If there is one thing that is consistent about the portrayal of God in the sweep of Judaeo-Christian time, it is that God constantly surprises, reverses human expectations, changes the plot. In that context, God is seen as loving all his children but having a "preferential option" for the poor, the downtrodden, the mistreated, the oppressed, or as sometimes said, "the least, the last and the lost."
We see that principle strongly in the two great festivals which, this year, converge on this night: the feast of Chanukah and the feast of Christmas. The former harks back to the year 200 BCE, when a Seleucid Greek Emperor Antiochus III defeated Ptolemy V of Egypt in battle, and Judah was part of the prize. After a while, Antiochus tried to hellenize the Jews, that is, to convince them to give up practice of the Jewish faith, and also to make the temple in Jerusalem "open" like other temples to a variety of worship systems. When Jews reacted negatively, the Emperor opened their Temple for them. In response, Judas Maccabaeus and a ragtag band of revolutionaries declared war and soon defeated the greatest army in the world. Then they cleansed and re-dedicated the Temple. [Chanukah means 'dedication.'] If you want to think of a modern corollary, consider how in Cuba in 1959 the late Doctor Castro and a relatively tiny band of men defeated the Mafia-backed, well-equipped and trained, and much larger, professional army of the cruel dictator Fulgenico Batista. In a similarly mysterious way, Judas Maccabaeus overthrew oppression and evil, against all odds. You can read that story in your Old Testament in the books of First and Second Maccabees.
About six generations later, another story of liberation emerges, which we call Christmas. Again, God surprises us by sending the One we awaited to be conceived in a confused, frightened, unmarried teenager, born in a stable, reared in a backwater country town by a poor family who became refugees. Unfortunately much of professional Christianity shortchanges this festival. Consider that often Handel's Messiah is a favourite Christmas offering. Excuse me! Messiah is about the death and destiny of Jesus. And then this week a gent was promoting the idea of hanging nails on Christmas trees, so as to take our attention directly to the crucifixion. It seems to be a big thing to skip the life and teachings of Jesus and hustle to Calvary as though there were no understanding of him except as the one whom God arranged to have tortured and killed, to appease Himself and let us off the hook. However one understands "atonement," it is not an excuse to dismiss the life and teachings of Jesus, but shifting the emphasis is apparently a handy way to prevent people encountering the real Jesus.
So let's shift our minds from Calvary back to Bethlehem. What is going on in this special night? In our understanding, the Incarnation means that in the Christ Child, God got "under our skin" to be immersed in the human drama, to experience human life first-hand. The author becomes actor. Then he lived out that life in the person of Jesus to show us what a perfect life looks like, to see in a human being how God cares, loves, serves and suffers with and for us. Then, in turn, we respond to God's surprising, amazing Gift by being Christ to others, by building the Kingdom of God, a world where God's will is done on earth as it is in heaven.
Let's ask ourselves how that mission is coming along. By and large, we have failed for almost two thousand years. Maybe that is why we celebrate Christmas every year -- until we get it! There is a new year ahead. Let's get on with Jesus' agenda.
Monday, December 26, 2016
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
Reflection on Fidel
Sometimes it seems that America should be assessed with a near-universal diagnosis of borderline personality disorder. A leader is either messianic or that leader is satanic. Either such person will bring in the Kingdom of God or lead people to hell. Most leaders, truth be told, fall well in between those extremes.
Earlier this month Fidel Castro died, aged 90 years. Most descriptors from American commentators could be summed up in the expression, "bloody dictator," which appeared over and over again. One would imagine that any revolutionaries, including Gen. George Washington and his crew, had a lot of blood on their hands. And there were no doubt atrocities on both sides of the American Revolution Likewise on both sides of the Cuban Revolution, which was fought successfully to overthrow the corrupt and bloody dictator Fulgenico Batista, who was a darling of American big business and the U.S. Mafia. It is difficult to escape the conclusion that hypocrisy is rampant when we see American Christians reject the pacifist teachings of Jesus and support warfare and imperialism, while accusing leaders of foreign nations of having blood on their hands. The United States has a long history of supporting cruel dictators which it benefitted our economy. As for Castro's dictatorship, we would do well to remember that we Americans don't have democracy either. We don't elect our president; the Electoral College does; and corrupt partisan gerrymandering ensures that there is no democracy at lower levels.
