The Oxford Dictionary's primary definition of tradition is a "custom handed down to posterity," often in the form of ritual, defined as "procedure regularly followed." The fundamentalist sect in which I was reared denied having tradition or ritual, but if a supply preacher offered three prayers instead of two between the opening and second song, all hell would break loose, so to speak. My point is that all humans have traditions, expressed in rituals, many of which we do unconsciously.
The rituals of the Church are conscious and intentional, but why do we do them? Is there a rationale beyond simply repeating what we have done for centuries and millenia? The answer is yes; ritual is solid and essential to our faith and practice.
First of all, ritual is how we celebrate who we are as Catholic Christians. This is our communal dimension, as we worship together as brothers and sisters. We share the strong bond we have as members of a "second family" into which we were born and adopted through holy baptism.
We celebrate, however, in apostolic order At the Eucharist, for example, the priest, as stand-in for Jesus, takes bread, blesses it, breaks it, declares it Christ's Body and distributes it. In the same way, the celebrant blesses wine, declares it to be Our Lord's Blood, and gives it out. In this way we repeat a ritual, done by Jesus who commanded us to carry it on. We use vessels of precious metal as very appropriate to the importance of Communion. In reference to another Sacrament, in John's Gospel, the Risen Christ tells his successors that whose sins they forgive are forgiven, whose sin they retain are retained. In this way, the Church was authorized by Jesus to continue his important ministry of forgiveness and reconciliation.
Second, ritual is educational. For example, in the Rosary there are four sets of "mysteries," or great Christian stories, to be pondered while the Marian mantra is recited. This reinforces our engagement and understanding of twenty key truths of our Faith. During the illiterate middle ages, the rosary was a substitute Bible teacher. Likewise, as we faithful touch holy water upon entering and leaving the worship space, we remind ourselves that it is through the water of baptism, we "entered" the Church and that, because of the covenant of baptism, we are sent our from there to be Christ in the world. In fact, the root of the word "Mass" is the Latin for sending forth.
Third, ritual has an emotional dimension. When we kneel to pray, or when he smell incense at a high service, memories of other persons and other times come floating back to us. Weddings rings are the sign of a deep commitment between the couple, which is why we don't light unity candles during the nuptial mass; the symbolism of the rings is powerful and sufficient. Why create a new tradition?
Finally, ritual serves a theological purpose. Rituals point to One higher than ourselves, to the power source in the universe, the ground of being, the ineffable Deity we seek to love and serve. Rituals refine and define us as Episcopalians and help us to draw near to God.
Saturday, May 28, 2016
Sunday, May 22, 2016
Trinity Sunday
The doctrine of the Trinity is central to our Catholic Faith. It has no such relationship to protestant traditions, as it is not biblical. When I was a child the minister of my parents' fundamentalist church preached quite a sermon upholding the doctrine of the Trinity. Then a few months later a revivalist preacher in the same pulpit denounced the doctrine, calling it Catholic and unscriptural. And he was right! When we talk Trinity, we are talking Catholic. One God in three persons, as we read in detail in the Athanasian Creed, printed in the documents sections of our Prayer Book, on page 864. That ancient faith statement is long and tedious, and we no longer employ it in our American branch of worldwide Anglicanism.
Clergy tend to use cute analogies in an attempt to explain the Trinity. Trinity is like a three-leaved clover; or a cartwheel in motion; or water in three states as steam, water and liquid; or like the sun with rock, heat and light; or a man who is at once son, brother and father. The problem with all such analogies is that they promote one or the other of three principal heresies condemned by the Church. These are: modalism which imagines one person in God who changes names and hats from creator to redeemer to sanctifier; tritheism, in which there are three equal deities in a confederation, and the doctrine of subordinationalism, which holds the Father as the Supreme Deity, the Son as subordinate to the Father, and the Spirit as being subordinate to both.
Analogies get us in trouble when we try to explain what the human mind cannot comprehend. In the time that Saint Augustine was writing his great volume on the Trinity, De Trinitate, he told the story of a vision in which an angel was disguised as a little boy is on a beach. The boy had a dug a hole and was engaged in getting a bucketful of water at a time from the ocean and pouring it into the hole. Seeing this, the bishop asked him what he was doing. The boy explained he was trying to empty all of the ocean into the hole. Augustine tells him that is impossible, and the boy replies that it is equally futile trying to cram the reality of God into the human mind.
