Welcome from Archbishop Robert Duncan

"Archbishop Robert Duncan, Anglican Church in North America, welcomes the Clergy and delegates of the Gulf Atlantic Diocese's 2010 Synod."

Marcia Lebhar was asked to open our recent first

Marcia Lebhar

meeting of the Gulf Atlantic Synod with a devotional teaching. The Discipleship Journal for the month is a transcript of that teaching.

Listen to the audio file- click here

What a privilege it is to be asked to begin this day. Neil and I have been nourished by your leadership, your faith and your prayers. To borrow a phrase from the book of Job, that which Neil feared has come upon him and it has turned out to be his joy! We owe that largely to your support and so I'm grateful for an opportunity to bring a word of encouragement on this occasion.

It will come as no surprise to anyone that the word I want to bring to you comes from the geography of Israel. First, I would like to show you a bird's-eye or satellite view, with one observation. Then, we'll look at a close-up of one small spot in northern Israel which has been a powerful and an almost daily encouragement to me in recent years. Then, I'll close with a snapshot of the challenge ahead in the next generation of the Church.

First, the satellite view. It's all about water! When God brought his people out of slavery in Egypt, the Scriptures say that he promised to take them to the Land that he had chosen for them. And the mysterious thing is that he took them from a land of comfortably predictable and secure sources of water, where the Nile overflowed its banks several times a year, to a land, Canaan, with few water sources. Canaan was a land where if it failed to rain for one year, there was hardship. If it failed to rain for a second year, there was great loss. And if it failed to rain for a third year, there was certain sickness and death.

Now... why would God DO this? Why NOT an overflowing Nile? (Why not Bali, for that matter?)

I heard this lesson for the first time while standing in the blistering heat of the valley of Megiddo, at the crossroads of the ancient world. I could hear my teacher's point coming before he spoke it, and I thought, 'Doesn't that just feel so familiar?' God leads his people into a land where dependence upon him is a requirement. Isn't that so like him?! It's like the route to the dead end at the Red Sea which he chose for his people on the way out of Egypt... or like Gideon's famous troop reduction... or like Jesus sending the disciples out with nothing, to do the works they had seen him do. Doesn't God just keep leading his people into need so that they will have no choice but to discover his love... his grace and mercy... his power to help?

When I am in a difficult or a painful place, I look for someone to blame. Usually myself. Then comes Neil. Not always in that order! Then it goes out from there. But it rarely occurs to me that God has engineered this difficulty for my good... and for his glory.

Neil said awhile back that if we don't understand that God has allowed, or even designed,  our difficulties to make us like himself, we will misunderstand or misinterpret them, and just about everything else. Stop and think about that. What causes you heartache... concern? If we don't understand that God has allowed, or even designed, our difficulties to make us like himself, we will misunderstand or misinterpret them, and just about everything else. I must be careful... we must be careful... not to despise whatever need or predicament, even pain, God has allowed for us. When my life looks like the land of Israel, desperately needing rain, I want that need to accomplish God's will in me.

Now let's look at the close-up. One of my favorite places in Israel is the nature preserve of Dan. Dan is in the north. It is the site of the headwaters of the Jordan River. We approach the path to the spring downstream from it. Even there the rushing waters are translucent blue, and noisy. The spring itself is of prehistoric purity. Almost every water source in the world has chemical traces of the fallout from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, delivered through rainwater. But the rainwater supplying Dan's spring has not yet carried these traces. From the spring at Dan flow 66 billion gallons of water every year! As we hike to the spring, I urge my travelers to memorize the sight and the sound of Dan. Everyone with me drinks it. Why? Because in Hebrew thinking this is living water. God compares himself to this. This is what God is like! This is who he promises to be to me... to us.

So we sit down beside this loud, clear spring and read together from Jeremiah 2:13:

 "My people have committed two sins:
They have forsaken me,
   the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns,
   broken cisterns that cannot hold water."

Why would anyone dig a cistern next to this???