A fairer view might be to ask what Castro, with all his failings, managed to accomplish in his home country of Cuba. Some are aware that the Cuban healthcare system is one of the best in the world, providing universal healthcare for all Cubans, as well as free care for needy people in third-world nations. Likely not very many Americans are aware that Castro created a country in which there is no homelessness, no child exploitation, no malnutrition, and no illiteracy. In addition, Cuba boasts a very low unemployment rate, as well as the lowest juvenile violence rate in the world. All of these accomplishments were achieved despite sixty years of the brutal American blockade of their country, which still has not been fully lifted. Our nation has achieved none of these benchmarks for human development. Perhaps self-criticism would serve us better.
Earlier this month Fidel Castro died, aged 90 years. Most descriptors from American commentators could be summed up in the expression, "bloody dictator," which appeared over and over again. One would imagine that any revolutionaries, including Gen. George Washington and his crew, had a lot of blood on their hands. And there were no doubt atrocities on both sides of the American Revolution Likewise on both sides of the Cuban Revolution, which was fought successfully to overthrow the corrupt and bloody dictator Fulgenico Batista, who was a darling of American big business and the U.S. Mafia. It is difficult to escape the conclusion that hypocrisy is rampant when we see American Christians reject the pacifist teachings of Jesus and support warfare and imperialism, while accusing leaders of foreign nations of having blood on their hands. The United States has a long history of supporting cruel dictators which it benefitted our economy. As for Castro's dictatorship, we would do well to remember that we Americans don't have democracy either. We don't elect our president; the Electoral College does; and corrupt partisan gerrymandering ensures that there is no democracy at lower levels.
A fairer view might be to ask what Castro, with all his failings, managed to accomplish in his home country of Cuba. Some are aware that the Cuban healthcare system is one of the best in the world, providing universal healthcare for all Cubans, as well as free care for needy people in third-world nations. Likely not very many Americans are aware that Castro created a country in which there is no homelessness, no child exploitation, no malnutrition, and no illiteracy. In addition, Cuba boasts a very low unemployment rate, as well as the lowest juvenile violence rate in the world. All of these accomplishments were achieved despite sixty years of the brutal American blockade of their country, which still has not been fully lifted. Our nation has achieved none of these benchmarks for human development. Perhaps self-criticism would serve us better.
Gaudete Sunday
Like Saint Paul, Jesus almost never baptised people. So, in today's gospel reading, when word gets back to the disciples of John the Baptiser that Jesus is doing baptisms, John's followers are no doubt confused and anxious about that development. Jesus has appropriated John's shtick. [Books are written by the winners. The late gospellers have John grovelling to Jesus from the time he is in the womb. But historical research tells us they were competitors, or at least their disciples were, for we know there were congregations into the second century that still asserted John Baptiser as Messiah.]
In any event, a message is sent from John in prison to Jesus asking, "Are you the one?" A snappy and appropriate response by Jesus would have been "One what?" You see, a significant minority of Jews were not looking for a Messiah or a razzle-dazzle end-of-the-world experience. Yet, most Jews did. Of those, most were looking for a military messiah to overthrow Roman domination, but some were looking for a religious messiah, some for a combination military/religious messiah, and still others for two messiahs -- one religious, one military. Those who agreed on expecting one messiah did not agree on whether he would be the righteous Davidic King or someone who would identify the future king.
Rabbis don't like to answer questions "yes" or "no." They prefer to answer a question with another question. So Jesus replies, "What do you see?" Signs of the old, broken order were giving way to a new world, with blind seeing, deaf hearing, lame people walking, poor folks hearing good news. And even today we see signs of that new world when those who were blind to injustice come to see, when those deaf to the cries of the poor and oppressed begin to hear, when those crippled by self-doubt and addictions are healed, when the poor are served.
