled.

When we come across his cousin in the wilderness, John the Baptist is dressed up in expensive leather clothes, made from the camel and the cattle, just to make a prophetic statement. When Jesus asks his audience about the phenomenal ministry of his cousin John, he mentions clothes: "What went ye out for to see - a man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they which are gorgeously apparelled, and live delicately, are in kings' courts." His parable stories are sometimes clothing-sensitive. The forgiving father orders that the best robe to be placed on his prodigal son, and Hither the fatted calf is to be slaughtered, barbecued and served. At the wedding feast the bouncers are ordered to throw the man out who crashes the party without being properly dressed - "how camest thou in hither, not having on a wedding garment?" He speaks of the rich man, who really has no name, but who is clothed in purple and fine linen and fares sumptuously every day, and that in contrast to the poor man who does have a name - Lazarus - and whose only medical insurance is of the canine variety. In his great Sermon on the Mount, when he is warning us against retaliation and the "tit-for-tat culture", he says: "And if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well." So clothing gave the Christian message a good start, and made it very fashion conscious.

We also notice how the great missionary preacher, St. Paul, picks up the clothes-conscious theme. We must put on the armor of light by being vigilant Christians. We must put on the breastplate of righteousness. We must put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof. In Galatians Chapter 3 there is that powerful Greek word - endusasthe- that relates to our baptism. "As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves ("endusasthe") with Christ"(Verse 27). The writer of the Letter of James warns us against fashion and class prejudice; when the man in fine clothes and gold rings comes into church we must not give him more honor than the poor man in dirty clothes. The writer asks: "Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?"

The Early Church Fathers placed great emphasis on the meaning of clothes, as well as on the evils of improperly dressing-up. Cyprian regards the robe of Christ as the sacrament of the unity of the Church. He writes: "Because Christ's people cannot be rent, His robe, woven and united throughout, is not divided by those who possess it; undivided, united, connected, it shows the coherent concord of our people who put on Christ. By the sacrament and sign of His garment, He has declared the unity of the Church." Of course, Cyprian also warns the virgins of the Church: "Let chaste and modest virgins avoid the dress of the unchaste, the manners of the immodest, the ensigns of the brothels, the ornaments of harlots".

Ambrose makes most of the white robes of the newly baptized catechumens: "The Church, having put on these garments through the laver of regeneration, says in the Song of Songs: 'I am black and comely, O daughters of Jerusalem.' Black through the frailty of her human condition, comely through the sacrament of faith. And the daughters of Jerusalem beholding these garments say in amazement: 'Who is this that cometh up made white?' She was black, how is she now suddenly made white?" Ambrose says: "The Church is made beautiful in them."

Chrysostom is even more strident as well as eloquent in his homilies on Matthew's Gospel. He preaches thus: "The believer ought to shine forth not only by what he hath received from God, but also by what he himself hath contributed; and should be discernible by everything, by his gait, by his look, by his garb, by his voice." And here, I cannot resist the temptation of also mentioning two holy grouses on which Chrysostom gets very hot under the collar. First, he warns Christian men against being effeminate looking by wearing sandals woven with ornaments - he says, "it perverts men to the gestures of women, and causes them by their sandals to grow wanton and delicate." Secondly, he warns the Christian women against wearing expensive jewelry rather than spending the money on feeding the poor and hungry. He says: "Consider at any rate how many hungry bellies thou passest by with this array, how many naked bodies with this satanical display. How much better to feed hungry souls, than to bore through the lobes of thy ears, and to hang from them the food of countless poor for no purpose or profit." He says to the women: "change the ornaments which ye wear, and clothe yourselves instead with almsgiving."

So here we are today in the liturgical and ceremonial presence of the successors of Jesus of Nazareth, John the Baptist, Saul of Tarsus, Cyprian, Ambrose, Chrysostom, Augustine, Percival, Donald, and Herman. We are gathered here to ordain and consecrate yet another apostolic leader, and teacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We will not only ordain him, we will also adorn him. Bishops wear attire with strange sounding names - rochet, chimere, pectoral cross, mitre, zuchetto, crozier, mozzetta. Eucharistic vestments worn by bishops and priests have come down to us from Roman secular attire in the second century - the alb was a development from the tunica, the chasuble from the paenula. The stole was originally worn only by the deacon in the 4th century as a scarf or handkerchief in the Eastern church, and it was known as the orarium in the Roman church. The Italians adopted the Gallican word stola from the 11th century onwards, from which we derive the English word "stole". The maniple was a development from the mappula. The cassock was originally an ankle-length dress in the early Roman Empire. But it is not only the bishops and priests who dress up in church. One Jamaican clergyman in comparing church-life in the UK with church-life in Jamaica has written these words: "In Jamaica there's more music, contemporary songs, longer sermons, and a greater sense of fellowship. Jamaicans are more expressive, both in the way they talk and the colourful clothes they wear." So what is this clothing talk all about? You have a right to ask. It all has to do with the New Testament Reading for today from Paul's Letter to the Colossians.

In our reading today, Paul urges us to get dressed. He urges us to put on the right clothes, clothes that have familiar names, clothes that are neither sacred nor secular, but clothes that are heavenly derived and earthly useful. They are the garments of heavenly grace. We must notice something very significant about the clothes we are urged to put on. They are not church-clothes. The problem with liturgical attire is that, as pretty and as expensive as they might be, they are only to be worn in church. When the rituals are over the sacred robes are put away. No, Paul is speaking of the clothes for the road, for the streets, the shops, the homes, the trenches, in the struggles for what is right and godly, for the challenging encounters with people anywhere and everywhere. Listen to how he puts it: As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.

