On the Fourteenth Sunday Per Annum

Zechariah 9:9-10

Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem!
Lo, your king comes to you;
triumphant and victorious is he,
humble and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
and the warhorse from Jerusalem;
and the battle-bow shall be cut off,
and he shall command peace to the nations;
his dominion shall be from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.

Romans 8:9, 11-13

But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.
So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Matthew:25-30

At that time Jesus said,
‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have vealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’

If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
So here lies the rub, and my on-going beef with St. Paul. What, exactly, does it mean to put to death the deeds of the body? Is this some veiled—or not so veiled—works righteousness? Or, does Paul suggest a radical trust in the Mercy of God? Are we to rely on our ability even commitment to change in this life, or do we trust that God accepts us as we find ourselves in Christ. Do we know ourselves so accepted, saved, by the very reality of our baptism, or must we rely on our new-found goodness as the effective sign of our membership in Christ?

On the Anniversary of the Great Rebellion

Another year has come and gone in our Great Experiment in self-government. I am not ungrateful for the liberties and prosperity that we have achieved. But I find it terribly unsettling that a relatively small cabal of smugglers, privateers, tax avoiders, and slave owners could subvert the peace of an entire nation in order to set up a system that seems convenient for them. Am I speaking of our Founding Fathers or the boys and girls that run the show today?

I recently had the opportunity to visit our neighbors to the north who see themselves as the beneficiaries of an unbroken continuity of a greater heritage in British North America. I cannot honestly say that Canada looks any the worse for wear labouring as she does under the yoke of the descendant of that anointed person our fore-fathers so proudly rejected.

I continue to pray for the thousands of loyal hearts who lost property, livelihoods, reputation, national identity, even lives as the direct result of the Declaration we recall today!

I continue to pray for those who have and who do put themselves in harms way in defense of that nation which arose from the rebellion we celebrate with firework and fanfare.

I continue to pray for the quiet repose of George III, so cruelly treated by the exigencies of circumstance and polity.

And, I continue to pray for the continued vigor of that Sovereign Lady who could still be our own!