St. Paul and St. James have much more in common than many realize. They are both prophetic motivators of Christians to live in the Spirit. St. Paul reminds us, those “whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” (Romans 10:30, KJV). Christ never leaves us where He finds us. He goes to where we are, He finds us as lost sheep, and He reclaims us to the flock of God. He transforms our homelessness into homebound. He transforms our emptiness into fullness in the Spirit.

In this life, “now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face.” (1 Corinthians 13:12, KJV). Paul exhorts us to grow mature in our faith and allow the Spirit to develop within us because, “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” (1 Corinthians 13:11, KJV). We are all called to spiritual maturity, i.e., holiness. As Peter quotes from the Old Testament, “because it is written, ‘Be ye holy, for I am holy,” (1 Peter 1:16, KJV) therefore we must “put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof,” (Romans 13:14, KJV). We “put on Christ” in our baptism and daily baptismal renewal by praying, confessing, and fasting for the Lord God.

Paul promises us that though we are looking into the mirror, dimly in the light, very soon we shall behold our Maker face to face, like Moses conversing with the Lord God in the tabernacle. Until then, we behold Christ within the heart of our soul if we allow His transforming Holy Ghost to tabernacle within us and make us His holy temple. Are you looking into the mirror? Or are you passing a fleeting gaze and carrying on about the day? St. James urges us, “be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” (Epistle lesson, James 1:22, KJV). Too many Christians come to the feet of the Cross and then leave it without any hope, any faith, any charity, or any love. They stumble to the source of salvation and leave it to go back to the world.

St. James warns, “For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.” (James 1:23-24, KJV). Too many within the Church have their eyes glancing across at Christ, but all the while turning their attention immediately back to their hands on the plough. We give an hour on Sunday but then pay the devil the rest of the week. Our hearts tingle at the Words of Christ, but we refuse to yield to the transformation of our hearts. Friends, the time is now for us to sacrifice the oxen of our old ways upon the altar of our old master, like Elisha burning his plough to go and follow after Elijah. (1 Kings 19:21). Yet it is not Elijah calling after you, but the One whom Elijah was taken up into heaven to see.

Christ is calling for you to follow Him. He beckons you to walk the fields and trample down Satan under your feet, because He has bound the devil for you to enter into His victory. Stare not into the mirror reflecting your Savior and forget your face. For what good is hearing without heeding? Look not with the eyes of your body and see not with the eyes of your soul. Though you hear the lessons proclaimed each Sunday, and hopefully you read the Scriptures throughout the week, I must ask, are you receiving the Word proclaimed over you? Do you merely allow the Scriptures to be poured upon you, but never wash you? Do you look upon the written words of Scripture but fail to digest them within your soul?

Saint, take time to be nourished. We live in the Age of the Spirit. In this Age of the Church, our bridegroom encourages us to receive the gift He is extending to us. Have you not received? Then ask and ye shall receive, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” (Gospel lesson, John 16:23-24, KJV). We can only be doers of the word by receiving “with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.” (James 1:22, KJV). The implanted Word calls out for your eyes to “looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.” (James 1:25, KJV).

Lord, in their change, let frost and heat,

And winds and dews be giv’n;

All fost’ring power, all influence sweet,

Breathe from the bounteous heav’n.

Attemper fair with gentle air

The sunshine and the rain,

That kindly earth with timely birth

May yield her fruits again.

Set your eyes upon Christ’s perfection, and His law of liberty shall set you free. Simply “ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: for the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.” John 16:26-27, KJV). The Word of God speaks to you, so that you may listen and follow. Following Christ, means moving. To follow, is to walk with Him, for after all only He has the “words of Life.” (John 6:68, KJV). His Word abides and is given freely so that we might receive and be transformed “that in me ye might have peace.” (John 16:33, KJV). Christ is breathing His peace into your lungs, into your soul, and His very Spirit into your being, just as He first breathed life into the first Adam. The new Adam gives us His perfect peace, precisely because Monday is coming. He tells us to ask the Father in His Name, so that you may be empowered by the “Lord, from whom all good things do come.” (Collect of the Day). Only through the Holy Ghost shall “thy humble servants, that by thy holy inspiration we may think those things that be good, and by thy merciful guiding may perform the same; through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.” (Collect of the Day). Yes, perform the same as our Lord because we are walking the ancient way and are steered by the old landmarks of our Lord’s Eternal Word. The Lord has enlivened you by His Spirit so that you will get up and act. Lest we forget, O Church, the Book of Acts is left incomplete. You are the living pages of this unfinished book until Christ returns and calls His Church into her sabbath rest. The Book of Acts is about action. Therefore, lean into the Holy Spirit and begin faithfully acting in humble obedience to the ministry Christ is gifting you.

It begins with asking the Father on the merits of the Son for His perfect gift. This Rogation Sunday, walk the bounds of your soul and examine how greatly you need to receive the grace of God. Open your ears and let those who have ears, hear. Open your eyes and let the scales of the world fall so that you may see for the first time your Savior. Open your hands and receive Christ’s broken body. Open your mouth and drink from the cup of salvation. Open your heart and receive the Holy Ghost.

During this Rogationtide, explore the boundaries of your parish and the people who need your good deeds. Hold your tongue, deceive no more your heart, and let not your religion be in vain. (James 1:26). The Eternal God became enfleshed, suffered, died, rose again, ascended, and sent His Holy Ghost so that you may have such joyful and abundant peace that you serve the Almighty and your neighbors with your good works. Therefore, “visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction,” starting with your fellow parishioners. (James 1:27, KJV). Find the ill, the elderly, the struggling single parents, and serve them. Next, seek the neighbor where you live, where you work, where you eat, and even whom you encounter when shopping for groceries. The keyword in verse twenty-seven is visit. Visiting requires movement. Visiting requires acts of mercy, love, joy, and peace. Let us move about not aimlessly, but sojourning with a purpose. Wander no more in the desert of the latest spiritual fad or the newest worldly distraction, instead set your eyes directly upon the mirror of Christ and ask the Father in His Name that you may never leave the gaze of Christ triumphant, who shall save your soul and transform your heart by the Holy Ghost into His own. Ask, and you shall receive, not a heart of stone nor a serpent, but a divine heart transplant that beats and loves and He loves. Rogationtide is the time for us to visit and go on visiting those souls in need of peace, which only Christ can give. Although the source of this joy, peace, and salvation is from Christ alone, Christ has called us to visit our neighbors and be the feet that bring Good News. We shall “keep himself unspotted from the world” by busying ourselves with the business of the Kingdom of Heaven. (James 1:27, KJV).

Put on your boots, and let us beat the bounds, drive out the fleshly weeds in our soul, casting down and trampleling down the serpent creeping the boundaries, being doers of the word, and looking up as we see our King ascending the throne on high while bestowing the gift of His Holy Ghost to us below.

That we may feed the poor aright,

And, gath’ring round thy throne,

Here, in the holy angels’ sight,

Repay thee of thine own;

That we may praise thee all our days,

And with the Father’s Name,

And with the Holy Spirit’s gifts,

The Savior’s love proclaim. Amen.

Walk the Fields – Rogation Sunday

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