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.
Friday, June 30, 2017
Sunday, June 18, 2017
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.
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.
Sunday, June 11, 2017
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.
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.
Sunday, June 4, 2017
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!
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!
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