“Open Your Mouth Wide” (Psalm 81)

One of the joys that my wife and I share is not only that we live within a few minutes’ drive from three of our grandchildren, but that our house backs onto miles of forest. The result is that our back yard is almost constantly being visited by wildlife—even including a bear! But our most frequent visitors are the birds. This summer we’ve counted seventeen different varieties of them, but I’ve got to say that our favourites are the hummingbirds. We love to watch them zip madly back and forth across the yard, stopping every once in a while to suck up some nectar into their needle-like beaks.

The hummingbird is the smallest of all bird species. A mature hummingbird weighs less than a nickel and their nests are no bigger in size than a walnut. Their tiny hearts thump away at an amazing rate of over twelve hundred beats a minute. They lay their eggs (which are about the size of a jellybean) twice in the summer. And, sad to say, in a few weeks’ time we won’t be seeing them anymore, because they will be starting their four-thousand-kilometer journey back over the eastern United States and across the Gulf of Mexico to their winter quarters in Central America.

I often find myself asking, how do they do it? How do those tiny fledglings, only weeks old, know when they should be heading south? How do they know their destination? And how do they know how to get there? It seems that somehow it’s all been implanted in their tiny brains from birth.

What a contrast to us human beings! When we’re born there’s almost nothing we can do for ourselves, except occasionally fill our diapers! We have to be taught practically everything. And, unlike the hummingbirds, it seems that nowadays I can’t find my way anywhere without a GPS!

It shouldn’t surprise us then that, like almost everything else in life, the worship of God is something that has to be learned. And in many ways the psalm from which we have read this morning gives us some useful instruction on how to worship. So let’s take a look at it for the next few minutes and discover what it has to teach us.

Sing (1-5a)

The first lesson comes in the opening words: “Sing aloud to God our strength; shout for joy to the God of Jacob.” Unlike professional football or tennis, worship is a participatory sport. True worship demands our involvement, both spiritually, mentally and even physically. And so it’s vitally important that we listen carefully to the Scripture readings, that we join in the prayers (not least with a hearty “Amen!”), that we sing the hymns…

Now at this point you might be saying to yourself, “You don’t really want to hear me sing. I can’t hold a tune in a bucket.” Well, neither can I, but it doesn’t stop me from trying. So sing anyway. It’s good for you—not only spiritually (and this may surprise you) but also psychologically and physically.

A report published in Australia in 2008 revealed that on average, choral singers rated their satisfaction with life higher than the general public—even when the actual problems they experienced were more substantial than those faced by those around them. Another study from ten years before that found that after nursing home residents took part in a singing program for a month, there were significant decreases in the levels of both anxiety and depression.[1]

Two and a half centuries ago John Wesley was concerned about the state of singing that he heard in the churches where he preached. Here are a few of the pieces of advice that he offered at the time:

Sing all.

See that you join with the whole congregation as frequently as you can. Let not a slight degree of weakness or weariness hinder you. If it is a cross to you, take it up, and you will find it a blessing.

Sing lustily and with a good courage.

Beware of singing as if you were half dead, or half asleep, but lift up your voice with strength. Do not be afraid of your voice now, nor ashamed of its being heard …

Above all sing spiritually.

Have an eye to God in every word you sing. Aim at pleasing him more than yourself or any other creature. In order to do this attend strictly to the sense of what you sing, and see that your heart is … offered to God continually. So shall your singing be such as the Lord will approve here, and reward you when he cometh in the clouds of heaven.

So it is that our psalm this morning calls upon us to sing aloud, to shout for joy, to raise a song… And we find the same when we read the New Testament, where we are encouraged to “be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:18-20).

Remember (5b-10a)

So we are encouraged to sing. And the second thing our psalm calls us to do is to remember. The problem with the people of Israel was that they frequently suffered from collective memory loss. We might call it a kind of spiritual amnesia. They were inclined to forget the God who had made his covenant with Abraham, who had rescued them from slavery in Egypt, who had brought them into the Promised Land.