Our root problem, says philosopher Gabriel Marcel, is confusing a Mystery with a problem. That term Mystery is a theological term, musterion in Greek; in fact, it is the word used to translate the word Sacrament in the Eastern Church. When we have a problem, we are missing bits of data and when we find all the pieces of the puzzle, then we can solve for X or figure out the murderer is, or whatever. A Mystery is a spiritual reality which we cannot objectively know. We mortals cannot comprehend it, only appropriate it.
So where does all this leave us, folks? First , we can accept that the doctrine of the Trinity is a true articulation of the nature of God, revealed in Christ's Catholic Church, which is always being led into truth by the Holy Spirit. (viz. John 16:12 et seq.) Second, we can find the triune God in relationship. After all, the biblical witness speaks of the perfection of complete goodness of the Father, and how the Father is perfectly reflected in the Son, and how through the Holy Spirit, we are being -- however slowly and imperfectly -- formed into the likeness of Christ.
Saint Augustine in his tome tells us that one who loves another knows more of God than one has attempted to explain the Deity. When we befriend another, serve another, heal another, raise up another, liberate another, in the name of Christ's love, we experience the life of the triune God.
Clergy tend to use cute analogies in an attempt to explain the Trinity. Trinity is like a three-leaved clover; or a cartwheel in motion; or water in three states as steam, water and liquid; or like the sun with rock, heat and light; or a man who is at once son, brother and father. The problem with all such analogies is that they promote one or the other of three principal heresies condemned by the Church. These are: modalism which imagines one person in God who changes names and hats from creator to redeemer to sanctifier; tritheism, in which there are three equal deities in a confederation, and the doctrine of subordinationalism, which holds the Father as the Supreme Deity, the Son as subordinate to the Father, and the Spirit as being subordinate to both.
Analogies get us in trouble when we try to explain what the human mind cannot comprehend. In the time that Saint Augustine was writing his great volume on the Trinity, De Trinitate, he told the story of a vision in which an angel was disguised as a little boy is on a beach. The boy had a dug a hole and was engaged in getting a bucketful of water at a time from the ocean and pouring it into the hole. Seeing this, the bishop asked him what he was doing. The boy explained he was trying to empty all of the ocean into the hole. Augustine tells him that is impossible, and the boy replies that it is equally futile trying to cram the reality of God into the human mind.
Our root problem, says philosopher Gabriel Marcel, is confusing a Mystery with a problem. That term Mystery is a theological term, musterion in Greek; in fact, it is the word used to translate the word Sacrament in the Eastern Church. When we have a problem, we are missing bits of data and when we find all the pieces of the puzzle, then we can solve for X or figure out the murderer is, or whatever. A Mystery is a spiritual reality which we cannot objectively know. We mortals cannot comprehend it, only appropriate it.
So where does all this leave us, folks? First , we can accept that the doctrine of the Trinity is a true articulation of the nature of God, revealed in Christ's Catholic Church, which is always being led into truth by the Holy Spirit. (viz. John 16:12 et seq.) Second, we can find the triune God in relationship. After all, the biblical witness speaks of the perfection of complete goodness of the Father, and how the Father is perfectly reflected in the Son, and how through the Holy Spirit, we are being -- however slowly and imperfectly -- formed into the likeness of Christ.
Saint Augustine in his tome tells us that one who loves another knows more of God than one has attempted to explain the Deity. When we befriend another, serve another, heal another, raise up another, liberate another, in the name of Christ's love, we experience the life of the triune God.
Friday, May 20, 2016
Road Trip
Shelby and I returned from a lovely eight-day excursion in which we motored, mostly along remote backroads, to Virginia where we had the privilege to see our oldest son John graduated from Thomas Nelson University and to spend some quality time with John, his wife Adrianne, and their five great kids. Public school was still in session, so most days we had the special treat of being just with the pre-school grandchildren and at night with the lot.