The question for us today is really "One what?" For a sizeable and growing part of the population, Jesus is their favourite philosopher. They can appropriate pithy aphorisms without any real personal investment in the Jesus Movement. For others, most likely a vast majority of American Christians, Jesus is mascot. He can appear on one's resume, be lifted up in entertainment-venue churches, and leave one feeling warm and fuzzy, again without real commitment. Or, Jesus can be saviour, calling us to a changed life in which we feel the pain of the world and commit to change it -- to build the Kingdom of God. It is not surprising few take the road of demanding, costly discipleship. It is just too easy to avoid, but it also the only way that truly nourishes the soul and accomplishes God's will.
In any event, a message is sent from John in prison to Jesus asking, "Are you the one?" A snappy and appropriate response by Jesus would have been "One what?" You see, a significant minority of Jews were not looking for a Messiah or a razzle-dazzle end-of-the-world experience. Yet, most Jews did. Of those, most were looking for a military messiah to overthrow Roman domination, but some were looking for a religious messiah, some for a combination military/religious messiah, and still others for two messiahs -- one religious, one military. Those who agreed on expecting one messiah did not agree on whether he would be the righteous Davidic King or someone who would identify the future king.
Rabbis don't like to answer questions "yes" or "no." They prefer to answer a question with another question. So Jesus replies, "What do you see?" Signs of the old, broken order were giving way to a new world, with blind seeing, deaf hearing, lame people walking, poor folks hearing good news. And even today we see signs of that new world when those who were blind to injustice come to see, when those deaf to the cries of the poor and oppressed begin to hear, when those crippled by self-doubt and addictions are healed, when the poor are served.
The question for us today is really "One what?" For a sizeable and growing part of the population, Jesus is their favourite philosopher. They can appropriate pithy aphorisms without any real personal investment in the Jesus Movement. For others, most likely a vast majority of American Christians, Jesus is mascot. He can appear on one's resume, be lifted up in entertainment-venue churches, and leave one feeling warm and fuzzy, again without real commitment. Or, Jesus can be saviour, calling us to a changed life in which we feel the pain of the world and commit to change it -- to build the Kingdom of God. It is not surprising few take the road of demanding, costly discipleship. It is just too easy to avoid, but it also the only way that truly nourishes the soul and accomplishes God's will.
Tuesday, December 6, 2016
Saint NIcholas
Nicholas is ones of the most recognized of Saints. He was bishop of Myra in what is now southeastern Turkey. Tradition has it that he was persecuted under the emperor Diocletian (last emperor to persecute Christians) and then a participant in the first ecumenical council called at Nicaea by Constantine, Diocletian's successor.
In the year 1087, Muslim troops overran the city of Myra and Nicholas's remains (relics) were translated (moved) to Bari in Italy. Quickly, the cult of Saint Nicholas became as big in the western Church as in the East. Today there are more than 400 churches named for him in England alone.
Nicholas is the patron of sailors, unmarried girls, merchants, pawnbrokers, pharmacists, and perfumiers! These associations go back to stories from his life. For example, he rescued some sailors who shipwrecked on the Turkish coast. Likewise, his shrine in Bari gives off a myrrh-like fragrance, hence perfume makers venerate him. But perhaps best know is the story of his rescue of three impoverished sisters who did not have money for dowry and, thus, faced the prospect of having to survive by prostitution. Nicholas anonymously gave each a bag of gold, thus saving them. That is why the pawnbroker's emblem is still three golden balls!
In the Low Countries of Europe Saint Nicholas's feast day was celebrated by giving gifts to children. Later, Dutch protestants in New Amsterdam merged the figure of Nicholas with a Nordic folklore tradition about a magician who punished bad children and gave presents to good children. And, voila, Santa Claus was born.
Sometimes I am asked by converts how to tell children they've been lied-to about the imaginary Santa. I reply, no, don't fess up to lying, instead plead mistaken identity, assert in fact Saint Nicholas is real, lives in heaven, and inspires gift-giving, but must use proxies on earth -- like mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles, and friends -- to fulfil the mission of gift-giving he inspired.
In the long run, all of our giving reflects, and pales in significance to, God's supreme gift of Jesus to us at Christmas.
In the year 1087, Muslim troops overran the city of Myra and Nicholas's remains (relics) were translated (moved) to Bari in Italy. Quickly, the cult of Saint Nicholas became as big in the western Church as in the East. Today there are more than 400 churches named for him in England alone.
