Christmas I: Prologue

Remember the Last Gospel?  The practice began in mediaeval times and continued until the Sixties.  After the final blessing, the priest would move the altar book back to the gospel side and there would read today's pericope [John 1: 1-18], before leaving the altar.  The reason for this practice at every service of Communion was to give emphasis to the central doctrine of Christianity, the Incarnation.   Remaining in our service, however, is the practice of kneeling at the words of the Nicene Creed which speak of incarnation.

Our gospel text is sometimes called the prologue.  It was written separately from the rest of John's gospel and tacked onto the beginning in order to clarify why Jesus is depicted so differently in John than in the earlier gospels.  That is, to explain how the Jesus who said,  "Don't call me good. Only God is good." [Matthew 19:17]  ends up in John saying that he and the Father are one, and a person can only come to God through him.  Also, to counter arguments at the time that John's material was heretical, by featuring a Jesus who is not fully human, but some kind of divine visitor from another dimension.  (Some scholars speculate that "Jesus wept" was added to the gospel to counter the latter objection).  Clearly the prologue reflects decades of the Johannine Community's spiritual experience encountering the fullness of God in Christ.  Ben Herbster, founder of the United Church of Christ, said that in Jesus we see all of God that can be packed into a man!

The community sees in Jesus the logos, which in our text is inadequately translated, "the Word."  In fact, the Greek term cannot be adequately translated into any English word that I know.  The term comprehends the divine creative mind that brought the universe into being at the Big Bang, governs and sustains it.  The logos  holds everything together and allows everything to continue in being and have meaning.  A little like the Higgs Boson Particle.  The logos, we learn here, fully inhabited the person of Jesus, and in him dwelt in the midst of human society to show us what God is like.  For Jesus is hailed as Emmanuel "God-with-us."

The Incarnation is a mystery, a reality to be lived into, not a problem to be analyzed or solved.  It is encountered in heart-experience that leaves a person's life changed forever, the believer transformed and called into new relationship with others, the creation, and God.  Martin Niemoeller, a German theologian of the last century, asked to interview Hitler and was allowed to do so.   He wanted to take a measure of the man.  Later when the bishops at the national synod of the German Lutheran Church stood and swore allegiance to Hitler, Niemoeller walked out, was arrested and then sent to Dachau.  Miraculously he survived that concentration camp and was one of those rescued when the camps were liberated in 1945.  In an interview thereafter, he was asked why he had paid such a price for his principles, and Niemoeller replied, "I pledge allegiance only to the Word-Made-Flesh." And so must we.

Christmas: Three Thoughts

The wait is over, the annual celebration of the birth of Jesus is here.  Let me share three thoughts.

 For us, it means much, much more than the birth of a male child to a poor unwed Palestinian mother.  For is it is nothing less than the conviction that the God who preceded and created the Big Bang, birthing billions of galaxies containing trillions of stars, invaded the time-space continuum he created in order to bring us the salvation we need, salvation from being any less than all we can be, salvation from living anything less than abundant life.  In Jesus, we see the "human face" of God. We see how God loves, how God serves, how God cares, how God suffers with humanity.

Second, the story of the annunciation to shepherds is also very important.  In the culture of the first century, shepherds were accounted about one rung above rubbish.   Yet, Jesus is revealed, not to the wealthy, the powerful, the politically-connected, but to the most marginal of outcasts.  That story reminds us that everyone matters to God -- everyone of God's children -- and especially those who suffer privation, discrimination, and oppression.  He is the Deity who loves the least, the last, and the lost.  And so must we who are his emissaries to the world in our time and place.  As  Mother Teresa said, "God sent his Son, so his Son can send us."

Finally, the God seen as given to covenants, and eternally faithful to all of them, creates in Christ a new covenant open to all of humanity without exception.  That is great good news for us gentiles!  This child is born to deliver his message of a new kind of life for us, centred in the transformative power of radical, unconditional love, and the non-judgmental forgiveness and reconciliation that it demands.  As God's love and care extend to all, so must ours, in a spirit of gratitude and real joy,

I can think of no better illustration than this poem from the outstanding African-American thologian, teacher, and civil rights advocate, Harold Thurman: 

When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back in their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
     to find the lost
     to heal the broken
     to feed the hungry
     to release the prisoner
     to rebuild the nation
     to bring peace among people
     to make music in the heart.

 
Happy Christmas!

Advent IV: Mary, from this Side of Christmas

Every year in August on the Feast of Saint Mary the Virgin, commonly called Assumption, we honour our Lord's Mother as, to borrow the Orthodox title of the feast, "Mary in Glory."  We employ names like Mother of the Saviour and Mother of the Church, even Queen of Heaven.  On that feast day we look at our lovely Lady's lifetime of service in complete surrender to God and her heavenly journey to be reunited with Christ at the end.

Today we see her from the beginning of that life journey and experience in fullness her poverty, humility, and humanity.  Our feast day is called in the East 'o Evangelismos, the good news, and indeed the birth of the Christ Child is great good news for humanity.  (In Eastern artwork, the Archangel Gabriel is pictured dressed as a deacon because of deacons' special role of reading the Gospel to the congregation.)   But consider that the message must have sounded like really bad news to Mary.  In agreeing to become the Mother of God, she was signing her death warrant, as unwed mothers were routinely stoned to death.  (Only Joseph's incredibly kind notion to divorce her quietly would have saved her from that fate.  In that society, a woman's only value was in childbearing.  In New Testament Greek the word for woman is literally "walking womb."  And that womb must bear only a child sired by her husband.  Mary's unexpected pregnancy would have been seen as an insult to Joseph.)  And, besides Joseph's disdain, she would also be rejected by her family and friends, and society in general.  She would likely have ended up in prostitution to survive.

Many people are unaware that Mary is very important to Muslims.  In reality, unlike protestant Christianity, Islam embraces, explicitly or implicitly, all the key Catholic teachings and traditions about her!  There is far more material about Mary in the text of the Qu'ran  than in the New Testament.  Following the passage equivalent to today's reading (Lk 1:26-38), the Qu'ran describes Mary's going away to a deserted place to the east.  There she asks herself, what did I just agree to?  She is tired and afraid, and prays for death.  At that point a rivulet of water forms under her feet and dates fall from the tree, quenching her hunger and thirst.  She sees this as a sign from God that he will always be with her to help her in the journey to which she agreed--and God is.

From then on, she is fully in track with God's will.  In her Magnificat, she speaks of God's will that the mighty rich be knocked down a few pegs and the common man raised up.  Obviously God is not keen on gross income inequality. What should it say to the Christian when we have a new tax policy in our country that will widen that gap between the wealthy and everyone else?  What is the Gospel saying about that?  I'm not answering that question.  I am leaving that question with you to ponder as an example of how our faith can impact the real world.

The amazing life of Mary begins with the annunciation, with her "Yes" that made our salvation real.  She will go on to be the "model disciple,"  a model of faith, obedience, service, trust, prayer, and perseverance.  We experience a deep sense of gratitude this morning for the blessed Lady who brought us the One whose birth we will celebrate again in just a few hours.   Just as she was Theotokos, the God-bearer, so let us be people who bring the Holy One into our culture in our time and place.

Unmasking Santa

The World Extra article of the same name today ponders the agony of parental discomfort in having to fess up to children that they have lied to them in the Santa Claus charade.

Episcopal parents don't have to worry, because we simply explain to our children that they have been teased as to the identity of the beloved figure.  We let them know that Santa is not fake or made-up, but his actual identity is that of Saint Nicholas, the early bishop of Myra, Turkey, who is patron saint of children and who, during his lifetime, anonymously left presents for many children, and did other benevolent acts on behalf of God's beloved young ones. On one occasion, he even paid the dowry of a young girl to help her avoid being forced into prostitution.  In various ways, this beloved saint was committed to showing God's love for others.

We explain that Nicholas is alive but in heaven and, so, he cannot personally bring gifts to earthly children.  Instead, he must rely on parents, loved ones, and friends to be "agents" in giving gifts at this season.  We and millions of others have the privilege each year to be partners with Nicholas in the joy of gift-giving.  And that is no lie!

Gaudete Sunday: John in the Dock

Delegates of the religious establishment arrive to ask John the Baptiser who he is.  His responses require a little unpacking.  First, he says he is not the Messiah.  What does that mean?  "Messiah" simply means anointed person and the Hebrew moshiach is used in Hebrew Scripture for anyone subjected to anointing for some person, e.g. someone being ordained to priesthood or to kingship.  Specialized use of the term really began with King Josiah who sought to reform both the religion and the state, made some headway, but ultimately failed.  Thereafter people began to speak of another monarch in the line of David who might come to straighten things out.  Many thought Messiah would arrive when Jewish fortunes were at a low ebb.

Expectations varied widely, some expecting a Messiah who would become the ideal Davidic king; others looking for two separate political and civil Messiahs.  In any event, all agreed that Messiah would throw off the oppressor (Rome) and restore Jewish statehood, then all of the other nations would see the brightness of Israel and convert to their God, whereupon the Kingdom of God -- a perfect world -- would appear, and the righteous dead would rise to join the party forever.  John the Baptiser makes it clear that he is not the one being awaited.

He is then asked whether he is Elijah.  Remember Elijah was assumed into heaven (the same language applied to Enoch and to our Lord's Blessed Mother).  People in Jesus' time and culture envisioned that to mean that the historic Elijah, never having tasted death, would simply return, in advance of the messianic age.  The Baptiser disavows that identity as well.

Finally he is asked "Are you the Prophet?"  That means the biblically-foretold Prophet like Moses.  John the Baptiser likewise disavows this identification and goes on to stay who he actually is:  a voice crying out in the desert, as foretold by Isaiah, a forerunner of the One the world awaits.  We understand in that identity a charismatic prophet sent to pave the way for Jesus, whose appearance comprises God's decision to reach out to humanity by sending one who will manifest the Divine, showing how God loves, lives, serves, and suffers with us.  It is all about divine initiative.

