This year our church is offering these daily devotionals for the season of Lent. You can purchase them for $12 from the church office.

Lent for Everyone: Mark, Year B provides readers with a gentle guide through the Lenten season, from Ash Wednesday through the week after Easter. Popular biblical scholar and author N. T. Wright provides his own Scripture translation, brief reflection, and a prayer for each of the days of the season, helping the reader ponder how the text is relevant to their own life today.

Suitable for both personal and group reflection, Wright’s guide through Lent will make the Bible–and the season–come alive in inspiring new ways.

As multi-layered as an onion, Professor N T Wright‘s new book on Mark draws you in at once with its matter-of-fact, chatty, deceptively simple prose.  Each ‘chapter’ covers one day between Ash Wednesday and Easter Saturday. Using the prescribed lectionary for the day, Professor Wright focuses on a few verses and offers us his translation, and his exegesis. If, like me, you prefer a more traditional version of the bible, I suggest you begin by reading the passage in that version before plunging into the Wright text. Like all the best teachers, he makes some of the expected points about each passage, so that you are to some extent lulled into thinking you are keeping up well (if not actually ahead of him), but he then slips in an explanation, a twist or a new perspective, which sends you back to the beginning of the chapter to start again. I do not mean to suggest that the text is difficult, far from it, but there is a good deal more meat on the bones that you might anticipate at first glance. From The Lay Anglican review.

Jesus is Still Astounding Healing Conference

Go to http://churchoftheword.net/healing_j_sheffield.html  for up to the minute details

Friday, February 24th: 7:30-9:30 p.m. (No Friday registration required)
Saturday, February 25th: 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. (see below for Saturday registration)
Location: Church of the Word, 7500 Logos Way, Gainesville, VA 20155 

Leader: The Rev. Dr. Jack Sheffield

Co-sponsored by the Order of St. Luke http://orderofstluke.org/

CONFERENCE LEADER

The Rev. Dr. Jack and Anna Marie Sheffield both experienced a life-changing rebirth into Christ Jesus and His kingdom, and the in-filling of the Holy Spirit in 1973. Together, they have served in ministry for over 30 years, and continue to witness many healings and miracles of God’s grace and power in a variety of forms and manifestations.

Deep River Ministries flows!
In 2001, Jack and Anna Marie felt the call from God to begin an evangelistic ministry with the purpose of spreading the Good News that Jesus is still in the business of healing His people: spirit, soul, and body. They minister in all denominational and non-denominational churches both nationally and internationally. They are available for conferences, weekends of renewal, revivals, healing missions, retreats; wherever God calls.

Christ Healing Center established 2004
In 2004, seeing the need for a safe place that would provide more in depth prayer ministry, Jack and Anna Marie helped to establish two healing centers. One is in their hometown of San Antonio, Texas, and is called Christ Healing Center. The other is known as Bethsaida House and is located in Columbus, Georgia. Wonderful volunteer staff have prayed for hundreds and seen awesome miracles and precious inner healings and deliverance from demonic oppression.

Christ Healing Center from William Michael on Vimeo.

Read more about Jack and Anna Marie Sheffield and Deep River Ministries at http://www.deepriverministries.com/.
SATURDAY  REGISTRATION

Please send an email message to Admin@ChurchOfTheWord.net to give us a head count and to hold your place at the Saturday teaching conference. Please include names, address, and phone number. Then mail a check to confirm your registration. Make the check out to “Church of the Word” and annotate that it is for the Jesus is Still Astounding Healing Conference or simply designate “Astounding”.

Cost: $25 per person or $45 per couple
Address:     Church of the Word, 7500 Logos Way, Gainesville, VA 20155

Please call the church office for more information 703-754-9673
You will be blessed!!

Due to the ongoing VDOT construction in the Gainesville area,
access to our facility has recently changed.
Click HERE for directions on how to find us.

Come join us next Sunday!