Nicholas is the patron of sailors, unmarried girls, merchants, pawnbrokers, pharmacists, and perfumiers! These associations go back to stories from his life. For example, he rescued some sailors who shipwrecked on the Turkish coast. Likewise, his shrine in Bari gives off a myrrh-like fragrance, hence perfume makers venerate him. But perhaps best know is the story of his rescue of three impoverished sisters who did not have money for dowry and, thus, faced the prospect of having to survive by prostitution. Nicholas anonymously gave each a bag of gold, thus saving them. That is why the pawnbroker's emblem is still three golden balls!
In the Low Countries of Europe Saint Nicholas's feast day was celebrated by giving gifts to children. Later, Dutch protestants in New Amsterdam merged the figure of Nicholas with a Nordic folklore tradition about a magician who punished bad children and gave presents to good children. And, voila, Santa Claus was born.
Sometimes I am asked by converts how to tell children they've been lied-to about the imaginary Santa. I reply, no, don't fess up to lying, instead plead mistaken identity, assert in fact Saint Nicholas is real, lives in heaven, and inspires gift-giving, but must use proxies on earth -- like mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles, and friends -- to fulfil the mission of gift-giving he inspired.
In the long run, all of our giving reflects, and pales in significance to, God's supreme gift of Jesus to us at Christmas.
Monday, December 5, 2016
Advent II: Stanley and John
By all accounts Stan Rother was a normal kid. Growing up in a devoutly Roman Catholic farm family near Okarche, Oklahoma, Stan was destined to be a priest. The big hitch was that he just couldn't master Latin, then the exclusive language of worship in the Roman Communion of the Church. His family helped him search until he could locate a seminary that he could get through without usual Latin credentials. He did, was graduated, and in 1963 Father Stanley Francis Rother was ordained a priest. After several postings around our state, he volunteered to serve in Latin America. He was a highly loving and effective priest to his people in Guatemala. Being a champion of the poor and oppressed, Father Rother quickly became a nemesis of the big capitalist element and their criminal associates. He was warned repeatedly of the dangers of following the Gospel and the logic or moving to a safer place. But he would not abandon the people God had given him to serve. After a respite in the US in 1980, he returned to Guatemala and was gunned down by three assassins in his rectory. Recently, the Roman Communion announced the obvious, that he was a "martyr." I gather that this proclamation will allow him to move through the cumbersome Roman system for the naming of Saints. I am glad that he will be eventually so honoured.
In today's reading we hear of John the Baptiser who, in Matthew's account, appears suddenly on the scene as a severe ascetic, wearing animal skins, keeping a diet of bugs and honey and living in the desert. Any Jew would recognize that this scenario intends to suggests that he was calling people back to original fidelity to basic values, back to Sinai so to speak.
To borrow terminology from the protestant scholar Walter Brueggeman, Jews had gone from a life style of Mosaic values over to Royal values. In the Mosaic times, Jewish practice was eco-friendly, radically compassionate by focussing on taking care of the least, and there was expectation that in reality what we would call the Kingdom of God would come through the work of God's People in partnership with God. This nomadically-based lifestyle had come to be replaced by a new kind of Judaism. The itinerant sanctuary (Ark of the Covenant) was replaced by a fixed Temple, nomadic tribal government replaced by Monarchy, compassionate and cooperative enterprise replaced by a capitalist system which ignored the needy and oppressed, free-wheeling cultic life displaced by a rigid system , and the Kingdom would come by God acting around and despite of, not through, his People. This socially conservative new Judaism led to the rise of the major and minor Prophets' reminding people of the old values, the need for repentance and return. The people didn't listen and ended up in Exile in Iraq before some returned to re-start their lives in the Holy Land.
Father Stan and John the Baptiser both served in troubled times, both took to task the business-as- usual attitude in their cultures and challenged the domination systems of their times. Both were quite effective. Both were executed by representatives of those systems. Their lives and witness stand as a sobering reminder to us that God still calls us to change the world in our own time, for God's sake and our own.
In today's reading we hear of John the Baptiser who, in Matthew's account, appears suddenly on the scene as a severe ascetic, wearing animal skins, keeping a diet of bugs and honey and living in the desert. Any Jew would recognize that this scenario intends to suggests that he was calling people back to original fidelity to basic values, back to Sinai so to speak.