They have nothing to do with polyester, or brocade, or cotton, or nylon, or wool, but everything to do with relationships between people and people. There is a culture of Christian clothing that bears the full stamp of moral rectitude, and spiritual integrity, and personal identity. It is an identity of being set apart by God. We are God's chosen ones - both the laity and the non-laity. We have already been spoken for. Jesus reminds us: You did not choose me, but I chose you, and ordained you, and sent you out. It is an identity of being called out, called together, called upwards to a new and dynamic condition of holiness. What is holiness? Holiness is that location from which we engage the world, rather than the state to which we retreat from it. We are made fully conscious of being loved by God, so much so that God's love radiates through every sinew of our beings, and blossoms forth in transforming and liberating grace, by the way we extend God's gracious invitation to those who hunger and thirst after justice, and peace, and wholeness in life. "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you".
In our Christian culture, therefore, we dress up to invite others to Christ; we do not dress up to show off. Each of those virtues of which Paul speaks tells its own story of reaching out and touching the other person. "Compassion" is about feeling and suffering with others. "Kindness" makes us wholly available to others. "Humility" ensures that we do not take ourselves too seriously. "Meekness" reminds us of our constant need for God. "Patience" knows how to wait on God, and how to give others the benefit of our doubts for God's sake. These are the garments of Christian grace. We are dressing up to make a difference for the better, not for the worse. Then notice how Paul goes on. He tells us not to leave home without one special piece of garment, for that is the most important of all. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. It is inherent in our Christian mandate that we affirm and proclaim the supremacy of love; and we can only do this if we are unswervingly committed to the efficacy of faith, and the invincibility of hope. Faith, hope and love are the trinity of Christian virtue. There can be no separation between Christian culture and Christian virtue.

Here in Jamaica, there is as much evidence of a world that is hurting, haunted and hurried, as there is elsewhere in the Caribbean region and beyond. Not so long ago, a policeman offered up this prayer in National Heroes Park here in Kingston: Everywhere we turn, there is killing. Every day we are in shooting. Every day we are in fear… Have mercy upon the nation. Have mercy upon the security forces. We know God you say we must call on you in our time of trouble and you will hear us. We pray for a turning away from evil ways. God alone knows how many thousands of Christians throughout the Caribbean offer up such a daily prayer from the depths of their social agony and personal anxiety.

Listen again to these words from another Jamaican: As we in Jamaica today are presented daily with spectacles of our mortality, as we see our children slaughtered, youths self destruct by internecine violence, bread winners torn from their dependents, policemen and women cut down in the line of duty, rich and poor alike losing life, losing hope we are tempted to give in to despair and fear and anger. But at this, the greatest of the Christian festivals, we are called to focus once again on the Righteous One Who was executed unjustly in the most vicious and disgusting way, but never giving up or giving in. That was Dr. Alfred Reid, the Lord Bishop of Jamaica in his Easter message to his faithful flock. The supremacy of love, the efficacy of faith, and the invincibility of hope, are all wrapped in the policeman's prayer and the bishop's message.

Yes, we are living in a hurting, a haunted, and a hurried world - all dressed up in the wrong clothes, and going nowhere on the fast track, just like the bob-sled race. A vicar at a parish church near Rochdale in the Diocese of Manchester in England said earlier this month that young people in the area were always causing him trouble at his church. "Stained-glass windows had been smashed; gangs hung around drinking and smoking drugs in the churchyard; and youths would run in and out of church services taking place in the evening." So he had to move his services into the Vicarage.

In the country where I now sojourn, we experience the daily horrors of human brutality, the barbaric violation of personal and property rights, child abuse, domestic violence, gang warfare, and high-tech, low-tech, and no-tech crimes. Nowhere is safe, nowhere is pure, nowhere is untouched. But still, everywhere is heavenly, and heaven-loved, for everywhere is a locus and a focus of God's creative and sovereign love, God's liberating power, and God's convulsive Spirit. There is nowhere that cannot be turned upside down, or inside out, and right side up. That is why these words keep ringing in my head: The Church is there / To cleanse the air.

Can the air really be cleansed? Are we really too late to do anything about it? Can the Church indeed become again a cleansing agent, or does the Church itself need to be cleansed first? Where do we look to find the selfless and sacrificial service, the passion for God's justice, the new paradigms of divine forgiveness, the models of transformative leadership, the courageous risks of genuine faith, or the creative engagement of the manifold gifts of the Spirit in our congregations? Where can we hear a new song that tells again the old, old story of Jesus and His love? What has become of the poor, the maimed, the halt, and the blind, the hungry souls, the thirsty lips, and the imprisoned minds that Jesus claimed as his own kith and kin? Not only did he make the claim with his words, he also made it with his life. He gave his life. He emptied himself. He died. He died on a hill between two thieves, and not on a cross between two candle-sticks. One ancient writer said that as Jesus was lifted up on the cross he cleansed the air of evil spirits. Those outstretched hands on Calvary made the world clean. Where is the cruciality of the Cross in the life and witness of the church? Although they stripped him of his robes, they could never strip him of his virtue. For it was by that Cross that the powers of the world were exposed as bankrupt - while the power of human virtue and divine grace combined to give the world new life, new air, new hope. Yes, God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself. He came, he died, he reconciled. He came to start a movement, but he ended up with an institution. How can the church become less of an institution, and begin again to take the movement seriously? Can the church cleanse the air of institutional captivity, and discover again the glorious freedom of the Kingdom of God?

Paul says that we must give it a try. How must we do this? This is where our text for today finally comes into its own. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Paul says to the church, to all of us, that what we strive to be on the outside must be resourced, and nurtured, and invigorated, and channeled, by who we are on the inside. In other words, the relational identity that we present to the world on the outside must be rooted and grounded in our spiritual, moral, and doxological character - that is, our praise-worthy and praise-giving character on the inside. We are to allow the word of Christ to flourish in our innermost beings. This must surely mean that we sustain an unconditional allegiance to the authority of the Word that is addressed to us by God in so many inspiring ways. By the word of Christ we not only listen to Christ, we also speak to Christ, and speak about Christ, and speak in the Name of Christ. We teach and admonish each other for the sake of the movement and not for the lure of dominance or superiority. We exercise godly wisdom as a divine gift and as a shared experience. And we set the highest possible example of gratitude to God in things both small and great. For as the old folks used to remind us: "Ingratitude is worse than witchcraft". And we must not forget to sing, and sing, and sing - for by making a joyful noise to the Lord, we can help to cleanse the air. The Church is there/ To cleanse the air.