Just in case. As a contingency. Because we hate the suspense. But this is the heart of idolatry... eliminating the suspense and providing for our unbelief.

This is what God hates. He declares himself to be the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb. 13:8). He will keep on being who he has been to us!

I have pictures of the waters of Dan in almost every room in our house. When I am tempted to fear... to feel the suspense of my need, I look at this water. And I am warned against rearranging my life so I won't need living water. I am warned against closing doors on risk... on faith.

So. My first challenge is that we call God's past faithfulness to mind. Remembering yesterday's mercies is a huge encouragement to stay faithful today. Where has God been living water to you? Where has he provided for and blessed you? He will not change.

My second encouragement is that we consider the road ahead and what faithfulness will require of us. Jesus promises that he is the true living water:

But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life." John 4:14 (NLV)

Then he promises to make us living water to our world:

On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, "Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, 'Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.'" (When he said "living water," he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him...)John 7:37-39a (NLV)

So the photograph here is not just of what God is like, but of what He makes us to be!

I want to end with a sobering picture of what sort of world we are called to be living water to. Recently CNN posted an article online which reported the findings of a study called the National Study on Youth and Religion, and quoted one of the several books written on the subject. The title of that article was, "...More Teens Becoming 'Fake' Christians".  It described as "mutant" the "spineless" faith many teens in America are embracing.  One of the commentators on the study calls the faith of many teens a "moralistic, therapeutic deism" portraying God as a "divine therapist" whose chief concern is our self-esteem.

This commentator counsels parents to "get radical," and to demonstrate faithful obedience to the next generation, making the connection that Jesus calls us to this radical lifestyle.

It is certainly sobering reading for any Christian concerned to pass the faith on to the next Kingdom generation. I noticed one correlation which was particularly remarkable: there is a strong relationship between teens who must pay a price for their faith and those who are still passionate believers as young adults. So the cost of discipleship is a good thing!

But far from delivering Jesus' bracing call to take up our cross and die daily, knowing that Jesus himself will sustain us... Christianity in some corners of America has descended into some sort of therapeutic, self-serving and low risk cistern of stagnant religion... We are far from taking the radical risk of believing that the God who sustains us today will not fail us tomorrow!

Now, nobody should be radical for the sake of being radical, but obedience is radical, always! So I am asking myself again... and sharing the question with you... where is God calling each of us to obey him? It could be quite personal or quite public. But whatever challenge to be faithful, sacrificial and obedient lies before you... God will be this... Dan... living water... to you... to us. He has chosen our 'Land' for us. He is the Author of our situation. He has even engineered our need. And he will be glorified when we live expecting him to be whohe has promised to be... who he has always been.

Bp Neil

We had a wonderful first Synod of Gulf Atlantic Diocese.  My thanks to all who planned, presented, attended and served at this historic event.

I want to share with the diocese some of what I said in my address to the Synod. The podcast of that full address can be accessed if you click here.

Here are some of the key Scriptures and points slightly edited:

Isaiah 6 ¹ In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. ² Above him were seraphim... ³ And they were calling to one another:"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory."

When Uzziah died, the world of the kingdom of Judah changed. He had been king over fifty years, for most people he was the only king they had ever known. The temptation for the people of Judah was to be overwhelmed by this huge change. But their greater temptation was to forget the Lord in the midst of the change.

So Isaiah is given a vision of the Lord, Adonai, "the one who rules."  And saying "Holy, Holy, Holy" is to declare the Lord exceedingly holy, greatly different from us and all fallen creation.

The opening words of the first "Lord of the Rings" film are, "The world has changed." We are in a world that has changed, but our confidence is that the Lord has not changed. He is still the Holy Ruler over all the affairs of the world.

Jesus is still the Head of the Church. He still leads us by the Holy Spirit if we remember Him first in the midst of change.

But nevertheless the world has changed. I want to think about some changes in one part of the world, the church in North America.

We have been moving away from a Christendom model, where most of the culture was still attending churches, and church planting was simply a matter of setting up new congregations to keep up with population growth and geographical shifts.

