– By the Rev. Canon Phil Ashey
“I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know. . . his incomparably great power. . . which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead.” Ephesians 1:18-20 NIV
Dear Friends in Christ,
One of my favorite prayers is the one on Good Friday which begins “O God of unchangeable power and eternal light; look favorably upon your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred mystery. . .”
Well, truth be told, there are many times when I find “the Church” neither wonderful nor sacred. Some days, the best I can say is that it is a mystery. Why do church leaders at every level get sidetracked by personal agendas that are more self-serving than Kingdom serving? Why do we (including myself as I hold up the mirror) get sidelined by fears, anxieties, and relational conflicts within the church? Why do we seem to have so much structure, so many “meetings” and so little mission and outreach? Why do we seem to have so little grief for people who are perishing for lack of a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, so little risk-taking in striking up conversations with strangers that might just lead to eternal turning points?
Although I see less of this among Anglicans in the Global South, it’s still there. I rediscovered New Testament Christianity and the Acts of the Apostles literally jumping off the pages of the Bible on short term mission trips in Uganda and Kenya. I am inspired by the life, witness and sacrifice of leaders and followers throughout the Anglican churches in the Global South! But everywhere I go, from North America to the UK to Africa, I see some church leaders living and leading at a level that is less than what Christ and the Bible offer us. It breaks my heart. I’m guessing that’s why I feel so deeply about what the AAC is doing in clergy leadership development.
It’s very easy to see what’s wrong and to become weary in well-doing. But what can we do to overcome that weariness so that we “faint not”? (Galatians 6:9)
Maybe we have started with a diagnosis of the human dilemma that just doesn’t do justice to the depth of the problems within all of us. And on the other hand, perhaps we are minimizing the power of God that is available to us through Jesus Christ. This is exactly what John Stott says in his Easter devotion on the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, “The Symbol of Power,” in Through the Bible through the Year:
“We are always in danger of trivializing the gospel, of minimizing what God is able to do for us and in us. We speak of becoming a Christian as if it were no more than turning over a new leaf and making a few superficial adjustments to an otherwise secular life. But no, becoming and being a Christian, according to the New Testament, is an event so radical that no language can do it justice except death and resurrection – death to the old life of self-centeredness and resurrection to a new life of love.”(1)
I’m sorry, but I just don’t have it in me even on the best days to overcome self-centeredness and to be sacrificially loving in every way to everyone I encounter. It’s just not in my “nature” to be so. I suspect the same is true for you as well! Is there any power beyond ourselves glorious and graceful enough to enable us – to enable everyone – to overcome self-centeredness and love others as Jesus does?
YES! There is such a power, as Stott goes on to observe:
“The resurrection of Jesus Christ also assures us of God’s power. For we need God’s power in the present as well as his forgiveness of the past. Is God really able to change human nature, to make cruel people kind and sour people sweet? Is he able to take people who are dead to spiritual reality and make them alive in Christ? Yes, he really is! He is able to give life to the spiritually dead and transform us into the likeness of Christ.”(2)
HE IS ABLE – through the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Thank God for his incomparably great power! (Eph. 1:19) Thank God we have a power beyond ourselves to lead, to witness, to love others, and to heal and change from the inside out.
Pentecost is coming on Sunday, May 19, and with it the promise of the Holy Spirit – the continuation of that same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead. If there is anything Christian leaders and followers need today it is power, spiritual power, to change the world. We need a fresh outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit to enable us to reach the least and the lost with the transforming love of Jesus Christ.
I want to know that resurrection power of Jesus Christ, even if it means sharing in the fellowship of his sufferings (Phil. 3:10). I need the resurrection power of Jesus Christ. I rejoice that the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is available for his bride, the Church. I aim to call on that power in every way I can.
How about you?
Yours in Christ,
Phil+
The Rev. Canon Phil Ashey
Chief Operating and Development Officer, American Anglican Council
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(1) Stott, John R.W., Through the Bible, Through the Year, (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2006), p. 282
(2) Ibid.
