In today's pericope starting at the beginning of Luke's fourteenth chapter, the tables are turned on Jesus Instead of hosting his street ministry, he is a guest at a banquet thrown by a Pharisee. In Graeco-Roman times, people ate reclining on couches and propped by pillows. Da Vinci's own depiction of the Last Supper is erroneous, retrojecting mediaeval dining practice into our minds. Couches accomodated three persons and were usually arranged in a rectangular fashion, with the serving table in the centre space. Those on the middle couch were the most wealthy, powerful, and prestigious.
In this context, Jesus counsels people to fly low. Come in to the party with the humility appropriate to the Christian servant. If you enter all big and bad and take a prestigious place, you may get kicked downstairs, if 'superior' sorts arrive after you. Christianity is not, after all, about winning at musical chairs. It is servanthood.
Jesus goes on to talk about the importance of doing good to those in need, without expect any reciprocation or reward: invite to your party the poor, crippled, lame and blame. Your reward will follow in the world to come. Judaism has always taught that giving anonymously to those in need, so as to avoid compensation, is the highest form of tzedakah, righteousness There is no quid pro quo in the Kingdom of God where our actions as Christians mirror our personal experience of the unearned and undeserved love of God. We don't busy ourselves in games of balance and survival; rather, we strive to bring in the Kingdom here and now.
In our former lectionary, the Jewish reading for today was from Sirach, beginning with the wonderful line, "Arrogance is hateful to God and to people" and going on to remind us that the truly humble person is satisfied with his lot in life. St. Paul told us that, in whatever state he found himself, he strove to be content. Jesus tells us to strive for the Kingdom and trust God with the rest.
Unfortunately, these messages do not jibe with our greedy, dog-eat-dog, consumerist, imperialist, megacapitalist culture. In the secular world, self-reliance, naked ambition and aggressiveness are the way to go. Take care of Number One. But surely the awful mess we are in should tell us that we are moving farther and farther in the wrong direction, away from the divine values taught and lived out by Jesus.
The lesson: Be humble and satisfied with what you have. Be focussed on serving others -- especially the least, the last, and the lost -- without conditions, or expectations beyond living in God's grace. Show the world what God's way of life looks like. And fly low.
Sunday, August 28, 2016
Sunday, August 21, 2016
Pentecost XIV: Liberation
Luke's gospel was written around the year 90 C.E. or a little later, by a Gentile writer we identify as a physician. Tradition has it that Luke separately interviewed Saint Peter and our Blessed Mother and included their recollections in his gospel which also contains material from Matthew, Mark and the Q Source. 90 was the year when, more or less officially, mainstream Judaism and the Jesus Movement permanently parted ways. So one of the Luke's grand agendae is to show Christianity as the perfect successor to traditional Judaism in a seamless transition, and with moral superiority to contemporary Judaism as then practised.
In today's pericope (Lk 13: 10-17) we encounter Jesus, the observant Jew, in synagogue on shabbat, preaching and then healing a woman who had been "disabled by a spirit" for eighteen years. In this gospel's pre-scientific outlook, every disorder of mind or body, every physical disability and illness, whatever stood in the way of wholeness, was the work of little demons. So, of course, healings are described in terms of shooing away the evil spirits. To that end, Jesus lays on his hands for healing (just another element of his ministry later passed on to the Church,and which we do in the sacrament of unction). The woman is literally "straightened up" by God and restored to abundant life.
No good deed goes unpunished, of course, and the synagogue president objects to the healing on sabbath. This is untoward, for two reasons. First, the response is passive-aggressive. Instead of facing Jesus, the president harangues the crowd. Second, the response is hypocritical because the notion of what constitutes "work" was fluid at that time, and there was general recognition that, on sabbath, God does work, at least as to giving life (people are born), saving life (living beings are rescued), and ending of life (people die). Jesus' lifegiving action in healing the woman is certainly within that parameter and should not have been criticized. This "daughter of Abraham" had been liberated.
