St. Aidan's Anglican Church, Kansas City - Weekly Talks

2 Timothy 2:1-2 1You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, 2 What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. Grace, in certain circles, is often distorted to convey an “I’m ok, you’re ok” form of Christianity. Grace sums up the initiative and action of God for and in human beings to rescue and remake them. Titus 2:11, 12 11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age. This is the grace that is in Christ Jesus. It is the power to rescue and remake us into the image of Christ. Grace is salvific and transformation. Why does Paul need to exhort one of his key leaders to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus? As we read through both letters to Timothy, we get a sense of Timothy’s overall character, both his strengths and weakn

What is catechesis? Catechesis simply means to teach by word of mouth. In its principle parts it literally means to echo forth or resound down. Christian catechesis, then, is an echo of the Word of God spoken through a teacher, the catechist, that resounds into the minds and hearts of those who hear it, the catechumen. This echo is a passing or handing on of the faith and teachings of the Church to adults and children alike. Formal catechesis developed in the first few centuries of the Church, and over time the content of this teaching came to include four pillars or four movements of a great symphony: what the Church believes (the Apostle’s Creed), what she celebrates (the Sacraments), what she prays (the Lord’s Prayer), and what she lives (the Commandments and fruits of the Spirit). Catechesis is not information but formation into a way of life, the life of Christ and his Body, the Church. Why catechesis? The ultimate purpose of catechesis is communion with the triune God. Practically and more specifically

This is the first in a series of catechetical lectures. Our Instructors are Deacon Aaron Williams, assisted by Bill Baldwin. Due to technical issues, the first 3:44 minutes were rerecorded and added to the live recording. This accounts for the difference in dynamics. May this series of teachings be a blessing in your growth in Christ. Fr. Michael Flowers, Rector www.staidanskc.org Adult and Children’s Catechism Classes October 6, 2019 through June 7, 2020 9 a.m. in the Café before 10 a.m. Eucharist What is catechesis? Catechesis simply means to teach by word of mouth. In its principle parts it literally means to echo forth or resound down. Christian catechesis, then, is an echo of the Word of God spoken through a teacher, the catechist, that resounds into the minds and hearts of those who hear it, the catechumen. This echo is a passing or handing on of the faith and teachings of the Church to adults and children alike. Formal catechesis developed in the first few centuries of the Church, and over t

Luke 17:1-10; 2 Timothy 1 17 And he said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! 2 It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin. 3 Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, 4 and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.” Increase Our Faith 5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. Unworthy Servants 7 “Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? 8 Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me

Proper 21: O God, you declare your almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Grant us the fullness of your grace, that we, running to obtain your promises, may become partakers of your heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. 1Timothy 6:11-19 "But as for you, man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. In the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep the commandment without spot or blame until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will bring about at the right time — he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords. It is he alone who

Luke 16:1-13 He also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. 2 And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ 3 And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. 4 I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.’ 5 So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 He said, ‘A hundred measures[a] of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ 7 Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures[b] of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ 8 The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For

Exodus 14:21-31 21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. 22 And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. 23 The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. 24 And in the morning watch the LORD in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, 25 clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for the LORD fights for them against the Egyptians.” 26 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.” 27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to i

The Narrow Way of Discipleship 25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has can

Luke 14:1-14 On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely. When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. "When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, 'Give this person your place,' and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, 'Friend, move up higher'; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted." He said also to the one who had invited him, "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or r

Bill Baldwin is a part of the teaching team at St. Aidan's. He earned his MA in theology from Westminister Seminary, California. Icon: Ivanka Demchuk Key Lectionary Scriptures: Hebrews 12:18-19,22-29 You have not come to something that can be touched, a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that not another word be spoken to them. But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. See that you do not refuse the one who is speaking; for if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject the one who warns f

Micah 7 and Luke 12:49f.

Luke 12:32-48

The Holy Gospel of St. Luke - 12:13-21 Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me." But he said to him, "Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?" And he said to them, "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions." Then he told them a parable: "The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, 'What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?' Then he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God."

Canon Dr. Stephen Gauthier, Canon Theologian of the Anglican Diocese of the Upper Midwest, talks about prayer based in Luke 11:1-13 and its theme throughout Luke's Gospel. Stephen is a co-host on the popular PodCast, Word and Table. He and his wife, Barbara, live in Wheaton, IL. He oversees Gregory House, and St. Paul’s House of Formation, two Anglican ministry formation organizations in Chicagoland. He holds a Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University and has devoted a lifetime to the study of Scripture, theology, church history, liturgics, the early church fathers, canon law, and Carmelite spirituality.

Martha and Mary: Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary.[e] Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:38-41

Deacon Aaron discusses how Christ's mediation is extended and shared through the ministries of his Church. For example, Paul's companion, Epaphras, "always wrestling in prayer" for the Colossians, and, the Samaritan, in Luke's Gospel, who stopped to be merciful. Jesus says to "go and do likewise." Who is this companion commended by St. Paul? And, who is the Samaritan in, perhaps, one of the most familiar of Jesus' parables? Aaron sets out to answer these questions by turning to the first fifteen hundred years of interpretation. Currently, Aaron is a doctoral candidate at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute at the Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., and, in residence at St. Aidan's, serving as a Deacon and writing his dissertation on biblical exegesis, liturgy, and the renewal of poetic experience in the thought of Louis Bouyer.

Paul's Gospel is a proclamation of freedom. His letter to the churches in the region of Galatia provides us with the most concentrated example of Christ's liberation. He ends his letter, the sixth chapter, with how to maintain radical freedom in the Christian Community.

Freedom is, perhaps, one of the deepest longings of the human soul. We sing about freedom, we protest for freedom, and most political philosophies are based on certain assumptions about the freedom of the human person. What does the bible say about freedom? What does it mean to be set free in Christ? What is freedom, in this sense? To answer these questions, we reflect on Galatians 5. Part two will consider Galatians 6 and Paul's instructions on the mutual care of freedom in the community. Ivanka Demchek, Icon of the Exodus.

Our guest preacher is Dr. Doug Hardy, professor of spiritual formation at Nazarene Thelogical Seminary, KCMO. He works with the Gospel passage, Luke 9:18-24, on the question of Jesus' true identity. Amid the multiple messiahs of one's own making, Jesus' probing question to his disciples, "who do you say that I am?", remains the important question. About Doug: I understand my calling to be primarily about “coming alongside” others as a spiritual guide. I do this as a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in service to the church for the sake of the world. To do this with integrity, I study and practice Christian spiritual formation and assist others to do the same, especially those preparing for ministry through formal theological education. My roles have varied across time—counselor, parish pastor, undergraduate psychology professor, spiritual director, graduate theology professor—and across contexts—Canada, the U.S., Africa, Ireland, in the classroom, on retreat, on pilgrimage, in my office or at a coff

The Missio Dei, the Mission of God, is an eternal plan being worked out by the Holy Trinity as Holy Church participates in the Holy Spirit. The Father sent the Son to offer himself as the fulfillment of Passover, then to be raised and ascended as King of Heaven, offering his risen body to the Father, the fulfillment of the Day of Atonement. The Father and the Son, then send the Holy Spirit to build and dwell in Holy Church, to complete the Missio Dei until God shall be all in all. Holy Church sends the call to join the Missio Dei. Amen! Icon by Ivanka Demchuk, Ukrain www.etsy.com/market/ivanka_demchuk