Who will take the lead in this? Whom shall I send, asks the Lord, and who will go for us? Robert Thompson has replied: "Here am I, send me." So here we gather to ordain and consecrate this servant of God for new ministry in the holy Church of God. Here we gather to adorn him with new clothes, all with their symbolic meaning and episcopal splendor. Here we gather to set him apart for new leadership in the church. Here too we gather to renew ourselves, and our own allegiance, to that messianic movement for change and healing, forgiveness and redemption, that Jesus came to build. What shall we say then to Robert himself, as he takes to himself this sacred mantle of mission, this awesome mandate of servanthood, and this prophetic task of apostolic witness? Allow me to speak to him on your behalf.
My Dear Brother in Christ, you may remember that some years ago when you blessed us with your sermon in Washington at the Jamaica Independence Anniversary service, where I was officiating, I made the solemn prediction that one day you would become a bishop. And you may also remember the thunderous applause that this prediction received. Now here we are in this church, witnessing my prediction come to pass. Some may well ask what was the basis for my solemn prediction. I would graciously reply, that in addition to all your priestly qualities and ecclesial qualifications, you stand in line of a special tradition of surnames, since your name ends with the suffix "-son". Jamaican Anglicans seem to like to choose bishops whose names end with "-son". There was Gibson; there was Edmondson; and now there is Thompson.

So what will Bishop Thompson look like, and sound like, and who will he eventually become? God alone knows; for the future belongs to God. There is one thing that you and I know, however; the God who has called you into this new office will never fail to equip you to make full proof of your ministry. You will surely call to mind quite often the famous prayer of St. Augustine: "Command what you will, and then grant me the means to accomplish it." God always answers such a prayer; and, what is more, you can always trust in the trustworthiness of God. For remember, my Brother, God does not call on us to be successful, God only calls on us to be faithful. Whatever you do, however, do not get so busy in serving the Church that you forget to serve your God. You must plant, another will water, and God will always give the increase. What are the seeds and seedlings at your disposal? Let me suggest a few of them - some in Latin, and some in our own language. Some will be related to the episcopal clothes and symbols that you wear.

First let the mitre on your head always remind you that you are to be a pastor pastorum. You are to be a pastor of pastors - leading them into places they have never been before, and even into parts of God's hunting ground that they would rather not go. The mitre must be the sign of the leader for all to see and follow. I often feel that pontifical introit processions are right, but the recessionals are wrong. The bishop should be at the end of the procession into the church, but should also be at the head of the procession out of the church. Last in, first out - leading the flock into the world at large. As a pastor of pastors, you must answer the question: "Who ministers to the ministers?" As a pastor of pastors, you must take the lead in energizing your fellow-pastors in the five points of growth in effective ministry, according to Davis. These five growth-points are: 1) Vocational Enlightenment; 2) Holistic Empowerment; 3) Spiritual Enrichment; 4) Ecclesial Endearment; and 5) Radical Engagement. These five "E's" appear to me to be inherent in the Lord's mandate to us to feed the sheep and tend the lambs.

Secondly, as you wear the ring on your finger, let it remind you of your calling to be a servus servorum. You are called to be a servant of servants. Matthew's Gospel tells us that Jesus exercised a threefold ministry of teaching, preaching and healing (Chapter 9:35); but Jesus himself said that he came to serve, not to be served, and to give, and give, and give, his whole life as a ransom for the many. That episcopal ring, Robert, is to be an enduring symbol of being branded and bound as a slave of Christ, and a servant of servants for Christ's sake. As you wear it, however, do not look for any reward or thanks for what you do. Remember Paul's words today: "Whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus." Just do the right thing and forget it! Do not wait around for any praise or acknowledgement - for the times are urgent, and the days are evil, and the harvest is even more plenteous today than it was before.

The third Latin seedling has to do with your pectoral cross, regardless of whether you put it in your left shirt-pocket, or hang it on your chest. The pectoral cross says: theologia crucis - theologia gloriae. That is to say, the only way of glory is the way of the Cross. You remember the words of Paul in Galatians Chapter 6: "God forbid that I should boast, or find glory, except in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world." Yes, Robert, from today onwards you will be placed further on the altar of sacrifice. You will feel again in your body and spirit the crucifying marks of the Lord Jesus Christ. You will encounter disappointments and frustrations, contradictions and controversies, and crises of every variety; nevertheless, that pectoral cross will help you to remember that you should meet every crisis with an open heart, and an open mind, but not always with an open mouth.

The fourth seedling is about the colour you will wear. The Latin phrase is one that I am making up specially for you - agnus Dei - agnus ludorum. My translation is: "The lamb of God is also the Lamb of the games." The lamb is the sacrificial animal, innocent, defenseless, without blemish, tasty to eat. The lamb's blood is shed; and that blood is more crimson than purple. So with the episcopal colour you wear, try to make it more crimson than purple - for purple was the colour that Pontius Pilate wore, while crimson was the colour of the blood of Jesus whom he crucified. You will be a lamb of the games that people play in the church. One non-Anglican Jamaican bishop once told me that he was warned at the time of his ordination about three things: he would never be idle; never be hungry; and his clergy would not always tell him the truth. Some of my other bishop-friends have told me that they too have found that to be true; but none of them are here in this service today. So you will need to be a lamb of God and a lamb of the games people play all at the same time - innocent, strategically dumb, but full of wisdom, full of grace, and full of love.

Here then, are just a few more seeds for planting the trees that will help the church to cleanse the air. Do not believe your own propaganda. When they begin to compare you with Freddie, or Harold, or Howard, or Neville, or Willie, your fellow bishops in this place - just clear out as fast as you can. Remember what the Man from Galilee warned us: "Woe unto you when all speak well of you." But he also said: "How happy you should be when you are persecuted for righteousness sake." Again, my Dear Brother, do not try to make the news - just try your best to make a difference.

