The Oxford English Dictionary's top new word of the year two years ago was "post-truth," defined as "relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotional and personal beliefs." In a word, ideology taking priority over reality -- a dangerous thing.
Jesus is quoted as saying that "truth will set you free." If that is the case, then it seems logical to conclude that lies enslave people. In our world of fake news, it seems that indeed emotions and personal beliefs trump all else and, if they run afoul of reality, the wicked purveyors will invent "alternative" facts, i.e. lies to take the place of truth.
The President of the United States has already been documented as making more than six thousand statements that are not factual and, thus, intended to compound our truth problem instead of helping to resolve it. That suggests a style of leadership in which the leader's elf-interest is the only real consideration.
Let us seriously consider seeking and following the truth, trusting that when we do we will be liberated from our prison of popular lies and set free to make a positive difference in the world, to bring unity where division is now being sown, bringing friendship and mutual respect where hatred and derision rule, changing monologues of self-interest into dialogues of bridge-building. We can become a part of the solution, while there is still time.
Friday, November 23, 2018
Wednesday, November 21, 2018
Provocation
I still remember a television news clip years ago. A Russian representative was shouting, "Anti-Sovietskii provokatsiya," anti-Soviet provocation. The word comes from the Latin, pro + vocare, before (someone) + to call out, and means to rouse or incite a response in people. In last week's epistular reading, the unknown author of Hebrews encourages his audience to "provoke one another to love and good deeds." [10:24] What a remarkable statement!
I am sure that I regularly provoke people who don't agree with my view of the Gospel of Christ and its unmistakable political implications, and defriending has sometimes taken place. And much of the energy on Facebook seems to be devoted to provoking others to hatred, bigotry, and assimilation of fake news. So I was already intrigued to think that the writer, probably Apollos, expected his people to provoke other people solely for the purpose of spreading love and doing good. How can that be accomplished? Well, it seems to me that we lead by example. We can only provoke love in others by following Jesus' command to love others and especially our enemies. That can be a hellishly difficult assignment and involves reaching out selflessly to show Christ-like behaviour towards them. Provoking others to good works, likewise, incurs setting an example by doing good works which, for the Christian, means nothing less than working for the Reign of God, in which God's "will be done on earth as it is in heaven." That does involve engaging the world and its political implications, however we try to run away from them, remain clear. Whom have you provoked lately?
I am sure that I regularly provoke people who don't agree with my view of the Gospel of Christ and its unmistakable political implications, and defriending has sometimes taken place. And much of the energy on Facebook seems to be devoted to provoking others to hatred, bigotry, and assimilation of fake news. So I was already intrigued to think that the writer, probably Apollos, expected his people to provoke other people solely for the purpose of spreading love and doing good. How can that be accomplished? Well, it seems to me that we lead by example. We can only provoke love in others by following Jesus' command to love others and especially our enemies. That can be a hellishly difficult assignment and involves reaching out selflessly to show Christ-like behaviour towards them. Provoking others to good works, likewise, incurs setting an example by doing good works which, for the Christian, means nothing less than working for the Reign of God, in which God's "will be done on earth as it is in heaven." That does involve engaging the world and its political implications, however we try to run away from them, remain clear. Whom have you provoked lately?
Sunday, November 18, 2018
Pentecost XXVI: End Times?
Our gospel pericope [Mk. 13: 1-8] is remarkable for several reasons. Let us unpack this episode. First, let us say that the passage touches strongly on apocalyptic, which simply put means end times. The Bible contains two apocalyptic books, Daniel, which was controversial when chosen rabbinically for the Jewish Canon, and Revelation, which made it into our New Testament by one bishop's vote; Augustine had to break a tie.
