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Show Sunda Local Church Series WASHINGTON Of The Body By THE REVD GERHARD LAUN Rector, St Mtry'i Epiicopal Church are coming to the end of the Christian Year All the texts of Scripture assigned to the last few Sundays of the Pentecost Season remind us of how we ought to live with the end of our mortal life in mind "To live with the end of our mortal life in mind" that is the Christian We - way to live The revealed love of God for man in Christ cannot be considered apart from death Where death is minimized, or quickly passed over the historical and existential essence of Christianity is lost And yet it is hard to talk to people about death By mutual consent we feel that a person who talks about death is unbalanced and morbid Many of us are afraid to bring the topic up not only to our friends but even to ourselves in our secret thoughts. Nothingness is a characteristic of man's being All men prove this fact by dying. But to realize that we are nothing in ourselves, that we do not of necessity exist, that we are going to die, is frightening. Only if the fact of death starkly stands before us can we begin to appreciate the degree of God's love for us in Christ and the thoroughness with which we must love God in return. The Gospel of Christianity is that while death must separate us in a natural way from all other men, even death cannot separate us from the Person Who Is God (Rom. 8:35-39- ). Christ died our death, so that even in death we could be with Him and He with us. The Christian life is always life with another, even in death! Death is not an end with only a hope after it; it is a middle, a door to, a means by which we obtain a fuller life. And that is resurrection-hope- . "We believe that Jesus died and rose again , and so it will be for those who died as Christians; God will bring them to life with Jesus" (1 Thess. 4:13). "To learn the meaning of the Resurrection," wrote Westcott, "is the task not of one age only but of all." Just as the evangelists apprehended and presented different aspects of its meaning, so have the various epochs in the history of the Christian Church, which now spans almost 2,000 years. It was the news of Jesus and the Resurrection that first won the ancient world. In the Church of the Fathers it was especially the East that held the Resurrection in its central place. The Greek theologians seldom isolated the Cross; and the atonement meant to them the victory of the Resurrection, whereby nature rejoices in the new creation and whereby mankind may share in the risen life of Christ and so become partakers of the divine nature, it would be absurd to say that the West 19 1978 THK HERALD, I'rovu I Uh Page lost sight of the Resurrection et there have been phases in the West when the Cross was isolated and seen without the light of Easter upon it The tendency can be traced in Christian art. where the crucifix with the figure of the dead Christ upon it has replaced the earlier majestasa crucifix with Christ crowned, robed, and victorious It can be traced in doctrine, where the sacrifice of the atoning death has often been separated from the victory of the atoning Resurrection It can be traced in worship where the com memoralion of Calvary has replaced the commemoration of the whole drama of redemption The belief in The Resurrection of the Body has been a stumbling-blocboth in the ancient and in the modern world Yet to have succumbed to the objectors, either in the old world or the new. would have blunted the cutting edge of the Gospel and removed a k doctrine which sums up the genius of Christianity in its belief about man and the world The central fact about the life of the Resurrection is that it is "in Christ " Some will share in that life by conscious faith in Christ; others who have never known Him may share in it if, after the Parable of the Sheep and Goats, they have unconsciously ministered to Him. Though the future life is to be a life transformed far beyond imagination and far bevond flesh and blood, men are indeed RAISED. There is identity and continuity. And this is shown in the act of the Lord's own Resurrection. While there was the glorifying of His body, there was also the continuity of the whole manhood, body and spirit, raised from the dead. The Son of God took upon Him the whole of human nature in order that the whole might be raised in glory. "Resurrection of the Body" suggests a richness of life, in the blending of the old and new, that defies human thought, as does a pureb spiritual immorality. And yet the mystery springs from the love of God, the Creator and Redeemer of the world. Because God is Creator as well as Redeemer, the new creation will be fashioned not only from what is new but also from what is I'PI When George Gallup was predicting a religious revival the Episcopal Church m the U S was going through the agony of deciding to ordain women to the a decision that was to priesthood result in the schism of the church It was not the first major split of U S religious groups in the 1970s southern Presbyterians were hit by a major walkout of conservative forces in the early 1970s and later, even as Lutheran and Roman Catholic theologian? were announcing major strides in reaching unity, the Lutheran Svnod divided sharply over doctrinal and administrative issues and moderates left the church to form another body The tensions that threat the institutional life of the church, however do not always end in schism In May of this year delegates to the I nited Presbyterian Church's General Church-Missou- ri Assembly after bitter debate throughout the body overwhelmingly turned down a recommendation from a special task force of the denomina Hon l leadership to allow ordination of practicing homosexuals to the ministry