Liberation, in fact is what sabbath is all about. On the seventh day, God rested; so each seventh day his People rest from work and all of the day-to-day hassles that beset; even slaves and animals got rest on the sabbath. Every seventh year, the land lay fallow to recuperate. Every seventh cycle of seven years (Jubilee), all debts forgiven, land was redistributed, and all slaves were to be freed. It was only the objections of the Jerusalem Chamber Commerce that caused Jubilee to be dropped. . (On another occasion, when Jesus proposed to revive Jubilee, the local businessmen tried to throw him off a hill!) Some things never change.
From time to time we are all in need of turning to God for healing, for liberation from our demons, from the many false values that keep us bound, that prevent us from becoming the people we can become, people of kindness, compassion, and justice. Let us ask ourselves this week: What in my life now needs healing? What kind of liberation do I need?
In today's pericope (Lk 13: 10-17) we encounter Jesus, the observant Jew, in synagogue on shabbat, preaching and then healing a woman who had been "disabled by a spirit" for eighteen years. In this gospel's pre-scientific outlook, every disorder of mind or body, every physical disability and illness, whatever stood in the way of wholeness, was the work of little demons. So, of course, healings are described in terms of shooing away the evil spirits. To that end, Jesus lays on his hands for healing (just another element of his ministry later passed on to the Church,and which we do in the sacrament of unction). The woman is literally "straightened up" by God and restored to abundant life.
No good deed goes unpunished, of course, and the synagogue president objects to the healing on sabbath. This is untoward, for two reasons. First, the response is passive-aggressive. Instead of facing Jesus, the president harangues the crowd. Second, the response is hypocritical because the notion of what constitutes "work" was fluid at that time, and there was general recognition that, on sabbath, God does work, at least as to giving life (people are born), saving life (living beings are rescued), and ending of life (people die). Jesus' lifegiving action in healing the woman is certainly within that parameter and should not have been criticized. This "daughter of Abraham" had been liberated.
Liberation, in fact is what sabbath is all about. On the seventh day, God rested; so each seventh day his People rest from work and all of the day-to-day hassles that beset; even slaves and animals got rest on the sabbath. Every seventh year, the land lay fallow to recuperate. Every seventh cycle of seven years (Jubilee), all debts forgiven, land was redistributed, and all slaves were to be freed. It was only the objections of the Jerusalem Chamber Commerce that caused Jubilee to be dropped. . (On another occasion, when Jesus proposed to revive Jubilee, the local businessmen tried to throw him off a hill!) Some things never change.
From time to time we are all in need of turning to God for healing, for liberation from our demons, from the many false values that keep us bound, that prevent us from becoming the people we can become, people of kindness, compassion, and justice. Let us ask ourselves this week: What in my life now needs healing? What kind of liberation do I need?
Monday, August 15, 2016
Feast of the Assumption
During the hundred or so years after the earthly ministry of Jesus ended in 30 C.E., the Church that succeeded him kept its precious memories; and various manuscripts began to be written and to circulate. Centuries later, they would become the New Testament when the first Christian Bible appeared in 397 C.E.
Following that initial Christian century, everything changed in 135 C.E. when the Roman Emperor Hadrian levelled the city of Jerusalem, renamed it Aelia Capitolina, and gifted it with a Temple to the god Jupiter. He also closed all Jewish and Christian holy sites and replaced them with pagan shrines. Then, for almost two hundred years, Christianity would be illegal and suffer persecution. But the memories, the stories, the manuscripts continued to be treasured.
Finally, in 315 C.E. the Emperor Constantine converted (sort of) to Christianity, and made the religion legal in the Roman Empire. The ancient holy sites began to be restored and Constantine himself had the Church of the Holy Sepulchre built over the burial place of Jesus. The tomb of the Blessed Mother was also restored and a feast called Memory of Mary or the Dormition ("falling asleep') of our Lady was celebrated. Soon, with the recollection that the disciples had found Mary's tomb empty and concluded she was taken or "assumed" into heaven, the feast came to be called the Assumption. That is the common name even today, though in Episcopal circles it is officially the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
The raison d'etre of the feast was affirmed later at the Council of Chalcedon when the Emperor Marcian asked the bishop of Jerusalem to send Mary's relics to Constantinople, and the bishop replied, "I cannot. She was assumed. There is nothing of her to send."
