Martin Luther King once reminded us that Jesus never wrote, owned property, or had friends with connections, yet he changed the world "with only the poor and despised." That is the central theme of today's readings. [Viz. I Tim. 6: 6-19, Lk. 16: 19-31]
The author of First Timothy advises us that no one brings anything into this world and no one takes anything out, and goes on to counsel that the love of money is "a root of all kinds of evil." And, as Jesus says elsewhere, you can't serve God and wealth. In our gospel reading today, Jesus tells a story about a poor beggar named Lazarus and a one-percenter who has traditionally been called Dives, which is simply a Latin word meaning 'rich.' . This wealthy man lives a sumptuous lifestyle and ignores the miserable, destitute man at his gate. Upon death, Lazarus goes to heaven to chill with Abraham, while Dives roasts in Hades. Martin Luther said that details about the afterlife in this tale are not to be taken literally; Jesus is speaking parabolically about the serious question of what the relationship of wealthy people to the needy should be for people of religious and moral persuasions.
Poverty is pernicious and persistent. More than twenty thousand people, most children, die every day from fully preventable causes. Sadly, we have the ability, but not the will, to address the tragedy. As Charlotte Low Allen has said, "Capitalism has no interest in the fate of those left behind." Obviously! And that is where we can come in as advocates of change. Economic Darwinism must be replaced with social mechanisms reflecting compassion. But it isn't happening; there is a great disconnect between our public policy and the allegations of some that we are a "Christian Nation." Nonsense.
A friend yesterday posted on Facebook her opinion that we should insist that "In God We Trust" be kept on our money (I didn't know it was under attack). My response was "Why? It isn't true." I was remembering that Jesus was a pacifist, an egalitarian, and considered accumulation of wealth to the biggest obstacle to human salvation. Our "Christian Nation" is militarist, imperialist, class-oriented and devoted to accumulating all the wealth possible. Until we the most powerful nation on earth change, the crisis of world poverty will not change, and our pretensions to be followers of Jesus will remain rubbish.
Saturday, September 24, 2016
Monday, September 19, 2016
Saint Matthew, Patron
Today we celebrate our Patron Saint's feast. Each parish church is either given a name related to a person of the Trinity, or is under the protection of a patron, as is Saint Matthew's. But who was Matthew? First of all, he was a Jew who was a Roman tax agent. That means first that he was in employ of the occupying oppressive power and, therefore, considered a traitor by fellow-Jews. In that role, the agent was a sinner excluded by proper religious society. He also exactly in a profession in which the agent collected a prescribed level of tax and then above that charged whatever the market would bear. Thus, the tax agent was typically a rip-off artist who became wealthy at the expense of others.
Second, Matthew as a convert. While at his toll booth, he was visited by Jesus. Perhaps Matthew had come to realize the moral paucity of his calling and was ready for a change. In the event, he responded to Jesus' call by walking off the job and joining the band of preachers. What a change! During that evening, Jesus was criticized by religious professionals for dining with "outcasts" like Matthew. Jesus replies to criticism by analogizing that a doctor doesn't treat people who are well.
Third, Matthew was an evangelist. Bishop Papias (60 CE) wrote that Matthew had composed a logia, a book of sayings and teachings of Jesus in Hebrew. Although lost, that document is believed to have formed the core of the gospel issued in Matthew's name around the eighties of that first new century. Thus, he is honoured for preserving the Jesus tradition.
Finally, Matthew was a martyr. After converting many in Judaea, he went east and died for the Faith.
We may learn much from our Patron's example. He listened for a word from God, responded when that was received, redirecting the course of his life. Then, as he lived out his new relationship with God in Jesus, he shared it with others and accepted the risks and consequences of taking up his cross and following the Saviour. And so should we.
Second, Matthew as a convert. While at his toll booth, he was visited by Jesus. Perhaps Matthew had come to realize the moral paucity of his calling and was ready for a change. In the event, he responded to Jesus' call by walking off the job and joining the band of preachers. What a change! During that evening, Jesus was criticized by religious professionals for dining with "outcasts" like Matthew. Jesus replies to criticism by analogizing that a doctor doesn't treat people who are well.
