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

We believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church: a series on the nature of the Church as stated in the Nicene Creed. These are commonly called the four marks of the Church.

For the good of the order speaks of the common good. The common good is the basis for mission, for the life of the world. The healthy Church will be both pastoral and missional. Ivanka Demchuk, icon. https://www.etsy.com/shop/ModernIconArt

The second in a two part series of stories of faith reflecting over six years as an Anglican church plant in Kansas City, MO. Thanks be to God! Testimonies: Fr. Michael Flowers Liz Flowers Kerrie Schoen Keith Schoen Eric Rainwater Joanna Rainwater

Today, Sunday September 16th, 2018 St. Aidan's reflects on six years of history as an Anglican Church plant in the urban core of Kansas City, MO. At the conclusion of this service, the truck is ready to pack and move to a new sacred space, the beautiful chapel of the Nazarene Theological Seminary. We will celebrate our sixth year anniversary in our new space and will continue testimonies and reflections from our congregation. Thanks be to God!

"We are not beggars hoping for scraps. We are like people who have inherited a vast estate: we have to study the documents and visit different locations because it's more than we can take in at a single glance. In the same way, it takes considerable time and effort to begin to comprehend all that we have received in Christ. Theological thinking does not add a single thing to what we have received. The inheritance remains the same whether we grasp its magnitude or not. But the better we grasp it, the happier we are." — Ben Myers, The Apostles' Creed: A Guide to the Ancient Catechism Roman 8 could be read as the Universal declaration of freedom wrought by Christ’s redemptive mission to restore all things – a Trinitarian collaboration as the Father sends the Son to redeem us as adopted, Spirit-bearing children, corporately crying, Abba, Father … a mission to restore our kinship through pure, divine gift … conferring on us infinite, intimate belonging. Paul’s familial language isn’t of earthly origin … as our

Dean Greer is the National Coordinator for Living Waters, USA. He and his wife, Chrystal, are long-term friends of Fr. Michael and Liz Flowers. Over the summer, Dean will be speaking once a month at St. Aidan's, along with Fr. Michael, laying foundations about our common, divinely crafted humanity, made in the image of God. Having been involved in healing ministry for over 25 years, Dean has trained leaders around the world to incorporate the healing programs of Desert Stream Ministries within the local church community. Dean has experienced first-hand how God is able to restore life and bring wholeness to a generation without hope. A native of San Francisco, Dean now lives in Kansas City, MO with his wife Chrystal and their son Jeremiah. Today's NT passage is taken from Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians, chapter 6: 9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous[b] will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homo

Our New Identity is a gift from Christ. In the sending of the Spirit, we receive His Spirit of Adoption who cries, Abba, Father. As such, we're joined in the eternal priesthood of Christ, his prayer is ours. "We are not beggars hoping for scraps. We are like people who have inherited a vast estate: we have to study the documents and visit different locations because it's more than we can take in at a single glance. In the same way, it takes considerable time and effort to begin to comprehend all that we have received in Christ. Theological thinking does not add a single thing to what we have received. The inheritance remains the same whether we grasp its magnitude or not. But the better we grasp it, the happier we are." — Ben Myers, The Apostles' Creed: A Guide to the Ancient Catechism Romans 8 explodes with the magnitude of Abba’s eternal plan to heal and renew the entire created order through the sending, the incarnation, of his SON, Jesus Christ. In Christ, we’ve inherited a vast estate, more than we ca

Paul speaks of the self, the person, in relation to sin and Christ (Rom. 7; Gal. 2:20). Romans 7:17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. Let’s call this the conflicted self – desiring the good, yet in the grip of sin’s colonizing power (Susan Eastman). To whom is Paul addressing? Is it autobiographical? And if so, is Paul describing his inner condition under the law before his baptism into Christ or is this Paul’s inner life as a Christian? Or, is Paul using a rhetorical device, as Origin thought, to speak in the person of a weaker Christian? Is Paul addressing all of humanity in Adam or perhaps Israel, under the law, apart from Christ? The quest g

Ephesians 4 provides a wide range of practices sourced in the old and new self. The language of putting on and putting off is Paul's baptismal language, describing the exchange Christ graciously gives to each of his followers. We are leaving the ways of Egypt behind, being renewed in the true image, Christ restoring us to his likeness. Fr. Les describes ways to nurture our new life in Jesus. The way in is the way on, putting off the old reign of sin and death and putting on the new life of the Spirit in Christ Jesus. This is the way of transformation, transfiguration. Amen!