To borrow terminology from the protestant scholar Walter Brueggeman, Jews had gone from a life style of Mosaic values over to Royal values. In the Mosaic times, Jewish practice was eco-friendly, radically compassionate by focussing on taking care of the least, and there was expectation that in reality what we would call the Kingdom of God would come through the work of God's People in partnership with God. This nomadically-based lifestyle had come to be replaced by a new kind of Judaism. The itinerant sanctuary (Ark of the Covenant) was replaced by a fixed Temple, nomadic tribal government replaced by Monarchy, compassionate and cooperative enterprise replaced by a capitalist system which ignored the needy and oppressed, free-wheeling cultic life displaced by a rigid system , and the Kingdom would come by God acting around and despite of, not through, his People. This socially conservative new Judaism led to the rise of the major and minor Prophets' reminding people of the old values, the need for repentance and return. The people didn't listen and ended up in Exile in Iraq before some returned to re-start their lives in the Holy Land.
Father Stan and John the Baptiser both served in troubled times, both took to task the business-as- usual attitude in their cultures and challenged the domination systems of their times. Both were quite effective. Both were executed by representatives of those systems. Their lives and witness stand as a sobering reminder to us that God still calls us to change the world in our own time, for God's sake and our own.
The Great Tea Race
Even today tea is not as popular a beverage as coffee in the United States. That is probably not surprising, when one reflects on a major episode in our revolutionary history involving rich men paying thugs to dress as Native Americans, commit criminal trespass on a commercial ship, and destroy its cargo.
In the nineteenth century, great clipper ships travelled a course of 14,000 miles of ocean to bring cargoes of tea from China to Britain, often competing informally as to who might be first to the London dock. In 1866, one hundred fifty years ago, there was an official Great Tea Race, which pitted five great ships against each other for prize money. The Taeping arrived a scant twenty-eight minutes ahead of the second-place Ariel, but with owners' and agents' consent, gracefully shared the prize money. Soon the advent of the faster and more efficient steamships would displace sail-driven craft. And opening of the Suez Canal shortened the journey by 3,300 miles. But the Great Tea Race stands as the ultimate experience of the glorious clipper ship era, and a tribute to the human spirit.
It is amazing what can be accomplished when humans are motivated. Usually the stronger of the motivators is power or greed, as we experience constantly. Wouldn't it be wonderful is people were more motivated to build the Kingdom of God? What if we could race to a finishing line at which people were ensured of health care, education, housing and other fundamental needs? What if we got serious about the things Jesus was serious about?
In the nineteenth century, great clipper ships travelled a course of 14,000 miles of ocean to bring cargoes of tea from China to Britain, often competing informally as to who might be first to the London dock. In 1866, one hundred fifty years ago, there was an official Great Tea Race, which pitted five great ships against each other for prize money. The Taeping arrived a scant twenty-eight minutes ahead of the second-place Ariel, but with owners' and agents' consent, gracefully shared the prize money. Soon the advent of the faster and more efficient steamships would displace sail-driven craft. And opening of the Suez Canal shortened the journey by 3,300 miles. But the Great Tea Race stands as the ultimate experience of the glorious clipper ship era, and a tribute to the human spirit.
It is amazing what can be accomplished when humans are motivated. Usually the stronger of the motivators is power or greed, as we experience constantly. Wouldn't it be wonderful is people were more motivated to build the Kingdom of God? What if we could race to a finishing line at which people were ensured of health care, education, housing and other fundamental needs? What if we got serious about the things Jesus was serious about?
Thursday, December 1, 2016
Advent I: Being Ready
This is the first Sunday of the new Church Year, and we are in the Matthew cycle. That gospel was authored around the year 80 CE, perhaps a bit later. As such, it falls between two rather important developments, the destruction of the Temple in 70 and the separation of church and synagogue in 90.. Loss of the Temple had caused much reflection, with Jews saying God is telling them to move beyond the concept of physical sacrifice and on to the Sacrifice of the human heart. Christians said no, God exacted one final blood sacrifice from Jesus and was appeased. That divide widened until Christians were finally unwelcome in synagogues.