Motoring backroads allowed us to see some fascinating new places, encountering parks and exhibits, mills, springs and wineries, and all sorts of interesting people and cultures. Southern Virginia seemed to have a lot of properties flying the Confederate flag and a lot of automobiles with the Tea Party state licence plate. Nowhere else did we find those eccentricities. In eastern Tennessee, we encountered folks with a most unusual accent and the curious female habit of addressing customers as "Darlin'." I was mister Darlin in filling stations, convenience stores, restaurants -- everywhere.
Probably the kindest and most courteous and respectful people we encountered were in southern Missouri. The region boasted the lowest fuel prices. It was also the only area in which liberal politics were in evidence. In fact, at a small service station way out in the country I was thanked by the clerk for the Bernie Sanders sticker on my car. She had voted for Bernie in their primary and was the only person on our entire journey to comment about it. In fact, there were virtually no signs or activities anywhere on our route to suggest that we are in an election year.
There are many wonderful treasures to be discovered and adventures to be had in out-of-the-way places in our country. Sometimes it pays to slow down and take the road less travelled.
Motoring backroads allowed us to see some fascinating new places, encountering parks and exhibits, mills, springs and wineries, and all sorts of interesting people and cultures. Southern Virginia seemed to have a lot of properties flying the Confederate flag and a lot of automobiles with the Tea Party state licence plate. Nowhere else did we find those eccentricities. In eastern Tennessee, we encountered folks with a most unusual accent and the curious female habit of addressing customers as "Darlin'." I was mister Darlin in filling stations, convenience stores, restaurants -- everywhere.
Probably the kindest and most courteous and respectful people we encountered were in southern Missouri. The region boasted the lowest fuel prices. It was also the only area in which liberal politics were in evidence. In fact, at a small service station way out in the country I was thanked by the clerk for the Bernie Sanders sticker on my car. She had voted for Bernie in their primary and was the only person on our entire journey to comment about it. In fact, there were virtually no signs or activities anywhere on our route to suggest that we are in an election year.
There are many wonderful treasures to be discovered and adventures to be had in out-of-the-way places in our country. Sometimes it pays to slow down and take the road less travelled.
Sunday, May 1, 2016
Feast of the Invention
May third marks the feast traditionally called "The Invention of the True Cross." In that context, the obsolete term "invention" meant finding. The tradition goes back to Saint Helena, mother of the first Christian emperor, Constantine. She was credited with having found the three crosses of Calvary, and Saint Cyril of Jerusalem later asseverated that. As the story goes, the crosses of Jesus and of the two revolutionaries who had flanked him were discovered during the excavations for the emperor's Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre. The cross believed to be that of Jesus was then chopped up and sent out to churches throughout the known world. A portion of it was retained and placed in a silver receptacle in the Basilica.
A Spanish abbess, Etheria, made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem at the end of the fourth century and stated that she had participated in Veneration of the True Cross at a service there. In time, that special liturgy spread to Gaul and then later to Rome. This is part of the long tradition of using relics retained from holy people and objects, as sources of inspiration. In time, relics fell into disrepute as creative capitalists throughout the ages managed to manufacture copies and sell them to the gullible. Martin Luther once quipped that there were enough pieces of the True Cross in Germany at the time of the Reformation to comprise a thousand crosses!
Given the fact that the Roman Empire crucified many thousands of people, primarily for treason, it takes no seven-league stride to imagine that Saint Helena herself could have been mistaken. What is important, though, in my opinion is how these bits and scraps of wood can mediate a great reality to people of faith, pointing them to Christ. That has value. And how that medium of devotion was multiplied across the face of the earth. We humans are blessed with five senses, and we Catholic Christians have always employed all those senses in worship and devotion.
A Spanish abbess, Etheria, made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem at the end of the fourth century and stated that she had participated in Veneration of the True Cross at a service there. In time, that special liturgy spread to Gaul and then later to Rome. This is part of the long tradition of using relics retained from holy people and objects, as sources of inspiration. In time, relics fell into disrepute as creative capitalists throughout the ages managed to manufacture copies and sell them to the gullible. Martin Luther once quipped that there were enough pieces of the True Cross in Germany at the time of the Reformation to comprise a thousand crosses!
