FRIDAY REVIEW
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.
April 4, A.D. 2008
The New DNA
I will remember the deeds of the
LORD; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will meditate on all
your works and consider all your mighty deeds. Your ways, O God, are holy. What
god is so great as our God? You are the God who performs miracles; you display
your power among the peoples. With your mighty arm you redeemed your people,
the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. (Psalm 77:11-15).
Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free…. if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed (John 8:32, 36).
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:17-18).
When I was in seminary, some of my homiletics (preaching) professors tried to reign me in and get me to focus on just one short passage for my sermons. Such restraint has always been hard for me. No matter where I start in Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit most often has one passage lead me to another passage and then on to yet another passage. So it is as I write this evening. I started with Psalm 77, one of the lessons appointed for today’s Feast of Martin Luther King, Jr. It led me to think of Dr. King meditating on God’s miraculous mighty deeds, His holy ways, and His powerful redemption of His people. Indeed, as today’s Collect says, “Almighty God… led His people out of slavery, and made them free at last.” Free at last. Do you marvel at our freedom from bondage to sin in Jesus Christ, at our freedom to live as new people? When the Son sets us free, we are free indeed! Not only are we free, we’re being transformed into the Lord’s likeness with ever increasing glory. Our DNA is being transformed. God gave Dr. King a dream and a vision of a transformed America with new DNA that was rooted in Holy Scripture. It’s a DNA of suffering and standing boldly for righteousness and justice. It’s a DNA of equality and non-violent proclamation in the face of oppression. Dr. King stood boldly for God’s truth, liberty, righteousness, and justice even to the point of death. It’s a DNA that we continue to strive to attain, and it comes only with God’s help and power. So it is with the new DNA that we’re striving to attain in the new American Anglicanism. Our sins of pride, competitiveness, arrogance, complacency, selfishness, retribution, and dominance must give way to humility, mutual submission, godly service, self-sacrifice, compassion, generosity, and a consuming passion for taking the saving Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ into a lost and hurting world. DNA is a self-replicating material that carries genetic information from generation to generation. Our genes help determine the characteristics of our offspring. We have much work to do to begin to re-inculcate biblical DNA into our Christian genes so that we may pass on godly character, virtue, and zeal to our children and grandchildren. Old habits die hard. They cling to us and are not easily shed. We must be very intentional about asking and allowing God to transform us. We do this not only in our times of prayer, study, and worship, but also in times of fellowship, teaching, and retreat. I exhort you, clergy and especially laity, to make a break in your busy schedules to join us at Holy Cross Anglican Church in Loganville, Georgia, about 30 miles east of Atlanta, April 17-19. The Rev. Tom Herrick, veteran church-planter and Director of the Titus Institute for Church Planting, will lead a pre-conference seminar on Thursday. That evening Network Moderator and Common Cause Chairman Bishop Robert Duncan will open the conference as our keynote speaker. Jenny Noyes, Network Director for Evangelism, will help us focus on our grassroots ministry together that is exploding in exciting ways around the country. Our theme is “Common Cause: Working Together in Mission & Ministry.” In our roundtable breakout sessions we’ll work on our new DNA for practical applications for Gospel work together in His Name. We gather in just under two weeks, but there is still time to register and make your travel plans. Make yourself available for God to transform your DNA as we go forward together in God’s greatest reformation and realignment of Christianity in some 500 years. Sign yourself up and take the initiative to invite a friend. How about doing it today? Conference details and registration information are available at: www.regonline.com/195695. May God be glorified in all we say and do.