Now ask my wife and she’ll tell you that I’m not always all that good at remembering things, including names. We have new next-door neighbours who just moved in last week. They’re a young couple from the United States and they are excited to be in Nova Scotia. The other evening we spent a few moments introducing ourselves—and fifteen minutes later, do you think I could remember their names? A few days later I saw them in their driveway and I apologized that I had forgotten their names. I had hardly gotten the words out of my mouth when they apologized that they couldn’t recall my name either!

So it is that the psalmist writes about hearing “a voice I had not known”. Yet it was a voice that everyone in Israel should have recognized. It was the voice that had called creation into being. It was the voice that had spoken softly to Adam and Eve in the Garden. It was the voice that had thundered from the top of Mount Sinai. It was the voice who addressed his people time and time again through the prophets. Yet it had become unfamiliar, forgotten, not even a distant echo from the past.

And so the psalmist calls them to remember: to bring to mind the remarkable series of events that had formed their ancestors into a nation; to remember how God had had heard their groaning as they laboured as slaves in Egypt; to remember how he had enabled them to escape from the clutches of Pharaoh and his armies; to remember how he had provided for them in their forty-year trek across the wilderness and brought them into the Promised Land. And although they might have forgotten him, he would remain true to his promise, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)

This morning, in a few moments’ time, we will gather around the Lord’s Table and you and I too will be called to remember, as we hear once again our Lord’s familiar words, “Do this in remembrance of me.” We will take the bread into our hands to remember the body that was broken for us. And as we bring the cup to our lips, we remember the blood that was shed for us.

The challenge, though, is to take that memory into the week with us. It’s so easy, once we’ve walked out of the church and slammed the car door, to allow the world to take over once again. There are all those little details like the lunch that needs to be prepared, the lawn that needs to be mown, the text that just came up on our cellphone, and the list goes on and on…

So let me suggest a couple of things that can help us to remember: As you rise in the morning, thank God for the gift of another day and to ask for his guidance through it; before each meal (if you don’t do it already) express your gratitude for his gracious provision—simple acts in themselves but small ways in which we can keep our focus in the right place.

Open wide (10b-16)

Before we leave this psalm today, I would be remiss if I didn’t point you to what I think is one of the most wonderful promises that God gives us in the Bible—and it is so easy to overlook. It is nestled in the latter half of verse 10. There God says to us, “Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.”

The words take me back to those birds in our back yard. The picture that it brings to my mind is of a nest of baby hatchlings, their tiny beaks opened as wide as they can stretch them, waiting, trusting in the mother bird to feed them. Like those little birds, whatever the cause of our spiritual hunger, we have a God we can trust and who is able to fill it.

Indeed, Jesus assures us that God knows our needs before we ask (Matthew 6:8). He once asked his disciples,

Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him! (Matthew 7:9-11)

And so the psalm stands as an encouragement to us—a gracious invitation—to trust God, as the little birds trust that the mother will return to the nest. Now there may be some of you who think that this kind of thinking is naïve, that it won’t stand up amid the ups and downs of life in the real world. But let me tell you, it does.

For the last six months I’ve been following the journal of a woman in Ukraine. Again and again I find myself dumbfounded by her faith in God’s provision. Here is something she wrote just the other day:

I am reminded once again of the verses in Philippians 4:11-13. ‘I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.’ … We don’t need to postpone life till after the war. We live it to the maximum now!

Our psalm this morning is an invitation to do just what she says, to live life to the maximum—joyfully to trust in God, who did not withhold even his own Son and graciously gives us all things (Romans 8:32).

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[1]     https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/inside-the-mind/emotions/singing-happy1.htm

What does it mean to be an evangelical Anglican today?

 

Historically…

The evangelical movement in the Anglican Communion traces its roots back more than 250 years, to the era of the famous brothers, John and Charles Wesley in the middle to late 1700s. By that time, for more than a century the church had been falling into increasing corruption, doctrinal error and spiritual torpor. There were bishops and clergy who rarely or never set foot in their dioceses or parishes, choosing to indulge in a life of idle luxury. Socinianism (or what we now call Unitarianism—the denial of Christ’s divinity and the power of the Holy Spirit) was becoming increasingly commonplace in the pulpits. The poor and working classes were at best ignored if not despised. And (little surprise!) church attendance had sunk to abysmal levels.

