Gentle Shepherd Church
The Catholic Apostolic Church of Antioch
Richmond Virginia
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Gentle Shepherd Church The Catholic Apostolic Church of Antioch Richmond Virginia
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Missed Church today? No problem!! Welcome to our Sermon Page. Whenever possible, we will post our latest sermons here for you to read at your leisure. Not as good as participating in worship service, of course, but hopefully a small charge of spiritual energy to enrichen your week. Click on the Sunday Sermon you desire to read 13 January 2008 -Father Tom - Baptism of the Lord
Epiphany - January 8, 2008 – Matthew 2:1-12 Today is Epiphany (or
Theophany Sunday). Some people call it “little Christmas.” It’s actually
the last of the 12 days of Christmas. Here in the USA it tends to get lost in
our minds as the tree comes down, all the bling disappears into the boxes until
next year, and the staggering reality finally hits us that all those pretty
Christmas cards in our mail boxes will soon be replaced with lots of not-so
pretty credit card bills. The observance of Epiphany began in the Eastern
Churches, and was originally an all in one celebration of the Incarnation of Jesus
Christ. It
included the commemoration of his
birth; the visit of the Magi, or "Wise Men", who arrived in Bethlehem; all of Jesus' childhood events, up to and
including his baptism in the Jordan by John
the Baptist; and even the miracle at
the Wedding
of Cana in Galilee. In today’s gospel
reading, Matthew tells us about the three wise men. It’s only in this
particular gospel that this story appears, although many stories and traditions
have grown from this reading, surrounding the day and the event it commemorates.
There is a beautiful old story about the star in the East that claims that when
it had successfully guided the Magi it fell from
the sky and into a well in Bethlehem. According to some legend, that star is
there to this day, and can sometimes still be
seen, but only by those of pure heart. Now there’s a lot of
beautiful tradition associated with this story, with the glorious imagery of the
infant Christ, swaddled in a stable and surrounded by animals and simple
shepherds and then so vividly contrasted by the stunning and sumptuous richness
of these visitors, bearing gifts of unimaginable splendor and wealth. Many
nations and cultures throughout the world have evolved and still celebrate
beautiful feasts and observances for this day.
It’s a beautiful story indeed, but it’s rife with historical
inconsistency. The story is revered enough
that even the Chinese Christian Church gets into the act here, believing that at least one of the Magi came from
China. They cite anecdotal evidence about Liu Shang, the chief astrologer during
the Han
dynasty in China at the time that
Jesus was born. He discovered a new star the Chinese called the "king
star" - which was associated with the birth of a new king and then he
promptly and conveniently disappeared from China's imperial court for two years
shortly thereafter. They interpret this absence as his participation on the trip
to Bethlehem. All that scripture really
tells us is that the Child Jesus is visited by three gentiles (non-Jews), not
just any old gentiles mind you, but star gazers. It is only thru what you have
often heard me say is “selective translation,” that they are called
“kings,” but in fact Matthew simply calls them magoi -- or Magi. The same
word magoi is also found in Acts, but there it is translated as magician or
sorcerer (go figure). We think of them as astrologers because they are observing
stars, and astrology was considered a learned or “wise” occupation. Magoi
looked to the stars for answers that legitimately come only from God, and by the
way they also exercised demonic powers and magic. It gets better…. The
Romans, who kept scrupulous and meticulous records, show no census during this
period of time and, if they did, that census would have probably counted only
Roman citizens, which of course Mary and Joseph were not.
And, even if they would have been counted, it would have been, according
to Roman tradition, more than likely where they actually lived and therefore
where they were taxed. Many
theologians believe that the story of the census was just a convenient way to
displace Mary to Bethlehem so that the Old Testament prophecies could be
fulfilled. And then, on top of it all,
it would have taken the Wise men an awesome period of time to get from wherever
they were coming and go to wherever the Christ Child might be.