Two stories relating to Saints in the Episcopal Calendar to illustrate the point.  First, the German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer who resisted Nazism, denounced the Lutheran Church's support for Hitler, and was imprisoned.  Fortunately he was able to have writings smuggled out of the concentration camp.  In. 1943, he wrote a reflection on Advent saying that it was like his prison cell.  He said that he prayed and hoped and pottered around the room but eventually realized that the cell door could only be opened from the outside.  So, with our salvation.

Second, Saint C. S. Lewis, Anglican theologian once compared Advent to a time when faithful partisans are sitting in a hidden place listening to the wireless [radio] when the hearers learn of a rescue mission afoot.  Their king is going to parachute into their enemy-occupied territory to personally lead his followers.

The world today is in darkness, but the Light comes with Christmas, to open the door, to lead his people to liberation -- to set us free, so we can begin to set the world free.

Advent II: End of Exile

Those of us who did hard time in a seminary can attest that the book of the prophet Isaiah is actually a composite of three successive works.  First Isaiah, as it is called, is about the downfall and exile of Jewish people to Babylon.  People with marketable skills and physical strength were taken, primarily from the southern kingdom of Judah, to what is modern-day Iraq and insinuated into the general population.  First Isaiah tell us that the exile ended when Cyrus, King of Persia, allowed the small minority of Jews who wanted to return to the holy land, to do so.  Second Isaiah says no, it was a bigger deal.  God decided via Cyrus to release the captives who had double-paid for their past sins and would now receive, not further punishment, but redemption and consolation.  YHVH makes a proclamation in the heavenly council, for the God of Israel is still seen as a king presiding over his court of lesser Canaanite gods.

Here is how another biblical prophet in part describes the situation:  "Take off the garment of your sorrow and affliction, O Jerusalem, and put on forever the beauty of the glory of God...Arise, O Jerusalem, stand upon the height; look towards the east, and see your children gathered from west and east at the word of the Holy One, rejoicing that God has remembered them.  For they went out from you on foot, led away by their enemies, but God will bring them back to you, carried in glory as on a royal throne."  (Baruch 5: 1,5-6) 

For Second Isaiah the liberation from Babylon has three characteristics.  First it is a re-enactment of the original Exodus from Egypt.  Second, it is a revelation of God, of who God is.  And third, it is an invitation to liberation, not a forced return home.  Scholars estimate twenty percent came back; most had been assimilated, were successful and comfortable.  And in fact, to this day, the Babylonian Talmud written during the Exile, is considering the highest-ranking Jewish biblical commentary.

In the gospel for the second Sunday of Advent, we have John the Baptiser proclaiming yet another act of liberation coming in human history.  The One for whom he is forerunner will come to bring us out of an exile as real as the Egyptian or Babylonian experiences.  We shall be freed from sin, from being any less than all that we can be.  We will find ourselves freed from our addictions, our many compulsions, and all those "lesser gods" that keep us held bound, that prevent us from returning to our spiritual homeland.

Let us ask ourselves this Advent:  What are those things keeping us in captivity in our consumerist, imperialistic, self-absorbed society?  Where do we need to learn to move on and not remain stuck in the past?  God is still liberator, and the invitation to liberation stands open to all who will accept it.

Advent I: Stay Awake

In the steep hills of northeastern Tennessee there is Frozen Head State Park.  Nestled in Morgan County, situated between the county seat Wartburg and the community of Petros, it is the location of the unusual endurance event known as the Barkley Marathon.  The competition has taken place since 1986, and it consists of five twenty-mile segments, each one-third on-trail and two-thirds off-trial.  The dates of the race are not published.  Applicants who are approved are notified of when to report and assemble at midnight the first night.  There they learn that a big conch will be blown sometime from then until the following noon, signalling that the race will commence one hour thereafter.

The time-span of the competition is a mere sixty hours.  The off-trail segments ensure that not a few hikers will get lost and that various hazards may be encountered.  Those who participate must decide whether to sleep and how much sleep to take.  Some do not sleep at all for the duration, to improve their chances of success.   Since this gruelling activity began thirty-one years ago, 15 people have finished to claim the coveted distinction of a Barkley Marathon victor.  The gentleman who directs the program goes by the moniker Lazarus, and warns potential applicants that "it won't turn out as you planned."

This true story encompasses what we need to hear in this Advent season of preparation for annual remembrance of the birth of Jesus:  be awake, be aware, and be prepared for the unexpected.   Most of us will be kept busy with holiday shopping, family activities, community activities and parties.  Christians need to see beyond the glitz and busyness of consumerism and self-absorption, to stay awake and aware of a world suffering violence, oppression, injustice, and starvation. We've a world waiting for real, radical change at the hands of us who are called to be servants and transformation agents in the spirit of the One we await.

Pentecost XXIII: Covenant Renewal

The story is told of a pastor who installed a suggestion box in order to track congregational sentiment and improve is product.  He often shared some of the content from the pulpit.  One week a note was left that read simply, "Fool."  The next Sunday he recounted how he had received a few notes and letters which the writer forgot to sign, but this was the first time the writer had signed but forgot to in- clude the letter!

The story reminds me that not everyone will ever be completely on the side of a pastor but we must all be on on our God's side, as today's reading from the Hebrew Bible [Joshua 24: 1-3a, 14-25] tells us.  The tale speaks of a Covenant Renewal Ceremony.  Those occurred several times in Jewish history.  You see, the People had finally settled in the land. (Joshua depicts a united Israel sent into Canaan to commit genocide against the natives, whereas Judges has individual tribes settle in next to the natives -- a more plausible view.)   Before the call of Abraham, his ancestors worshipped the gods of "the land beyond the Euphrates," the Canaanite Pantheon of deities.  In Egypt, they came to know the Egyptian gods.  It seems each nation had its own.  Now Joshua calls for an exclusive covenant with YHVH.  "As for me and my household," Joshua says, "we will serve the Lord."  The people vote yes to the true God and a stone monument is set up in the sanctuary as a reminder.  Then Joshua enjoins the people to witness to their decision by destroying every token and symbol of the foreign deities.  And he warns them they better not revert.

We continually face the same choice, to serve God or to revert to the worship of lesser gods, in our case, gods like wealth, influence, power, security, please.  We demonstrate our priorities through our time, talent, and treasure.  What would a "shadower" report about how our behaviour demonstrates either a clear preference for God or for those lesser gods?  In Genesis 17, God is made to say to Abraham, "Walk in my ways and be blameless."  The Hebrew suggests that God is telling Abraham to go about his business but to be aware that He is watching to see that Abraham does what is right.  The writer at that time would be envisioning the capricious, angry, jealous tribal deity version of YHVH.  I tend to think of God as our loving parent watching us, inspiring us to be the very best, most just and most complete human beings we can be.

We too participate in Covenant Renewal.  In a very real way, every Mass accomplishes that as we receive the One whose blood sealed the New Covenant.  But also when we pledge to God's work (parish being an important component of that) and make ourselves available for service in worship and out in the community, we are showing our true priority and reaffirming our commitment to the Christian Covenant which calls us to work for the full realization of God's vision for his world.

All Saints Sunday: Go!

This weekend marked our statewide synod, the Oklahoma Diocesan Convention, and we were truly blessed by the presence of the Most Reverend Michael Curry, our Presiding Bishop.  His buzz word was "Go."  He reminded us of the many biblical and post-biblical scenarios in which someone was called out of the comfort zone, into a new, often scary future making a difference in the world or, as our bishop says it, changing the world from the nightmare it often is into the dream God has for it.

Bishop Curry spoke of the calls of Abraham and Moses, which reminded me of the later call of Saint Francis of Assisi who was young, handsome, very wealthy, and well connected politically.  He had it made and yet, once called, denounced the family fortune, gave away all his possessions, and started afresh in ministry, as his response to God's call, "Francis, rebuild my Church."  Nothing has changed in our day; we are still called from where we are to where we ought to be in the building of Kingdom which the bishop describes as "the Jesus Movement."

But how do we get there? We need a map, a spiritual GPS. The Beatitudes serve such a purpose.  In today's gospel reading from Matthew, we hear the spiritual version of those injunctions (compared to the social justice version in Luke).  In the Middle Ages, the Church considered them in light of the "counsels of perfection" meaning the beatitudes were binding on ordained clergy and on professed religious like monks and nuns, but not ordinary people.  Martin Luther, in contrast, said they apply for everyone but are unattainable, so don't bother, just believe in salvation by faith alone.

I think both are wrong.  I believe the rebel monk was so right in applying the Beatitudes to all of us Christians, but incorrect to finding them unrealistic and unattainable.   They are doable and intended to be sorted out in community, serving God and nieghbour, and indeed that is the essence of Catholic Christianity.  While the Church holds up the canonized Saints as models to emulate and as prayer- partners, we need to remember that all of us are 'saints,' called to true holiness of life.

I would commend every Christian to regular examination of Matthew's Beatitudes, but also Luke's Beatitudes and the accompanying Woes. Honest self-examination allows us to move forward. Serious engagement of self sets the stage for being conformed to the image of the Son of God, embracing the kind of Christianity that actually imitates the way of Jesus instead of reinventing him to conform to the values of our sick culture.  If your Jesus likes war and violent resolution, jingoism, imperialism, and greed, looks down on the poor and oppressed, the marginalized and the outcasts, start over and look for the real Saviour.

Where is God calling you to'go'?

Pentecost XXI: Dangers of Literalism

The story is told of a convert to fundamentalism, whose pastor after services encouraged him to seek "a word from the Lord" by letting his Bible flop open and then reading the first verse that appeared as a magic communication just for him from God.  He excitedly went home and flipped open his Bible, whereupon he read, "Judas went out and hanged himself."  A bit confused, he tried it a second time.  That verse was, "Go and do likewise."  Now distressed, he tried for a third word only to read, "What you must do, do quickly." 