Into this dark and seemingly hopeless scene stepped men such as the Wesleys, with their fiery preaching of a message of salvation through repentance and personal faith in Christ. But they were not alone. Though not nearly as famous, there were others such as George Whitefield, who is estimated to have brought the message of the Great Awakening to more than ten million hearers in the British Isles and the American colonies. There was John Newton, the former slave ship captain turned hymn writer; Charles Simeon, who influenced hundreds of future church leaders through his fifty-three-year ministry at Holy Trinity Church, Cambridge; the father and son Henry and John Venn, who together with William Wilberforce, Hannah More, Granville Sharp and others worked to abolish the slave trade, reform the penal system and establish child labour legislation, to mention only a few of their endeavours.

In the course of their lifetime they also witnessed the transformation of the Church of England. Through practical biblical preaching, the introduction of lively hymns and consistent pastoral care, the people came back. And Christian faith and values permeated society in a way they had not for generations. From its beginnings the movement was not limited to the British Isles. Through organizations such as the British and Foreign Bible Society and the Church Missionary Society the message was taken abroad—not least to Canada, where many of our western and northern dioceses find their roots in the evangelical movement.

Sadly, within the space of a couple of generations the movement began to harden. In the 1850s a new spirit had begun to arise within the church that came to be known as Anglo-Catholicism. With it came the introduction of customs and practices that had not been seen in the Church of England since the Reformation: candles, coloured stoles and vestments, incense and processionals, to name a few. Evangelicals saw these novelties as a dangerous distraction from the gospel.

Coincidentally another challenge was coming from a different direction. We could summarize it as Darwinism, although it was much broader than that. Suffice it to say that there were those who thought they could use the findings of contemporary scientific research to undermine the credibility of the Bible.

As though that were not enough, there was a third challenge in what came to be known as the “social gospel”, which saw the emphasis move away from personal transformation to concentrate on societal change (both of which had been emphases of the original evangelicals of en earlier generation). The result was that by the beginning of the twentieth century it seemed as though evangelicalism had taken a purely defensive posture. Evangelicals became defined more by what they didn’t do than by the vigorous proclamation of a life-saving, world-changing gospel.

Today the situation has become even worse, where in the United States and increasingly in some other parts of the world, the once honourable name “evangelical” has come to be associated with a particular narrow, mean-spirited and negative political ideology—to the point where some are asking, Have we reached the point where we need to toss it out altogether and find another name for ourselves?

To strike a more positive note, on the other hand, the negativity and insularity of some evangelicals is balanced by a refreshing openness and desire to work together for the gospel on the part of others. Ministries such as Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship and Scripture Union and missions like the Overseas Missionary Fellowship and World Vision have always involved evangelicals from a wide variety of backgrounds, with evangelical Anglicans not least among them. And it is now twenty-five years since a group of leading evangelical and Roman Catholic scholars in the United States came together to produce a document entitled “Evangelicals and Catholics Together”. I see these as hopeful signs.

Theologically…

So what do we mean by “evangelical”? It’s important to realize that the name traces its lineage back to the New Testament, to two Greek words: eu, which brings with it the meaning of “good” or “excellent”, and angelia, which means a message or an announcement. Put them together and you get the word euangelion or evangel, meaning “good news” or “gospel”. So who are evangelicals? At heart we are gospel people, women and men and children with good news to share. We think of the words of the apostle Paul in Romans 1:16, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes.”

Where does this take us in practical terms? Here is where the four hallmarks or pillars of evangelicalism come in, and they are these:

First among them is the need for a personal relationship with Christ through repentance and faith. This relationship can come by many different means and take many different forms, depending on our background, culture, upbringing, education and a host of other factors. Yet at the core there is that personal walk with Jesus. With Paul once again we affirm, “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him…” (Philippians 3:10). And so evangelicalism is not following a tradition (although traditions are important). It is not being a member of an organization (although participation in the Christian community is vital). More than anything else it is my personal decision to trust in Jesus as my Saviour and to live my life in obedient response to him as my Lord.

That brings us to the second hallmark, which is the centrality of the cross. We believe that by his death and resurrection Jesus has once and for all, unequivocally and irrevocably defeated the powers of evil and death. Nothing that you or I can do can add to that or take the place of it. Jesus has done it all. The old Prayer Book put it well when it referred to Jesus’ “full, perfect and sufficient sacrifice, oblation and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world”. It is because of Jesus’ sacrifice and Jesus’ sacrifice alone that we can come to the Father and receive the life that he has to offer.