Romans 6:6f. The old self (anthropos) is our archetypal Adamic self, rooted in Eden’s curse. Old implies a New Self. The humanity that defined you before coming to faith in Christ is dead, that old Adamic self was destroyed in Christ on the cross only to birth a New Humanity, no longer defined by Adam but by Christ. The old Adamic self is the self you once were, the self that belongs to the old aeon (this present, evil age), the self dominated by sin and exposed to wrath (Fitzmyer, p 436). Like the children of Israel in the wilderness, far too many Christians still suffer with an Identity born in under Pharaoh than Christ. The struggle of the old seeks to define their new identity and life in Christ. As such, we have not understood nor appropriated our New Exodus in Christ. The “old anthropos” is not a part of the “new” self, but the old self ruled by sin, and dead in trespasses and sin (Eph. 2). That self was co-crucified with Christ … the only explicit reference to the cross in Romans. As we cons

Deacon Aaron Williams, PhD candidate, John Paul II's Institute for Marriage and Family, Washington, D.C., continues in his second talk on the typological images of Mary. As the one who says a pure yes to God, she is an icon of the Church in her ontological posture of receptivity. While navigating through the tumult of our culture's elevation of misogyny, we are drawn back to Mary's grace-filled "yes", open and free of striving for autonomy, the distorted masculine. God's power is received though an embraced exchange; from independence to humble weakness, it is ever and only "yes" to God.

Dean Greer is the National Coordinator for Living Waters, USA. He and his wife, Chrystal, are long-term friends of Fr. Michael and Liz Flowers. Over the summer, Dean will be speaking once a month at St. Aidan's, along with Fr. Michael, laying foundations about our common, divinely crafted humanity, made in the image of God. Having been involved in healing ministry for over 25 years, Dean has trained leaders around the world to incorporate the healing programs of Desert Stream Ministries within the local church community. Dean has experienced first-hand how God is able to restore life and bring wholeness to a generation without hope. A native of San Francisco, Dean now lives in Kansas City, MO with his wife Chrystal and their son Jeremiah. Today's Sermon utilized Isaiah 53:1-12, Psalm 51:1-12; James 5:13-16 and John 20:19-23

Deacon Aaron Williams is an Anglican Deacon and a PhD Candidate at Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. - John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family. Deacon Aaron speaks on the importance of biblical typology in understanding the significance of the Virgin Mary, Theotokos, Mother of God. As we contemplate our new identity in Christ, we include our spiritual mother, the Virgin Mary, as the archetypal Feminine, open, receptive, trusting, consenting to supernatural conception, reflecting the cosmic feminine reality. This is the nature of the Church, the Bride of Christ, reflecting a sacramental potency of God's image and likeness, male and female, now made one in Christ, the new humanity. Exodus 40:17-38 | Revelation 11:19- 12:6 | Luke 1:26-38 Mary illustrates the beauty of the feminine, the receptivity unto God's will ... "be it unto me according to thy will." Mary, a type of the Church, is identified as woman, mother, ark and temple. Mary's obedience made it possible for the obedient O

Romans 6:1-6 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk (live, in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united (planted) with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. Paul wants to solidify their true identity in Christ amid all the competing, false identities in the popular culture. He’s telling the Christians in Rome what it means to be a Christian in terms of one’s personhood. In terms of what’s called the person and how one comes to understand one’s p

Today's message is from Romans 8 and James 1, reflecting on how our lives are transformed through hardship and trials, the testing of our faith. Trevor Tychon leads the Connect Africa Team in Uganda, reaching into the Congo, South Sudan and Kenya. They equip communities with developing sustainable technologies.

