And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. -John 1:14
The Plan
Through Lent we, as a congregation, will read together the book On the Incarnation by St. Athanasius. The sermons through Lent, as best I can, will follow the chapters of this book. I know that some of you are instantly going to ask the question: Why?
• Why would we as a congregation study a book other than scripture that isn’t even a devotional?
• Why would we do such a thing for Lent- of all seasons?
• If we are studying something other than ‘The Bible’ than why aren’t we reading something more contemporary and relevant to today?
The answer?
First and foremost, we are reading On the Incarnation because it is a fantastic book. It was written in the fourth century and remains just as helpful now as it was then in clarifyingwhat ‘The Incarnation’ means for us. Reading ‘old books’ also has a way of helping us identify flaws and assumptions in our own culture that we take for granted. In the introduction, C.S. Lewis makes a case for reading ‘old books’ by saying:
“it is a good rule , after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between…. Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means old books.”
Will you agree with everything this ‘old book’ has to say? Nope. But I think you will find yourself very surprised by how much will ring true and come across as relevant and fresh. There is a reason that it has stood the test of time. Athanasius has a lot to say about standing for truth in a shifting, wavering world. C.S. Lewis uses Athanasius as an example of a man grounded by scripture through winds of change:
His epitaph is Athanasius contra mundum, “Athanasius against the world.” We are proud that our own country has more than once stood against the world. Athanasius did the same. He stood for the Trinitarian doctrine, “whole and undefiled,” when it looked as if all the civilized world was slipping back from Christianity into the religion of Arius- into one of those “sensible” synthetic religions which are so strongly recommended to-day and which, then as now, included among their devotees many highly cultivated clergymen. It is his glory that he did not move with the times; it is his reward that he now remains when those times, as all times do, have moved away.
The challenge that Athanasius presents us with is to test our Christianity against scripture and not against culture. Is our theology one of this age or one founded on the incarnation? One of the side effects of our multi-blended-denominational world is that solid theology seems to be drifting down the lazy river. This book puts the Incarnation, as expressed in John 1:14, into proper focus as the foundation of our theology and thus is perfectly fitting for Lent. While the sermons will follow Athanasius’ framework we will still rely wholly on scripture for God’s truth. Theology, at its best, expresses and organizes what is already laid out in scripture. So through Lent, with the help of Athanasius, join us as we look at scripture and try to understand how radical the incarnation truly is!
Week
Week 1
Date
Ash Wednesday
Feb 22-26th
Reading Covered
Introduction and Chapter 1
Week 2
Feb 27th-March 4th
Chapters 2 and 3
Week 3
March 5-11th
Chapter 4
Week 4
March 12-18th
Chapter 5
Week 5
March 19-25th
Chapter 6
Week 6
Palm Sunday
March 26th-April 1st
Chapter 7
Week 7
Easter
April 2-8th
Chapters 8 and 9
Download the full PDF Version (for reading or E-Readers)
Interested in ordering a hard copy? If so, please email Pastor Ben at Ben.Black@fhpcpa.org