If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, make it a difference for the better and not for the worse.
Further, pray without ceasing and study without stopping. A bishop without a steady diet of prayer and a disciplined habit of study is like a singer without a song. How can you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God without knowing what to sing, or how to sing? I remain convinced that it is through the nurture of the spirit and the mind, by the inner workings of the word of Christ, that our lyrical consciousness can become morally contagious and spiritually inviting. It will enable you to speak truth to power, but it will also guide you to discern the power of truth. In any case, never try to seek refuge in the comfort of opinion by taking flight from the discomfort of thought.

And one last thing, Robert, never forget those two heavenly words - THANK YOU. Paul reminds us of the constant need for gratitude in our hearts. One of the finest letters I have ever received from any bishop came from the late Bishop Swaby. He had to preside at the consecration of two young men - "Dreckie" and "Tony" - as we young clergymen used to call them, at St. Michael's Cathedral in Barbados. I had the honor of assisting him as his chaplain. So I helped to consecrate those two famous bishops, one of whom is presiding at this service of consecration today! Bishop Swaby wrote me the loveliest letter of thanks in his own hand when he returned to Jamaica. I really do believe that the church can cleanse the air of much ingratitude and thankless-ness when our leaders throughout the whole church, myself included, become more "eucharistic" - more thanks-giving in our living, and not just in our liturgy.

So, may God's Spirit ever encourage and sustain you in your new ministry, my Dear Brother, and may you find much joy and fulfillment as you strive to lead the flock of Christ into pastures green and to waters mild. And may you find daily comfort and strength in words such as these from Frances Havergall:
O fill me with thy fulness, Lord,
Until my very heart o'erflow
In kindling thought and glowing word,
Thy love to tell, thy praise to show.

O use me, Lord, use even me,
Just as Thou wilt, and when, and where;
Until Thy Blessed Face I see,
Thy rest, Thy joy, Thy glory share.

AMEN.

Charge (Sermon) delivered at the opening synod service on March 29,2005

TEXT: Ephesians 4: 15-16 "...

SPEAKING THE TRUTH IN LOVE WE ARE TO
GROW UP IN EVERY WAY INTO HIM WHO IS THE
HEAD, INTO CHRIST FROM WHOM THE WHOLE
BODY JOINED AND KNIT TOGETHER BY EVERY
JOINT WITH WHICH IT IS SUPPLIED WHEN EVERY
PART IS WORKING PROPERLY, MAKES BODILY GROWTH AND UPBUILDS ITSELF IN LOVE."

THEME: "GROWING IN CHIRST, SHARING THE LOVE OF GOD"

At this Synod 2005, I want us to focus on "Growth", "development" - specifically human development as a Christian imperative, "maturity" and progress towards maturity. This will be the focus at the Opening Service as well as in our group discussions during the business sessions.

Popular prejudice tends to classify religion in general and the Church in particular as some thing for children and as having no meaningful contribution to make in dealing with modern man-come-of-age and wrestling with big decisions and practical issues.

THE PREJUDICE IS UNFAIR - yes! But as "ole time people used to sey" "Anything black people sey, if it don't go so, it nearly go so". Certainly, there is enough evidence of childish games and petty squabbles born of immature attitudes to give some credence to the criticism. The Scriptures challenge us to outgrow childishness and to "grow up" into a genuine childlike maturity. The aim of real human growth is in our capacity for love and our young people need to learn that love is not child's play. No wonder in the great poem on love 1 Cor. 13, St. Paul says "When I was a child I spoke like a child, I understood as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things." Ephesians 4:15 says we are to grow up IN EVERY WAY INTO CHRIST. Verse 14 says, we should "no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine."
The mention of "doctrine" in this text leads me to say, first of all, that we urgently need to grow in the area of theological development.

In a world where people are honestly searching for answers to tough questions, it is not enough to offer a warm and wonderful religious sentimentality that seeks to drown the nagging questions in a syrup of emotional euphoria. Nor is it either honest or helpful to authoritatively and repeatedly pronounce a few high sounding religious catch phrases or slogans and think that, by so doing we can silence all argument. Some Christians confuse human emotion and animal high spiritedness with spirituality or even the Holy Spirit. But let us never forget, that the real Holy Spirit as promised by Christ is, "THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH". John 14:17, 15:26, 16:13, 1st John 4:6 also called, "THE SPIRIT OF WISDOM AND UNDERSTANDING" in both Old and New Testaments for example Exodus 28:3(KJV) Deuteronomy 34:9, Isaiah 11:2, Ephesians 1:17. In St. Paul's often quoted catalogue of spiritual gifts in 1st Corinthians 12:4-11. The gifts of the Spirit that head the list are, " the utterance of wisdom and the utterance of knowledge" (V8). In the very chapter from which the text for this sermon comes (Ephesians 4) the writer repeatedly uses the phrase "The truth" or "The faith" (Vs.13, 15, 21 & 25). In John 8:32, Jesus promises to those who keep His word that they will know the truth and the truth will set them free. In John 14:6 He says, "I am the Way the Truth and the Life" and at His trial before Pilate He said, " For this was I born and for this I came into the world to bear witness to the Truth".

I am not for a moment isolating Academic or Theoretical prepositional truth from the total complex of affectivity, activity and faith but I am saying, without apology, and based on the "First and great Commandment" as set out in Matthew 22:37, Mark 12:30 and Luke 10:37 that "the mind" is included along with head and soul and strength in our loving surrender to God (Matthew 22:37, Mark 12:30, Luke 10:37). In St. Mark's account the command is repeated for emphasis in verse 33 where it says "…to love Him with all the heart and with all the strength and with all the understanding and to love one's neighbour as one's self is much more than all whole burnt offering and sacrifice."

AND SO I PROTEST AGAINST THE SHAMEFUL NEGLECT OF SOUND, SERIOUS, CRITICAL AND FAITHFILLED THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION AND RESEARCH IN THE CHURCHES OF THE CARIBBEAN.
The result is a confusion of tongues, a babel and a fervent but superficial religiosity on the one hand, and on the other, cynicism on the part of the honest seekers who have given up any hope of hearing anything credible from those who speak most passionately for the Gospel. At the same time, there are those who pretend that doctrine does not matter or that they have no need of theology while they slip all kinds of strange doctrines into songs and prayers repeated over and over until they become embedded in the psyche and taken for granted without question.