Third, Matthew was an evangelist. Bishop Papias (60 CE) wrote that Matthew had composed a logia, a book of sayings and teachings of Jesus in Hebrew. Although lost, that document is believed to have formed the core of the gospel issued in Matthew's name around the eighties of that first new century. Thus, he is honoured for preserving the Jesus tradition.
Finally, Matthew was a martyr. After converting many in Judaea, he went east and died for the Faith.
We may learn much from our Patron's example. He listened for a word from God, responded when that was received, redirecting the course of his life. Then, as he lived out his new relationship with God in Jesus, he shared it with others and accepted the risks and consequences of taking up his cross and following the Saviour. And so should we.
Monday, September 12, 2016
Saint David Oakerhater
It is appropriate that today, 11 September, we honour the first Native American Saint in our Calendar and the only Oklahoman. He was a Cheyenne warrior who became "the warrior for peace."
Our journey today begins in the year 1851, a year in several respects like 2016. It was a year of gridlock, as President Fillmore was of the Whig Party and Democrats controlled both houses of Congress. It was a year of weather crises, as floods devastated the midwestern U.S. and nearly destroyed the city of Des Moines. It was a year of Voter ID issues, as some began to insist that grown, white male citizens should be able to vote without bringing proof of property ownership. And it was a year of issues relating to Native American rights to their land, and to food and water resources on it.
The Treaty of Fort Laramie that year validated the homelands of the southern Cheyenne and Arapaho, a huge plot running from the Platte down to the Arkansas, and from the Rockies to Kansas. (The northern Cheyenne had what is now Montana). All went well until gold was discovered on their land in 1858 and a new "treaty" in 1861 left the tribes with only one-thirteenth of their prior holdings. In the year of that insidious land grab, the Dog Soldiers were formed -- an elite body of disciplined and battle-hardened Cheyenne warriors dedicated to resisting the predations of the White Man.
The years that followed saw many terrible atrocities against natives. The worst was the Sand Creek Massacre. There Captain John Chivington, an ordained Methodist minister, led his troops to attack unarmed Cheyennes, killing 28 men and 109 women and children, and then allowing his soldiers to mutilate their bodies and make "souvenirs" of body parts. In 1865 and 1870, revised treaties reduced the Cheyenne/Arapaho land down to the postage stamp they have now in Oklahoma. In that latter year, the federal government opened all lands for the slaughter of buffalo (due to strong capitalist demand back east for their hides and meats). Three million a year were slaughtered and processed by white invaders. Finally, in 1871, the federal government declared that no Indian tribe had any sovereignty within the boundaries of the United States and that the only relationship of the Native American to the federal government was as an individual ward of the State.
The Dog Soldiers fought on, even though the Cheyenne/Arapaho had lost their sovereignty, land, food and water sources, and thousands of lives, At last in 1875, the remaining 28 Dog Soldiers were captured. As the American public had become aware of some of the oppression of Natives, the Army didn't dare execute them on the spot, as it once would have done, but instead shipped them to a disused Federal prison in Florida. The foresighted warden, an Episcopalian, began teaching his charges how to speak English. He also began to bring tourists in for demonstrations of Indian skills and crafts, and to allow the prisoners to sell items to the public, in order to earn money towards starting a new life when their sentences had been served.
The warden's humanitarian program particularly impressed a Cheyenne warrior Okuh Hatuh ('Sun Dancer") who asked the warden to introduce him to his God! The warden shared his Christian Faith as practised in the Episcopal Church. Later, the new catechumen expressed a call to the ordained ministry and was authorized to leave prison to attend seminary in New York, with a Mrs. Pendleton of Cincinnati footing the bill. He was baptised David Pendleton Oakerhater.
