Book of Common Prayer – Celebration of Holy Communion Order One in Traditional language
We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth; so that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure: which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.
I am about to go 'formal' on you with the Authorized King James Version of II Thessalonians; therefore let us look back to the formality of Paul's long opening sentence [above] written after his formal greeting of this Epistle evoking a sense of duty of a responsive brother receiving a second Epistle of encouragement from our beloved Apostle to the Gentiles (of which you and your wife and children are part) as members of a new and growing church at Thessaloniki (as we now Anglicize it centuries after King James).
Paul’s letters or epistles would have been written to a church and VERBALLY delivered by a man leading worship at any first century church.
The common language of the Roman Empire is GREEK as it was in Thessalonica even prior to Rome’s rule.
In Macedonia (of Philip of Macedon and Alexander the Great) Greek had been made the language of Alexander’s vast Empire even as far east as the Jews had been banished to Babylon, later ruled by Persia and then Alexander.
Intro to Thessalonica via the Protestant Reformation
JUMPING centuries and millennia toward today..
At the time of the Renaissance, in this same sense under the rule of a later Empire of Great Britain the BIBLE goes into all the world (largely in English) authorized by King James of England .
Unlike an impotent inclusion of anti-Christ philosophies of this Common Era, it was a time when Kings and Queens went out to war AND Sovereigns were not only an authoritative Defender of the Faith, but also men who did determine political religious alliances with the Pope and Bishop of Rome as well as other rulers beyond the realm.
Because the governed now became literate in Scripture the Bible exposed the darkness of Rome’s frequent heretical Bishops and frequently-fallible Popes.
The King James Bible was commissioned in the year of our Lord 1609 and first published in A.D. 1611.
At the time of the Protestant Reformation the Anglican Book of Common Prayer standardized the traditional liturgy of the Roman Catholic Mass from centuries of Christian tradition in the King’s ENGLISH, replacing the ancient Latin (archaic even in Italy and its Papal States) used in its liturgy.
The common language of the King later remained as part of worship in English long after the meaning of its words were common (much as had Latin become unused beyond the Mass) and centuries after Britannia no longer ruled the waves.
Never-the-less, let us not overlook the validity of this worship, whether in Thessalonica of the A.D. first century or an American colony of Britain of the A.D. 17th century or for our present day church.
Meet our ‘word of the day’ – ‘meet‘
For many years Christians from the Anglican tradition proclaimed corporately each week as a church celebrating the Communion of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ sacrificed for us in the following words [in part], theology imprinted upon our worshiping hearts:
Officiant: [Priest leading Holy Communion] The Lord be with you.
Response of the Congregation: And with thy spirit.
Officiant: Lift up your hearts.
Congregation: We lift them up unto the Lord.
Officiant: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
Response: It is meet and right so to do.
Before proceeding with the opening response of the priest celebrating Holy Communion I would like to PAUSE briefly here to consider the response of the worshipers.
And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
Genesis 2:18 King James Version
Not only does Moses introduce the Hebrew equivalent of meet (as we once translated in KJV in English), the Gospel writers and Paul introduce its importance to solid theology as well.
The KJV translates Strong’s G514 in the following manner: worthy (35x), meet (4x), due reward (1x), unworthy (with G3756) (1x).
weighing, having weight, having the weight of another thing of like value, worth as much
befitting, congruous, corresponding to a thing
of one who has merited anything worthy
both in a good and a bad sense
IS YOUR FAITH IN THE LORD CHRIST JESUS BOTH MEET AND RIGHT?
Our Christian Duty
Returning to & Continuing from the Book of Common Prayer:
Officiant: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
Response: It is meet and right so to do.
Officiant:
It is very meet, right, and our bounden duty, that we should at all times and in all places give thanks unto thee, O Lord, holy Father, almighty, everlasting God, through Jesus Christ thine only Son our Lord.
Ano Domini 51 – Paul writes a Second Epistle to the Thessalonians
a context in Paul's missions to write another Epistle
A couple of reminders to my fellow Christians of this Common Era
A.D., used for calendars and timelines of history since about the fifth century derives from the Latin abbreviation for Anno Domini means “IN THE YEAR OF THE LORD” or “In the year of our Lord,” depending on context.
Epistle – generally a serious letter on an important subject [Greek epistole] “message, letter, command, commission,” whether verbal or in writing
The Apostle to the gentiles sends his Epistle after having clarified the commands of the Council of Jerusalem concerning worship of Jews and gentiles together as believers in Christ Jesus, the Messiah crucified and risen some twenty years ago.
Paul penned I Thessalonians to commend his faithful brethren for their stalwart dedication to Christ and to one another and to encourage them to further progress in love and holiness.
Intro to Thessalonians – AKJV [A.D. 1964]
Once Paul’s messengers deliver his Epistle to Thessalonica they return with their report.
Paul then writes a second Epistle after the returning brothers report certain problems that are not solved. The Apostle writes to encourage believers being persecuted, to clarify the Day of the Lord, commanding them to work and to obey his Epistle.
.. as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth; so that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure..
As I noted last time, SOMETHING CHANGED (in the year of our Lord 1950 when God determined that I should be born or sometime during the early years of my mortal life).
Neither did the Holy Spirit breathing life through a new Adam into the condemned dust of sinners crossing the line of the DOCTRINES of God change in any way.
