At the Gilcrease Museum there is a wonderful exhibit of the works of Norman Rockwell. Those of us of more than tender years may remember how Rockwell's paintings were widely seen, often on the cover of Saturday Evening Post magazine. His paintings captured in a unique way the very best of humanity and of American society back in the day. What made his work so special was his absolute refusal to use professional models. All his paintings are of real people in real life situations, and most all manage to bring a smile, a chuckle, an awww, or a few tears. A number of people who appeared in Rockwell's paintings as infants or children have served in mature years as docents at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Arlington, Vermont.
In one interview about his creativity, Rockwell commented that all his creativity was as nothing in comparison to the creativity of God. In the Catholic tradition, we speak of Trinity as a mystery and, despite our best efforts at analogies of shamrocks, spinning wheels, and sunrays, we are left with the unexplainable. I believe we are better to speak, like Rockwell, about creativity. God the Father is continually involved in the ongoing creation of the universe and of life. God the Son continually redeems us back to being the persons we were meant to be. God the Spirit supports and sustains us throughout our life's journey. All of this happens because God is love, and so God's essence is in self-giving. Love flowing out amongst the Persons of the Trinity. Self-giving we see in creation and the gift of life. Self-giving in Christ on the Cross, showing us how much God love us. Self-giving when we receive Him at our altar under the appearances of bread and wine.
We may also speak of God the Father perfectly imaged in the Son, and the Son becoming imaged in use through the work of the Spirit. We as Christians, then, live constantly in trinitarian life. We pour out our creativity in loving and serving others. Like Rockwell, we creatively paint the stories of our lives. When it is all over but the shouting, what will your picture look like?
Sunday, May 27, 2018
Sunday, May 20, 2018
Pentecost: Happy Birthday, Church
This is the birthday of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. To understand better our story, consider that Luke (author of Acts) had two primary agendas: first, to establish connection and flow from the Jewish Covenant to the Christian Covenant, and second, to focus on the role of the Holy Spirit.
The underlying Jewish Feast, shavout, was originally a festival of the harvest, fifty days after the appearance of the first buds on the fruit trees. (Pentecost means 'fifty days.') Later, Rabbis added to the feast the theme of the giving of the Law. So it became a double-header. The cognizant Jewish reader would immediately notice in today's story that the Christian Pentecost is a festival marking a harvest of souls and also the giving of the Spirit. An outstanding transition!
Additionally, in the text's story about people with multiple languages being able to understand the Apostles -- each in his or her own language -- would be quickly recognized as a reversal of Babel. (Remember the aetiology story in the Jewish Bible wherein the multiplicity of human languages is explained by God's getting angry at people for trying to build a tower to heaven, and sabotaging the project by instantly creating all the world's languages at once.) We know the message of Christ will transcend borders of ethnicity and language. The new Pentecost brings a new Covenant that is open to all humanity and breaks down all barriers!
And, so the Church is born. Apostles will go on to found, or accept leadership in, all the great see cities, like Rome, Jerusalem, Antioch, and so forth. And they will begin the apostolic succession of bishops from their time right up to today with our own bishop, Ed Konieczny. That Church will comprise through history three primary Communions: Roman, Orthodox, and our own Anglican.
The key characteristic of that Church will be life in the Spirit, for the Holy Spirit has begun to lead Christs's Catholic Church on her first Pentecost. The gifts ("fruits") of that Spirit, according to the biblical witness, are: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Wherever you see these at work in the Christian project anywhere in the world, you can be sure the Spirit of God is active. Where these are missing, you can be sure another spirit is at work. And Saint Paul charges us to "test the spirits."
Pope Francis has said that there are four main ways of closing off the Holy Spirit. First is any selfish behaviour. Second, rigid legalism. Third, failure to follow Jesus' actual teachings. Fourth, using the Church for your personal interests and networking. Thus, it seems to me that the opposites of these traits would be selfless service of others, openness to new truth and insights, conformance to Jesus' actual teachings, and participating in and supporting the Church out of love of God and not personal gain. I know of no religous community more committed to such values than Episcopalians.
We would do well on reflect on what life in the Spirit means, so we can continue to be a part of God's solution, and not part of the problem.