After seminary, Oakerhater was ordained a Deacon and returned to Oklahoma where he built the Whirlwind Mission in Watonga,and other missions and schools.. His philosophy is captured in the words he uttered to his people when he returned to them: "You all know me. You remember when I led you out to war. I went first and what I told you was true. Now I have been away to the East and I have learned about another Captain, the Lord Jesus Christ, and he is my leader. He goes first, and all he tells me is true. I come back to you my people to tell you to go with me now in this new road, a war that makes all for peace."
Oakerhater was a living example that education and development are to be preferred to violence and revenge. And his ministry strongly reflects the teachings of Jesus who was, after all, a pacifist.
Our journey today begins in the year 1851, a year in several respects like 2016. It was a year of gridlock, as President Fillmore was of the Whig Party and Democrats controlled both houses of Congress. It was a year of weather crises, as floods devastated the midwestern U.S. and nearly destroyed the city of Des Moines. It was a year of Voter ID issues, as some began to insist that grown, white male citizens should be able to vote without bringing proof of property ownership. And it was a year of issues relating to Native American rights to their land, and to food and water resources on it.
The Treaty of Fort Laramie that year validated the homelands of the southern Cheyenne and Arapaho, a huge plot running from the Platte down to the Arkansas, and from the Rockies to Kansas. (The northern Cheyenne had what is now Montana). All went well until gold was discovered on their land in 1858 and a new "treaty" in 1861 left the tribes with only one-thirteenth of their prior holdings. In the year of that insidious land grab, the Dog Soldiers were formed -- an elite body of disciplined and battle-hardened Cheyenne warriors dedicated to resisting the predations of the White Man.
The years that followed saw many terrible atrocities against natives. The worst was the Sand Creek Massacre. There Captain John Chivington, an ordained Methodist minister, led his troops to attack unarmed Cheyennes, killing 28 men and 109 women and children, and then allowing his soldiers to mutilate their bodies and make "souvenirs" of body parts. In 1865 and 1870, revised treaties reduced the Cheyenne/Arapaho land down to the postage stamp they have now in Oklahoma. In that latter year, the federal government opened all lands for the slaughter of buffalo (due to strong capitalist demand back east for their hides and meats). Three million a year were slaughtered and processed by white invaders. Finally, in 1871, the federal government declared that no Indian tribe had any sovereignty within the boundaries of the United States and that the only relationship of the Native American to the federal government was as an individual ward of the State.
The Dog Soldiers fought on, even though the Cheyenne/Arapaho had lost their sovereignty, land, food and water sources, and thousands of lives, At last in 1875, the remaining 28 Dog Soldiers were captured. As the American public had become aware of some of the oppression of Natives, the Army didn't dare execute them on the spot, as it once would have done, but instead shipped them to a disused Federal prison in Florida. The foresighted warden, an Episcopalian, began teaching his charges how to speak English. He also began to bring tourists in for demonstrations of Indian skills and crafts, and to allow the prisoners to sell items to the public, in order to earn money towards starting a new life when their sentences had been served.
The warden's humanitarian program particularly impressed a Cheyenne warrior Okuh Hatuh ('Sun Dancer") who asked the warden to introduce him to his God! The warden shared his Christian Faith as practised in the Episcopal Church. Later, the new catechumen expressed a call to the ordained ministry and was authorized to leave prison to attend seminary in New York, with a Mrs. Pendleton of Cincinnati footing the bill. He was baptised David Pendleton Oakerhater.
After seminary, Oakerhater was ordained a Deacon and returned to Oklahoma where he built the Whirlwind Mission in Watonga,and other missions and schools.. His philosophy is captured in the words he uttered to his people when he returned to them: "You all know me. You remember when I led you out to war. I went first and what I told you was true. Now I have been away to the East and I have learned about another Captain, the Lord Jesus Christ, and he is my leader. He goes first, and all he tells me is true. I come back to you my people to tell you to go with me now in this new road, a war that makes all for peace."
Oakerhater was a living example that education and development are to be preferred to violence and revenge. And his ministry strongly reflects the teachings of Jesus who was, after all, a pacifist.