How we use sacred Scripture can lead us to life and freedom or to the oppression that accompanies superficial study.  Unthinking engagement of the Bible leads us from the sublime to the ridiculous, pointing towards legalistic fundamentalism.  It is useful to remember that lectio divina and other study options are ancient; literalism crept in with the Continental Reformation which hung its hat on Scripture, each denomination defining itself by a laundry list of doctrines tied to bible verses badly parsed and often completely out of context.  We Anglicans were spared that.

Years ago a young lady who was a member of Saint Matthew's stopped attending Mass and neither returned my phone calls nor responded to notes I sent by mail.  A few months later, she appeared suddenly at my office door.  As it turns out. another member had angered her and, instead of letting me know, she had stormed out, started attending a fundamentalist church, and had returned only to question me and tell me why we were wrong about everything.  She had not come to talk, let alone to learn, but only to attack.  Her new church had formed her, not into a Christian, but a Pharisee.

In today's gospel reading [Matthew 22:34-46], Jesus, who has already signed his death warrant by entering Jerusalem while acting out a messianic claim, is still being beleaguered by Pharisees.  His detractors still want to make him look the fool.  This time they ask him to rank the Commandments of the Law, showing which might be greatest.  That would be a gargantuan task, sorting our 248 positive commandments and 365 negative ones, 613 together.  Instead, Jesus sums up the Law by quoting Deuteronomy and Leviticus, about loving God and neighbour.  But pay close attention! In quoting the former, recited every day by faithful Jews in the sh'ma, Jesus says, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind."  Jesus changed the final word from 'might' to 'mind,' telling the rigid and legalistic Pharisees to start reading Scripture in an intelligent fashion. And intelligent engagement of the Bible is a hallmark of Episcopalians, I am pleased to say.

In speaking of love for God and others in this way, Jesus is also reminding the Pharisees and us not to get bogged down in rigid interpretations and legalism but get to the bottom line of Christian life.  Jesus communicates that his way of torqued-up Torah, not playing games with proof-texting books, consists of the way of life we must lead.  What does that look like?  Let me answer that question, and close, with quotes from three early observers of how actual Christians behave. It's not about doctrine.

Julian the Apostate. Roman Emperor from 361 to 363), said, "The godless Galileans feed not only their poor, but ours!"  Tertullian (160-225) wrote that Christians "support the poor, pay for burials, take in orphans, care for the elderly and home-bound, serve the shipwrecked and victims of epidemic, and they send money to the banished."   Even earlier, the philosopher Aristides (125) reported that Christians "bring in strangers like they were brothers and sisters; provide for the needs of imprisoned and oppressed people; and for the poor and needy they will fast 2 or 3 days to give food."

Pentecost XX: God v Empire

Today's gospel story is one of the better known among Christians, the encounter between Jesus and his detractors, Pharisees and Herodians.  Jesus accuses them, quite rightly, of hypocrisy.  That term comes from the Greek for wearing a mask.  A hypocrite is  a person who masks the true self in favour of an illusion one wants to project.  What you see is not what you get.  The Pharisees and the fellow-travellers in that time played the role of men who learned from God, but in reality they pushed a rigid puritanical view of God and Scripture, not unlike today's fundamentalist Christians. They talked a lot but they did not learn; they heard a lot but they didn't listen.  Jesus attacks their fundamentalism and easy answers, and they hate him for it.

In today's scene (found in Matthew 22: 15-22) they first highly compliment Jesus for his commitment to truth and impartiality, as if they were fans, then they hit him with another one of those catch-22 questions that are impossible to answer.  The question: Is it lawful to pay taxes to the Emperor?  If Jesus says yes, he sides with the hostile occupier of Jewish land and will lose his audience.  If he says no, the Pharisees will whistle for a cop, Jesus will get cuffed and stuffed, and he won't be out loose preaching anymore.

Before going on with the story, let me insert one relevant fact.  There were two kinds of money then in circulation in Palestine:  the regular coins bearing the effigy and title of Caesar, as well as special coins for observant Jews, coins which did not bear any graven image of a person, let alone Caesar Tiberias who claimed to be God.  For an observant Jew to touch or spend a regular Roman coin would be a fundamental violation of Judaism by using of a graven image.

In reply to the question from the religious establishment, Jesus tells them to give him a coin.  The coin he is given is the regular Roman coin.  Bingo:  Jesus' enemies have just demonstrated that they are not observant Jews, they use the profane money!   And we should not be surprised, because everything that coin stands for -- imperialism, militarism, wealth, power and influence -- are values the Pharisees and cronies accomodate, but they are not God's values -- equality, peace, justice, fair sharing, and service.  Jesus calls us to action in building the Kingdom of God.  The detractors are all about promoting false values.

Jesus looks at the hated coin, asks whose image it is, and is told it is the image of the Emperor.  Then, Jesus wins the day, saying this thing must belong to the Emperor, so give it back to him!

There are lessons here for us.  Mostly simply, it is ok to pay taxes.  Abraham Lincoln said that government is needed to do for the People what they cannot do for themselves, or not so well.  Examples would be social security and medicare, which are now being threatened.  The more important lesson can be derived from the Pharisees' slip-up with the coin.  The values of the Roman Empire are stamped on the hearts of the collaborators as surely as the image of the Emperor is stamped on the coin they use.  We might ask ourselves today whether those same false values are stamped into our hearts as citizens of the American Empire when instead our task as Christians is not to "go along to get along" like Pharisees but to be more and more conformed to the image of Jesus who show us the human face of God and refuses to compromise with the world's false values.

Pentecost XIX: A Different Peace

On Sunday we talked about the "peace that passes all understanding" which we invoke at the last blessing in most Masses.  The source of the expression is a statement attributed to Jesus in John's Gospel in which he tells his disciples:  I leave my peace with you.  I give you my peace.  It is not like the peace which the world gives, so you don't have to be anxious or afraid. 

The peace that the world gives is merely an absence of conflict.  The peace conveyed by Jesus allows the Christian to be at peace even in the midst of conflict.  Christ's peace is deeper, permeating heart and mind/  It cannot be earned, only accepted as gift to those who live their lives in the Spirit of God as revealed in Jesus.  If you have it, you know what I mean; if you don't, you won't have a clue.

By the world's standards, the Las Vegas Shooter had it all.  He was a wealthy entrepreneur with almost unlimited funds for the enjoyment of life, sex without commitment from a "friend with benefits," no political or philosophical bent, no involvement with charitable organizations, no religion to bog him down.  What more could a devoutly committed capitalist ask for?  Yet, he obviously lacked one thing that wealth, power, and disengagement cannot bring, personal peace.  So, having gone  from one unsatisfying "high" to the next, and with nothing left to live for, he committed a massacre -- killing fifty-nine innocent people, wounding almost five hundred others -- for one last exhilarating experience.

No peace.  In Matthew's Gospel, Jesus introduces us to the kind of life that brings us his peace.  He presents six antitheses, six contrasts between Jewish conventional wisdom and the torqued-up Torah that he would demand of his followers.  Important contrasts: you were told not to kill, I tell you not to hate; you were told not to commit adultery, I tell you not to lust.  In the fifth antithesis, Jesus talks about who is a neighbour.  You were told love your friends, hate your enemies (there is no such biblical injunction), I tell you love your enemies, pray for your persecutors.  How intensely and irrationally radical is this gospel of Jesus!   Yet only that kind of life brings the peace we crave.

Saint Paul tells us how to get into the mental state that will set us in that right direction.  He lumps into one sentence thanksgiving and joy, prayer, and peace.  He lets us know that an attitude of gratitude for all our blessings leads to joy, and turning our lives over to God as people of prayer brings us peace.  The four "gifts of the Spirit" reflect a spiritual life that is healthy and vital:  the blueprint for the peace that passes all understanding.

Pentecost XVIII: The Vineyard

Last Sunday's text [Mt. 21: 33-46] is the last in a series of reflections on the topic of the Vineyard, which was the principal biblical metaphor for the Jewish People.  In a nutshell, the vintner, God, plants his own vineyard in the Promised Land, walls it in, builds a guard tower, and lovingly plants his crop in expectation of a wonderful harvest.  Wanting a yield of justice God instead gets bloodshed; in the place of justice he gets complaints.  In response God adopts tough love:  he leaves his beloved children to the consequences of their choices.  Petty neighbouring powers begin to pick off pieces of the vineyard, and finally the wild boar, the King of Babylon, comes and takes the people into exile in what is now Iraq for some seventy years.

Jesus here retells the familiar story but adds his own death as if it were a past occurrence.  That might seem strange until one realizes that Matthew's gospel is composed more than fifty years after the earthly ministry of Jesus.  We are reading gospel, not history: we have the expanded version courtesy of the Matthaean community.  Having received the "big picture," some anti-Semites try to exploit it into a blanket condemnation of Jews, but read carefully:  Jesus is addressing the religious leaders of his time who were in collusion with the political leaders who executed him.  The establishment had begun to treat the vineyard as their personal property to be used to expand their own wealth, power, and influence.  They forgot who the true Owner was and what their true role was supposed to be.

After the exile prophets rose up to speak truth to power.   Kings and priests on one side pitted against the prophetic community on the other.  What do you think happened?   Amos was banned from the Temple; Isaiah was sawn in half; Jeremiah was dumped into a pit and stoned to death.  Naturally, Jesus would be executed.  And Martin Luther King, Jr., and a myriad of martyrs over time.

The first commandment iterates God's claim to be Number One in our lives (hence the importance of stewardship,with God first in our time, talent, and treasure).  So worship and life are inseparable.  As the author of First John reminds us, you cannot claim to love the God whom you have not seen when you don't love the brother or sister you can see.  God seeks faithful leaders and faithful people, and settles for no less.