Matthew's era was also a time of fascination with apocalyptic (concepts of the End Time) and timetables for the future. There was no area in which the growing divide was more obvious. The mysterious Human One ("Son of Man") from Daniel's prophecy never developed in Judaism but Christians attributed it to Jesus and his expected second coming. Jews responded that Jesus had said his return would be in his generation, that generation had passed, and no second coming had happened. Christians, in turn, replied that, yes, Jesus had that expectation but also had told his followers that even he did not know the timetable of the future, that was known only to God. The second coming also was seen as sharply dividing via judgement, leading some to erroneously posit a rapture, being vacuumed into outer space. This is mrely symbolic material about being prepared. The point was, rather, to be on high alert, to be ready for the unknown time of return. It was about a state of readiness. In the Coast Guard our motto was, and is, "Semper Paratus" -- always ready. That's how we roll!
The Episcopal author Frederick Buechner tells the true story of a New England legislature in the colonial period meeting during a solar eclipse. Some members thought it must be the Second Coming and called for adjournment. A clear-headed delegate spoke in response, saying that if they adjourned and were wrong they would look like fools, but if the fearful delegates were right, then the body should be found doing its duty. (Perhaps you have seen the tongue-in-cheek bumper sticker that reads, "Jesus is coming. Look busy.")
How do we live between the two Comings? By being about God's business, building the Kingdom of God. But I would not hesistate to add that, if we are to do that, we need to be spiritually fed. The Sacraments of the Church are our principal nutrition. But beyond that, let us cultivate spiritual contemplation, quiet time with God. There is an aboriginal practice in Australia called :walkabout," in which one sets off without plan to a new place and there just lives into the moment, letting that experience speak. That is worth a try this Advent.
Saint Andrew's Day
I was asked to conduct a service at the Eddie Warrior correctional facility, and readily agreed. I offered Mass and sermon, and administered four baptism and a large number of reaffirmations.
Being Saint Andrew's Day, my sermon was a reflection about his life. We do not know a lot. We do that he was from Capharnaum, where Jesus had his headquarters. Andrew was a fisherman and was the brother of Simon Peter. The details of their call disagree amongst the four gospels, but it is clear these brothers responded in conversion. They were changed forever, as we can be also.
Most of us at some time in our lives will ave been feeling a bit left behind, that other persons are somehow smarter or better looking or catch all the breaks. Imagine being Andrew living all your life under your brother Peter, who becomes lead apostle and later co-bishop of Rome with Saint Paul. Andrew could have beeen discouraged but it doesn't show in his story. He was a faithful apostle who, after the death and resurrection of Christ, served as bishop over two cities in Greece and, after preaching for two days in a third city, Parthis, was martyred there by crucifixion on an x-shaped cross.
What do I take from his story? First, when called to Christ, he did not hesitate in responding to that call to live a life served for others. Then, despite the ascendancy of his brother, he was pleased to carry on in the work of a bishop, and having started he continued to the end, paying the ultimate price. One should not start the Christian enterprise unless ready to see it to the end, at any price.
Being Saint Andrew's Day, my sermon was a reflection about his life. We do not know a lot. We do that he was from Capharnaum, where Jesus had his headquarters. Andrew was a fisherman and was the brother of Simon Peter. The details of their call disagree amongst the four gospels, but it is clear these brothers responded in conversion. They were changed forever, as we can be also.
Most of us at some time in our lives will ave been feeling a bit left behind, that other persons are somehow smarter or better looking or catch all the breaks. Imagine being Andrew living all your life under your brother Peter, who becomes lead apostle and later co-bishop of Rome with Saint Paul. Andrew could have beeen discouraged but it doesn't show in his story. He was a faithful apostle who, after the death and resurrection of Christ, served as bishop over two cities in Greece and, after preaching for two days in a third city, Parthis, was martyred there by crucifixion on an x-shaped cross.
What do I take from his story? First, when called to Christ, he did not hesitate in responding to that call to live a life served for others. Then, despite the ascendancy of his brother, he was pleased to carry on in the work of a bishop, and having started he continued to the end, paying the ultimate price. One should not start the Christian enterprise unless ready to see it to the end, at any price.
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