Before engaging our Gospel passage, I need to make a couple of preliminary comments. It is important to understand that Mark's Gospel was likely released in the form we have it, shortly after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in the year 70. Also, the apostles were all Jews; and as such, would have been to the Temple for every pilgrimage feast, and on other occasions, since age twelve. Now to the text. When Jesus shows the Temple to his followers, they act as though they have never seen it. They are dazzled by the grandeur of the buildings. That sets Jesus up to state unequivocally that no stone will be left upon another. But that too reflects a research error, as the Western Wall stood, and still does today. The purpose of the tale is retrojection, to allow Jesus to predict the destruction of the Temple and its spiritual replacement by Himself, for us who are his followers.
But what about end times? When do you think the world will end? We know that our sun will go nova in five billion years and destroy what remains of the earth. But well before that, the earth will have become too hot to sustain life as we know it. And we can likely back up the calendar even farther, by noting that today's world economy, rooted in greed and exploitation -- human mismanagement -- is already causing the earth to lose some of its ability to sustain life. So we don't know when the world will end, but realistically we experience the end when our own personal earthly existence is over, and life is short.
In the meantime, in whatever time you and I may have left, there will continue to be evil -- hunger, murder, natural disasters, sudden illness. Bang, your world is over, because life hangs by a thread. However, what is important is that God is with us through everything we face and, as long as time runs for us, God makes new beginnings possible. And that is our ground of hope.
In the film, the Shawshank Redemption, Red says to Andy, "Hope is a dangerous thing. It can drive a man insane." Andy corrects, saying, "Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of all things, and no good thing ever dies."
Before engaging our Gospel passage, I need to make a couple of preliminary comments. It is important to understand that Mark's Gospel was likely released in the form we have it, shortly after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in the year 70. Also, the apostles were all Jews; and as such, would have been to the Temple for every pilgrimage feast, and on other occasions, since age twelve. Now to the text. When Jesus shows the Temple to his followers, they act as though they have never seen it. They are dazzled by the grandeur of the buildings. That sets Jesus up to state unequivocally that no stone will be left upon another. But that too reflects a research error, as the Western Wall stood, and still does today. The purpose of the tale is retrojection, to allow Jesus to predict the destruction of the Temple and its spiritual replacement by Himself, for us who are his followers.
But what about end times? When do you think the world will end? We know that our sun will go nova in five billion years and destroy what remains of the earth. But well before that, the earth will have become too hot to sustain life as we know it. And we can likely back up the calendar even farther, by noting that today's world economy, rooted in greed and exploitation -- human mismanagement -- is already causing the earth to lose some of its ability to sustain life. So we don't know when the world will end, but realistically we experience the end when our own personal earthly existence is over, and life is short.
In the meantime, in whatever time you and I may have left, there will continue to be evil -- hunger, murder, natural disasters, sudden illness. Bang, your world is over, because life hangs by a thread. However, what is important is that God is with us through everything we face and, as long as time runs for us, God makes new beginnings possible. And that is our ground of hope.
In the film, the Shawshank Redemption, Red says to Andy, "Hope is a dangerous thing. It can drive a man insane." Andy corrects, saying, "Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of all things, and no good thing ever dies."
Sunday, November 11, 2018
Pentecost XXV: Religious Cons
The relationship between organized religion and organized government is a hot-button issue around the globe. In our country, we have what Thomas Jefferson called the "high wall of separation between the Church and the State," although many are working to destroy that wall. In the United Kingdom, there is union of Church and State. In Iran, likewise, where all persons of all faiths or no faith are subject to Shariah Law which, taken literally, is just as barbaric and cruel as the Law of Moses. In Ireland, which has Church-State unity, they have finally made it legal for a person to disagree with a teaching of the Roman Communion. In Israel today, you are either an Orthodox Jew or you are a nobody in terms of civil rights. Unity of religion and governance has long been policy in Jewish territory.
It was in the first century, CE. That is why the Scribes discussed today [Mk. 12: 38-44] were so indispensable: they were both legal experts and Bible experts. Indispensable but not incorruptible. Running a con still practised by Christian televangelists today, the Scribes and their colleagues were actively encouraging "seed gifts" of money people needed to live on and could not afford to give. The pitch was that reaching out in extreme giving would results in manifold blessings. That was certainly correct: the evangelist is blessed, as he lines his pockets. So with those Scribes of old feathering their nests.