It wasn’t God’s HOLY BIBLE that changed in which IT IS WRITTEN:
All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Second Letter of the Apostle Paul to Timothy 3:16-17 Christian Standard Bible
“christianity-lite is weightless witness of Christ-less preaching to the Scripture-starved chaff of Common Era culture.
In fact, the BIBLE warns us of times and churches and christians like these in the very context of the Apostle’s epistle to the pastor Timothy.
STRUGGLES IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
In fact, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Evil people and impostors will become worse, deceiving and being deceived.
Few souls, I suspect, with a BIBLE in hand and ears to hear Scripture.
SO WHAT GOSPEL CAN WE PREACH TO A COMMON ERA CROWD?
It's a dilemma for any preacher and church leader isn't it?
HOW can we multiply our members IF we are always saying, 'it is written?'
Any ideas?
JESUS IS JUST GOOD NEWS!
GOOD NEWS for EVERYONE (Right?)
Never let it be written or said that OUR Jesus is ever bad news for any.
OLD testament is definitely OUT (except maybe a Psalm or so).
Let’s imagine there’s no hell. (It isn’t hard to do.)
NO Judgment or REVELATION! (Too scary even for youth and children.)
a CHURCH FOR THE Common Era
“It is written” will mean MUSIC! Our CHURCH for the COMMON ERA will be all about OUR MUSIC. We’ll start with a great band on stage to set the mood of worship. WE’LL fill stadiums with NEW christians for JESUS!
Between the christian stage
& the Common Era audience.
WE may as well preach litely toward gathering unbelievers into the indistinct undefined masses of our cultural mixing pot.
SO without saying, ‘it is written..,’ WE can preach a more palatable gospel in OUR own words as an exposition of OUR all-inclusive church VISION.
If we really believe in jesus, it isn’t hard to do.
Let's just remove all the BIBLES where 'it is written' from our McChurch worship hour and add holders for our lattes of the latest christian music trends.
If you will forgive my light-hearted humor of what can be done to worship and the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, let's take a more serious glance at WORSHIP as it seems to have changed by now in 2023 of this Common Era.
Referring to the A.D. 1960's and the three subsequent decades and 'churches moving into a marketing mode,' David Wells writes:
“Adapting to culture became a key ingredient in outreach strategy. The result of this was that worship was more likely to be led by a worship team made up of musicians than by the pastor(s) as was the case in more traditional churches.
David F Wells – GOD IN THE WHIRLWIND – P.189
CONTENT and FORM
Pointing to two differences, Wells goes on to describe the ‘WORSHIP DIVIDE’ we have encountered in the contemporary church now most common in this Common Era of the 21st century.
What the worshiper brings to worship is an indispensable part of the mix. Without the knowledge of God in those who worship, without faith, without reverence, without gratitude in the worshiper, even the best forms of worship simply fall flat.
David F Wells – GOD IN THE WHIRLWIND – ibid.
FOCUS ON THE TRIUNE GOD? or
FOCUS on OUR EXPERIENCE of OURSELVES as worshipers?
Is the chaff from your ERASER changing anyone’s faith?
PREACHING ASIDE, Wells suspects that ‘worship wars, which are almost wholly music wars, are really obscuring the larger issues that are in play.’
“NEEDS-SHAPED WORSHIP is invariably self-focused.”
“SERMONS.. aimed simply at providing a lift, some inspiration, from whatever source can be had.”
“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life, and there are few who find it. “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
“His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger.
They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away.
God layeth up his iniquity for his children: he rewardeth him, and he shall know it.
His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
- from a speech of Job 21:17-20 King James Version
It is written in the Revelation of JESUS Christ to John:
“HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME.”
And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
“Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”
is YOUR christianity-lite WORSHIP worthy of the HOLY, HOLY, HOLY Lord Jesus Christ?
proskyneō – a probable derivative of G2965 (meaning to kiss, like a dog licking his master’s hand); to fawn or crouch to, i.e. (literally or figuratively) prostrate oneself in homage (do reverence to, adore):—worship.
“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.”
Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests
10 minutes
__utmb
Used to distinguish new sessions and visits. This cookie is set when the GA.js javascript library is loaded and there is no existing __utmb cookie. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to the Google Analytics server.
30 minutes after last activity
__utmc
Used only with old Urchin versions of Google Analytics and not with GA.js. Was used to distinguish between new sessions and visits at the end of a session.
End of session (browser)
__utmz
Contains information about the traffic source or campaign that directed user to the website. The cookie is set when the GA.js javascript is loaded and updated when data is sent to the Google Anaytics server
6 months after last activity
__utmv
Contains custom information set by the web developer via the _setCustomVar method in Google Analytics. This cookie is updated every time new data is sent to the Google Analytics server.
2 years after last activity
__utmx
Used to determine whether a user is included in an A / B or Multivariate test.
18 months
_ga
ID used to identify users
2 years
_gali
Used by Google Analytics to determine which links on a page are being clicked
30 seconds
_ga_
ID used to identify users
2 years
_gid
ID used to identify users for 24 hours after last activity
24 hours
_gat
Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests when using Google Tag Manager
1 minute
_gac_
Contains information related to marketing campaigns of the user. These are shared with Google AdWords / Google Ads when the Google Ads and Google Analytics accounts are linked together.