In second Timothy 4:3 the writer says "…the time is coming when people will not endure sound doctrine but having itching ears they will heap up for themselves teachers to suit their own liking". "THEIR OWN LIKING" - this perfectly describes the religion of those who would demand that the Church become an entertainment hall rather than a temple of truth.

In a very challenging and perceptive article in the Sunday Gleaner of August 1, 2004, Ian Boyne wrote, "The Church has been vanquished in terms of intellectual influence in the nation while in the past members of the Clergy influenced the national discussion agenda and were forceful in influencing discourse and reflection, today the Church in Jamaica is intellectually marginalized though no other institution boasts the number of high calibre intellectual as the Church". There are criticisms that the Church is silent on many social issues that affect the lives of our people. These issues are controversial because every legitimate concern is immediately politicised for partisan advantage. However, if the Churches had developed its own clear and consistent social philosophy based on the Gospel it would be able to speak with integrity without being co-opted for partisan and sectional interest.

However,
what I personally think is scandalous, is the silence of the Churches on theological issues at a time when the battle is on for the minds of men. A case in point is the recent Tsunami on December 26, 2004 in South East Asia which saw "believers" either rejoicing in apocalyptic fulfilment or claiming that it was God's judgement on the Pagans. Nowhere is the childishness of modern popular religion more evident than in the facile assumption that if you are a true Christian you will have a life of uninterrupted pleasure and personal security. You will be free from pain and sickness and all your wishes especially for money will automatically be granted. This hedonistic and materialistic idolatry has practically supplanted the Christian Gospel and has no answer to the unbeliever who takes pleasure in asking where is God in all this and if God exists and is omnipotent why did He do this terrible thing or even allowed it to happen.

There is a vulgar triumphalism about secular humanism in our time. Secularism minimizes the supernatural and has no tolerance for the idea of God active in the affairs of the world on a day to day basis. God is banished from the workplace, the universities, the political arena. So it is very ironic for people with this mentality to ask "Where is God in all this?" In fact, the Tsunami is a massive embarrassment to the whole structure of godless philosophy. In a terrible and dramatic way, it literally explodes the mythology of humanistic omnipotence and exposes the nakedness of the illusion that human beings can control, subdue, and manipulate the universe through science, technology and management. At the same time, it shows up in a harsh and unflattering light the shallow religious ideologies that lay claim to supernatural powers that can over rule the forces of nature.

In the end, both the cynics and the religious neophytes end up with the same deficiency. Both lack any sense of the mystery and majesty, the richness, depth and complexity of reality, of life, of the world and of the True God. The recent Tsunami, which I am told, released as much energy as one million atomic bombs, calls all serious scientists as well as all serious believers and theologians to acknowledge the mystery of our reality. And without a sense of mystery there can be neither science nor religion.

Within, above and beyond, that mystery is there another reality? - A God of love and ultimate power? If not - if human beings are just physical with no relation to "the Father of Spirits" (Heb. 12:9), then what would it matter if 200,000 bits of matter that came about by chance and have no ultimate future, are swept away? The reason why those people in South East Asia matter is because they are more than physical - they are children of God - not bastards or step-children but "heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ" Romans 8:17 WHERE THERE IS NO GOD HUMANITY IS DEVALUED and a pointless anthropology takes the place of theology. Man becomes the centre instead of God but the center cannot hold, for man without God is nothing but a peculiar member of the animal Kingdom.

Quite clearly, if we had been in the habit of theologizing about the unspeakable tragedies of our own history over the past 500 years, it would not have taken the catastrophe of South East Asia to raise the questions about God.

YES!! It is natural and right that we should mourn for the people who died and those who have suffered the lost of everything in the Tsunami. BUT where is the consistency? What about the more than 300,000 (and still counting) who have perished, needlessly in Darfur? What about the genocide in Rwanda? What about the people all over the world carried off by AIDS? This time the count is not in hundreds of thousands but in millions. What about the entire Palestinian population hounded out of their country and consequently to refugee camps or herded into those little corners of their own land that are allotted to them? What about our next door neighbours in Haiti who barely survived after 200 years of rootless unrelenting repression?

ABOVE ALL what about the 1400 Jamaicans who were slaughtered before our very eyes in 2004 and what about the brothers and sisters of South St. Andrew, East Kingston, West Kingston, August Town, Norwood and Rose Heights in Montego Bay and - Lord have mercy - our beloved Cathedral City of Spanish Town being butchered every day?

AND WHAT IS THE USE OF ALL THESE CHURCHES IF THEY HAVE NO WORD FROM THE LORD FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS? In the words of Jer. 8:22, is there no balm in Gilead? Is it all too easy to become a mere echo of the unbelieving world. In a negative carping complaining and bitter response that depeens our problem by extinguishing hope and immobilizing us. To say as the children of Israel did at Massah and Meribah " IS THE LORD AMONG US OR NOT?" (Exodus 17:7). Certainly the Trinidadian novelist, Earl Lovelace, reflecting in one of his novels on the soul destroying poverty and hopelessness of Lavantil says "There is no God here, God has never been here or if He was, He left a long time ago". By all means, let us be realistic, let us face up, if we can bear it, to the full horror of our situation. In this situation peace marches and rallies are of good symbolic value, well funded and well run programmes of welfare and relief are even better. But there is something else which is the specific vocation of the Church and which no other agency is equipped to do. That is the development of what Jurgen Mottman calls a "Theology of Hope" or nearer home when people like Gustavo Guterez and Juan Lun Segundo have worked out theologies of liberation relevant to their various countries. Theology is a recognition of what God is doing in our specific situation. People are liberated and hope is reborn when in the darkest hour there is even one witness who has really known "Immanuel - God with us". The darkness deepens, but at the same time "The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it" (John 1:5).