Saint Thomas of Hereford

The Saint-du-jour was a person born in 1218 to great wealth.  Scion of a fabulously rich Norman family, Thomas and his siblings were placed under the control of the Bishop of Winchester for purposes of education.. Thomas (and brother Hugh) were sent to Paris for a first-class education as well as an opulent lifestyle in those years.  After graduation, Thomas was ordained a priest, read law at Orleans, and became a canon lawyer.  He then returned to England and taught at Oxford.  Very soon he was made chancellor there and, in that role, was remembered as a strict disciplinarian, a friend of poor students, and one who cracked down on weapons on campus. 

Soon he had progressed to being Chancellor of All England.  Later he returned to Paris for a time, and then reclaimed the chancellorship of Oxford.  In 1275, Thomas was elected Bishop of Hereford in western England.. He was an exemplary prelate.  As bishop he instituted personal austerity, even wearing a hair shirt; became a zealous reforming bishop; and dutifully visited parishes throughout his turf to administer Confirmation.   He also was a strong defender of the rights of his Church.

A redhead with temper to match, Thomas strenuously objected to the officious meddling of the new  Archbishop of Canterbury, John Pecham, in matters of wills and marriages in his diocese, cases which should have been laid in Hereford courts.  The archbishop responded by excommunicating Thomas.

In 1282, Thomas visited the Pope at the pontiff's court in Orvieto, Italy, and Thomas died while there.  His body was translated to Winchester, where his shrine soon became the most visited pilgrimage site in the west of England.   Thomas has the distinction of being the only Saint of the western Church who was excommunicated at the time of death!

Lessons for us:  learn to live simply, do what you do as well as you possibly can, love God and the Church.

Pentecost XVII: Double Header

Today is the both a Sunday in Pentecosttide, but also the Sunday in the octave of Saint Matthew, our patron.  So let us do justice to both the pericopes of today and the Matthaean story.

Jesus gets into it with religious authorities because he is not ordained or otherwise authorized to practise the Rabbinate.  He uses the clever scheme we hear in the gospel [Mt. 21: 23-32] to trap his antagonists.  The ploy he uses is on a par with the old canard, "Do you still beat your wife?"  There can be no good answer.  He asks whether John Baptiser's ministry was authorized by God.   If they say yes, then they have no excuse to reject Jesus' authority.  If they say no, the crowd -- who accept the authority of John -- will stone them.  So they simply say that they don't know. Jesus then says he accordingly has no obligation to answer their query.   Jesus 1, Phony Religion 0.

Then Jesus goes on to illustrate the real point of the exchange.  A father asks a child to get to work.  The child agrees but than does not go to work.  The other child demurs but then goes to work after all.  Point:  the only thing that matters is what you do in response to God's call.  You can sign many "faith statements" about accepting Jesus as your personal Lord, but unless you act on it, it does no one any good.  In fact, elsewhere Jesus tells us that acknowledging him as Lord will not get us into the Kingdom, only doing God's will, doing right, can do so.  [viz. Mt. 7: 21-22]

To put a sharper edge on his point, Jesus goes on to say that hookers and tax agents are taking action in the light of God's call and, thus, entering the Kingdom ahead of these pretentiously pious clerics. That must have stung the professional religionists who specialized in judging and excluding people they considered sinners.  Jesus, in fact, had a preferential option for the poor, the marginalized, and the oppressed.

The Cross turns the world upside down,  acting out the story of a Deity who takes on the Dark Side unconditionally, exposing the false values of the world and its systems of domination, and lifting the lowly.  It is the drama of  God's calling all people of good will into a new kind of community, a new way of living, keeping always before our eyes the vision of the Kingdom of God, a world of peace and justice.  There are no natural-born Christians, only people who have chosen to say yes or no to the Good News of what our lives and our world could be. 

Pentecost XVI : Fidelity, Equality, Solidarity

The very early Church was simply radical.  Following the teachings and example of Jesus, those pioneers in faith established congregations which practised a primitive form of communism, from each according to his ability to each according to his need.  Property was held in common and distributed according to the needs of all within the community  were met.  Moreover, following our Saviour's  strict pacifism those early congregations did not admit military personnel to membership: soldiers applying to be Christian were required to renounce their military commission prior to being baptised and baptised members were excommunicated if they joined the military. 

Everything changed with the growing influence of the Roman Empire and its powerful culture.  Particularly, the Church wanted to be allowed to practise in peace and so became very solicitous of the imperial favour.  After a time, the Church that practised democratic communism became the main rooting section for unbridled capitalism.  The Church that excluded active military became chief cheerleader for imperialism and war.

So the first quality of the first Christians was practical fidelity to the actual teachings of the Master.
Second came the quality of equality.  As today's gospel [Mt/ 20:1-6] reminds us, workers coming into God's Kingdom at all hours of the day share equally in the Eternal Life into which we enter through baptism into God's Catholic Church.  There is to be no judgement of others, no talk of relative worth amongst the members.  Like the generous owner in our story, God does not recognize 'worth.'  God confers it. 

The third quality we inherit from those early faithful is solidarity. When we live into God's free grace and practise unconditional love of God and neighbour, we are on a journey with all the saints -- past, present, and to come.  There is no seniority in the Kingdom, no second-class citizens of the City of God.  That doesn't mean we all have the same vocation, but it does mean that everyone counts and is expected to fulfill the personal call, whether to ordained ministry, to the religious life, or to serve in and out of the congregation as a lay Christian, true in word and deed.  We are in this together, equally loved by God, equally charged with God's mission.

Pentecost XV: What Forgiveness Isn't

An ancient Jewish story tells of a king who decided to visit the prison in his kingdom to find out what sort of people were being incarcerated.   He took a seat at the centre of the building, with the prisoner cells all round, and interviewed them one at a time.  The king asked the first to tell his story and he assured the monarch that he had been framed, was completely innocent, and deserved to be released. The second prisoner essentially said the same, as the chain of prisoners whose interviews followed. Finally, the last prisoner was brought before the king.  The king said I am sure that you too will tell me you were unjustly charged and deserve commutation of the rest of your sentence.  No, said the last prisoner, I am an abject sinner, was a thief and a scoundrel, I did the crime with which I was charged, and, though I've learned my lesson, I am justly serving out my sentence.

After the final interview was over and prisoner returned to his cell, the monarch summoned the jailer and told him to release the last prisoner.  There was a great hue and cry from the rest of the prisoners demanding to know why this person, who had admitted to his crime and was willing to serve out his sentence, was being released.  The king told the rest of the prisoners that he was getting the man out of there so he wouldn't contaminate the holy people who had been unjustly incarcerated with him!

The forgiveness extended by the king reminds us of the importance of a realistic and honest sense of self, the call not to pass judgement or hold grudges, and the crucial role of forgiveness in Christian life.  We have been given, Saint Paul says, the ministry of reconciliation.  That depends on the art of forgiveness.

Let me suggest what I believe are four common misconceptions about forgiveness:

(1) True repentance is required before forgiveness can be offered.  No, forgiveness is unilateral and unconditional. (Did Saul apologize to St. Stephen?  Did Pilate apologize to Jesus?)

(2) Real Christians forgive, forget and move on.  No, hurt and pain don't just disappear.  They must be named and owned.  Forgiveness is not denial.

(3) Forgiving 77 or 490 times (depending on which manuscript you translate) must mean being a doormat.  No, true forgiveness does not anticipate the tolerance of abuse.  Bad conduct must have real consequences, and the child of God must stand up for self and others.

(4) We forgive as a way to get back at other people.  Didn't Oscar Wilde say forgive your enemies, nothing annoys them so much?  Didn't Saint Paul say that forgiving an offender is like heaping fiery coals on his head?   Yes, but we do not understand that as a ringing endorsement of vengeance but rather a pre-emptive strike against it.  In fact, the Gospel reason for forgiveness is to reflect the generosity of God and God's lavish, unconditional pardon granted to each of us.  (Do you remember the crazy Father in the prodigal story?  That's God!)   Forgiveness is a gift of grace that transforms relationships.  It is never payback.

Our Gospel today [Mt. 18:21-35] speaks powerfully of the need for us to forgive others out of our gratitude to God for acceptance of us, and in recognition of God's love of all humanity. So may it be.

Pentecost XIV: Congregational Health

The main thing that is wrong with church congregations is that they are made up of people, and people come to every enterprise with personality issues, baggage of all sorts, their own chemistry which will not meld with some other persons. Thus conflict from time to time is inevitable.  Church conflict resolution expert Speed Leas classifies disagreements from a "level one," meaning we have a problem to resolve, up to "level five,"  intractable situations in which there are typically three key players:  the persecutor, the victim, and the rescuers.  Anyone can have any of those roles.

When intractable situations arise, congregational protestant churches usually divide, what I call the "amoeba syndrome."  These days that process is harder to follow, as split-offs tend to adopt the entertainment church practice of hiding their denominational identity, calling the church by some buzzword, like Solace or Hillspring.  In the Catholic traditions, we do not and cannot divide because we have something called a bishop who handles (or occasionally mishandles) the situation, meeting with people, studying the problem and, when needed, moving some laity and clergy to other parishes. This is one of the ways in which the bishop functions as centre of church unity.  Emphasis is always on maintaining the health and Christian mission of the faith family.  In rare cases, the bishop will excommunicate someone and, indeed, priests have that authority, but it is used very,very rarely.  We try to give people the benefit of the doubt, work to promote reconciliation, and avoid judgmentalism.

Today's gospel [Mt. 18: 15-20] portrays Jesus as offering guidelines for dealing with church conflict and many assume this is fresh material, but in fact Our Lord is simply quoting Deuteronomy.  Do remember that Matthew's congregation, releasing this gospel around 80 C.E., fifty years after the end of Jesus' earthly ministry, is a truly Jewish-Christian congregation which does not dispense the Law but promotes Jesus' torqued-up version we read in the Sermon on the Mount.  The historical Jesus, of course, did not ostracize Gentiles and tax collectors, as the text implies. Pharisees did.  Nevertheless, this simple pattern of engagement can be a very helpful model in reconciliation: engagement one-on-one, then in group, and finally to the institutional level.