Thirdly, there is the unique, divine authority of Scripture. That is, that through the prophets and apostles of the Old and New Testaments God has uniquely spoken—and continues to address us today. Some people like to refer to the three-legged stool of Scripture, reason and tradition as the basis for our authority. For evangelicals it is more like a tricycle, with Scripture as the front wheel with the pedals. It is Scripture that is always the final arbiter and that provides both the power and the direction to the other two. But there is more to it than that. Evangelicalism involves not just an acknowledgement of the authority of Scripture. It also involves a love of Scripture. Evangelicals aren’t people who merely own Bibles. They are people who, in the words of the Prayer Book, “hear, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them”. They study them, ponder and discuss them because there they find the words of life.

Finally, but far from least, there is engagement in mission. This is an act of obedience to Jesus’ great commission to be his witnesses and to make disciples (Acts 1:8; Matthew 28:20). Just as much, however, it arises from an unquenchable desire to share the good news of what God has done for us in Christ and is doing in our lives. In the words of the great Sri Lankan preacher, D.T. Niles, it is “one beggar telling another where to find bread”. Of course mission is far more than words. It is seeking to be as Jesus in the world, in whatever context to live out his command, “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you” (John 20:21).

Currently…

This brings us to evangelicalism in the world today—and I’d like to give specific attention to our Anglican setting. First of all, although we may not see much evidence of it in our little corner of the world, we need to recognize that we are the exception. The Anglican Church of Canada, along with most other Anglican bodies in the western world, is declining at an alarming rate. A recent report commissioned by our House of Bishops suggests that if the current trajectory continues, there will be no Anglicans left in Canada by the year 2040.

Meanwhile, in other parts of the world, where Anglicanism is fired by an evangelical spirit, there is exponential growth. Where is the largest Anglican population by attendance in the world? Nigeria, with more than twenty million members. Nigeria is followed by Uganda, with eight million, and then Kenya, Sudan and India, each numbering five million. More than half the world’s Anglicans live in Africa—and with few exceptions they are evangelical. In many cases, particularly where they border with Islam and in countries where corruption and violence are endemic, theirs can be a costly faith. Yet the church grows—and they look with sadness and horror at what they see as the spiritual deadness of the church in the west.

However, there are signs of hope, even here. Allow me to name a couple. One of them is the Alpha Course. That ten-week programme, which continues to bring faith and renewal to a widespread constituency, began in an Anglican congregation, Holy Trinity Brompton, just over forty years ago. By the latest count it has engaged more than twenty-four million people around the world. Curiously, it has been taken up with enthusiasm by the Roman Catholic Church in Nova Scotia, where it has been the source of powerful renewal. Yet it is largely unknown or ignored by Anglicans.

Secondly we need to recognize evangelical Anglican scholars and writers. A generation ago men like John Stott, J.I. Packer and Michael Green were among the best-selling Christian authors in the world. Through their books and their teaching they called their readers to a serious engagement with an intellectually honest, spiritually challenging evangelical faith. Today their place has been taken by people such as N.T. Wright, Alister McGrath and Fleming Rutledge. We should be grateful for Wycliffe College in Toronto, too. It has an international reputation for academic excellence and is the largest Anglican seminary in North America.

Thirdly, while there are numerous thriving evangelical Anglican congregations across the country, you need to look to the north if you want to see a whole evangelical culture—to dioceses like Saskatchewan, the Yukon, Caledonia and the Arctic. I have been privileged to visit a couple of them and I have been humbled by the depth and sincerity of evangelical faith that I have found there.

Yet let me say that I think that the battles that once raged over stoles and candles have only served to divert us from what it means at heart to be evangelical—and I am grateful that by and large those issues are in the past. If we are to be true to our evangelical heritage (and far more importantly, true to Jesus and his mission) then we need to go back to those four pillars: to engage in a daily walk with Jesus, to recognize that our only hope is through what he has accomplished for us through his cross, to absorb his word into our practical everyday lives, and to engage in his mission, seeking to live as Jesus in the world.