At about the same time. Roman Catholic bishops were given a that as much as 55 percent of the nation's Catholic priests favor optional celibacy survey-showin- And on a smaller but no less significant scale two ministers of the United Methodist Church in Delaware, said they had finally had it with what they perceived as the denomination s liberal drift and announced they were leaving the denomination These examples illustrate the fact that, despite the reported religious revival the churches are experiencing in the last half of the 1970s the nation s ing Methodist or Lutheran or Presbyterian than with other stances on issues think most of the major denomian lions have pretty much the same ap said Dr Claire Han proach to things dall general secretary of the National Council of Churches They have some variations in how they state their theoltg but there is a great deal of 1 commonality across the People dor. ! feel strange moving she said between denominations in that sense denominational era it's a But it is not a postdenominationji era in the sense that any of th se denominations are anvtime soon about to disappear or merge together or cease to be separate denominations in some way shape or form maior denominations level The Bible, women priests, the nature of the church the nature of the priesthood, abortion and most recent esiy, the issue of homosexuality, pecially inside the church have all deeply divided American Christianity They are issues that cut through and across denominational lines, with Presbyterians fighting Presbyterians and Lutherans finding more in common with Methodists or Southern Baptists than with each other For some the current state of the institutional church, both interms of the pressures that threaten to divide and the ecumenical efforts that point to unity suggest that religion is moving into a stage where church identity has less to do with be I CARPET CLEANING I KTJvVM - pressure often pit ting the national leadership of a denomination against a well - organized and militant faction on the grass roots profound pressure and there is a great deal of movement between churches I I One Day IfSlDfWlAl UNI'UI Service 'I MOVING DfODOi'ZH COlOt BtlOM'l MBS '00 MOM BA, I( vki ) I Carpet Care i V! and Mailer 16 ( barge An 95 NO Itooms vi .voo SIZE LIMIT Senior (Hi ( 224-144- 5 munis Uiit-n- III rplt-- Dress Up Your Dining Room For Thanksgiving fi KIISHEI COLLECTION H1 First Meeting of Christian "Women's Aglow' Scheduled Chuck-A-Ram- Times of prayer, tk Jl LESLIE STRANSBURG praise, and intercession are part of the love that is expressed when Aglow women meet together. Aglow women are loving witnesses for the Lord wherever and whenever they meet. All women are welcomed in. The speaker at the luncheon will be Dee Wiseman, current president of the Salt Lake City chapter of Women's Aglow. The luncheon will be $3, and baby sitters will be provided. For reservations or more information or call before noon on Monday. NEW U.S. Budget SOFT LOOK Had School Work Effect (Division of Lilli Ann) its first trillion dollar budget, $12 million may seem like, if not exactly peanuts, a minor sum in the government picture. But what it's buying on the education scene may help shape schooling after high school for millions of nontraditional students in the 21st cen tury So it's important peanuts. $12 as million Marv F. Berry tells it, this year funds 175 pro jects for innovative programs to improve teaching Costa Di With America neanng The 225-54- 224-47- Blazer Jacket Skirt Suit as a authentic musket ...and as fresh today as it was when our flag was spangled with 13 stars Wool (Polyester Blouse) 100 AMERICAN DREW Perfect Fitting Classic Jacket With Matching Skirt & Blouse Come see our Bicentennial collection, these are of solid pine and pine veneers, with maple and other hardwoods added for extra strength. The pieces have a casual, rough-hew- n feeling, with a hand pegged appearance and "worn" edges. Louvered doors are carved from solid panels and framed in solid pine. Finish is ei warm brown specially rubbed and highlighted to let the golden gleam of the grain show through. and learning bevond high school. Berrv is Assistant Secretary for Education, Sizes 6 to 6 1 of and Welfare. The $12 million is from the nation's Fund for the Improvement of U S Department You dorft have to buy a new $12000 Health, Education house to have a new home. to $170oo Postsecondary by the Amendments Education Act of 1972, the Fund awards seed money to get local innovative projects off the ground. Then, local funds are expected to keep it going. Established rtno consolation in be- inu out nf work is thinking oKnni all the money the Lil IRS isn't getting. - qjsen in Lnicago 1 1 iuuik. See Them Now!! .ENTERPRISES OPEN FRIDAY a greaf name in furniture! hSLl CARTWRIGHT'S 10-6:0- Furniture eons 45 East Center - Provo post major church bodies are under old. There can be no gradual evolution or transformation of this world into the next, or of the temporal into the eternal. And yet the harvest of eternity is the harvest reaped and garnered from this world, in which and for which the Son of God was content to die. And those who by faith in Him are willing to die to self and sin, in the spirit of His love, are those in whom the life and fellowship of the world to come are already real. In the Risen, Victorious Christ the world to come already confronts each and everyone of us. The first meeting of Women's Aglow, will a gather at the Buffet, 1408 So. State in Orem, on Tuesday, Nov. 21 at 1:00. Aglow is a national fellowship of Christian women who love the Lord and who are aglow with the Holy Spirit. 57 Tensions Threaten Religious Fabric - P 1 November Quality, Service, Selection 0 Phone 373-260- 0 TILL 8 P.M. now AT 551 SOUTH STATE -- PROVO |