I glean some interesting thoughts and inferences.  First, those who lead the church, like the rest of the membership, are called to be loving towards others -- in and out of church -- and to be focussed on the needs of the other person, helping the fellow-Christian to fullness of life.  Really listening can be essential in that process.  Likewise the fundamental equality of all Christians (regardless of role) is important to recognize; you may recall Saint Peter having a God moment in which he realizes that God has no favourites.  Hence, God loves us equally  -- male and female, gay and straight, old and young, and those all across the colour and ethnic spectrum.  All are beloved and to be respected and served.  We strive for unity in diversity.   God seeks community, hence where any "two or three' gather God is with us and provides the tools, inspiration, and commitment to resolve our conflicts.

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Boris and Gleb

Sons of Vladimir, Boris and Gleb were two of four brothers, princes of Kiev, and practising Christians.  They were opposed by their evil brother Svyatopolk who wanted to seize all royal power.

Boris learned about Svyatopolk's plants to exterminate his siblings, but would not allow his soldiers to fight against his brother.  After reflection and prayer he sent his trooped await and waited quietly in prayer, speaking to God of the emptiness of worldly power and wealth and asking for a spirit of holy suffering.  He was killed at the river Alta by spear and sword in 1015 c.e.

The same year, younger brother Gleb was called at the Dnieper River.  Svyatopolk had rquested a meeting but he and his men ambushed Gleb on the way there.  He asked the troops to spare his life, but to no avail.  He died by a stab in the throat by his own traitorous cook!

The record says that both brothers prayed for (1) forgiveness of Svyatopol, (2) acceptance of an unjust death in emulation of Jesus' acceptance of his unjust death, and (3) acknowledgement of Jesus' prediction that one's own kinsmen and friends would commit betrayal.

In 1020 the other brother Yaroslav invaded Kiev, drove out Svyatopolk who died fleeing to Poland. Then this brother, though not a Christian, ordered exhumation of Boris and Gleb in order to have a proper funeral consistent with their faith.  Their bodies were found to be incorrupt and were translated to Saint Basil's near Kiev.  At first the Greek Metropolitan hesitated because the heroes were neither ascetics, teachers, clergy, nor actually martryed for their faith.  But he came to realize that Boris and Gleb were "passion bearers" who had renounced violence and been sacrificed in the spirit of Christ.   They were soon canonized, first in the East, then in the West.

Pentecost XIII: Gold-plated Nickels

By 1883 the standing liberty five-cent piece was a bit long in the tooth and the Treasury retained engraver Charles Barber to design new coinage.  The revised five-cent piece, commonly known as the liberty nickel or "V" Nickel, had a lovely portrait of Lady Liberty on the obverse, and on the reverse a large Roman numeral five, with the name of our country above it and our motto -- E pluribus unum -- below it.  The coin design was identical to that of the new five dollar gold piece.

An enterprising young man named Josh Tatum acquired a batch of V nickels and proceeded to gold- plate them.  He then took them around to various businesses, buying one five-cent item, and getting back $4.95 in change.  Thus he acquired a nice nest egg at a time when a typical worker made $2 a day.  Soon Tatum was arrested but the Court acquitted him because he was a deaf-mute and did not represent the coins as gold pieces.  The merchants had failed to verify; the loss was on them, Tatum got off scot-free with his hoard.  The lesson I want to make here is not that crime pays (apparently sometimes it does, though usually for the wealthy), rather I want to say: don't settle for gold-plated nickels.  Insist on the real thing!

That is certainly true in matters of faith.  I believe that much of contemporary Christianity falls into what I would characterize as resume Christianity and formula Christianity.  The former sees faith communities as good places to be members of, for networking and entertainment.  Many are "un- denominational" or "non-denominational," meaning the congregation's beliefs depend on what the pastor had for breakfast that week.  We rely on two thousand years of Catholic teaching and life.   Formula Christianity is the bargain-basement variety.  Just sign a statement  acknowledging that your beliefs about Jesus are orthodox and you have a straight ticket to heaven.   That does not track well to the Jesus who said he will reward each of us according to what we have done, by how we have lived.

Let me suggest instead that we be faithful to Jesus, rather than serving the interests of religious entrepreneurs and cons, and our own selfish motives.  In the Jewish Testament reading today, God is depicted in a burning bush, talking to young Moses about becoming a liberator of the Jewish People.  He makes the usual excuses, too young, too inarticulate.  God isn't buying that line and tells Moses that he will be with him, so get with the program.  Moses does and, with God's help, liberation succeeds.  We see by the results that Moses' faith and message were genuine, were of God.

Today is the feast day of a newly-minted Saint, Prudence Crandall, who lived in the nineteenth century in Canterbury ,Connecticut.  In 1881, she started a school for girls at a time when educating the female population was considered inappropriate.  People argued that women were not suited to serious schooling and needed only to prepare to keep house, have babies, and satisfy husbands.  In 1883, a young lady named Sarah Harris applied to the school and was admitted.  Sarah was black, and became part of the first integrated classroom in our nation. Soon addition black girls were also admitted.  The local population went totally berserk.  Many white parents withdrew their daughters from the school.  Merchants got together and announced they would refuse service to any black student.  Townspeople ostracized the African- Americans and passed a town resolution in an attempt to close the school.  When that failed, arsonists tried to burn it down and, in 1884, fearing for the safety of the students, Crandall shut the school down.  But the spark she lit burnt on, leading to the opening of education to females and people of colour around the country.  She was a force for good during the Civil War in opposition to slavery.  And in 1890 Connecticut named her their official "state heroine,"

We in our own time are called to hear God's word for us, which comes to us at various times and in various ways, and what we know in our hearts, and live out in our lives, will bear the fruit that is true testimony to God's action.  Insist on true religion, don't accept the popular cheap substitutes, don't take any gold-plated nickels!

Pentecost XI: Inclusion

One of the most important breakthroughs in biblical scholarship was the recognition that Saint Paul was not the author of several late New Testament writings, including II Thessalonians, Ephesians, Colossians, and pastorals.  The clues were obvious: references in these books to historical events that had not happened during Paul's lifetime, vocabulary and theology foreign to those of the genuine apostle, and perhaps most significantly, the fact that these texts sometimes sharply contradict the teachings of the real Paul.

Today's epistle reading [Romans 11: 1-2a, 29-32] asks whether God has rejected the Jewish people.  The answer is pellucid:  "God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew.  For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable."  Pseudo-Paul in Colossians spouts nonsense about the Jewish Law being nullified by Jesus, nailed to the cross.  Pure rubbish.   The genuine Paul loves to speak of the incorporation of Christians into God's People by having been grafted onto the old Jewish vine. not displacing it.  Beautiful!  During the past week I watched an episode of a famous televangelist's tv program and listened to him stating that only a few Jews ("Jews for Jesus" - converts to Christ) would avoid the fires of hell.  Certainly I wonder whether these kinds of sad, uninformed articulations were not part of the anti-semitic pap that contributed to the slaughter of six million Jews in World War II, accused of being "unsaved" and "Christ-killers."

So a review of Saint Paul tells us that the two covenants, Jewish and Christian, stand side-by-side, both with integrity.  But what about even outside the Judaeo-Christian universe?

Let's look at today's Gospel [Matthew 15: 21-28].  Jesus is in Galilee, to the North, near the border shared with Phoenicia, the land of early seafarers and inventors of the first phonetic alphabet.  But, as non-Jewish Canaanites, Phoenicians retained the old pantheon of gods, so they were by definition "pagan."   As a good Jewish rabbi, Jesus maintains proper decorum.  The woman has a daughter tormented by "a demon," likely epilepsy, mental illness or chronic depression.  The woman then asks Jesus for a healing, even addressing him in Messianic terms, "Lord, Son of David."  Jesus does not answer.  That is expectable, because in Jewish culture, a man does not speak to an unrelated woman (unless accompanied by a male relative), a rabbi certainly does not speak to a Gentile (thus risking profanation), and, as Jesus says, he is called to minister only to Jews.

The woman persists.  When ignoring her doesn't work, Jesus tries an insult, telling her that the food of children (of Israel) is not to be fed to dogs.   She replies that even dogs get the scraps from the master's table.  That is the coup de grace.  Jesus remarks at her amazing faith and grants her request.  This is a watershed moment, and  notice the line has even been crossed is into pagan territory!  God can work among persons not even Judaeo-Christian!

The best biblical articulation on the point of inclusion appears in the Book of Acts where Saint Peter says, in so many words, that he finally gets it -- God does not have any preference of persons but the one in every nation who loves God and tries to do right is acceptable.   Wow, what a concept!   One might conclude that God loves and accepts all his children who respond to the call to love and justice.

Given these insights, I am quite comfortable with the Episcopal Church's orientation towards loving and accepting all people, not judging others, leaving judgement to God.  And I can do that in a spirit of respect and forbearance without setting aside my own commitment to foloow the road to God that is found in Jesus Christ through two thousand years of Catholic Christian tradition.

Assumption

A parish in Venice contains Titian's famous painting of the Assumption of Mary.  She is depicted mid-air, surrounded by angels, being taken up into glory.   This magnificent artwork would seem ideally representative of an ancient belief of the Church, that Mary, from the very last moment of earthly life, was reunited with her Son in heaven.  This was an early conviction and, indeed, it was believed long before there was a Christian Bible (AD 397) or even agreement on what books were sacred enough to be included.  Those that were included made it in precisely because they were in agreement with the Catholic Faith coming down from the apostles, not the other way around.  The insistence, so popular in the Low Church, that a bible verse be found about each ancient teaching represents the tail wagging the dog.  In any event, the Assumption is mainstream Christian belief coming down the centuries.