THE TRUE BELIEVERS
are not the childish puny souls that seek and claim to have found immunity and invulnerability in a fantasy world, nor even those self-sufficient heroes who believe they can take on the world in their own strength. THE TRUE BELIEVERS ARE THOSE who are amazed to find that God walks with them in the blazing fiery furnace, in the lion's den, in the Egypt and Babylon of slavery and genocide. In the wilderness and through the valley of the shadow of death through the cross THE TRUE BELIEVERS have not found God to be the answer to an academic question. We do not find Him as the logical conclusion to an argument, but rather experience God as "The Rock", "The Redeemer", "The Saviour" in the midst of the storms of life.
Psalm 46 says it for us " GOD IS OUR HOPE AND STRENGTH, A VERY PRESENT HELP IN TROUBLE. Therefore, we will not fear though the earth be moved and though the mountains be toppled into the depths of the sea, though it's water rage and foam and though the mountains trembled at its tumult the LORD OF HOST IS WITH US, the God of Jacob is our strong hold" (Vs 1-4).

CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY
is never content to spin out simplistic and pre-mature answers but courageously and faithfully lives with the big questions. One thing about the exploration of mystery is that if you are truly religious you find that the mystery deepens the more you delve into it. Kyle Haselden had this to say "The mystery of Human suffering remains - agonies we cannot understand justify or fit into neat theological systems BUT that persistent mystery neither measures nor mars that love which God reveals to us in Christ THAT TOO ABIDES".

The pagan gods and the modern idols are certainly impressive in their invincibility reigning serenely above it all unmoved and immovable. But infinitely more majestic is the God whose glory and power are by no means compromised by His involvement in our life on earth. The God who does not back away when the waves of the sea are mighty and rage horribly but firmly plants His foot steps in the sea and rides upon the storm. For me there is no God like the God who comes out victorious when "death's mightiest powers have done their worse". Truly the God who wakes dead souls to love and praise is The One who is called the "Vanquisher of death". It is only as we grow up into Him that we truly grow. To grow up into Him means outgrowing our worldly and human limitations and finally attaining to "Mature Manhood measured by nothing less than the full stature of Christ" (Ephesians 4:13)

WE ALSO NEED TO GROW IN TERMS OF AUTHENTIC CHRISTIAN MORALITY.
Just think. It is said that Jamaica has more Churches than any other country. I doubt if that is true but there is certainly a tremendous proliferation of Churches, sects, crusades, gospel concerts accompanied by a media blitz and an aggressive campaign of books, pamplets and tracts not to mention certain schools that are more concerned with proselytising than with education. After all this we are a just, peaceful, caring, progressive society. "RIGHT?" - "WRONG"!! The experiential growth religiosity has simply been overwhelmed by a greater explosion of savagery, brutality and white collar corruption. Jamaican Christians tend to be self-righteous, negative and judgemental about selected sins from which the "righteous" feel that they are immune. However, it seems that the childish moralistic fussiness of popular religion is no match for the "mansized" violence and evil in our society. We make a great show of strict obedience to some little rules and regulations that reinforce various sectarian interests while blatantly violating the first and great Commandment and the second which is like it, Matthew 22:37-9. THE FACT OF THE MATTER IS THIS, what passes for morality these days is nothing more than a mishmash of selected elements (bits and pieces) of social prejudice, middle class culture, Victorian hypocrisy, competitive capitalist ideology and American individualism with a dash of fundamentalism to give it an aura of biblical authority. So much so that instead of taking the lead in moral development, Christians are just another echo of uptown verandah values. The Churches themselves have eroded their moral authority by bickering over triffles while neglecting "the weightier matters of the law, mercy, justice and truth" Matt: 23:23. If we are to be taken seriously, the Church must become an alternative society rather than a mirror image of secular society.

WHAT IS NEEDED NOW
IS A CLEAR, CONSISTENT AND COMPREHENSIVE MORAL VISION FOR THE WHOLE SOCIETY, modeled in our lives as members of the Christian Community. THE QUESTION ARISES - What would it take for a Church to be the soul and conscience of a nation? And how can we make a meaningful contribution to authentic human development in this emerging society? These are questions I challenge you to address in your group sessions at Synod.

AND WHAT ABOUT SPIRITUAL GROWTH?
The popular idea of "spirituality" conjures up images of sweet sentimental people, out of touch with reality and avoiding what is called the affairs of the world for fear of contamination while often living by very worldly standards. However, TRUE SPIRITUALITY IS INCARNATIONAL AND SACRAMENTAL.
It boldly claims the world for God and all aspects of life as under the judgement and mercy of God. True Spirituality produces men and women of character and stature, not just "Nice little children" or etherial "spirits" floating on cloud nine. A mature or maturing Christian is one who has progressed from paranoia to metanoia, no longer blaming others or scapegoating, but accepting responsibility for his or her actions. A maturing person is one whose religion satisfies his or her real needs. Not one that caters to childish "wants". THE INABILITY TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN WANTS AND NEEDS IS A SIGN OF IMMATURITY, but it is prevalent enough to spawn a whole religious industry that equates what people want with what God requires. The goal is a happy, comfortable and successful life serviced by an escapist Church preaching a milk and water Jesus, a beautiful unscandalous cross and a private inwardly limited spirit. We need to outgrow this kind of thing and to attain a true CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY, which is nothing less than the fruit(s) of the Spirit, The Holy Spirit reproducing in us the life and character of the Christ, the self-giving love of the crucified God.

Having announced my Theme as GROWTH in the Church, it may surprise you that I have not dealt with quantitative or numerical growth. Of course, I am concerned - very concerned about the decline of our Church, both numerically and in terms of its impact on the society. We cannot be indifferent to numbers because God does not wish that any should perish but that all should reach repentance (2nd Peter 3:9). However, we must not be mesmerized by statistics. We have already noted that the present unprecedented reign of terror and viciousness in Jamaica coincides with phenomenal "Church growth" and we also know that people join Churches for various reasons, some of which have little or nothing to do with the purposes for which the Church exists. So, while we must at all costs be committed to the eternal salvation of every person, let us not become so paranoid about numbers that we are tempted to use the wrong strategies to attract the wrong people for the wrong reasons. Let neither success nor failure divert us from our commitment to God's will and purpose for all His people; and let us seek His grace and power to become the kind of Church that will be an effective instrument of His redemptive purpose in this sick and suicidal society.