The Temple treasury wall contained several horn-like protuberances into which various kinds of donations were dropped. Silver coins, given ostentatiously by the rich, had a distinct sound when placed in a tube; copper, a very different sound. It is in this way that Jesus knows that the widow inserted two leptae, the smallest Roman copper coins.
There are Christian clergy who will try to praise the widow's reckless action (giving away her last two copper coins) for their own purposes. The point of the passage is that the Scribes "devour widow's houses," in other words, steal the assets of the poor and gullible by stealth. In fact, donating money needed to live on was a severe sin under the Jewish Law! The Scribe-predators were convincing the vulnerable to break that very commandment. The widow was ripped-off and Jesus is justly angry.
We here learn that we must earn and retain the money required to meet our legitimate personal needs and those of the people who depend on us. Beyond that, then, is the area of our wealth that falls under Gospel judgement. It is the rest of the budget where God calls us to prioritize our holy commitment to build the Kingdom. I might ask you, if an auditor examined your books, would he conclude that God's work is the most important commitment to you? Would the first cheques you write each payday be to church and charitable work? Or maybe God gets the leftovers after you have provided for your needs and then spent on everything you want. If God is not first in our hit parade, something else is, perhaps wealth accumulation, pleasure, hobbies -- any number of things can outrank God in our priorities. Christ calls us to reject these "lesser gods," reorder our values, make God number one in our lives through sacrificial giving, and trust God to take care of us.
When Shelby and I first made the commitment to sacrificial giving, we discovered our donations were only about two percent. We went to work on moving towards the benchmark of the biblical tithe, ten percent, and we surpassed that a long time ago. It is a wonderful feeling to know that we are doing what we can do. One sleeps well when the greatest priority is partnering with God. And one receives countless blessings.
It was in the first century, CE. That is why the Scribes discussed today [Mk. 12: 38-44] were so indispensable: they were both legal experts and Bible experts. Indispensable but not incorruptible. Running a con still practised by Christian televangelists today, the Scribes and their colleagues were actively encouraging "seed gifts" of money people needed to live on and could not afford to give. The pitch was that reaching out in extreme giving would results in manifold blessings. That was certainly correct: the evangelist is blessed, as he lines his pockets. So with those Scribes of old feathering their nests.
The Temple treasury wall contained several horn-like protuberances into which various kinds of donations were dropped. Silver coins, given ostentatiously by the rich, had a distinct sound when placed in a tube; copper, a very different sound. It is in this way that Jesus knows that the widow inserted two leptae, the smallest Roman copper coins.
There are Christian clergy who will try to praise the widow's reckless action (giving away her last two copper coins) for their own purposes. The point of the passage is that the Scribes "devour widow's houses," in other words, steal the assets of the poor and gullible by stealth. In fact, donating money needed to live on was a severe sin under the Jewish Law! The Scribe-predators were convincing the vulnerable to break that very commandment. The widow was ripped-off and Jesus is justly angry.
We here learn that we must earn and retain the money required to meet our legitimate personal needs and those of the people who depend on us. Beyond that, then, is the area of our wealth that falls under Gospel judgement. It is the rest of the budget where God calls us to prioritize our holy commitment to build the Kingdom. I might ask you, if an auditor examined your books, would he conclude that God's work is the most important commitment to you? Would the first cheques you write each payday be to church and charitable work? Or maybe God gets the leftovers after you have provided for your needs and then spent on everything you want. If God is not first in our hit parade, something else is, perhaps wealth accumulation, pleasure, hobbies -- any number of things can outrank God in our priorities. Christ calls us to reject these "lesser gods," reorder our values, make God number one in our lives through sacrificial giving, and trust God to take care of us.
When Shelby and I first made the commitment to sacrificial giving, we discovered our donations were only about two percent. We went to work on moving towards the benchmark of the biblical tithe, ten percent, and we surpassed that a long time ago. It is a wonderful feeling to know that we are doing what we can do. One sleeps well when the greatest priority is partnering with God. And one receives countless blessings.