In that world, people were either attracted to a church because of a particular style of worship or particular set of programs, or sometimes just by having an attractive church building nearby their homes. It was the age of church shopping. But today a majority of our culture is not looking for a church home. This is particularly true of the younger generation.

One of the advantages that the Lord has given us is that most of us are no longer tempted to rely on our buildings to bring people in. There is nothing wrong with buildings; we need places to worship and learn. But buildings alone will not bring people into the kingdom.

We now need to be missionaries who go out because the truth is that Spirit-empowered people bring people into the kingdom.

How do we reach the culture with the love of Christ in this changed world?

We simplify our church programs so that we have more time to spend with the unchurched.

We show hospitality. Less than fifty percent of single people have been in someone else's home in the last year. While I am not opposed to door-to-door evangelism, our major calling now is open door evangelism. Jim Hobby and I just spent time in a cutting edge church in Denver where they are training people to hold parties in homes so that unchurched people can get to know Christians.

Another way to reach the culture is to rethink our direction. Our culture orients us to having our needs met, our comforts as top priority, our self-protection as a given.

But John Piper reminds us in his book The Roots of Endurance:

"Being a Christian should mean that our trajectory is toward need, regardless of danger and discomfort and stress. In other words, Christians characteristically will make life choices that involve putting themselves and their families at temporal risk while enjoying eternal security."

We have many members of Redeemer heading every week into the worst part of inner city Jacksonville at night to help tutor kids who live there in partnership with Cornerstone Church.

To their credit, many unchurched twenty-somethings in the culture are willing to take huge risks to serve those in need and we must be there with them showing the love of Jesus in the process.

Along the way, I am praying that we will create Anglican Fellowships, groups usually starting in homes, where Christians and previously unchurched can meet. Some of these could become parishes down the line.

We need to be passing on a radical, costly faith to the next generation who are not church-shopping but are hungry for the same good news that we have heard. I am so grateful for the Collide Student Rally that took place at the same time and same place as Synod as a sign of what the Lord is calling us to do- to make radical disciples among the next generation.

Let me close with a principle and a call.

The principle comes out of the beginnings of Anglicanism. During the Reformation in England, church leaders there did not see themselves as starting a new church. Instead they saw themselves as returning to the faith and practices of the apostles and the early centuries of the church.

We must do the same. We must define ourselves by our ancient past, not our recent past. As of today, I want no one to say, "We used to be part of the Episcopal Church." That has about as much attractiveness to the unchurched as telling someone on a first date all about your previous relationship.

What I want us to say is that the Lord Jesus is calling us to live out our faith in ways that we have received from earlier faithful Christians, ways have been passed down from generation to generation. We live among a rootless generation who want to be rooted in something other than the latest Christian worship production.

Now for our calling: to pray for open doors and walk through them.

Listen to Colossians 4:2-6.

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. (NIV)

St. Paul tells us to make the most of every opportunity. As I shared at an Anglican 4^th Day recently, I am convinced that whenever we meet someone, the Lord has already been trying to reach them.

He has been orchestrating their lives so that they will come to know about him. Of course they may run away. But you are never the first witness about the Lord to them, for Creation itself has already been a pointer toward God. In the words of Isaiah 6, "the whole earth is full of his glory."

We need to have greater confidence in the work of the Lord in lives, and that the Lord has put people in our path, many of whom are more spiritually hungry than they let on.

Brothers and sisters, we are surrounded by spiritually hungry people who need us to come alongside and encourage them to be joined with Christ and the body of Christ.

Our calling is to pray for open doors and walk through them, trusting the Lord who is Holy, Holy, Holy, to display his glory through us.