Numerical growth is not an end in itself, but may well be a BY PRODUCT when the Church is faithful to its vocation. This led one writer to say that the growth we must aim for is "organic and incarnational growth". Or, as I said last year, citing C. Kirk Hadaway, we should seek above all TO BECOME 'A REAL CHURCH' RATHER THAN A GREAT CHURCH.

The Epistle to the Ephesians challenges us to a transcendent expansion in our view of the Church and its mission. The first readers may have thought they belonged to what was merely a new and fragile religious movement, one among many struggling for its very existence in a hostile world when, in fact, they were united by baptism to the One who is Head (Ruler) over all things (1:22)

As in our own time, the sinister and malevolent nature of evil in the land, was thought by many to be of demonic origin. The writer is quite clear that " We are not contending against flesh and blood but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against spiritual hosts of wickedness . . ." BUT GUESS WHAT? In 3:10 it says: " that through the Church the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places". More than any other New Testament writing Ephesians emphasized what the Church already is from the heavenly perspective and fully expects it to outgrow its human and worldly weaknesses and limitations, as it grows to become what it already is. So much so that in the opening chapters the writer makes the staggering claim that we need to look no further than the Church to be assured of the Power of God and the impact of Jesus Christ on the world. When the disciples said on their return from the mission on which Jesus had sent them, they reported "even the demons are subject to us in Your Name." Jesus replied: "I saw satan fall like lightening from heaven." Let us recall our Lord's promise to build a Church against which the gates of hell shall not prevail (Matt. 16:18) and St. Paul's assertion in 2nd Cor. 10:4 that "the weapons of our warfare are not worldly but have divine power to destroy strong holds." If we want our Church to grow we must get rid of the defeatist and negative mentality that immobilizes us and drives us into depression. Defeat and victory both begin in the mind. So let us cease to cower behind the barricades, complaining as the Israelites did in the Wilderness. Ephesians 4 assures us that the exulted Christ has given all the gifts and charismas we need to do the job. So, "strong in the strength that God supplies …" let us " strike for the faith and storm the gates that keep the citadel of wrong".

How can we ever forget that wonderful text Ephesians 3:20 celebrating "Him Who by the power at work among us is able to do far more abundantly than all we can ask or think.
To Him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. "

The final prescription for Church growth in Ephesians is

"UNITY"
There can be no growth or progress for either the individual or the Church unless we can pull ourselves together. A house divided against itself is destined to fall. In Chapter 4:1-3, the writer calls on us to cultivate those virtues that strengthen and support our common life. We are to live "with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace".

THE UNITY OF HIS CHURCH IS ONE OF THE CHIEF CONCERNS IN JESUS' HIGH PRIESTLY PRAYER (John 17). Neither Jesus nor Ephesians is concerned about denominational differences (which, of course, did not exist at that time).

The concern ranges from simple thoughtfulness, loving kindness, forgiveness as well as mutual support and respect within our local congregation, to a larger concern for the breaking down of social, racial, cultural and religious barriers so that there are no longer strangers and foreigners but are recognized and accepted as fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God (Ephesians 2:11-22). In verse 4 he says "Christ is our peace Who has made us one" and in verse 15, he speaks of the Christian community as ONE NEW MAN IN CHRIST. Who knows what peace and happiness could be achieved in Jamaica if we were to break down barriers that separate the rich and poor, the poor ghettos and the rich ghettos, the uptown and the downtown folks, the educated elite and the mature wisdom of the unschooled. It is in this area of breaking down barriers, overcoming alienation and building communal solidarity that the Churches acting ecumenically, could possibly contribute to a reduction in the crime rate.

BUT EPHESIANS GOES EVEN FURTHER
In a breath taking statement about the cosmic purposes of God Ephesians 1:10 goes as far as to envisage God's plan for uniting "ALL THINGS" in heaven and on earth.

The writer sets an incredibly high agenda for this reconciled and reconciling community we call "Church" as God's instrument for worldwide and universal reconciliation. In the Church God initiates a process whereby everyone and everything He has made is to be brought to perfection - to wholeness in the unity of love.

The writer grounds the essential nature of the Church in the nature of the Triune God of love - "One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, through all and in all" 4:5&6

SHARING IN THE LOVE OF GOD
is the point at which our theology, liturgy, morality and spirituality converge and are integrated so in 3:17 it speaks of "being rooted and grounded in love" and in our text 4:16 it looks towards us "growing up in everyway into Him who is the head, into Christ from whom the whole body joined and knit together by every joint with which it is supplied when every part is working properly makes bodily growth and UPBUILDS IT SELF IN LOVE.

BISHOP REID'S ADDRESS TO SYNOD ON
THE FLEXI WORK WEEK

We have allowed ourselves to be conned into arguing this matter in terms dictated by the Christians who think we ought to keep the Jewish Sabbath. They then proceed to accuse us of changing the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. All I am saying to you is that Sunday is an independent idea having nothing to do with the Jewish or any other Sabbath.

It had been said by the same Adventist people that the Emperor, Constantine, is the one who changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. I have pointed out, for those who have heard me on the subject, that there has never been a Sunday since the Resurrection when the Church has not gathered to celebrate that resurrection of humanity. Never! The first Sunday when it happened, we find the people from Emmaus partaking in the Eucharist presided over by Jesus Himself, returning to Jerusalem to where they find the Church gathered together in the same upper room when the sacrament was inaugurated.

And if you analyze that story, you have all the elements of the present Eucharist in it, proclamation of the Gospel which is the Gospel of the Resurrection, the peace, the blessing, the communion, all of these things from the first Sunday when it happened. The Sunday after, you will recall, was the Sunday when Thomas was present, because he was absent from the first one and it says eight days later when they were gathered together, Jesus appeared in the midst and again the Church was gathered in worship and that story about Thomas again, analyze it for yourself. It is an independent idea. The Emperor Constantine could never have dictated to the Church what day on which to worship. What he did, in his role as a secular ruler, was to declare all Christian festival as public holidays in his empire. By such legislation, not only Sunday

became a public holiday but Christmas, Good Friday, Ash Wednesday and we have all kind of weekdays that became public holidays, not only Sunday.