Sharing Jesus Christ is the mission indeed the passion of our community. We believe that Jesus is the word of God, ‘in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the Word was God. All things were made through Him’

We also know that Jesus is the hope of the world for ‘God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself’. Jesus said of himself, ‘I am the bread of life’.

Advent is the season of hope as we think about the ‘advent’ or arrival of Jesus in the three biblical senses of the incarnation 2000 years ago, the receiving of Jesus into a persons life today at conversion and the imminent return of Jesus Christ to be the judge of the living and the dead. Advent is not just about getting ready for Christmas but ready for Christ in each of these three senses.

Therefore Church of the Word in Gainesville, is establishing an extension campus in nearby Manassas to help further our mission. read on…

AFiM is an extension campus of Church of the Word, Gainesville. It is another worship site for that congregation and most ministry is available through our programs there. We are not currently a part on the Anglican Church in North America, though as soon as this option becomes available to us we will be delighted to return home. Meanwhile we are anglican in style and substance, but more importantly simply Christian, as N.T. Wright might say.

We meet at 4pm at the Crossway Fellowship Church location on Plantation Lane near Prince William Hospital, in their side chapel which has easy access from the front parking lot.

For directions and a map

Music: So far we have decided to use ‘Renew’ hymnal, described like this, ‘Born in the worship renewal, this songbook brings together the best from traditional and contemporary worship. Following the biblical and historic fourfold pattern of worship Gathering, The Word, Offering Thanksgiving (Eucharist) and Dismissal.’

Liturgy: Our liturgical worship booklet is drawn from the 2004 Irish Book of Common Prayer because it is the most modern of Anglican Liturgies but yet keeps the integrity of the classical principles of our tradition. We have the service printed on a booklet for easy use. Even if you are not experienced in liturgy you will find this approach helpful in bringing you closer to God in worship.

Participation: Your participation and ideas are welcome. This fellowship is being shaped by those who are becoming involved. Later we will have a more formal launch of the service. We will become more visible in Manassas with local mission projects and fellowship opportunities. look within this website for upcoming events, or suggest one yourself!

We appreciate the invitation from our brothers and sisters in Christ at Crossway fellowship to meet at their excellent facility.

Please feel free to e-mail me Pastor Robin with your questions

To see how ancient christian songs can be given new life check out Glory to God on you-tube a modern setting of the ‘Gloria’ written by our Gainesville team ‘Braeded Chord‘!

To start you thinking an Anglican Archbishop once gave this definition.

Worship is..

the submission of all our nature to God.

It is the quickening of the conscience by His holiness;
the nourishment of mind with His truth;
the purifying of the imagination by His beauty;
the opening of the heart to His love;
the surrender of will to His purpose -

and all of this gathered up in adoration,
the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable,
and therefore the chief remedy
of that self-centeredness
which is our original sin
and the source of all actual sin.

William Temple, 1881 – 1944

i us Sunday April 18th for our next service!

Church of the Word is offering the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University 13 week course starting Sunday Jan 22nd @ 5pm in Gainesville. A preview will be offered on Sunday Jan 8th at 5pm.

general overview of FPU

Class Begins: Jan 22, 2011
Class Meets: Sunday at 5:00 PM
Preview: Jan 8th at 5:00 PM

Coordinator: Donna Adams, for contact info, directions and how to register online go to

http://churchoftheword.net/fpu2.html

For testimonies from ordinary people struggling with your issues see http://www.daveramsey.com/fpu/testimonies/

The constituting Convocation was attended by nearly 1,000 members and visitors from across North America.  A number of other church bodies sent leaders to greet the Convocation, including the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ, and the Anglican Church in North America.  Bishop Benson Bagonza of the Karagwe Diocese, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania, preached at the closing worship and along with retired Bishop Ken Sauer, installed the Rev. Paull E. Spring as the first Bishop of the NALC.  