Thursday, September 8, 2016
Happy Birthday, Mom
Today, 8th September is the feast day of the Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus and Mother of the Church. The calendar of the western Church celebrates only three birthdays: Jesus, cousin John Baptiser, and mother Mary. We gather to say "Happy Birthday, Mom" to our lovely Lady.
The story of Mary's origins is contained in the Proto-evangelium of James, one of the many Christian books never selected to be in the New Testament, but still immensely influential in the Tradition of the Church. As the story goes, Joachim and Anne were a debout Jewish couple who had not been blessed with offspring. For that reason Joachim was made fun on by the other men and Anne was esteemed rejected by God. The holy couple continued to pray for a child, even adding that if their wish were granted the child would be specially dedicated to divine service.
The archangel Gabriel later appeared to Anne and told her that their prayers had been heard, so she would conceive a bear a child. The child she bore was Mary. At a proper time, young Mary was brought to the Temple for education and training. Some years later, when she attained childbearing age, an older widower named Joseph, who had three children to raise alone, came to the Temple to express his desire for a devout wife. The High Priest hooked him up with Mary and that is where the storyline picks up within the Christian Bible.
The Church has always believed that Mary was gifted with singular graces from the very moment of her conception to allow her to fulfil the roles God had in mind. In the same way, we who are also called to God's service can surely trust God to furnish us with whatever we need to get the job done.
The story of Mary's origins is contained in the Proto-evangelium of James, one of the many Christian books never selected to be in the New Testament, but still immensely influential in the Tradition of the Church. As the story goes, Joachim and Anne were a debout Jewish couple who had not been blessed with offspring. For that reason Joachim was made fun on by the other men and Anne was esteemed rejected by God. The holy couple continued to pray for a child, even adding that if their wish were granted the child would be specially dedicated to divine service.
The archangel Gabriel later appeared to Anne and told her that their prayers had been heard, so she would conceive a bear a child. The child she bore was Mary. At a proper time, young Mary was brought to the Temple for education and training. Some years later, when she attained childbearing age, an older widower named Joseph, who had three children to raise alone, came to the Temple to express his desire for a devout wife. The High Priest hooked him up with Mary and that is where the storyline picks up within the Christian Bible.
The Church has always believed that Mary was gifted with singular graces from the very moment of her conception to allow her to fulfil the roles God had in mind. In the same way, we who are also called to God's service can surely trust God to furnish us with whatever we need to get the job done.
Wednesday, September 7, 2016
Saint Zechariah
Zechariah was a Jewish priest and became the father of John the Baptiser, The Law required incense to be offered twice a day (and some Episcopalians get their knickers in a twist over incense twice a year!) and there were 24 rotating shifts. Whilst on duty, Zechariah had a vision in which he was told that he would sire a son (although his wife was post-menopausal), that the son would be named John, that John would be a major player converting many souls, and that John would be a Nazirite -- a member of a small cult of Jews who abstained from alcoholic beverages.
Zechariah responded in disbelief and, as the story goes, was struck dumb. Elizabeth became pregnant and delivered the baby. The eighth day, the day set aside for naming and circumcision (forerunner of baptism), it was customary for a male child to be given his father's name or at least that of a relative. However, Zechariah wrote out that the name is John, a name no one in the family had. With this sign of a renewed faith, his inability to speak came to an end..
What became of this child after that? Well, tradition holds that Elizabeth hid him a cave during the slaughter of the Innocents; and, of course, John went on to be the forerunner of the Messiah and ultimately was martyred like his successor cousin Jesus. Zechariah, now a Christian priest, was killed between the Temple and the altar for his faith (Mt. 23) Accordingly, he is honoured by the Church as a martyr.
Zechariah was one whose faith and openness to change grew over time. He was blessed because he came to see that there can be new truth, new revelation, even a new Covenant. Let us likewise be always open to the possibility that God is doing a new thing.
Zechariah responded in disbelief and, as the story goes, was struck dumb. Elizabeth became pregnant and delivered the baby. The eighth day, the day set aside for naming and circumcision (forerunner of baptism), it was customary for a male child to be given his father's name or at least that of a relative. However, Zechariah wrote out that the name is John, a name no one in the family had. With this sign of a renewed faith, his inability to speak came to an end..