So when you analyze it, it is something that has its own integrity from the very beginning of Christianity. Now the mix up has come about because we are accustomed to Sunday as a day of worship. Let us understand that if ever there was golden age of Christianity it is the Patristic Age, before Constantine and for that whole period, where the Church lived in the great tribulation, its days of worship were not public holidays. Its days of worship were ordinary working days. Many of the Christians were slaves and they still worshipped every Sunday.

That is why, of course, the Eucharist became an early morning service rather than a late night because slaves didn't always have freedom in the nights. They had to serve tables until late in the night at these late banquets. They didn't have any time. The Church adapted its hours of worship to fit in with the working conditions of its members. As was always done. Don't mix up Sabbath and Sunday. Which day is the right day of worship? Every day. If you go back to Jewish Law, don't tell me that Jesus went to the Synagogue, as his custom was, on the Sabbath, I know that. But if you are going to go by law, there is no law that says that.

The law that you find in Genesis, Leviticus, Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy does not say anything about Synagogue. You don't realize that? You never see Synagogue anywhere in the Old Testament. Synagogue is something, which arose during the Babylonian exile. Long after the law, hundreds of years after the law. So there is no law. In the Tabernacle, in the Wilderness, at the Temple at Shiloah, at the Temple at Schechem and the temple at Jerusalem, the Jews provided daily worship. We read about "the morning and the evening sacrifice" which is unique to our church. Show me, which other church has daily morning and evening prayer - "the morning and the evening sacrifice." As a matter of fact the old Prayer Book was stronger. It says the order for Morning Prayer and evening prayer throughout the year. This present "red book" that you have simply says the Daily Office.

We don't know anything about any special day of worship. If you are a Christian any at all, any day that you miss worship you are in breach. Any day. So we are not talking about Sunday as a day of worship. Our Prayer Book provides Lessons, Psalms, Readings for every day. But you know we go to Church on a Sunday. Those of you who have Matins on Sunday isn't that the same service you have every morning? But because Sunday is a Festival, it is elaborated with different music and flowers and incense and things like those. When you come to festivals it is the same worship. Every day is a day of worship but on Festivals, the worship becomes more elaborate. That is all.

Now then, Sabbath, that's a different idea. Sabbath has nothing to do with worship. Sabbath is a day of rest. And as a matter of fact, the Law of Moses forbade the people to leave their house on that day. So you must not go out of your house. The prophets of the Old Testament began to understand that this concept of rest was more complicated than Moses had thought. The prophet Isaiah discovered that taking a day off does not necessarily give you rest. And so he says, "there is no rest by God to the wicked." The rest that is needed by the human soul is not guaranteed by taking a day off.

Jesus offers us a new Sabbath and that new Sabbath is not a different day or the same day but he says, "Come unto me all you who labour I will give you rest." We talk about people resting in him. Jesus Himself is our Sabbath, not Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Jesus is our Sabbath. Come unto me I will give you rest. That is the basis of that famous quotation by Augustine of Hippo "0 God you have made me for yourself and my soul will find no rest until rest in you." Both ideas, the idea of rest and of festival, are both needed and necessary but they are two different ideas and we must not allow "ignorant people" to come here and mix us up about it.

Now, about Flexi-Time - The fact is that people have always worked on Sundays. When I was rector of Vere, I went to a Church, a country church, where service was seven in the morning.

You know why? That was an agreement between Fr. Brian Wright (former rector) and the management of WLSCO (West Indies Sugar Company).

Monymusk Sugar Factory, which employed all the members of St. Peters, agreed with the Rector that if he put the service early enough, they would also give an extra hour. So, the Church pulled its service back to an earlier hour. Monymusk allowed the workers to come in an hour late and they were able to work after worship. That arrangement is still continuing in Vere now. A lot of people will object to the flexi week because it means that if they do not work on Sunday, they won't get double time. That is the problem.

I know for instance of a hotel worker who is a Seventh Day Adventist and she deliberately chooses to work every Sunday because she gets double time. Then if you really believe what you are doing, all you need is to work for forty hours, whether it is Sunday or Saturday or Monday or Thursday and after the forty hours that is the time entitled to over time - not because you work on a special day. What the Church must do is negotiate with the government to ensure that nobody shall be forced to work on a day that is against their conscience. We can defend the Adventists in that. But we are not joining them in adapting their Sabbatharian views.

If the flexi week was applied both to the worker and the employer, we need to safeguard

the freedom of both sides, getting ourselves involved in that discussion so that we can begin to

protect the rights and freedom of our people. However, we cannot go about it on the basis of a

false theology. And I will read you a passage from the epistle to the Hebrews Chapter 4v1-1 1.

That is to say the people who were given the seventh day rest did not benefit from it because as I said earlier (Vs. 3) for we who have that rest (it is not because of people's particular day of worship), you enter that rest by faith in Christ. That is what it says here. We who have believed can enter that rest. As he said: "As I swore in my wrath they shall never enter my rest." Although His works were finished from the foundation of the world," (Vs. 4) "for He has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way and God rested on the seventh day from all His

works and again in that place He says: "They shall never enter into my rest." Since, therefore, it remains for some to enter it and those who formerly receive the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, (there is no rest set by God for the wicked).

They failed to enter into God's rest although they were keeping the seventh day (Vs. 7). Because they fail to enter it again, He set a certain day and what is that day? He says "another day" and that day is today - everyday. Saying through, David, as long afterwards in the words I have already quoted: "Today when you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts" for if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever enters God's rest ceases from his own labours as God did from His. Now, as you stop your work and begin to do God's work and that is why the hymn writer says:

"Peace, perfect peace, by thronging duties pressed

To do the will of Jesus, this is rest"