The North American Lutheran Church (NALC)  http://thenalc.org has been blessed with extraordinarily rapid growth.  At the time of the constituting Convocation in August 2010, seventeen congregations had voted to join the NALC.  One year later, that number had grown to more than 250 congregations.  Of those, roughly 35 were mission congregations, reflecting the priority placed on missions and evangelism by the NALC.  We give thanks to God for all that has been accomplished, and seek His guidance as we move into the future with excitement.

This movement among Lutherans is simular to the reform taking place among Anglicans today in North America. As the two movements are very simular in doctrine and worship look for lots of co-operation at the local level.

read about a great anglican evangelical leader

Philip Yancey

Google the words atonement and emergent church together, and your computer screen will soon heat up a few degrees. A lively (and not always civilized) debate has broken out among those who defend classical theories of the Atonement and those who see them as some variation of the caricature Dorothy Sayers drew 60 years ago:

God wanted to damn everybody, but his vindictive sadism was sated by the crucifixion of his own Son, who was quite innocent, and, therefore, a particularly attractive victim. He now only damns people who don’t follow Christ or who have never heard of him.

Since Jesus’ death nearly 2,000 years ago, theologians such as Origen, Anselm of Canterbury, Peter Abelard, and John Calvin have proposed ways of understanding it: as a Ransom paid to Satan, a Satisfaction required by God, a Moral Influence for humanity, a Penal Substitution for the punishment due to humankind. Some of these theories, referencing animal sacrifices and God’s wrath, can make for a hard sell for many in modern times.

The Cross is the central image of Christianity, and gives us vivid proof that, in novelist Flannery O’Connor’s words, the world “has, for all its horror, been found by God to be worth dying for.” Yet theologians must somehow explain how Jesus’ death differs in essence from the death of any great leader. What made it necessary, and exactly how did it affect our relationship with God?

During Holy Week last year, I found myself reflecting not so much on the theoretical rationale for the Atonement as on its practical outworking. Three insights from that week:

(1) The Cross made possible a new intimacy with God. Three of the Gospels mention that at the moment of Jesus’ death, a thick curtain inside the temple tore from top to bottom, exposing the Most Holy Place. Traditionally, only once a year, on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), could the high priest enter the fearsome Most Holy Place. Preparations involved ritual baths, special clothes, and five separate animal sacrifices, and still the priest entered with apprehension about committing an offense. He wore bells on his robe and a rope around his ankle so that if the bells fell silent, other priests could retrieve his body.

The Book of Hebrews draws a vivid contrast: the author says believers can now “approach the throne of grace with confidence” (4:16). No image could be more shocking for devout Jews than charging boldly into the Most Holy Place. Therefore, concludes the author of Hebrews, “let us draw near to God” (10:22). Because of Jesus, we need no protective curtain; God has provided a sufficient Mediator for all time.

While visiting the United States in 1962, theologian Karl Barth faced a questioner intent on pinning down exactly when he had been saved. Barth replied, “It happened one afternoon in A.D. 34 when Jesus died on the cross.” Love finds a way to overcome all obstacles to uniting with the beloved, no matter the cost.

(2) The Cross reveals the limits of human achievement. Paul wrote, “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Col. 2:15). Pontius Pilate had Jesus’ “crime”—King of the Jews—posted in three languages, in ironic tribute to the travesty of justice. A public spectacle it was indeed when the most refined religious authorities of the time ganged up on an innocent man, and the most renowned justice system carried out the sentence.

Writer Thomas Merton points out that “no one saw the Resurrection. Everyone saw the Crucifixion. Everyone does see the Crucifixion. The Cross is everywhere.” It should give us pause, this sign of contradiction, when we are tempted to look to politics or science to solve the deepest problems of humanity. Christ exposed as false gods the very powers in which men and women take most pride and invest most hope.