The Episcopal Church has no problem with the concept. Our official statement on the subject says, "What we can believe is that one who stood in so intimate a relationship with the incarnate Son of God on earth must, of all the human race, have the place of highest honor in the eternal life of God." And thus, as Queen of Heaven, Mary is naturally our supreme heavenly "prayer partner."
Furthermore, her assumption is a vivid reminder of our hope and our destiny, for we are gifted by God through Jesus with eternal life, a life that is unending, unbound by time and space. As we sang in our processional hymn, "When from death to life we've passed, show us your son, our Lord, at last, O, Maria."
Following that initial Christian century, everything changed in 135 C.E. when the Roman Emperor Hadrian levelled the city of Jerusalem, renamed it Aelia Capitolina, and gifted it with a Temple to the god Jupiter. He also closed all Jewish and Christian holy sites and replaced them with pagan shrines. Then, for almost two hundred years, Christianity would be illegal and suffer persecution. But the memories, the stories, the manuscripts continued to be treasured.
Finally, in 315 C.E. the Emperor Constantine converted (sort of) to Christianity, and made the religion legal in the Roman Empire. The ancient holy sites began to be restored and Constantine himself had the Church of the Holy Sepulchre built over the burial place of Jesus. The tomb of the Blessed Mother was also restored and a feast called Memory of Mary or the Dormition ("falling asleep') of our Lady was celebrated. Soon, with the recollection that the disciples had found Mary's tomb empty and concluded she was taken or "assumed" into heaven, the feast came to be called the Assumption. That is the common name even today, though in Episcopal circles it is officially the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
The raison d'etre of the feast was affirmed later at the Council of Chalcedon when the Emperor Marcian asked the bishop of Jerusalem to send Mary's relics to Constantinople, and the bishop replied, "I cannot. She was assumed. There is nothing of her to send."
The Episcopal Church has no problem with the concept. Our official statement on the subject says, "What we can believe is that one who stood in so intimate a relationship with the incarnate Son of God on earth must, of all the human race, have the place of highest honor in the eternal life of God." And thus, as Queen of Heaven, Mary is naturally our supreme heavenly "prayer partner."
Furthermore, her assumption is a vivid reminder of our hope and our destiny, for we are gifted by God through Jesus with eternal life, a life that is unending, unbound by time and space. As we sang in our processional hymn, "When from death to life we've passed, show us your son, our Lord, at last, O, Maria."
Thursday, August 11, 2016
Let's Get Real
One of the great features of protestant Christianity in modern America is that there are more than thirty thousand denominations, ensuring that no matter what you think or believe, or what you want to do, you can easily locate a church that agrees with you. You can find a church that mirrors your personal prejudices, political views, and cultural biases. In fact a church may be known as "non-denominational," meaning that it teaches whatever the pastor thinks that week. When pastor has a new view of something, the church splits or folds. Finding your own customized church means that you don't grow, you aren't challenged to learn and you have an opportunity to be entertained in a worship 'experience' with technological razzle-dazzle that has no real impact on your life. Just make sure you pay those tithes! In that way you can include religion on your resume and congratulate yourself that you have "fire insurance." Only in our consumerist system is such a con possible.
Now, for a moment, let's imagine that a new, rather intransigent, cult appears on the horizon and evangelizes without thought for these marketing dynamics. Suppose, further, that its odd list of membership requirements include, among others, committing to the following bizarre notions:
It's ok to marry, but not to divorce.
You can't pray in a public place.
You can't take a public oath.
If you loan out something, you can't demand it back.
All your charitable donations must be anonymous.
You cannot accumulate any personal wealth.
You can't retaliate if you are attacked.
You can't go to church if you are nursing a grudge.
All of these strange policies are, in fact, teachings of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew. And let us remember that Jesus said that you cannot claim to love him or be his follower unless you do what he says to do! A perusal of this partial list of Jesus' commandments reminds me of just how far our contemporary expressions of religion have majored in Paul and Americana and got away from the teachings of our Lord. In so doing, they have made Jesus their members' mascot instead of their saviour. And a mascot cannot save.