The underlying Jewish Feast, shavout, was originally a festival of the harvest, fifty days after the appearance of the first buds on the fruit trees. (Pentecost means 'fifty days.') Later, Rabbis added to the feast the theme of the giving of the Law. So it became a double-header. The cognizant Jewish reader would immediately notice in today's story that the Christian Pentecost is a festival marking a harvest of souls and also the giving of the Spirit. An outstanding transition!
Additionally, in the text's story about people with multiple languages being able to understand the Apostles -- each in his or her own language -- would be quickly recognized as a reversal of Babel. (Remember the aetiology story in the Jewish Bible wherein the multiplicity of human languages is explained by God's getting angry at people for trying to build a tower to heaven, and sabotaging the project by instantly creating all the world's languages at once.) We know the message of Christ will transcend borders of ethnicity and language. The new Pentecost brings a new Covenant that is open to all humanity and breaks down all barriers!
And, so the Church is born. Apostles will go on to found, or accept leadership in, all the great see cities, like Rome, Jerusalem, Antioch, and so forth. And they will begin the apostolic succession of bishops from their time right up to today with our own bishop, Ed Konieczny. That Church will comprise through history three primary Communions: Roman, Orthodox, and our own Anglican.
The key characteristic of that Church will be life in the Spirit, for the Holy Spirit has begun to lead Christs's Catholic Church on her first Pentecost. The gifts ("fruits") of that Spirit, according to the biblical witness, are: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Wherever you see these at work in the Christian project anywhere in the world, you can be sure the Spirit of God is active. Where these are missing, you can be sure another spirit is at work. And Saint Paul charges us to "test the spirits."
Pope Francis has said that there are four main ways of closing off the Holy Spirit. First is any selfish behaviour. Second, rigid legalism. Third, failure to follow Jesus' actual teachings. Fourth, using the Church for your personal interests and networking. Thus, it seems to me that the opposites of these traits would be selfless service of others, openness to new truth and insights, conformance to Jesus' actual teachings, and participating in and supporting the Church out of love of God and not personal gain. I know of no religous community more committed to such values than Episcopalians.
We would do well on reflect on what life in the Spirit means, so we can continue to be a part of God's solution, and not part of the problem.
Sunday, May 13, 2018
Easter VII: For Mother's Day
In our gospel passage today, we find Jesus praying in the presence of his disciples. Yet, as he speaks to the Father, he states plainly that he is no longer on earth, though they are. And he makes several references suggesting that he is really praying for his disciples in the evangelist John's congregation around the turn of the second century. For he prays for protection (from Roman persecution and the disdain of mainstream Jews). He also states that everyone hates his disciples, which fits John's timeframe.. And there is another laboured anti-Semitic swipe at "Judas." All are Johannine issues.
Let's see what Jesus prays for and what that may say to us. Let me preface by saying that the divine qualities he invokes in our God are, in fact, feminine traits. (Jesus broke the male-imaging barrier elsewhere, also, as when he spoke of God as being like a mother hen taking care of her chicks.) Recent research tells us that human imaging of the Divine was entirely, universally feminine until Judaism, when El/YHVH was seen as the greatest, and then finally the only, Deity. So his wife Ashterah was pitched out, consistent with the patriarchal Jewish mindset, as though God actually has gender and sexuality. (YHVH was so depicted as an angry male, bloodthirsty, jealous, a capricious tyrant greatly to be feared and not much to be loved. The Jewish Bible reminds us that the goddess Ashterah remained clandestinely popular amongst the ladyfolk. Not surprising!
First, Jesus prays for protection. We men think we are natural protectors and rightly so, but I know of no more fierce protector than a mother. Think of a person messing with grizzly bear cubs. Mistake! Our mothers protected us, Mary protects the Church, and we Christians have each other's backs. We protect, as God protects.
Second, Jesus prays for joy. Men are often focussed only on pleasure and on their immediate gratification. Women seems to focus on what is deeper and more profound. In the first line of her famous hymn, Our Lady sings, "my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour." Faith gave to my own mother a joy that I can't describe and which served her well through the vicissitudes of a very rough childhood and an often challenging adult life. Joy is the gift of God that gets us through.
Third, Jesus prays for the truth (to make us holy), just as Mary ponders all things in her heart. I believe that women have a special kind of nose that can detect a lie a mile away. One of my mother's mantras was "be sure your sin will find you out." And she whipped out those words whenever I got caught doing something I should not have, which was frequently. In the Our Gang comedies, Spanky liked to say, "You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you can't fool Mom."
