Epiphany III: A Look at Corinth

By the first century, the city of Corinth was a beehive of activity.  It had great ethnic and cultural diversity and a significant Jewish population.  Thanks to Saint Paul, it also had a fledgling Christian community.  Paul's first letter to the them was intended to answer questions that were arising and deepen their theological understanding.  (I imagine Paul would have fainted dead away if told that this little letter would end up having weight equal to Torah in a Christian bible centuries later.)

To understand our pericope [1 Cor. 12: 12-31a]  you need to know that the early Church found itself in a holding pattern.  People still believed that Jesus would make a personal, physical return to the earth to close the age.  That meant two important things.  First, there would be no need for Christian scripture because there would be no future generations to evangelize.  Second, there was no need for ordination, for holy orders, for structure in the Church, because there would be no future generations to pass on authority to.  Therefore, as we have read, people simply discerned their talents, if you will there charisms or spiritual gifts, and then exercised them as best they could.  If you believed that you were called to preaching, you went ahead and preached as best you could.  If you had sensed a call to lead in a congregation, you did.  Some traditions have restored that chaos!   (Remember that, while Saint James's church in Jerusalem was a prototypical model of our bishop-priest-deacon paradigm, Paul who was from the diaspora just founded little synagogues, where the customary leadership consisted of seven old men, with one chairing.)  

With the end of the expectation of an imminent second coming of Jesus, the church wrote books called gospels to pass on the story, each with a different take on Jesus and the faith.  And in that subsequent age,  the Church stabilized around the three holy orders.  The deacon serves as a model between the church and the world, is ordained by, and reports to, his bishop.  A priest can do all sacramental activity of a bishop except one: ordination.  A bishop has the fullness of the ordained ministry.  With the new modelling, calls to ordained ministries are heard, tested, then affirmed and given the necessary education and training by the Church.    That does not mean for a second that only ordained people have a call.  On the contrary, all Christians are under a call.  Some of them  without ordination serve in professional ministry: our monks, nuns, and lay pastoral staff come to mind.  But every baptised person is under a call.  We call the process of identifying it discernment.  Just as the Church investigates discernments to all he ordained ministries and to the non-ordained professional, so discernment is needed by everyone.  Search your heart, prayerfully asking God to help you find your calling in parish ministry or out in the community, as an ordained person or as laity.  As Saint Paul says, it is all about building up the Body of Christ in which there is an equal, diverse, and interconnected network, in which every single member has a significant role to discover and fulfill.   Excuses will not be accepted.  Moses and Jeremiah both plead poor speaking ability and being too young.  No sale.  Saint Paul was short, bowlegged, and stammered.  That didn't stop him.  He just hired Barnabas to be his mouthpiece.  Give yourself to God, God will show you the way.

Epiphany II: Sign Story One

John's ahistorical but fascinating theological gospel begins with the Prologue, an addition tacked onto the front end of the manuscript to give the reader a sneak preview of who the protagonist is, namely the Word of God, in this radically different gospel.   Following the prologue, we have seven "sign stories "  These vignettes address seven issues that were expected to reveal the Messiah.  (Remember that seven is the number symbolizing perfection in Judaism; and that mainstream Jews had generally failed to convert to the Jesus Movement long before this very late gospel was released.)

Today we have the first sign story [John 2: 1-11].   Although the casual reader of scripture in trans- lation will not notice, the story begins with comedy.  Mary, Jesus, and his followers, are attending a wedding party. (Such a party often lasted for days and was the most important of social occasions.).  One of the cardinal rules of hosting a wedding party during the first century in Palestine was never, never run out of wine.  Showing herself to be the quintessential Jewish Mother, Mary says to Jesus:  "The have no wine."  Jesus tells her that is not their problem, and this isn't his time. In response, she turns to the servants present and says, "Do whatever he tells you to do."  Jesus gives in and turns the water into wine. When the head steward has tasted it (part of his job description), he asks the groom why he has waited until everyone is drunk before bringing in the good wine!  So Jesus' disciples are blown away.  End of story.

When I was a child, I was taught that the significance of the story was proving that Jesus could do magic.  Wrong.  Nor is it about providing more alcohol to a bunch of people who are three-sheets-to-the-wind.  As usual, literal interpretation fails to convey the meaning of the tale.   This story is actually about the Messianic Banquet long ago predicted in the book of Isaiah.  There we read that the world-to-come will feature a fabulous meal served to all God's People, and that the principal feature of that feast will be the serving of fine, well-aged wine that never runs out.   Message:  God can meet the needs of all.

That is to say, Jesus can turn the water of our despair into the wine of hope, the water of sadness into the wine of joy,  the water of failure into the wine of victory.  Old, ordinary life can give way to new, abundant life.  But what do we need in order to see that happen today?  Our Lady has answered the question:  "Do whatever he tells you to do."