Yes the world has changed, but the Lord is never changing. Let's march into the world trusting in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Let me close with this blessing from Hebrews 13:

Holy Cross Anglican Church, Tallahassee

Parish Profile

Holy Cross began as a church in March 2006.  We began meeting in a large banquet hall in Tallahassee.  Like most church plants, our community set up and broke down chairs, tables, and a portable altar each week.  As we figured out how to be a church on the move, we found a more permanent home at Community Christian School.   This is a great facility. It has an auditorium with pews, good sound system and a stage.   Four years ago we purchased property and we plan to have the mortgage retired in the next two years

Holy Cross currently offers three distinct worship styles.  We have a contemplative service, a traditional service and a modern service.  Each worship service offers Eucharist.   Average Sunday attendance is 160+.  Congregation size is 240.

We are committed to being a church of Small Groups.  Currently we have approximately 70% of congregation in community groups.  It is in the small groups that we grow disciples as we do life together.  We are also linked with a local mission in Tallahassee and missionaries in Guatemala.  Our vision is "Holy Cross is a community where the life-changing faith in Jesus Christ is alive in worship and service."    We Worship together, Reach out to others, and Connect to the Body. 

Christ The King Anglican Church was formed in the latter part of 2006, and for almost four years gathered for worship at Berea Seventh Day Adventist Church in the old downtown area of Lincolnville, in St. Augustine.  At that time the congregation comprised almost entirely of former Episcopalians.  We are a church committed to loving God, becoming disciples and serving others as our mission statement simply states, 'Love God.  Become Disciples. Serve Others.'

Our rector, the Reverend David C. Allert is assisted in

The Rev. David Allert

worship and pastoral duties by the Reverend Richard Marshall (retired), the Reverend David Baker (deacon), and the Most Reverend Douglas Woodall (Archbishop in the Charismatic Episcopal Church -CEC, for the Armed Forces).  About two years ago David+ was approached by Abp. Woodall, interim vicar for St. Andrew's Charismatic Episcopal Church, to seek God about the possibility of St. Andrew's and Christ The King worshiping together.  With the continued blessing of the respective bishops, Bishop Lebhar and Bishop David Simpson (CEC), both churches now gather together each Sunday as one, the clergy sharing the pulpit and the altar and both congregations serving in all areas of church life.

The newest development for Christ The King has been the acquisition of our own church property in August of this year.  After seeing the building of the former Reconciliation Episcopal Church (founded by the late Reverend Paul Canepa) come on the market this past spring our vestry sought God's guidance once more, regarding a church home as had been our habit for the past four years.  We saw God's miraculous provision as He opened door after door for us to walk through.  He brought us through a time of struggling, testing and trusting, until we were able to celebrate, with much joy, our first service in our new church home on Sunday, September 19, 2010.

Each Sunday morning at 10am Holy Eucharist is celebrated.  Children's Sunday School takes place during part of the service and nursery is offered throughout the morning.  We blend traditional hymns with contemporary songs and healing prayer is available during Holy Communion.   Throughout the week our members are engaged in Bible Study, Intercessory Prayer, Youth Group, and serving twice a month at St. Francis shelter for the homeless.  We support a weekly after school program as well as ministering in the two nursing homes in the Lincolnville neighborhood.  We are involved in ongoing projects in the community under the umbrella of 'Somebody Cares', a Christian ecumenical organization providing practical help for those in need.  David+ is a founder member of Pastors United, newly formed to encourage unity among the churches in St. Johns County.  Along with structured mission projects (funding housing for the earthquake survivors in Haiti), the churches gather quarterly for a worship service with the various pastors bringing the Word. 

Having been under the care of CANA for three years our ties to the Anglican Church in Nigeria have kept us close to the heart of the mission work to the Nigerian Widow's Empowerment Fund and the Very Reverend Zacchaeus Asun, Dean of Bishop Crowther College of Theology in Kogi State, Nigeria.  In addition, we support the Miao people of China through the work of Paul and Dorothy Lacy.  On a local and national level we have for years supported the ministries of Young Life and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.

Since moving to our new location our church attendance has increased significantly.  We seem to be serving as a haven to many who have been wounded by the Church along the way.  As we adjust to this blessed phenomenon of rapid growth we are lifting up thankful hearts to our loving Father for pouring down His blessings upon us, even as we are being intentional in passing these blessings on to those He has called us to serve.