Jesus, in fact, assures us elsewhere in the text, that Holy Mother Church will experience truth through progressive revelation, as the Holy Spirit guides her into all truth. If truth, as Jesus tells us today, is sanctifying, then there cannot be Christian revelation that contradicts science or reality. These must necessarily be in balance. I thank God we are in a tradition where we are open to new awareness and recently discovered truth, thus capable of incorporating the new with the old in our spiritual life. And we are in a tradition in which we can admit having been wrong and make a course-correction.
Fourth, Jesus prays for unity. Our Christian unity is formed in relationship -- relationships with one another and with God through Jesus Christ. Since Cana, the Blessed Virgin's consistent message is: Do what my Son says! Unlike us men, who typically find our centre in compettion, in aggression, and in the acquisition of power and control over others, women seem all about relationship, about building and strengthening those bonds on which the family and community depend. Women are masters of reconciliation and, as Saint Paul said, our is the ministry of reconciliation.
So ,let us thank God for all those mothers in whom we find protection, joy, truth, and unity. Their motherhood mirrors that of Mary --Mother of Jesus and Mother of the Church -- and ultimately the feminine attributes of God. Happy Mother's Day!
Let's see what Jesus prays for and what that may say to us. Let me preface by saying that the divine qualities he invokes in our God are, in fact, feminine traits. (Jesus broke the male-imaging barrier elsewhere, also, as when he spoke of God as being like a mother hen taking care of her chicks.) Recent research tells us that human imaging of the Divine was entirely, universally feminine until Judaism, when El/YHVH was seen as the greatest, and then finally the only, Deity. So his wife Ashterah was pitched out, consistent with the patriarchal Jewish mindset, as though God actually has gender and sexuality. (YHVH was so depicted as an angry male, bloodthirsty, jealous, a capricious tyrant greatly to be feared and not much to be loved. The Jewish Bible reminds us that the goddess Ashterah remained clandestinely popular amongst the ladyfolk. Not surprising!
First, Jesus prays for protection. We men think we are natural protectors and rightly so, but I know of no more fierce protector than a mother. Think of a person messing with grizzly bear cubs. Mistake! Our mothers protected us, Mary protects the Church, and we Christians have each other's backs. We protect, as God protects.
Second, Jesus prays for joy. Men are often focussed only on pleasure and on their immediate gratification. Women seems to focus on what is deeper and more profound. In the first line of her famous hymn, Our Lady sings, "my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour." Faith gave to my own mother a joy that I can't describe and which served her well through the vicissitudes of a very rough childhood and an often challenging adult life. Joy is the gift of God that gets us through.
Third, Jesus prays for the truth (to make us holy), just as Mary ponders all things in her heart. I believe that women have a special kind of nose that can detect a lie a mile away. One of my mother's mantras was "be sure your sin will find you out." And she whipped out those words whenever I got caught doing something I should not have, which was frequently. In the Our Gang comedies, Spanky liked to say, "You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you can't fool Mom."
Jesus, in fact, assures us elsewhere in the text, that Holy Mother Church will experience truth through progressive revelation, as the Holy Spirit guides her into all truth. If truth, as Jesus tells us today, is sanctifying, then there cannot be Christian revelation that contradicts science or reality. These must necessarily be in balance. I thank God we are in a tradition where we are open to new awareness and recently discovered truth, thus capable of incorporating the new with the old in our spiritual life. And we are in a tradition in which we can admit having been wrong and make a course-correction.
Fourth, Jesus prays for unity. Our Christian unity is formed in relationship -- relationships with one another and with God through Jesus Christ. Since Cana, the Blessed Virgin's consistent message is: Do what my Son says! Unlike us men, who typically find our centre in compettion, in aggression, and in the acquisition of power and control over others, women seem all about relationship, about building and strengthening those bonds on which the family and community depend. Women are masters of reconciliation and, as Saint Paul said, our is the ministry of reconciliation.
So ,let us thank God for all those mothers in whom we find protection, joy, truth, and unity. Their motherhood mirrors that of Mary --Mother of Jesus and Mother of the Church -- and ultimately the feminine attributes of God. Happy Mother's Day!