Fundamentalist Flaws

In my opinion, there are several characteristics in the fundamentalist articulation of Christianity that are helping to hasten the demise of our Faith.   Two of those flaws appear prominently in a column which I recently read, authored by an evangelical pastor.  Let me begin by saying that I know that almost any viewpoint can be supported by quoting some passage of Scripture, out-of-context or interpreted through a theologically-defective lens.   These two issues are no exception to that rule.

First, the author prefaces the quotation of Scripture by saying "When the Creator decided to write a book..."   The writer imagines that, out of more than a hundred sacred texts in the world, only the Judaeo-Christian bible is inspired.  This wording betrays what I think is a misunderstanding of the concept of inspiration.  I firmly believe that great art, music, and literature can be divinely inspired.  Does that mean that I believe that God put Beethoven into a trance and wrote the Fifth Symphony for him?  No, certainly not.  In the same vein, I believe that God inspired the panoply of authors who wrote the books of the Bible in Hebrew and Greek over an extended period of time.  Do I believe God dictated the contents or in some fashion guaranteed that they were free of human error?  No, I don't.  I believe the essence of Scripture is: the human expression of two ancient groups -- early Judaism and the early Christian communities -- recounting the experience of their search for God.  The Bible contains quite a few contradictions, factual and scientific errors; and that is to be expected if we are actually dealing in writings of human beings. And, indeed, there are two different Bibles, Catholic and Protestant, and many manuscript variations.  Does that mean that divine inspiration and profound insights can't be found in the Bible?  No, not at all.  In our Tradition, it is common to say that the Word of God is Jesus Christ, not a book.  But that book is a witness to God's life in the world which, for us, finds  supreme articulation in the Saviour who is the human face of God.  In the Anglican understanding, God's revelation is not limited to someone's interpretation of a set of writings, but is experienced equally in scripture, tradition, and reason, in interplay.

The second faux pas lies in this statement:  "Every human...is created in the image and likeness of God.  Only those who have trusted Christ qualify as His children."  Really?  I will have to stand by my conviction that all of humanity are God's children, and that no person has to "qualify" to be a child of God by holding certain opinions about Jesus.  This elitist view has a long and troubling history.  Nazis said Jews don't believe in Christ, they are not God's children, so exterminate them.  During many troubling times in various cultures, including the West, those with orthodox views concluded that heretics were not God's children, so they could be tortured and executed.  Do you envision where Christian elitism can lead?   What is the value in demeaning non-Christians?

There is a profound lack of humility in presuming to tell God how God can and can't communicate with humanity.  There is immense hubris in presuming to tell God whom he can or cannot love and bless.  We must not get above ourselves.

Epiphany I; Commissioning for Christian Leadership

Today is the Feast of the Baptism of Jesus, so our gospel reading features John Baptiser, baptising Jesus to fulfill all righteousness.  But here Jesus also prefigures the primal sacrament of Christian baptism which will be initiated by his successors, the apostles, as the rite by which one enters the Catholic Church.  Now in our New Testament reading from Acts 8: 14-17 we see that Jesus' ragtag collection of twelve apostles has become the unified Apostolic College in control of the mission of the fledgling Church. Notice that there is no Pope, rather a collegial leadership; and they choose to send Peter and John down to see the Samaritan converts.

Just a word about Samaritans.  They were bitter enemies of ordinary Jews.  They did not accept the same books of Scripture as Jews did; they had a stricter, more literal interpretation of keeping Shabbat; they accepted the priesthood only as exercised by families they recognized; and said that sacrtifice could only be made in their temple on Mount Gerizim, not in Jerusalem.  (You remember that elsewhere Jesus tells the Samaritan woman that worship will soon be in neither place, rather it will be "in spirit and truth.")  To make matters even worse, they considered themselves God's true People, because they had not been exiled to Babylon, as had the mainstream Jewish population.

Some Samaritans have converted to Christianity but have only been baptised.  John and Peter soon arrive, administer the sacrament of confirmation, and the candidates receive the Holy Spirit.  Thus, those converts have now been commissioned.  They have received their marching orders to go out being Christ in the world.    Today a group of eight people will stand for your consideration to serve as the Bishop's Committee, the lay body governing our congregation in all matters except Christian education and worship, which are reserved to the priest alone.  Of these eight candidates, five were only recently confirmed here by a bishop in apostolic succession, Bishop Wallis Ohl.   Please look kindly on their willingness to realize their Christian commissions by stepping forward to offer their time and several talents at this  crucial juncture of substantial growth and healthy ministry at Saint Matthew's.

[The eight were elected by acclamation.]