(3) The Cross brings to light an unexpected quality of the Godhead: humility. As Paul expressed in Philippians 2: “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing … he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (v. 5-8). The poor and disadvantaged respond by instinct to this personal identification: witness the sermons in Appalachia or the base communities in Latin America that center on the Cross. Novelists know it too: Graham Greene, Georges Bernanos, and Ignazio Silone all made the sacrament commemorating Jesus’ death the centerpiece of their finest works.

Whatever else we may say about it, the Atonement fulfills the Jewish principle that only one who has been hurt can forgive. At Calvary, God chose to be hurt.

“This article first appeared in (insert date) issue of Christianity Today. Used by permission of Christianity Today International, Carol Stream, IL 60188.”

Bishop Todd Hunter is the founding pastor of Holy Trinity Church, an Anglican church in Costa Mesa, California, and the author of Christianity Beyond Belief (IVP 2009), Giving Church Another Chance (IVP Spring, 2010), The Outsider Interviews (Baker Books, Summer 2010) and The Accidental Anglican (IVP 2011). Todd is also the founding director of Churches for the Sake of Others, the West Coast church planting initiative for The Anglican Mission in the Americas. Prior to his work with the Anglican Mission in the Americas, Todd founded Three is Enough, a small group movement that makes spiritual formation doable.

Dr. Hunter is an adjunct professor of evangelism and postmodern ministry at George Fox University, Fuller Seminary, Western Seminary and Wheaton College. Earlier in his career, Todd was President of Alpha USA, Church Planting coach for Allelon Ministries and the National Director for the Association of Vineyard Churches.
VOL: You recently authored a book “The Surprising Appeal of the Liturgical Church”. What’s so appealing about liturgy to post-moderns today?
read on

HUNTER: Liturgy is the voice of Scripture in a form. There is something in the air today, something in the spirit of our age, something in the Spirit that is leading thousands, maybe millions, of people to reconsider liturgical forms of worship. Liturgical seekers cherish the confidence that comes from historical connectedness, from theology that is not tied to the whims of contemporary culture but to apostolic-era understandings of Christian faith and practice. Our frantic lives make us yearn for rhythms and routines that build the spiritual health we seek. For many of us the architecture, theater seating and structure of our former churches said to us, “Sit back, relax and receive what comes to you from the stage.” While having no need to criticize that, there is a hunger in many churchgoers today for a Sunday ethos that says, “Sit up, be alert and participate.”

VOL: Leonard Sweet, author of The Jesus Manifesto said in a lecture that people speak today in images and stories not concepts, points and principles. There is no world view any more. People ask what is your narrative? What is your identity? Where is your voice? Do you agree with that?

HUNTER: He is being provocative I think but not unintelligent. People do live from narrative and their imagination more than they do from data, facts and propositions. To me that is not a post modern statement. I am a critical realist. You cannot dump data, facts and propositions out the window and say they are dumb and then say they don’t have the behavior shaping form. We all have a world view. I think Len was trying to say that today the world view of younger people is shaped by images and narrative. It would take some time to unpack the implications of that, so he may have been a bit too un-nuanced.

VOL: How would you define liturgy?

HUNTER: It is the public work and worship of the people. For me, liturgy is a way to bring common sense to word and sacrament. Dallas Willard is on record as saying that spontaneity is over-rated. What I mean by that is this. I came out of the Charismatic World and I have not turned my back on that. To the degree that the Christian imagination is lost, the Prayer Book holds up an imagination for what a Christian life looks like. The Prayer Book sits among us like an unmovable rock and invites one to the distinctive life it shapes.

VOL: Do you have any preference for a particular Prayer Book?

HUNTER: I have no dog in that fight. As a (relatively) new Anglican I needed to give myself to the traditional. I picked the ’79 Rite II as a place to start. The more I think about this, I like some of the language in the earlier Prayer Books. They have more theological heft. For instance, sin has lost its meaning in the wider culture. The Prayer of Confession in the ’28 Prayer Book is powerful and evocative. It could alert people to what they have lost sight of. I don’t think The Prayer Book Cranmer wrote was meant to sit in the back of a pew in the church. I think it was meant sit on a coffee table shaping my life. For instance, for me the Prayer of Confession and absolution are evangelistic and disciple-making tools. It is there to engage the world. The Prayer Book is in solidarity with the world. I want to take it public.