What became of this child after that? Well, tradition holds that Elizabeth hid him a cave during the slaughter of the Innocents; and, of course, John went on to be the forerunner of the Messiah and ultimately was martyred like his successor cousin Jesus. Zechariah, now a Christian priest, was killed between the Temple and the altar for his faith (Mt. 23) Accordingly, he is honoured by the Church as a martyr.
Zechariah was one whose faith and openness to change grew over time. He was blessed because he came to see that there can be new truth, new revelation, even a new Covenant. Let us likewise be always open to the possibility that God is doing a new thing.
Sunday, September 4, 2016
Pentecost XVI: From Preaching to Meddling
Luke 14:25-33. Jesus is on the road, not cruising the Galilee with his homies, but rather on the road to Jerusalem and his sacred destiny. All the nice talk about love and such is now replaced with hard words about changing one's life. Jesus has gone from preaching to meddling.
He employs the classic rabbinic technique of hyperbole, saying that one must hate one's relatives, even one's own life, in order to be a disciple. Sharp language to tell us that nothing in this life is to conflict with the first place of God in our values -- not family, not power or wealth, not friends or institutions -- nothing. He follows up with two interesting parables. One is about a builder who commits to erect a tower but becomes a laughingstock when he runs out of resources needed to complete the project. The second describes a king who needs to evaluate the approach of an army having twice as many men as his, commending a negotiated settlement of the conflict. In other words, don't start what you can't finish.
I have on occasion explained our use of crucifixes, in contrast to protestant Christ-less crosses, by saying that an image of Christ Crucified is a warning of what Christianity can cost. Jesus is telling the crowd that they must move beyond only considering the assets of the Kingdom of God and begin to contemplate the liabilities. That commitment can cost you everything you have, even your life. Discipleship is more than a hobby or an extracurricular activity, it is a vocation that demands first place in our lives in all things. Don't start what you can't finish.
Yet, we all fall short, we are all on a journey to being the people Jesus is calling us to be as cross- bearers and Kingdom-builders. In an address to us clergy, Tony Campolo recently prefaced his remarks by noting that he is not a Christian and we, the audience, are not Christians either. We are all on the way but fall far short of living as Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount. We are Christians- to-be. We are taking our first baby steps towards the life to which God calls us in the Saviour. Yet we have begun, we have started, committed to live and die as necessary in the holy cause of Christ.
He employs the classic rabbinic technique of hyperbole, saying that one must hate one's relatives, even one's own life, in order to be a disciple. Sharp language to tell us that nothing in this life is to conflict with the first place of God in our values -- not family, not power or wealth, not friends or institutions -- nothing. He follows up with two interesting parables. One is about a builder who commits to erect a tower but becomes a laughingstock when he runs out of resources needed to complete the project. The second describes a king who needs to evaluate the approach of an army having twice as many men as his, commending a negotiated settlement of the conflict. In other words, don't start what you can't finish.
I have on occasion explained our use of crucifixes, in contrast to protestant Christ-less crosses, by saying that an image of Christ Crucified is a warning of what Christianity can cost. Jesus is telling the crowd that they must move beyond only considering the assets of the Kingdom of God and begin to contemplate the liabilities. That commitment can cost you everything you have, even your life. Discipleship is more than a hobby or an extracurricular activity, it is a vocation that demands first place in our lives in all things. Don't start what you can't finish.
Yet, we all fall short, we are all on a journey to being the people Jesus is calling us to be as cross- bearers and Kingdom-builders. In an address to us clergy, Tony Campolo recently prefaced his remarks by noting that he is not a Christian and we, the audience, are not Christians either. We are all on the way but fall far short of living as Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount. We are Christians- to-be. We are taking our first baby steps towards the life to which God calls us in the Saviour. Yet we have begun, we have started, committed to live and die as necessary in the holy cause of Christ.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)