Now, for a moment, let's imagine that a new, rather intransigent, cult appears on the horizon and evangelizes without thought for these marketing dynamics. Suppose, further, that its odd list of membership requirements include, among others, committing to the following bizarre notions:
It's ok to marry, but not to divorce.
You can't pray in a public place.
You can't take a public oath.
If you loan out something, you can't demand it back.
All your charitable donations must be anonymous.
You cannot accumulate any personal wealth.
You can't retaliate if you are attacked.
You can't go to church if you are nursing a grudge.
All of these strange policies are, in fact, teachings of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew. And let us remember that Jesus said that you cannot claim to love him or be his follower unless you do what he says to do! A perusal of this partial list of Jesus' commandments reminds me of just how far our contemporary expressions of religion have majored in Paul and Americana and got away from the teachings of our Lord. In so doing, they have made Jesus their members' mascot instead of their saviour. And a mascot cannot save.
Sunday, August 7, 2016
Pentecost XII: Whom do you trust?
In our gospel (Lk 12: 32-40) Jesus says, "Do not live in fear, little flock, my Father is delighted to give you the Kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to those in need....and you will have treasure in heaven..." Jesus is inviting us to salvation, which is right relationship with God which begins in present and continues forever. In right relation, we will not get caught unprepared for whatever life throws at us. As the reading says, our lamps will always be lit!
The fundamental question is "Whom do you trust?" Do we trust in God or in ourselves -- our own abilities to grow and accumulate wealth, power and influence? Where is our allegiance, and in life what legacy will we leave behind?
In 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt vehemently opposed Congress's plan to put "In God We Trust" on our money and currency. He considered it to be trivializing the Divine, bordering on the sacrilegious. And, no doubt, he realized the statement isn't true. It still isn't. From what I see, we Americans trust in our weapons, military aggression and imperialism, and in the accumulation of wealth and pursuit of pleasure. All things which Jesus despised.
Ramses II, believed to be the Pharaoh in office when the Hebrews escaped Egypt, was a widely- known warrior-king and delighted in statuary and monuments to himself. He may be the ruler who erected a colossal statue of himself in Egypt with an inscription challenging all other mighty leaders to surpass the greatness of even one of his works. The base of the statue has never been found, but the torso and head were discovered and delivered to the British Museum in 1816 When the exhibit opened, it was soon visited by poets Horace Smith and Percy Bysshe Shelley who both wrote poems about the statue, poems published in the same issue of the same English magazine in 1818. It was Shelley's Ozymandias that became a hit and well captures the irony of the narcissistic artwork now broken and dispersed. What kind of a legacy is that?
When we lived in the Midwest, there was a then-famous businessman who liked to erect cutting- edge structures as monuments to himself, while doing nothing for communities or charities. He erected three similar hotels in various locations, including one near where we resided. Later when we returned to that part of the country, we found the hotel gone, vanished! As it turned out, all three of his 'monuments' collapsed from bad engineering after about thirty years of use. Now what kind of legacy does this deceased businessman have?
When we put our resources at the disposal of Kingdom values, when we seek to do good for those in need, we are accumulating "treasure in heaven" and leaving a legacy which we can only acquire by giving it away. Whom do we trust?, that is the question. Ourselves and our temporal life, or God who calls us to build a world of peace, justice, equality and plenty here on earth?
The fundamental question is "Whom do you trust?" Do we trust in God or in ourselves -- our own abilities to grow and accumulate wealth, power and influence? Where is our allegiance, and in life what legacy will we leave behind?
In 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt vehemently opposed Congress's plan to put "In God We Trust" on our money and currency. He considered it to be trivializing the Divine, bordering on the sacrilegious. And, no doubt, he realized the statement isn't true. It still isn't. From what I see, we Americans trust in our weapons, military aggression and imperialism, and in the accumulation of wealth and pursuit of pleasure. All things which Jesus despised.
