MAY ISSUE... 8                 WONDERFUL WORDS OF LIFE...

                                                                By Dr. Keith J. Wise

I. INTRODUCTION: 

    May is the month of offerings.  There are two noted holidays in the month that signal beautiful gardens, new life, and national memories.  The holidays that I note are Mother's Day and Memorial Day.  Below I will emphasize some noted information concerning Memorial Day, and provide some great quotes for Mother's Day.  I will continue to provide another chapter on our our journey in Church History, and contribute another sermon outline, for those ministers/elders who preach on a regular basis.  Next month I want to exhibit a Communion Meditation and talk about its purpose in preparation for taking the Lord's Supper.  May is a growing month of display and offerings of remembrance. Therefore, read and learn and share as God receives the glory for this blog.  Why??? BECAUSE IT STILL MATTERS...

II. DIGGING DEEPER... (The Journey of Church History)

     A couple of months ago I introduced this topic to inform, and to fill in blanks as to the subject of how the church finds itself in its modern condition in the West.  To summarize, we noted that there was a movement from the functional simplistic model of the New Testament to a culturally biased over lay model of societal traditions that tended to embrace some forms of paganism.  Controversies emerged in several areas as to the nature of Christ and the divisions of leadership roles within the the Church. Instead of the emphasis of "the priesthood of all believers" we see a strict division of Clergy/Laity that encumbered the discipleship of converts, growth and provisions of the local church; thus confronting the pagan culture that existed at the time.   In the West, a system of governing reflected the old Roman political arrangement of the Roman Empire.  Great ecclesiastical systems then restricted, and at times reinterpreted New Testament models laid out by the Apostles and the Holy Spirit.  It is my conviction that there was a genius in the simplicity of the Biblical model. By abandoning that model, division was propagated over unity. I believe Church History bears this out.

    By 1054 the various versions of doctrinal interpretations cast themselves in the form of the Eastern and Western Churches.  "The Great Schism" as it is called, finds a pronounced number of reasons for this split.  Here are a few but not all.

1. Those congregations of the Eastern areas tended to be more "philosophical" in their view of scripture and church liturgy.  The Western church saw all "traditions" binding and were practical in their approach.  

2. The Eastern Church produced, according to the West, a vast majority of the "heresies" that would endanger the churches' effectiveness.   Examples of these would be forms of Gnosticism, Docetism or coming from a Greek word meaning "to seem."  In other words it only "seemed" that Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead. Forms of Monasticism, or the withdrawal of communities of believers from the world to meditate, redefine and focus on various spiritual disciplines occured; even though this exclusive contradicted the "Great Commission" of the Lord to "go into all the world."(Matt.28:18-20)

3. The changing of the capitals of the Eastern Empire in A.D. 330 by Constantine brought a new invigoration to the East, which possessed larger and wealthier populations than the West.  Constantinople, built on the old Greek site of Byzantium, became a growing trade and intellectual center.  The Eastern Church sought to rival its Western counterpart and did. Space does not permit us to enumerate such areas.  The greatest rival of the Bishop of Rome, who would eventually be elevated as Pope, was the Patriarch of Constantinople.  

4. Doctrinal differences also protruded during the centuries after 1054. Here are a few of the thorny issues that divided East and West Churches: Celibacy, the dating of Easter, Confirmation and who could perform such an act, the use of images (the "Iconoclastic Controversy") the nature of the bread for the Lord's Supper.  The East permitted "leavened" bread, the Western church used "unleavened bread."  Eventually, Popes in the West excommunicated Patriarchs in the East and vice versa in a cavalcade of  "power" controversies.  Church councils and edicts tended to bring strange conglomerations  of dictates to both sections of the Eastern and Western Churches.
     There were attempts at reconciliation between the East and West because the division was weakening both traditions in light of Islamic expansion in the East. Of all the Crusades from the 11th to the 13th centuries only the First Crusade was successful in the eyes of the West.  By the 4th Crusade (1202-1204) we see the tragedy of Venician businesses backing this crusade in order to weaken and even eliminate Constantinople as a competitor.  The great city was sacked by the crusaders in this crusade from which she never recovered. There was the 17th Ecumenical Council or the Council of Ferrara in Florence(1438-1439) in which compromises were made on both sides, due to the invasion of the Ottoman Turks.  By 1453 Constantinople fell to the Turks, essentially ending the pronounced Christian influence in the East. By 1869 Pope Pius IX, the longest reigning Pope, invited representatives of the Patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church to meet in what would be called Vatican I.  The Patriarch refused.  In 1894 Leo XIII called for reunion of churches and sought a meeting through a letter to the Easter Patriarch. The Patriarch sent a letter back to the Leo XIII enumerating all the errors of the Roman Catholic Church in the West. There seemed to be a breakthrough by what is called Vatican II or the 21st Ecumenical Council (1962-1965) when Pope Paul VI met with the Patriarch (Athenagoras) of the Eastern Orthodox Church .   There have been contacts since these official meetings. A number of informal conclaves  attempted some form of reconciliation.  This has become more difficult over the centuries since the original Orthodox Church of the East has itself been divided into several basic Orthodox Communions.  They have remained in touch with the original Eastern Patriarch and continue in communion with him. These are: 1.)The Holy Orthodox Catholic Apostolic Eastern Church, 2.) The Greek Arch-Diocese of North and South America, 3.) The Albanian Orthodox Church 4.) The Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Church, 5.) The Orthodox Church of Greece, 6.) The Serbian Orthodox Church, 7.) The Russian Orthodox Catholic Church (note- the Patriarch of Moscow as leader). All of the above separated  from the Eastern Orthodox tradition in 1589. There are several changes in tradition and order of liturgy, but they remain closely affiliated.  NEXT MONTH WE WILL MOVE INTO THE HISTORICAL JOURNEY OF THE PROTESTANT CHURCHES.