Still, let us ask: is it somehow "unbiblical"?  Answer:  No.  The Scriptures speak of assumption ("translation") of Moses, Elijah, and Enoch -- three who were so on God's agenda as to be taken straightaway to that next dimension.  Should Our Lady, the model disciple, whose entire life was totally dedicated to God's will, who was in the poet's expression "our tainted nature's solitary boast," not be even more "qualified" than these other biblical characters?  No, the inference works.

What are the takeaway's of this feast?  First, Mary is indeed model disciple.  She endured that inconvenient pregnancy; then raised an extraordinary, sometime difficult child,; went on with an entourage of women ministering to Jesus & Company; stood at the foot of the cross with Saint John (through whom Christ addresses all of us: "Behold your Mother!"); was in the upper room with the apostles for the coming of the Holy Spirit and birth of the Church; then went on to Ephesus to minister there with John for the rest of her life.  In all of that she unfailingly modelled trust in God, patience, prayer, perseverance, confidence and hope.  

But the story, and the message for us doesn't end there.  As Bishop Ken said, "Because she is enthroned beside her Son, we know we will join him there."   So Mary is sign of our assurance of eternal life with God.  And, beyond that, knowing that in Christ, "death no more has dominion over us," the Church believes in Mary as first among the Saints and our heavenly prayer partner.  When times get tough, check in with Mom!

I wish all a happy Assumption Day!

Transfiguration 201

When Muslim raiders were repelled from Europe at the Battle of Belgrade, Pope Callistus III celebrated by declaring that 6 August would forever be Feast of the Transfiguration, a day which takes precedence of a Sunday.   In an apparently unrelated development, the Episcopal Church always celebrates the feast on the last Sunday of the Epiphany.  So, today will have to be Transfiguration 201, but I promise no repetition from earlier in the year.

Assuming John's gospel is wrong about the one-year duration of Jesus' ministry and the Synoptics are correct about three years, imagine what it might be like to be a participating disciple that third year. You have followed this radical rebel rabbi for three years.  During that time, he has managed to alienate just about everybody.   The military establishment has to be fed up with his absolute pacifism which does not even allow violence in situations of self-defence, let alone warfare.  [The early Church would not baptise a soldier unless he renounced his commission and excommunicated any member who enlisted.]   The politico-economic establishment must have been alienated by Jesus' rejection of wealth and power and his support for social justice to the poor, oppressed and the marginalized.  The religious establishment would certainly have hated his catching them out on their hypocrisy, the manipulation of widows and orphans, and their games of inventing loopholes for the Law to allow the letter to be observed and the spirit denied.

Now he wants to go to Jerusalem, a political powder-keg.    Is he nuts? Well, that question becomes answered when Jesus leads his executive committee on a mountaintop retreat.  Matthew tells us that what happened there was ahistorical.  It was a vision in which Peter, James, and John came to realize the divinity of the Christ.  They came to know Jesus as, to borrow Ben Herbster's phrase, all of God that can be packed into a man.  That epiphany gave them to strength to make that journey on to Jerusalem from where they would scatter to the four corners and all but John would be martyred.

The point I want to drive home is that. even as the Transfiguration reminds us of Christ's divinity, the feast can also feed a disorder in Christian culture, namely to miss the humanity of Jesus.  How many really believe Jesus sweated, feared, got angry, felt sexual tension?   If Jesus is a godlet, whose miracle stories are strictly historical, how can we relate?  If Jesus is simply God in disguise, how do I follow?  I certainly can't change water to wine, and even my mother didn't think I could walk on water.  We need the real, human Jesus.  And we need to follow his real teachings in our lives.  Jesus himself told us that the 'Lord, Lord' prayer-and-praise bit doesn't cut it, that we must do the will of the Father if we are to be Kingdom people.

A balanced view of the Saviour is very important.  I know other traditions have a range of beliefs, but we, as Catholic Christians, accept the definition of the Council of Chalcedon (451 AD) and thereby are called to embrace his full humanity as well as divinity.  To do otherwise is to worship a phantom.

Lammas

As everyone knows there are four quarters day each year, two solstices and two equinoces, marking the beginning of the four seasons.  Less well-known are the cross-quarter days which fall exactly in between.  They include:  Candlemas (feast of the presentation of Jesus in the Temple and the ritual purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary) on the second of February; May Day(when children dance round a maypole and sing praises to Our Lady) on the first of May; Halloween (the eve of All Saint's Day) on the last day of October; and the feast called Lammas observed on 1 August.

Like other cross-quarter days, Lammas has been observed by many names in different cultures.  For example, for pre-Christian nordic types, it was the feast of the goddess Freya, for whom Friday is named.   But for Anglo-Saxons it was hlaf maesse or "loaf mass," because on this day the first wheat brought in at harvest was baked into a loaf of unleavened bread and brought to the priest, who then consecrated it for Communion at the Mass of the day.  The very first loaf became the Bread of Life.

The day also opened hunting season, harvest of fruits of the sea like oysters, presentation of animals for slaughter, even assessment of taxes!  So Lammas was quite a turning point and provided a lot of fresh possibilities in preaching.  Here are four for us to reflect on at this time of year.

First, regrets.  The point:  let them go, they accomplish nothing and impoverish the future.

Second, farewells.  What is passing from your life?  To what do you need to say goodbye?

Third, harvest.   What have you accomplished by this time?  What do you want to do next?

Four, preserves.   What gifts of God's bounty, material and spiritual, do you really need to hold on to?  What beautiful moments will you keep dear, what sweet memories will you treasure?

Pentecost VIII: More Mashal

Continuing in Matthew 13, at the thirty-first verse, Jesus is like the sower in the last post.  He is casting a lot of teaching.  His Message, as expected, is heard by all, heeded by some, lived out by few.  That was elsewhere Jesus' prediction as to people's reception of the message of the Kingdom.
Today he continues the mashal, or parable, method, giving us six parables teaching various things about the called-for Reign of God.

In the first two parables of the pericope, Jesus speaks of the mustard seed, a tiny seed which yields a tremendous plant at maturity, and he speaks of yeast, a small amount of which yields a great loaf.  By these two parables, he teaches that small efforts can have huge, unexpected, unimaginable yields.  Where the divine project is undertaken in seriousness, the possibilities are endless!

In the next two parables, Jesus speaks of an incredible treasure which, when discovered in a field, leads the finder to sell everything he has to buy the field.  He then speaks of a merchant who finds one incomparable pearl and sells his existing inventory to acquire it.  By these teachings, Jesus reminds us that the Kingdom is worth everything we have or will ever have.  But it cannot be bought with any amount of money or goods; it can be purchased only with our lives.  The price is high, it is worth it, but few will pay it.  It means placing God's work ahead of every other value in life -- wealth, power, politics, prestige, success, and yes, even life itself.  Any lesser surrender and we have not entered the Kingdom.  Nevertheless, among our  contemporary Christianities, there are more than a few opportunities to acquire bargain-basement religion in which one can pursue those false gods and still claim to be all for Jesus.  But that kind of commitment cannot satisfy.  Actually putting God's agenda in first place is a struggle, but brings us delight even in the midst of poverty and deprivation, serenity in the middle of strife and discord.  It give us what Saint Paul calls "the peace which passes all understanding."   And that is priceless.

In the fifth parable, which is thematically similar to the wheat-and-darnel story, the Master analogizes our faith life to a dragnet which catches every sort of sea creature, and then at the end of the age, angels cull out the unworthy ones and discard them.  By this tale, Jesus sends us a clear message that how we live our lives matters, that there will be an accounting at the end, but in the meantime the faith community must be open to all sorts, and it is not our place to judge others.  It would seem that my judicial licence and yours expired on the cross.  We must be open and affirming, loving and forgiving, inclusive as our Saviour was.

The final parable is the story of a householder who shows that he is a Kingdom person by not only employing what is old but also what is new.   This analogizes well our understanding that, even as faith is rooted in our ancient Tradition, it is also refreshed by our openness to new truth and new insights, as human knowledge increases now at an explosive rate.  There is nothing in science or factual evidence that should ever be a threat to the faith.  We continue to be faithful to the essence of what we have received from God's Word (Jesus), what we have from the Church's patrimony of two millenia -- including Scripture, the insights of the seven true Ecumenical Councils and the Fathers and Mothers.  We are also open to the promptings of the Spirit as revealed in reason and lived experience of the Faithful.   Our storehouse truly honours the old and the new, in the tension of holy discernment.

Pentecost VI: Sowing

In 1919 the United States passed the Volstead Act, outlawing all liquor nationwide, and Prohibition began in January, 1920.  Thereafter, the Crown Prince (future King Edward VIII) paid a royal visit to Canada, whose head of state is the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom.  Whilst in Canada, the Prince chose to visit a pub near the southern border and there was taught a little ditty by the local patrons.  Back in England, he sang it for his father the King who was delighted.   The song is to the tune of the nursery rime Four and Twenty Blackbirds and went:  "Four and twenty Yankees, feeling very dry, went across the border to get a drink of rye, and when the rye was opened, the Yanks began to sing, 'God bless America, but God save the King'."

You never know how something may be received,  There were strong emotions on both sides of the Prohibition movement but in practice the prohibition was a disaster which resulted in thousands of  illegal taverns (speakeasys), strengthened organized crime in our country, and wasted our resources.  It was summarily repealed in 1933.  Jesus, in his day, generated a variety of reactions.  This radical rebellious rabbi was a great teacher, used the standard rabbinic techniques (gross exaggeration, pun, answering question with another question) and relied on mashal or parables.  In John's late and a- historical gospel Jesus eschews parables but they are his stock-in-trade in the earlier, more factual gospel accounts.