Given the fact that the Roman Empire crucified many thousands of people, primarily for treason, it takes no seven-league stride to imagine that Saint Helena herself could have been mistaken. What is important, though, in my opinion is how these bits and scraps of wood can mediate a great reality to people of faith, pointing them to Christ. That has value. And how that medium of devotion was multiplied across the face of the earth. We humans are blessed with five senses, and we Catholic Christians have always employed all those senses in worship and devotion.
Easter VI: Rogation Sunday
Today is a day with many names. As May Day, it is a day to honour Our Lady. (Perhaps you have heard little children singing on this day, "O, Mary, we crown thee with roses today, Queen of the Angels and Queen of the May.") It is also International Worker's Day. And, in addition, today is Rogation Sunday when we the Church specially express our gratitude for all God's gifts, lift up the working people of the world, and ponder our special relationship with creation and one another. At the end of Mass, we shall have the traditional Procession outside to "beat the bounds" of the parish, as we say thanks to God for all God's benefits and to pray for continued blessings -- and to continue to be blessings to others.
The Pope of Rome released an encyclical entitled Laudato Si' addressing issues related to ecology. It has proven to be an enormously popular and influential document. When I stopped by Ziegler's to pick up a copy, all the English editions were sold. So I bought the Spanish edition and enjoyed the privilege of reading it in the Holy Father's native language. He begins with a canticle and writes, "In the words of this beautiful canticle, Saint Francis of Assisi reminds us that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life, and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us. Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth who sustains and governs us..."
The theme of our responsibility for creation is teamed in Scripture with the theme of redemption, which has a cosmic dimension. The Kingdom of God means a radical renewal and rebirth of our world, not a plan for trashing it and being "raptured" elsewhere. This is the world God has made, the world which God loves, and where God has placed us as custodians and trustees. We flourish or flop right here. At Mass in our congregation on high feast days, the priest prays: "You formed us in your own image, giving the whole world into our care, so that, in obedience to you, our Creator, we might rule and serve all your creatures." That is not from some liberal manifesto of our age; it is within the lovely eucharistic prayer of Saint Basil from the fourth century!.
As stewards of creation, we have an obligation to pass-on the best world we can to future generations. On the NASA website, one can see some amazing footage, like the earth from the international space station 340 kilometres away. From there it looks almost pristine, but as we examine closer, we see already the ravages of greed and consumerism, and the beginning signs of accelerated climate change. The Pope observes, "The earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth. Our forests and grasslands are disappearing, and the songs of millions of species in rain forests and oceans are being stilled."
We can choose to be part of the problem or part of the solution. It is never too late to do the best we can in this crisis. True gratitude will motivate us to be a part of the solution through stewardship and better management of the resources we have from God.
The Pope of Rome released an encyclical entitled Laudato Si' addressing issues related to ecology. It has proven to be an enormously popular and influential document. When I stopped by Ziegler's to pick up a copy, all the English editions were sold. So I bought the Spanish edition and enjoyed the privilege of reading it in the Holy Father's native language. He begins with a canticle and writes, "In the words of this beautiful canticle, Saint Francis of Assisi reminds us that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life, and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us. Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth who sustains and governs us..."
The theme of our responsibility for creation is teamed in Scripture with the theme of redemption, which has a cosmic dimension. The Kingdom of God means a radical renewal and rebirth of our world, not a plan for trashing it and being "raptured" elsewhere. This is the world God has made, the world which God loves, and where God has placed us as custodians and trustees. We flourish or flop right here. At Mass in our congregation on high feast days, the priest prays: "You formed us in your own image, giving the whole world into our care, so that, in obedience to you, our Creator, we might rule and serve all your creatures." That is not from some liberal manifesto of our age; it is within the lovely eucharistic prayer of Saint Basil from the fourth century!.
As stewards of creation, we have an obligation to pass-on the best world we can to future generations. On the NASA website, one can see some amazing footage, like the earth from the international space station 340 kilometres away. From there it looks almost pristine, but as we examine closer, we see already the ravages of greed and consumerism, and the beginning signs of accelerated climate change. The Pope observes, "The earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth. Our forests and grasslands are disappearing, and the songs of millions of species in rain forests and oceans are being stilled."
We can choose to be part of the problem or part of the solution. It is never too late to do the best we can in this crisis. True gratitude will motivate us to be a part of the solution through stewardship and better management of the resources we have from God.
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