VOL: What made you write the book, The Accidental Anglican?

HUNTER: People were curious. I went from being a member of a charismatic group, the Vineyard, to an Anglican bishop in 20 months. I am 54. I was ordained a deacon in the fall of 2008 and then a priest in spring of 2009 and then consecrated a bishop in the Fall of 2009.

I wrote the book to tell an encouraging story. I think Robert Webber’s book “On the Canterbury Trail” was ahead of his time. There is an increasing number of people for whom liturgy and sacramental leanings are increasingly real and I was trying to show one person’s voyage.

VOL: Who are some of your heroes?

HUNTER: Three come to mind. Dr. J. I. Packer and Rev. John Stott. Speaking just for myself, for more than three decades, beginning with reading “Knowing God” in the 1970s, and up to key personal meetings in 2009, Packer, with his simple, holy and mature reflections on all-things theological, has kept me grounded. To this day “Knowing God” is a great conversation partner for anyone willing to engage with a classic Christian worldview. Interestingly, as Packer was having this big effect on my life, I never thought of him as an Anglican…it’s a tad embarrassing to admit.

John Stott is for me a lifelong model of what it means to be a rector/pastor (who, by the way, in the tradition of English evangelicals wore suits and ties, not collars). His qualities of being, his keen mind, authentic spirituality and dedication to his congregation have shaped my imagination for a number of years. Through his life John Stott models what it means for a pastor to stand in the midst of shifting culture and preach the Word of God.

No one has influenced my overall theology more in the last decade than Bishop N.T. Wright of Durham in the Church of England. He is a highly respected New Testament scholar and author of over 30 books. He came to prominence in the American evangelical world through his orthodox interactions with and challenges to the scholars of the Jesus Seminar. Among laypeople, he is better known for two books, Surprised by Hope and The challenge of Jesus.

VOL: How would you define being an Anglican?

HUNTER: Anglicanism at its best has always been marked by a twin journey: inward into the story of God as revealed in the Scriptures, and outward as we announce and embody the story in the world. These dual foci bring into play both personal piety and service to others.

VOL: Explain how you think Anglicanism and the Kingdom of God interact?

HUNTER: While Anglicans have a very high view of the church, Anglicanism at its best is not self-conscious. It is kingdom conscious. The best thing that could happen to any church is that it be “put in its place.” This is critically important to me. Likening the church to a seed, it cannot grow sitting in its packaging. The seed must be placed in the ground of the kingdom, lose its life there, and then flourish and grow as a product and agent of the kingdom. That is, the kingdom of God creates the church. Thus the church is derivative and secondary.

Therefore the kingdom-the rule and reign, or the expression or action-of God is our highest priority. Misunderstanding this has been the root cause of innumerable troubles and failures in churches of all denominations.

VOL: Anglicanism has the reputation of being rigid and bound by the Book of Common Prayer and the Thirty-Nine Articles. Would you agree with that assessment?

HUNTER: Much of the ancient Anglican Church was animated by a missional impulse. In this sense, I am doing nothing new as a missionary bishop. I minister in a long line of leaders whose lives and accomplishments overshadow mine. I am simply taking a baton passed along by evangelistically minded Anglican leaders such as Allen, Newbigen, Stott, Packer, Millar, Fullam, Guest, Gumbel and many more. The Anglican Church has a way of staying anchored to the ancient tradition while being in tune with the ever-changing times.

VOL: In your congregation, Holy Trinity in Costa Mesa, CA, how many former Catholics do you have and why are they coming?