Today he tells the parable of the sower who sows seed on various kinds of ground and which, of course, takes root in good soil.  Uncharacteristically, Jesus "unpacks" this one for the disciples who are portrayed as rather dense in the earlier gospels, but get smarter with each succeeding gospel.  For us it is obvious that  the ultimate point is that Jesus' message, falling into receptive hearts, takes root.
He closes by saying "the one who has ears had better listen" (my translation).  He is talking about hearing with compassion, hearing that leads to heeding and then to action.  And Jesus says that thirty-, sixty-, and hundred-fold harvests are possible.  Well, folks, there are no fertilizers or farming techniques that can do that!   He is talking supernatural results for a church on fire for justice and the building of God's kingdom.  Expect no less.

Pentecost V: Legacy

The story is told of a retired gentleman hired as a Walmart greeter. He went the extra mile to meet and get to know customers and was very popular.  His manager was extremely pleased, except  for the gentleman's tardiness.  Finally he called in him, complimented his work but said, "Martin, I understand that you were in the military.  I must ask, what did they say if you reported in minutes late?  "Usually," the employee replied, "they said, Good morning, Admiral.  Can I get your coffee?"

In today's reading [Mt. 11:16 et seq.], Jesus is drawing fire from the Establishment.  When John the Baptiser ministers under the Nazirite Vow, avoiding alcoholic beverages and fasting a lot, the powers that be called him a nut.  When Jesus comes, drinking alcohol and partying with outcasts and sinners, he is accused of being a drunkard with bad associates.  He can't catch a break!

His comeback, though, is perfect.  Look at the results, he says, the same thing he told the Baptiser when he inquired about the nature of Jesus' ministry:  Look around, lives are being changed!  And they were the lives, not of the rich and famous, but of ordinary people like you and me.  Jesus tells religious establishment types that hookers and tax agents are coming into God's Kingdom first!

An overview of the bible will confirm that God specializes in nobodies.  Think of Moses and of David, ordinary people who are reborn to extraordinary work.

Jesus gives us a kind of formula of what they looks like.  Come to me, he says, which means you must give up control, stop being the centre of your universe, and have me as your Saviour, not as your mascot.  Take my yoke,  commit to do Christ's work, build a new world in which God's will is done on earth as in heaven.  I am reminded of a speaker who said when we Americans stand before the Throne of Judgement, we will not be asked, "How low were your taxes?" but "What did you do for the least?"  Who's yoke are you bearing?

Learn, don't go around accepting what you have been told, investigate, be open, especially to new truths and insights from God.  You will find spiritual rest, leave behind our culture's passion for self- absorption, where nothing is ever good enough.  Lose your anxiety and live in trust of a God who accepts you just as he made you.

To follow Jesus' Agenda means leaving a legacy, as an individual, a church community, and in our society.  Alfred Nobel was mistakenly reported as dead by a Paris newspaper when Alfred's brother passed on.  The paper called Alfred, who had invented dynamite to enhance infrastructure work for a better world, a "merchant of death," because his invention had revolutionized warfare and made the killing of people possible on a scale never known before.  Alfred was so taken aback, sorrowful for the misuse of his invention, that he created the Nobel Prize which has done so much good for many different disciplines, contributing to a better world.  He wanted a better legacy.

What legacy will you leave behind, if any?

Pentecost IV: Mission

Jesus has been talking to his twelve apostles about mission.  He calls them, ordains them, equips them, and sends them out.  He also warns them of the dangers of the mission, as well as promising the reward of the just -- the satisfaction of doing right because it is the right thing to do, pleasing God whom we trust with our temporal and eternal destinies.  How different from the rewards of our culture: the wealth, fame and power conferred by Empire and the economic engine driving it.

But what is mission?   I believe Saint C. S. Lewis, one of the great Anglicans of the twentieth century, nailed it when he said our mission to make "little Christs," nothing more, nothing less.

A few days ago fell the traditional Feast of Saints Peter and Paul.  Now there is an "odd couple!"  Peter taught that a convert must be circumcised, follow Torah (in its torqued-up version introduced by Jesus), and then accept Jesus as the newly-defined Messiah, in order properly to follow the life of a Christian.  Paul, insisting on a private revelation, taught that gentiles were excused from the Law and its provisions, required only to trust in God through Jesus and thereby to be full Christians.  That fundamental disagreement was painful and led to a whole lot of trouble.  Peter insisted on "Temple government" which has continued in the church for almost two millenia, in the ministry of bishops, priests, and deacons; whereas, Paul's vision of "synagogue government,"  church rule by committees of old men, did not prevail.  Yet, in 64 C.E. both Peter and Paul died in Rome, martyred for the Faith, for both had in common the conviction that God had entered human history in a unique way in Jesus Christ who brought a new radical way of living, loving, and serving others. For he challenged people to be about building the Kingdom of God on earth, so that God's will could be done here as it is in heaven.   The task of spawning little Christs requires focus on basics.

A few days from now falls Independence Day, when we celebrate the benefits, prerogatives, and freedoms enjoyed by American citizens.    Let us ask ourselves, as little Christs, whom are we to welcome?  How does my attitude affect what I do in family, in church, in community, and in the wider world?  Many churches this morning will conduct services that send the message that their worshippers are Americans who also just happen to be Christians.  We must worship as Christians who also happen to be Americans!  There can be no second-tier Christianity.  It's like being pregnant:  you are or you aren't, there is no middle state.   In a culture that is focussed on suspicion, judgementalism, and division, on exclusion and kicking people out -- how will we foster the hospitality, welcome, and inclusion that Jesus practised?

In today's Tulsa World there is a photograph of our music minister, Rod Ruthrauff, along with my friend Rabbi Marc Fitzerman, and perhaps a dozen other protesters outside the Tulsa jail.  I wish I could have been there with them on Thursday.  I am so proud of Rod's witness as a true follower of Christ!  These protesters were objecting to arbitrary deportations of people who are not criminal or detrimental to our American society in any way.    I am sure some readers this morning wondered why a handful of people bothered to gather in protest, but I wonder, here in a city whose mascot is Jesus, why there weren't ten thousand Christians down there!  In my mind there can be no morality, no merit in policies which target hardworking, taxpaying immigrants performing jobs no one else wants, who only need a green card, and deporting them for such as minor traffic violations, tearing their families apart, often sending people back to countries they don't even remember.  What would Jesus say about that?  How can such a policy be anything but immoral political pandering?  We can do much better.  The Gospel demands it.

Aqedah

In many churches, the Hebrew Bible reading will be preached on Sunday.  That well-known text is the aqedah, or binding, of Isaac.  In the story, God orders Abraham to burn his son alive.  Abraham meekly agrees and is about to off his offspring when God intervenes, says don't do it, and provides a sheep for sacrifice instead.  I cannot imagine a better example in all Scripture of why we do not take bible stories literally!  To read this story as history is to make a monster of God and a horrible father of the Father of Nations.  What kind of deity asks one of his beloved people to murder his own child? What kind of parent would comply?   Not me, I would have said, take my life if you wish, but I will not harm a hair on my son!

So what is going on here in our barbaric tale?  True. it does reflect the early Judaic vision of God as c capricious and bloodthirsty.  We've gotten past that.   But, more to the point, the story is a symbolic, aetiology, a tale conjured up to explain why something is the way it is.   Why do we Jews not practise human (and particularly child) sacrifice for atonement purposes, as our neighbours do?  How did we come to recognize such restriction as one of many ways in which we would rise to a higher level than other Canaanite peoples and help define ourselves as a "chosen people"?   Hence, this macabre story.

Corpus Christi Sunday: Basics

Today is a happy conjunction of the Feast of the Body of Christ and Father's Day when we honour fathers, living and deceased.  Fatherhood is a primary trait that western religion has imputed to God, although there are also feminine images for God in Scripture and liturgy.  Early notions of God in Judaism were of a father who was a kind of super-sized version of us on a bad-hair day:  jealous, angry, capricious, terrifying, and bloodthirsty and, of course ,fond of only one human tribe. I could never worship a deity like that.   It is good that progressive Christians (and Jews and most Muslims) have moved beyond that model to hold up an image of God that comports with God's incredible love. goodness, and mercy experienced in our hearts and lives..  My late friend Doctor Marcus Borg spoke of God as "the More," the power that is more than the sum of everything in the universe.  I like that.

When we speak of the seven Sacraments of the Church in which the Holy Spirit effects God's power in our lives, we can also say that we see "the More" at work.  Baptism is more than pouring water on a baby's head and snapping photos.  Christian marriage is more than a couple reciting words in the presence of a priest.  And so forth.  Certainly in the Eucharist, which we uphold today, we see that More at work.   Most Protestants err when they suggest that Communion is only an execise in drinking grape juice and eating crackers whilst thinking about Jesus.  The memorial meal is there, sure, but also the Reality is present, the Body and Blood of the Lord under the appearances of bread and wine. That is fundamental in our Catholic teaching.

At the institution of the Lord's Supper, Jesus takes bread, blesses it, breaks it, declares it His Body, and gives it out.  Then he takes wine, blesses it, declares it to be His Blood, and gives it out.  Then he authorizes or ordains the apostles to repeat what he has done, that is, to continue this rite until Christ returns at the end of time.  In turn, those apostles ordained bishops who ordained other bishops and priests to celebrate Mass, right down to today, as we shall experience in a few minutes.

As for our belief in the Real Presence, anyone reading the sixth chapter of John, which we heard from today, would be hard put to speak of symbolism.  I don't know what else could have been said clearly to reflect the faith of the Church.  And Saint Paul, writing to the Corinthians on the same subject, goes so far as to say that some people have fallen ill or died by receiving Communion without perceiving the presence of Christ's Body and Blood.  That is a remarkably serious testimony.