Ramses II, believed to be the Pharaoh in office when the Hebrews escaped Egypt, was a widely- known warrior-king and delighted in statuary and monuments to himself. He may be the ruler who erected a colossal statue of himself in Egypt with an inscription challenging all other mighty leaders to surpass the greatness of even one of his works. The base of the statue has never been found, but the torso and head were discovered and delivered to the British Museum in 1816 When the exhibit opened, it was soon visited by poets Horace Smith and Percy Bysshe Shelley who both wrote poems about the statue, poems published in the same issue of the same English magazine in 1818. It was Shelley's Ozymandias that became a hit and well captures the irony of the narcissistic artwork now broken and dispersed. What kind of a legacy is that?
When we lived in the Midwest, there was a then-famous businessman who liked to erect cutting- edge structures as monuments to himself, while doing nothing for communities or charities. He erected three similar hotels in various locations, including one near where we resided. Later when we returned to that part of the country, we found the hotel gone, vanished! As it turned out, all three of his 'monuments' collapsed from bad engineering after about thirty years of use. Now what kind of legacy does this deceased businessman have?
When we put our resources at the disposal of Kingdom values, when we seek to do good for those in need, we are accumulating "treasure in heaven" and leaving a legacy which we can only acquire by giving it away. Whom do we trust?, that is the question. Ourselves and our temporal life, or God who calls us to build a world of peace, justice, equality and plenty here on earth?
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
Saint Samuel Ferguson
No institution has been more pervasive or pernicious than slavery. Granted, the practice was not known to every ancient culture: for example, the early Basques knew nothing of it and their language had to borrow from the Latin to have a word for 'slave.' Yet the great Roman and Greek Empires were built on slavery, and although it provides cheap labour, it also creates some social problems.
For example, in the early US there were slaves who had been manumitted by their masters. What does a society do when its economics are built on the notion that Africans are inferior, even sub- human, but then there are free Africans move around in the midst of their "betters." In 1824, the American Colonization Society was formed in an attempt to export free Blacks back To Africa. President James Madison arranged government funding of the project, which was continued with enthusiasm by his successor James Monroe. The result was the Republic of Liberia founded in 1847, with its capital Monrovia, named for President Monroe. Some free slaves chose to remain in North America; others answered the call to the adventure.
One such family were the Fergusons who repatriated in 1848 with their six-year-old Samuel who attended mission schools sponsored by our Episcopal Church. Samuel was ordained a deacon in 1865 and a priest two years later. Then in 1885 he was ordained the first American-born Black to become the Bishop of Liberia. He is one of our newly-minted Saints of the Episcopal Calendar.
Bishop Ferguson founded Cuttington University which continues to serve the needs of Liberians. Ferguson believed that a strong spiritual and educational foundation is needed to transform a society. In that way he honoured one of the most fundamental traits of Anglicanism which is to stress both the heart and the head in Christian life. The Episcopal Church continues to have the most highly educated membership of all Christian affiliations in America. We prize education, thus we are not afraid of science and remain open to new information and truths. We have the courage to course-correct when we realize that we have been wrong. Open to the Spirit, we lead from strength.
For example, in the early US there were slaves who had been manumitted by their masters. What does a society do when its economics are built on the notion that Africans are inferior, even sub- human, but then there are free Africans move around in the midst of their "betters." In 1824, the American Colonization Society was formed in an attempt to export free Blacks back To Africa. President James Madison arranged government funding of the project, which was continued with enthusiasm by his successor James Monroe. The result was the Republic of Liberia founded in 1847, with its capital Monrovia, named for President Monroe. Some free slaves chose to remain in North America; others answered the call to the adventure.
One such family were the Fergusons who repatriated in 1848 with their six-year-old Samuel who attended mission schools sponsored by our Episcopal Church. Samuel was ordained a deacon in 1865 and a priest two years later. Then in 1885 he was ordained the first American-born Black to become the Bishop of Liberia. He is one of our newly-minted Saints of the Episcopal Calendar.
Bishop Ferguson founded Cuttington University which continues to serve the needs of Liberians. Ferguson believed that a strong spiritual and educational foundation is needed to transform a society. In that way he honoured one of the most fundamental traits of Anglicanism which is to stress both the heart and the head in Christian life. The Episcopal Church continues to have the most highly educated membership of all Christian affiliations in America. We prize education, thus we are not afraid of science and remain open to new information and truths. We have the courage to course-correct when we realize that we have been wrong. Open to the Spirit, we lead from strength.
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