Epiphany: Supersized Symbolism

[Today is the feast of the Epiphany, which means "manifestation."  It is also known as Twelfth Night (the last of the twelve days of Christmas runs from sundown yesterday to sundown today) or Feast of the Three Kings -- Caspar, Balthasar, and Melchior.   The season which begins today, which we call Epiphanytide, runs to Shrove Tuesday, the last day before Lent.  Our joy and celebration continue!]

Long before there were telescopes and computers, people named the stars and the constellations, and they charted their journeys through the heavens.  The early stargazers looked for patterns and consistencies.  They believed that these heavenly bodies could influence human affairs or portend future events on earth.  Today's story [Mt. 2: 1-12] stars Persian priests, who would also have been astrologers.  These "wise men" are described as observing the movement of a star, which literalists opine to be a comet or meteor.  From their observations, the priests deduce that the birth of a future Jewish king will be revealed far away in Jewish territory.  They set out towards the west and, sure enough, the heavenly body stops moving when it reaches Bethlehem  and their divine GPS brings them exactly to the cave where Jesus, Mary, and Joseph are holed up.   There these three visitors worship Jesus, who is lying in an animal feeding trough, and they present to the infant gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Our story has been described as the most symbolic in all of Scripture.  Let's look at why.  First of all, the tale contrasts the pagan priests' devotion with the fear of Herod and all the Jews in Jerusalem (!) that Jesus might have arrived.  That clearly signals that gentiles will "get"Jesus, and Jews will miss him.  That represents what was generally going on by the time Matthew's gospel was released around the year 71 CE, namely that mainstream Jews had not bought into the Jesus Movement, but outsiders had.   The reason, in simple terms, involved the four-fold Jewish expectation for the Messiah.  First, this Messiah would lead a violent military revolution to overthrown Roman domination of Jews and establish an independent Jewish nation again, with its capital in Jerusalem.  Second, his ascendancy would cause the Kingdom of God to arrive in its fullness -- no death, pain, or evil would then exist anywhere in the world.   Third, having witnessed this, all the nations of the world would convert to worship Israel's God.  Fourth, with the whole world in full communion with God, all the righteous dead would rise to join the party and dwell in God's bliss on the renewed earth forever. Jesus did not fulfill any of these expectations.

The other principal way in which the story is symbolic is the significance of the magis' gifts. Gold is a gift to give to royalty.  Jesus is King.  Frankincense is a gift reserved for priests.  Jesus is our High Priest.  Myrrh is a substance for embalming.  Jesus will be a Martyr.  Any reasonable person should understand that people don't go around giving embalming fluid or incense or gold to a poor baby in a manger.  The depicted gifts, rather, announce the key elements of the life and ministry of Jesus.

Jesus will be a different kind of Messiah, the one we awaited, a devout pacifist who brings us true spiritual enlightenment and freedom --not from political domination -- but from ourselves.  He is a harbinger, not of a restored Israel, but of the Kingdom of God, a new kind of world where all are valued and loved, where everyone counts, and everyone's needs are met.  He offers a crazy, topsy-turvy vision of human possibility.  He calls people of every nature, race, and culture, to a new way of being human and living with one another in community.  His Kingdom agenda calls us into a costly partnership with God to struggle for that divine reign.   The star is still shining for us, let us follow!

What's in a Name?

What's in a name?  Actually, quite a lot.  Recent studies have shown that parents who bestow odd, parochial or difficult names on their children hobble them for life.    Those with strong male or female first names have a leg up in getting ahead in life.  At one time given names had meaning, usually one was named for a beloved antecedent, liked a grandfather, uncle or aunt.  Family names were often preserved as middle names.  It would appear that many children are now given names consisting only of sound bytes and containing no meaning whatever.

Today's feast is called the Holy Name.  In some parishes it is celebrated at the Solemnity of Mary, owning that when you are making a fresh start, it is always wise to check in straight away with Mom.  Prior to the current prayer book, it was called feast of the Circumcision, because after eight days Jesus, like every Jewish newborn, was taken for the ancient Jewish rite and officially named.  Early church folk emulated the practice, and as late as our 1928 book, "NAME THAT CHILD" is prominently displayed.  Giving the Christian Name -- the name of a Biblical character or Saint -- ensured a model for the child and a heavenly prayer partner.  That has gone to the wayside among many churchmen.  I still ask parents, regardless of the name selected, to carefully select a patron.

In today's vignette, the child born to Mary is named Jesus, which simply means that God is saving, God is redeeming, God is liberating.    The biblical text attributes the naming to an archangel's supernatural intervention.  The name is as meaningful to us today as it was back then.  People still long to be freed, delivered from political, social, and spiritual evil.  To be redeemed from addiction and illusion.  To be redeemed from selfishness, fear, hatred, and ignorance. Jesus can, and does, free us to do good work, to strive for an inbreaking of God's Reign, to change the world.  It's all in a name!