Often the Mass is called the new Passover.  In three of the four gospels, the Last Supper is depicted as a Passover meal, so that the Last Supper is also the first Mass.  It is a wonderful analogy.  But may I suggest we look at another notion suggested by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who mentions the ancient todah sacrifice.  One who had been spared from great crisis -- like a shipwreck, being lost in the desert, physical assault, serious illness, etc. -- would go to the Temple and petition for a todah sacrifice of "praise and thanksgiving."  The priest would offer up sacrifice, including bread and wine, while the petitioner told the story of his being saved.   As we receive our Lord today in his holy sacrament, let us remember the many times we have spared and give thanks to God for all our great blessings.

Trinity Sunday Impressions

Today's "psalm" reading, called Canticle 13, is actually Daniel 3: 52-56 in the Old Testament..  It is a portion of what is called The Song of the Three and is one of several parts of the Bible removed by protestants at the time of the continental Reformation.   Sad, as the passage is truly beautiful and constitutes pure praise of God, which we raise on this Sunday.

The fundamentalist sect in which I was reared prided itself on being bible-literal and also having a perfect, infallible interpretation of everything in Scripture.  When I was a youth, our pulpit minister preached an impressive sermon on the Trinity, using the traditional analogies of the spinning wheel and the shamrock.  Some months later, a guest evangelist preached a revival in our church and stated openly that the doctrine of the Trinity is not scriptural, is rather of Catholic provenance; and he even suggested that the Son and the Holy Spirit are subordinate to God the Father, fully repudiating the ancient doctrine of the Trinity.

To some extent both preachers were correct.  The Trinity is indeed Catholic Doctrine.  And the Trinity is not taught in Scripture.  St. Paul's listing of the three together (2 Cor. 13:13) does not imply any particular relationship.  And the formula in Matthew's gospel of about 80 C.E. as found at the end of the last chapter, clearly involved insertion of what was, by that time, baptismal formula.

The Trinity is a teaching of Christ's Holy Catholic Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and we do accept it for that reason.  That does not mean, however, that we can possibly understand it.   We struggle with the proposition that 1+1+1=1.  Perhaps we should be saying 1x1x1=1.  But, as Daniel Webster said about the equation, "I don't pretend to understand the maths of heaven." We are dealing with sacred Mystery and cannot pretend to plumb the inner life of God.  Let me just leave you with a couple of impressions that might be useful in living into the Mystery.

First, love is by nature effusive and finds its essence in relationship. And it is only in relationship that love is experienced.   There can be no one-party love affair.  The flow of love amongst the three Persons of the Trinity is simply how love works and, in the context of that divine love, we find that love overflowing and poured into our hearts by God, so that we are impelled to love others.   And that by nature means active love, which is sacrificial service.

Second, the first person or "Father" is perfectly imaged in the second person, Jesus, the "Son" or metaphor of God, who shows us exactly and completely how God cares, how God loves, how God serves and suffers with God's people.  The third person, or "Spirit" is the agency by which we are, however slowly and however imperfectly, formed into the image of the Son.  Together the three Persons are the One God who creates, redeems, and sanctifies the cosmos.  We are privileged to have been factored into God's equation, called to love God and our neighbour as ourselves.

Pentecost: Getting the Show on the Road

At our shrine in Walsingham, England there is a lovely mosaic depicting the scene described in today's first reading.  The Blessed Mother stands in the upper room surrounded by the apostles. Obedient to Jesus' call to go to Jerusalem and wait, they are all waiting for God's new thing. In typical biblical depiction of theophany (God manifesting), there is loud wind and there is fire, described here as tongues alighting on each of the upper-roomers.

This means that the Holy Spirit has now been given, and we see it manifest here in the story of peoples of many tongues hearing the Good News each in one's own language -- a tale symbolizing that there shall be no national or linguistic boundaries.  The new phenomenon -- the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church -- will be open to all and will reach the known world.

A bit of background information will be helpful.  The ancient Jewish festival called shavuot was a celebration of harvest, there being observed fifty days (pente konte in Greek) from Passover to the wheat harvest.  In time rabbis added to the feast celebration of the giving of the Law, believed to have taken place at Sinai after fifty days.  So shavuot celebrates the harvest of produce and the giving of the Law.  Any informed Jew would see that the Christian "upgrade" here is the harvest of souls and giving of the Spirit.  This is another way in which Luke, author of Acts, emphasizes continuity from Judaism to the Christian Movement.

The Church which has now received the Holy Spirit released by the Exaltation of Jesus, will have seven sacraments mediated by that same Spirit.  There will be the Eucharist in which we are fed spiritually; Confirmation in which we make our adult faith profession, and are commissioned for service; Penance in which we received sacramental assurance of God's forgiveness, and counsel; Holy Orders in which bishops, priests and deacons are ordained for all generations to come; Holy Matrimony for the blessing of Christian marriage; and Unction, the anointing for healing.    But before any of these can be experienced, there must be Baptism, the primal sacrament, in which God incorporates us into that family of faith, not after reaching some fictitious age of accountability, not after an imaginary understanding of the sacramental work of the Spirit, but rather at any age, as the Church relies on God's grace..  Today, we have an infant, Madelyn Grace Johnson, for baptism.  Her parents have chosen for her patron and heavenly prayer-partner Saint Grace, a mediaeval figure whose persistence in her conversion to Christianity cost her her life.  In the present world, a new Christian certainly needs to grow up encouraged in the spirit of persistence, with a community of faithful people who have her back!

Easter VII: Wait!

Today is traditionally called Expectation Sunday, falling between the Ascension, when Jesus returns to the Father, and Pentecost.  The reference to expectation is understood in the light of the Acts text where Jesus' crew ask: when will get this show on the road?  Jesus answers that they don't need to know, instead that they are to go to Jerusalem and wait.  The Holy Spirit will act at the right time, whenever that may be.  So the Apostles collect the Blessed Mother, and a few others, and go directly to Jerusalem to wait.

Waiting is something that we red-blooded Americans hate to do, isn't it?  We want instant credit, quality fast food, not having to queue up for anything.  We are not very patient people.  And we like to call God's hand, because we can't wait, pray, discern.  To complicate matters, when the Spirit does move us, there never seem to be the kind of pyrotechnics the apostles and Mary will experience on Pentecost -- theophanies like earthquake, wind, and tongues of fire on everyone.  We could dig that.   It is harder to follow that still, small voice.  But we have to try, as individuals, as a community, and a national church within the worldwide Anglican Communion.  In past decades we spent much time and nervous energy dealing with ordination for women and, more recently, full respect and equality for gay and lesbian Christians.  We were led by good science and good exegesis. Discernment can be hard.

The right kind of discernment helps us to get priorities straighter.  This week our United Methodist brothers and sisters are still fighting over who can love whom, while abuse, hunger, discrimination, violence, and injustice abound all around us.

For two thousand years Christians have been called to listen and respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, but instead have listened to other voices.  Preferring war and imperialism, patriotism and nationalism, to the Gospel.  Preferring the accumulation of wealth and power.  Preferring racism, bigotry, and even slavery.  Preferring "Churchianity."   The good news is that every day is a new opportunity to make the right difference.

I want to close by illustrating my message with a passage from Testament of Hope by Saint Martin Luther King:

    "A voice out of Bethlehem two thousand years ago said all men are equal, that right would triumph.  Jesus of Nazareth wrote no books, owned no property to endow him with influence.  He had no friends in the courts of the powerful.  But he changed the course of mankind with only poor and despised people.  We will fight for human justice and brotherhood; we will secure peace and abundance for all.  And when we have won these in a spirit of unshakeable non-violence, then, in luminous splendour, the Christian Era will truly begin."

Easter IV: Areopagus

Each of the canonical gospels has its own special characteristics, agendae, and theology.  The Luke Gospel is distinguished not only by being by and for Gentile converts but also as the only canonical gospel that has a sequel, namely the Acts of the Apostles.  An important agenda item for the gospel was continuity between the Jewish and Christian covenants, thus extending into stories about the growth of the early Church was important.

The second half of Acts is centred on the apostle Paul and our reading today presents Paul at his finest.  Perhaps Paul's greatest contribution to the growing Tradition was speaking of salvation as attaining correct, and eternal, relationship with God through trust in Jesus Christ.  Today, missionary activity finds him in Athens, the intellectual capital of Greece.  He has been invited by locals to give explanation of the "new cult" he propounds.

The Acropolis, or "high city," of Athens sported the Temple of Athena, town patroness, towards the east end and at the west an area called Areopagus, or commonly "Mars Hill,"so named because it was believed that the god Mars had there acquitted himself of charges of having murdered the son of god Neptune.  Logically the area featured judicial procedures and eventually also became a place where various opinions could be aired.  So Paul is in the perfect place.

He delivers what is clearly one of the finest pieces of rhetoric we know.  He tells the Athenians that he has seen an altar "to the unknown god." Actually, it read "to unknown gods," but Paul's adaptation is apt.  He goes on to say that he will reveal the unknown god, who is in fact the one true God who created the universe and "in whom we live, move, and exist."  This God , Paul says, is certainly not anthropomorphic, does not live in temples, and cannot be represented in images.  This God now calls out to humanity and has commended himself through Jesus' resurrection.

So Paul has invited his audience to cast aside primitive theologies and move up to monotheism.  The ancient views of Deity must be shed.  This revealing point shows that Paul himself had moved very far from early Judaism's view of God as a sort of super-sized version of us on a bad-hair day -- one who is angry, bloodthirsty, capricious and treats his children far worse than human parents do.  Time to grow up, Paul says.

It is fair to say that God is not the one who changed over the scope of human history, but that human concepts of the Deity have evolved and become more healthy, in the light of human experience and reason.  In today's Gospel, Jesus speaks of the sending of the Holy Spirit, the "Spirit of Truth," who will, a little later in the same gospel, be spoken of as guiding the Church into all truth.  We see that as au unending gift which allows us better to understand God's will and to deal with new truth being uncovered every day.  We never live in the past or worship the past's archaic view of God.  We can have faith that is always fresh in a God who is always revealing.