HUNTER: Maybe 10%. Catholics are looking for their life in God in a framework reminiscent of what they grew up with. Kneeling in churches is like rewriting their souls in a God ward direction. We also have evangelicals coming from non-denominational backgrounds looking for something more. In age, we have teenagers to those aged 70 plus. We have gone from zero to over 100 members in 15 months.

I’ve had other friends say to me, “I am from a charismatic background, but until we started saying the creed, I didn’t know what Christians believed.” The follow on then is an evangelical follow on. When I talk to my unbelieving friends, I have this creed sitting in my subconscious and it gives me a bit of an evangelistic outline when I talk to them. It was a bit like remembering “The Four Spiritual Laws” in the 70′s.

VOL: Leonard Sweet in his lecture to the AMIAers said mission must be done in the language of the culture. He said we must read the bible not in chapters and verses (an ancient template). We must read the Bible in stories, songs and letters…opening ourselves up to the living word. How do you respond to that? You and he seem to be saying different things.

HUNTER: We must speak the gospel in the language of the people. Every missiologist would agree with that. Every conversation Jesus had with people was all customized to who he was speaking with. The essentials did not change. How he got it across was based on the terms of his hearers. We have Paul saying in 1 Cor. 9 “I become all things to all men.” This is not a statement of compromise but being willing to be in solidarity with the broken world. This is the godly thing to do. When Adam fell, the first words from God to Adam were, “where are you?” God is desirous of being in solidarity with this broken world.

I think Eugene Peterson in his book “The Message,” has St. Paul saying I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view, but I kept my moorings in Christ. That is spot on for how we engage the world.

VOL: What’s your calling now?

HUNTER: My calling is a divine one, to plant 200 new evangelical Anglican churches on the West Coast.

VOL: Thank you, Bishop Hunter.

By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org

PASTOR’S LETTER – February 2011

The LORD Almighty will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.”  Isaiah 19:35

Egypt is much in the news today as I write. It is the most populous Arab nation and holds great respect and influence among other Arab countries. On CNN we are watching the drama unfold between President Mubarak and the crowds on the street. We should be concerned for the wellbeing of this great country and its people. We should also try not to look at its problems through American eyes. This is not about the US or Israel. The people on the streets say it is about the corruption they face in everyday life and the terrible economy.

The protests started after a similar uprising in Tunisia. A fruit vendor set himself on fire in protest at being mistreated by the authorities. This enraged his family and friends and eventually everyone else in Tunisia who had similar stories of suffering under the dictatorship. They came out onto the streets in solidarity. Somehow this dramatic act tapped into a well of frustration at an ineffective government. So great was the pressure from the mostly peaceful gathering public that the dictator decided to escape Tunisia. Now the Egyptian people are inspired to do the same.

We are always looking for contemporary illustrations of the Christian faith, so we might think for a moment about how this suicide is like the death of Christ on the Cross and how it is different. The scriptures tell us that Jesus died for our sins. It says that it is expedient that one should die for the nation. On the cross God was in Christ Jesus reconciling the world to himself. So the death in Tunisia is like the Cross of Christ in that one person sparks a change in a whole nation, perhaps a whole ethnic group. The example of that sacrifice inspires others to stand up for their rights. However it is unlike the cross in that the Cross is the actual instrument of changes. It certainly does inspire. We may love more because he first loved us. We may forgive more because Jesus could forgive his enemies. We might serve more because Jesus served us. But the key difference is that the death on the cross was more than inspiration or motivation. It actually effected the change in our relationship with the Father. “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive in Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions” Eph 2:5

“Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance” reminds us that God longs for all peoples of the world to find peace with him through the one provided for that purpose, Jesus Christ. So as we watch political and social change take place on our TV screens let us pray God’s blessing on the Egyptian people and especially that they may know the love God has for them in the person of Jesus. Please remember also that about 10% of Egypt is Christian and that they are also suffering and vulnerable as this drama unfolds.