III. DID YOU KNOW? THE MEMORIAL DAY LEGACY...

     No day of the year is more typically American than Memorial Day.  It is observed each year at the end of May.    Its roots go deep into our national character.  As a people, we have profound and abiding respect for courage and bravery, and thus we are bound close to those who have died in battle defending the ideals in which American people believe.  In America, more than anywhere else in the world, the life of each individual is a very dear and precious commodity, and death, therefore, assumes a far greater proportion and significance.
     Originating in the South shortly after the Civil War, Decoration Day, as it was first called, would be later adopted by most of the other states of the Union.  It is now universally celebrated by our country. Originally intended as a day for paying homage only to those who had given their lives for their country in battle, it was solemnized.   This day became generally popular for a broader observance as a logical time for relatives to gather at cemeteries to pay tribute to all departed loved ones.  This is still the case, as in many towns and cities of America, families decorate their deceased family's tombstones and plots.
     In 1922, the first sale of "Buddy Poppies" was held in Memorial Day week, sponsored by the American Legion, using poppies made by French women and children in the devastated areas of France from WWI.  Two years later, the plan was expanded to permit veterans of the First World War, who were disabled but capable of some employment, to make the poppies to be sold, and this practice is still in use, although more symbolically than in actual fact. The name "Buddy Poppy" was selected as a means of honoring "buddies" who had given their lives in the war; and the poppy was selected as the commemorative flower because of its mention in the then popular poem by Lt. Col. John McCrae: "...In Flanders Fields where poppies blow between the crosses, row on row..."
     On Memorial Day, America remembers the courage exhibited on the battlefields, the lives sacrificed for an ideal, and those left broken and lonely by the destructiveness of war.  And on this day it is fitting that Americans offer sincere prayers that never again shall war stalk across the earth, bringing its incalculable toll of destruction, suffering, and death.

IV. NUGGETS OF NOURISHMENT... A Memorial Day Sermon Outline

Title: A Day of Remembrance
Text: Romans 5: 6-8

Introduction: This Memorial Day weekend, we as a nation take time to remember.  What we call Memorial Day in the United States is called "Remembrance Day" in England.  This reflects the thought of the devastation of a whole generation experienced in England during WWI.  None of us intends to forget those to whom we owe so much...but it is human and so easy to forget.  In the spirit of  "remembering" let us think of those men and women who are deceased and sacrificed their lives for the tree of freedom. Let us today...

I. Remember Those Who Risked Their Lives For Us...

II. Remember Those Who Lost Their Lives For Us...

III. Remember The One Who Gave His Life For Us All...(Christ)

Conclusion:

V. QUOTES FOR MOTHER'S DAY...

1. "It was my sainted mother who taught me a devotion to God and a love of country, which have ever sustained me in many lonely and bitter moments of decision in distant lands.  To her I yield anew a son's reverent thanks for her guidance on a path of duty as God gave me the light to see that duty." General Douglas MacArthur, WWII military leader in the Pacific.

2. An Irish quote... "the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world..."

3. A mother's advice to President Andrew Jackson.  "...In this world you will have to make your way.  To do that, you must have friends.  You can make friends by being honest, and you can keep them by being steadfast.  You must keep in mind that friends worth having will in the long run expect as much from you as they give to you...Avoid quarrels as long as you can without yielding to imposition, but sustain your manhood always... Never wound the feelings of others. Never broker wanton outrage upon your own feelings.  If you ever have to vindicate your feelings, or defend your honor, do it calmly.  If angry at first, wait till your wrath cools before you proceed." (quote from Sunshine Magazine (May 1959)

4. "The future destiny of a child is the work of a mother..." Napoleon Bonaparte.

5. "Mother is the name of God in the lips and hearts of little children..." Thackeray

6. "The death of a mother is the first sorrow wept without her..." A tombstone message