Sunday, May 6, 2018
Easter VI: Abiding
Henry Francis Lyte was born in 1793 near Kelso, Scotland. His father, a Royal Marine, left the family but provided funds for his sons to attend a royal school. Francis did well and was effectively adopted by the headmaster who provided all the funds necessary for him to complete school. Then Francis went to Trinity College in Dublin and was ordained a priest in 1815. He was posted to a congregation in Brexham, England, where he quickly established a reputation as poet and preacher. The parish had a build a new building to accommodate all the new people coming for worship.
A devout Anglo-Catholic, Father Lyte was remembered as buoyant, cheerful, and involved in the world around him. All that while he suffered from COPD, with severe, painful, debilitating bouts of asthma and frequent bouts of bronchitis. When his condition worsened so much that he could no longer function in a pastoral role, he retired. Some time later, he wrote the hymn we just sang, "Abide with Me," considered one of the finest pieces of Christian poetry and a wonderful statement. This hymn became the favourite of King George V and it was sung at His Majesty's funeral. Since 1927, it has been sung at every Football Association Cup final match in England!
But what does it mean to abide? The Greek term meno, is a rich word suggesting standing firm and flourishing in a new place to which one has moved because of a relationship. A new existence in a new realm and time, in which one's individual existence is defined anew, because of relationship to God in Jesus Christ.
Jesus shares with us the benefits of abiding. First, abiding means that the love of God is present in us, so we can love like Jesus. Jesus' love is unconditional, nonjudgmental, without expectation of return. Second, abiding in Jesus creates the byproduct, joy. When we accept the gift of joy, we can face hard disappointments and setbacks with equanimity. Last, abiding means that we are anointed to bear fruit that lasts in a community of friends. In the ancient world there were two classifications of friendship. First, there was what was called the political, based on the patron-client model (What is in it for me?) Second, there was the fictive-kinship,which is focussed on the other (What is in it for you?) That higher form is the nature of Christian friendship, we have each other's back, we bear one another's burdens. That is the nature of true, Christian community called to abide in Christ's love, embraced by divine joy, commissioned to be Christ in the world.
Thursday, May 3, 2018
Ss. James and Philip
This James is the son of Alphaeus, not the son of Zebedee, nor Jesus'sibiling the first bishop of Jerusalem. We know of him only that he and his mother stood with other women to watch the crucifixion of Jesus from a distance. After long service he was arrested and sentenced at the Sanhedrin to death by stoning. After the sentence was pronounced, James began loudly to pray for the Sanhedrin. One, a fuller by trade, was angered by that and beat James with his fuller's club. So James' logo, if you will, is a club.
Our Philip is also an apostle, not to be confused with Philip the deacon who converted the Eunuch from Ethiopia. We encounter Philip briefly a few times. He brought Nathaniel to Jesus. He was asked by Jesus how he would feed the five thousand; ever practical, Philip calculated an amount exceeding 200 denarii, 200 days' wages. At the Last Supper, he asked Jesus to "show us the Father" and was remonstrated by Jesus who is said to assure him that "When you have seen me, you have seen the Father." Finally, Philip is presented with the other apostles and our Blessed Mother in the Upper Room at Pentecost. Philip's mission was preaching in Phrygia where he was crucified and from which his relics were translated to what became the Basilica of the Twelve Apostles. Philip's logo is either a cross or loaves.
These two martyrs remind me that most of us are not going to make it to the big leagues. We can bloom where we are planted, or as President Eisenhower used to counsel, "Play the ball where it lies." Our ministry is less about what we do and more about how we do what we do in a Christian fashion.
Our Philip is also an apostle, not to be confused with Philip the deacon who converted the Eunuch from Ethiopia. We encounter Philip briefly a few times. He brought Nathaniel to Jesus. He was asked by Jesus how he would feed the five thousand; ever practical, Philip calculated an amount exceeding 200 denarii, 200 days' wages. At the Last Supper, he asked Jesus to "show us the Father" and was remonstrated by Jesus who is said to assure him that "When you have seen me, you have seen the Father." Finally, Philip is presented with the other apostles and our Blessed Mother in the Upper Room at Pentecost. Philip's mission was preaching in Phrygia where he was crucified and from which his relics were translated to what became the Basilica of the Twelve Apostles. Philip's logo is either a cross or loaves.
These two martyrs remind me that most of us are not going to make it to the big leagues. We can bloom where we are planted, or as President Eisenhower used to counsel, "Play the ball where it lies." Our ministry is less about what we do and more about how we do what we do in a Christian fashion.
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