Fr. Gene’s Trinity XVII Sermon

For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

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Last week I started to give an overview of St. Paul’s circular letter to the churches of Asia Minor (including the house church in Ephesus). God’s plan for His creation is to fill it to overflowing with His knowledge and His glory. His Son came to do exactly this. He showed us the Father in space and time, providing an example of human perfection vindicated against evil by resurrection, establishing His Church and sending His Holy Spirit to move us to follow His example. For the last 2000 years, the Body of Christ has been His agent on Earth. And though it is an imperfect agent because (well) us, it is divinely guided. The Church is to show the world “the fulness of Him who fills all in all” (1:23). Knowledge, Plenitude and Glory is the plan of God.

St. Paul said there are two characteristics the Church requires to fulfill her purpose in service to Jesus: (1) Unity and (2) Holiness. Without Unity and Holiness, her witness to the principalities and powers of the World is either less effective or ineffective. A unified witness is inexorable. [Evil example: Pilate and Jesus] Holiness provides a clarity of purpose, a basis for action that cannot be overcome, and is the sign of Divine integrity that makes other people eager to follow. Those who are saved by grace are to be formed by grace (sanctification) so that they—so that we—reflect God to the world worthily.

Chapter 4 touches on the vocation of those in the church, which is, essentially, to become a person of and in Christ Jesus. But you knew that already. Paul contrasts this person with the destructive patterns of the pagan world, those who have had their understanding darkened, “being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart…” (4:18) He means for us to be living in Christ, with open minds and receptive hearts. Paul assumes that there is spiritual opposition to the Plan of God. But he does not assume that this opposition can be successful on more than a local and temporary level. And remember he had this conviction in the middle of the first century when none of the progress we take for granted had occurred.

But he had no doubt that the knowledge and glory of God will fill all creation and Creation will be perfected thereby. God has chosen and called those ‘in Christ Jesus’ redeemed and marked by the Spirit as His people so that His glory will be revealed in them NOW, not just at the General Resurrection. The mission then will be the same as the mission now. What is this mission?

Almighty God made Creation and pronounced it good. But good isn’t perfect and it was always the Plan of God to perfect His Creation by filling it with His knowledge and glory. Because Grace perfects Nature. How was this to be accomplished? By His Son and the members of His Body, the Church, guided by the Holy Spirit.

That’s the big picture. Let me attempt to granularize this mission, putting it on a local level for the saints of All Saints Anglican Church in Charlottesville, VA in 2026. We all need to try, “to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3) and to mature in Jesus Christ so we can be useful. We need to grow and learn and help each other grow and learn. This is ‘discipling’ and everybody needs it. My parents and relatives, clergy and teachers discipled me and I’m trying to pay it forward. Because of the principalities and powers of this World, the Devil, and the Flesh there are a lot of ways to go astray. When you’re standing, there is a narrow set of angles that keeps you upright while every other position leads to a fall. Sanctification is developing the spiritual muscles, and intelligence-augmented experience to know how to keep yourself upright in the face of diverse challenges. The members of the Church, and not just the leaders, are to teach and encourage one another, manifesting the knowledge and glory of God for each other, so the whole Body is edified in love.

The Clergy have a special vocation to minister the Holy Sacraments to the Body. This is a scheduled, planned, rational, supernatural incursion of Grace into Creation every time it happens! Baptism, Confession, Confirmation, Eucharist: these form the life of the Church and, along with ‘private’ Prayer, are the conduit of Divine Life into the People of God that is then radiated into the rest of Creation in normal, and weird, and surprising ways. Some overt, most covert.

The Clergy as the leaders of the Church have a vested interest in Her welfare and we study partly so we can avoid past errors and problems which, in an institution as venerable as the Church, tend to be perennial.

Church leaders are encouraged by St. Paul to (2 Timothy 2:15):

Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

It was grafted into me in college, studying Origen, that one should always speak worthily of God. To do so requires wisdom and time studying the works of people greater and better than you and prayer and good friends.

There is a saying in the Church that to be a priest only requires two things: (1) to love God and (2) to love the people. Everything else flows from that. Clergy are shepherds who keep the wolves at bay. They oversee havens in which God can be worshiped in Spirit and in Truth. They are special agents of the Holy Comforter. I will only mention Bishops specifically to say that they are instruments of Divine Unity.

And now, the laity: Your job is easy and also involves just two things (1) Reverse the Curse (2) Perfect the World.

The Lord Jesus has deputized us, His Body, His hands and feet, to bring down the citadels of evil in high places and to continue to break the power of Satan over Creation. It’s just a mopping up job. Little things like protecting us from the warming of the Earth and faster than light speed travel will happen in the normal course of events as required. I know you’re up for this. God’s knowledge and glory will flood the entire universe.

You might have noticed that our tools for affecting Creation are getting more potent. These are real dual-use technologies and so it’s important that the Powers of Darkness get reduced so they don’t make mischief with them. And so, with the words of St. Paul I exhort you to…

Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor…for ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord; walk as children of light…And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them…See that ye walk circumspectly not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is…Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God (Ephesians 5:1-21).

You do this and everything is going to work out just fine as we will be Holy and Unified in the Spirit.

In closing, I give glory to God that in working out our own salvation with fear and trembling—here, now—we are saving the world through and for our Lord Jesus Christ, in the Power of the Spirit. In all our activities, whatever they may be: artistic, bureaucratic, constructional, educational, parental, scientific, or technical we will be living witnesses to the power, love, and wonder of our Lord Jesus Christ and Almighty God His Father. This witness is salvific and redemptive for by it the knowledge and glory of God are filling Creation.

In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, Amen.†