FRIDAY REVIEW
Friday in Easter Week
Rebuilding God’s Church from the Bottom
Up
March
28, A.D. 2008
The
priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter
and John while they were speaking to the people. They were greatly disturbed
because the apostles were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the
resurrection of the dead…. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no
other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:1-2,12).
They were greatly disturbed because those sent from God were teaching
and proclaiming Jesus. God had done his greatest work of all time for all
mankind in the saving work of Jesus on the Cross. His glorious Resurrection
testified to the truth of all that Jesus had said and done. Dead men don’t
rise. They stay dead – except for Jesus. Because He lives, we also will live,
as will all who come within the reach of his saving embrace.
The priests, the captains of the temple guard, and the Sadducees –
those who should have been the most closely attuned to the things of God –
didn’t have eyes to see the mighty acts of God. They were not just disturbed.
They were greatly disturbed, so much so that they
sought to silence these ordinary men who were speaking the word of God boldly.
According to the New Testament record and beyond, these ordinary men of
women who had encountered the Risen Lord devoted their lives to building the
Sadly, despite years of struggle to defend the faith once delivered to
the saints, we find that today’s existing wineskins are too stretched and
broken to hold the new wine that retains it vintage flavor. Yet again we are
called to rebuild God’s Church from the bottom up. To do this we must come
together in the saving Name of Jesus. We must worship together, pray together,
fellowship together, and plan mission and ministry together in His common
cause.
God is raising up grassroots clusters of congregations from all the
Common Cause jurisdictions to join in this work of rebuilding the Church. Laity
and clergy who are committed to this work of God’s Great Commission will be
gathering at Holy Cross Anglican Church in Loganville, Georgia, about 30 miles
east of Atlanta, April 17-19.
Our theme is “Common Cause: Working Together in Mission &
Ministry.” We’re not going to just talk about Common Cause ministry. Laity,
bishops, priests, and deacons are going to sit together in breakout roundtable
sessions to find practical initiatives for proclaiming Jesus as churches
working together in His Name. We’re encouraging people to look around and find
other orthodox Anglican churches, to build bridges, and to start meeting and
ministering together.
The Lord has risen indeed! As we now work to proclaim the message of
the Resurrection, I invite you to book your flights for
Our actions will again leave some greatly disturbed because we will be
“proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead… for there is no other name
under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
Your brother in Jesus the Christ,
Jim McCaslin+
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