Over the summer and fall, we’ll be considering the biblical foundations for one’s new personhood, addressing a Christian’s new identity in Christ. How does being “in Christ” touch my inner self, my personhood? And who gets to narrate this identity? Christian identity goes beyond the many temporal ways of describing and knowing yourself. And I believe that we know too little about the astounding reality of our identity … it is deeply theological and experiential … Paul’s new identity is saying that within the inner life of a Christian, the Lord Jesus Christ has taken up residence, to animate and empower the inner being, the inner person, anthropos (human being). To be “in Christ” is a sharing in the inner life of God, Christ “in me” and “me in Christ.” How did Paul arrive at this understanding? A personal encounter with the risen Lord, thus providing revelation of Scripture’s Grand Narrative – Adam and Christ. Two humanities – the old and the new – from which our sense of personhood emerges. Out of

Identity is a big word … it speaks of personhood, the self, one's inner being. God the Father is the one in whom we live and move and have our being, in union with the Son and the Holy Spirit. And our being, our humanity (anthropos), is known in relation to God, as creation is known by its creator. To know oneself is to return to one's origins. Who am I? That is, who is the I (Greek, ego), asking the question? How might I know and understand myself? Jesus asked his disciples, "who do you say that I am?" We discover the need for divine revelation remains. When the angel of the Lord speaks to Moses out of the burning bush, he responds to Moses’ question about the diety's identity with …" tell them I AM sent you". Identity comes from the eternal I AM,, created in the image of God. In him we live and move and have our being. Being created in the image of God, we are given personhood. Of course, this personhood is prenatal. Persons come to discover self-identity within relationship. The discovery of person

Dean Greer is the National Coordinator for Living Waters, USA. He and his wife, Chrystal, are long-term friends of Fr. Michael and Liz Flowers. Over the summer, Dean will be speaking once a month at St. Aidan's, along with Fr. Michael, laying foundations about our common, divinely crafted humanity, made in the image of God. Having been involved in healing ministry for over 25 years, Dean has trained leaders around the world to incorporate the healing programs of Desert Stream Ministries within the local church community. Dean has experienced first-hand how God is able to restore life and bring wholeness to a generation without hope. A native of San Francisco, Dean now lives in Kansas City, MO with his wife Chrystal and their son Jeremiah. Foundations for this summer's series: We see the restoration of the God's image in the purpose of our salvation: 2 Corinthians 3:16- 18 "Whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is

Therefore ... We do not lose heart. Does anybody want to lose heart? Yet, we often experience such loss. Paul came to the boarders of crippling discouragement and hopelessness but without losing heart. He says it's about a new focus, welling up from within, a new creation. He fixed his eyes on the unseen realm of reality. He asked the Lord to open the eyes of his heart to see where we've been seated in Christ. His pull towards the eternal empowered him to endure all manner of mountains before him. 2 Corinthians 4 ... 4 Therefore, having this ministry (3:8 – of the Spirit) by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. 2 But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them

Jesus, in his conception, his baptism, his teaching and his commission, reveals the Holy Trinity, the one divine life, co-equally, co-substantially, co-eternally shared within the inner life of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Jesus told Phillip that that if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. Also, Jesus referred to the divinity of the Holy Spirit within the unpardonable sin, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the one who fully revealed God as Father, his Abba, Father. In his relationship with the Father and his anointing of the Holy Spirit, we see in action the persons of the divine life, as an eternal family. Family and Fatherhood are not merely human inventions nor cultural development. We do not read anthropomorphic ideas into God but theopomorphic truth into ourselves … We are made in HIS IMAGE AND LIKENESS … not the other way round. The earthly family is being deconstructed by the father of lies. The father of lies, Satan himself, knows full well where family is derived;