Wednesday, November 7, 2018
St. Paul the Confessor
The years 311 and 325 were crucial to what Christianity became after the early centuries in which it was not a legal religion in the Roman Empire and was frequently persecuted. The worst persecution occurred before the accession of Emperor Constantine. As the story goes, he was in battle when he experienced a vision of a cross in the sky, with the legend, In hoc signo vinces, In this sign you will conquer. Then and there he pledged to go Christian if he won the battle, which he did. So, as of the year 311, Christianity was legal. (It would be another century before it became the state religion.) Soon the Emperor decided that Christianity, which simply would not die out from persecution, was indeed the glue he needed to unify the nation. Being a Roman, he saw Christianity in the category similar to ancient philosophies and, so, wanted doctrine standardized. One size must fit all. To that end, he called the first ecumenical council in 325, paid the travel expenses of all bishops to attend, and chaired all the meetings, not allowing adjournment until a Creed was produced. The result was the Nicene Creed, our story which we still recite every Sunday. But, unlike our church today, every article had to be literally and strictly construed. That is uniformity, not unity!
The biggest single issue to be hammered out was whether the logos of God was existent from the beginning of time or created in time. The Catholic position was clear, "There was no time when He was not." The Arian heretics, in turn, denied that doctrine. Some sessions turned violent and, although the orthodox position prevailed in the Council, the Arians left the council and continued to teach their heterodox opinion over a large area of the known world. It is within that environment that Saint Paul the Confessor was ordained Bishop of Constantinople, who held the most influential ecclesial position in the East. Paul was, in fact, installed as bishop and then exiled three times!
During the third exile in Cappadocia, he was strangled by an Arian Christian and is, therefore, one of the martyrs.
His story reminds me of two key points. First, the early church had a diversity of opinion, was not eager to silence divergent voices, but rather focused on Christianity as a relationship with Christ and one another, in which we love God and neighbour, and devote our energy to building the Kingdom of God. Ever since Nicaea we have been distracted with much doctrinal stuff that gets in the way of our mission. When we are tempted to descend into dogmatism, we need to remember to stay tuned to what is really important. And it isn't dogma and doctrinal purity.
Second, I am reminded that church politics is insane because the treasure is in earthen vessels. Now, as then, Mother Church attracts crazy people. But despite everything, the Holy Spirit works through the mess and leads us into all truth, as promised, and gives us the clarity and strength to do more than we know or can imagine. Christ continues to live in his people and in those we serve, as we work towards the Reign of God.
The biggest single issue to be hammered out was whether the logos of God was existent from the beginning of time or created in time. The Catholic position was clear, "There was no time when He was not." The Arian heretics, in turn, denied that doctrine. Some sessions turned violent and, although the orthodox position prevailed in the Council, the Arians left the council and continued to teach their heterodox opinion over a large area of the known world. It is within that environment that Saint Paul the Confessor was ordained Bishop of Constantinople, who held the most influential ecclesial position in the East. Paul was, in fact, installed as bishop and then exiled three times!
During the third exile in Cappadocia, he was strangled by an Arian Christian and is, therefore, one of the martyrs.
His story reminds me of two key points. First, the early church had a diversity of opinion, was not eager to silence divergent voices, but rather focused on Christianity as a relationship with Christ and one another, in which we love God and neighbour, and devote our energy to building the Kingdom of God. Ever since Nicaea we have been distracted with much doctrinal stuff that gets in the way of our mission. When we are tempted to descend into dogmatism, we need to remember to stay tuned to what is really important. And it isn't dogma and doctrinal purity.
Second, I am reminded that church politics is insane because the treasure is in earthen vessels. Now, as then, Mother Church attracts crazy people. But despite everything, the Holy Spirit works through the mess and leads us into all truth, as promised, and gives us the clarity and strength to do more than we know or can imagine. Christ continues to live in his people and in those we serve, as we work towards the Reign of God.
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