If we consider historical information and superimpose all the data on the
timeline for Herod’s rule, it makes sense that if the visit did in fact happen
then Jesus was already a year or two old, which is probably why Matthew says
“house” instead of stable in his gospel, and also why Herod targeted one and
two year olds in his slaughter of the innocents. So here we are faced with a
moving, wonderful and heartwarming story which, although historically flawed,
continues to spiritually motivate and intrigue us.
But now the time has come to be honest with each other. If we were
sitting here together in the Bedrock Falls Full Gospel Fundamental Church of
Christ, our senses deadened by hours of pulpit pounding and our ears numbed by
thousands of trilly tinkling tambourines, then wondering why would certainly be
at the total bottom of our priorities because the Bible says it and I believe
it… can I get an Amen and a Glory be please??? But we are the Church of
Antioch, and as such we’re not part of the brainwashed masses, we are
reasonably clever human beings
confronted with a need , a hunger for rational understanding of our spirituality
and all the factors that comprise it. If we take at face value and do not try to
comprehend these little things that grate on and indeed sometimes insult our
intelligence, then sooner or later it will detrimentally affect our faith.
And so we are allowed, even encouraged, to ask ourselves why Matthew
would ever include a story in his gospel that was wrong, or embellished, or even
fictional. And, when we see the
underlying reason behind the saga of the Magi and its symbolism within
Christianity, then to be truthful the veracity of the story is almost secondary. Because whatever the origin
of these eastern sages, the story of their visit was of great significance for
later Christianity. You see, these Wise Men were pagans, not Hebrews, and the
fact that they adored the Christ Child in the same manner as the Jews symbolized
and forecasted for readers of Matthew’s gospel the universal outreach for
future Christianity. They
represented, at the adoration, all those who did not follow the laws of Jehovah.
The light they saw in the Christ Child symbolically pierced the darkness of
their paganism, just as God’s Light can illuminate the darkness of ignorance,
fanaticism, intolerance and terrorism that surrounds us today. Now this isn’t the first
time that we have seen in scripture something that is just not meant to be
construed as basic infallible truth, something that was never meant to be
considered as anything but abstract and educational.
Just think of what a wonderful world we would have if people would take
the time and the thought necessary to understand this.
The histories and legends that the ancients have imparted to us are for
the most part priceless, and for the best part beautiful, but what they have
unfortunately failed to give us is their perspective on how these gifts should
be effectively interpreted in today’s world.
For even a hint at this perspective, we can today only rely on common
sense, historical research, judgment calls and most of all an open mind.
However, if we persist in approaching these gifts in ignorance, greed
and impertinence we can only remain blind to the majesty of the love and glory
that I feel is our right as modern Christians.
Baptism of the Lord This day is a notable day for our community. We have the pleasure of celebrating the Sacred Mystery of Baptism with our sister Randi. When I recently asked Randi why she wished to be baptized she replied that it meant for her a “new beginning in life.” A way to move past and beyond what was, to what is, and what will be. Now of course baptism isn’t a repeatable sacrament and there must be serious question as to whether or not someone has already been baptized or not before there can be a consideration of the appropriateness of the ritual. Today we welcome Randi, by way of this sacrament, into the family of baptized Christians. It is lovely for us as a community to have this experience.
First of all, today the churches catholic the world over are
commemorating the baptism by John of Jesus in the It should be clear that there are many, many Ways of believing and living within the human family. Christianity, as a religious faith, is a relative newcomer, even at age two thousand some odd years. While many people, the world over, have come to faith according to the Christian pattern, there are as many or more who have not, but nonetheless are spiritual persons too and are engaged upon their own equally valid search for truth. But here we are, in this room, calling ourselves after the name of Christ Jesus. And we come back Sunday after Sunday and do this thing we call Liturgy or Mass or some such and, hopefully, we try to carry on our lives, in the days between, according to some style which is in accord with what Jesus asked of those who choose to follow after Him and the example and teachings He set forth. Does that mean that Christians will then live lives morally and ethically superior to those of non-Christians? Who could honestly believe this? Are we by virtue of our faith even happier or feel more fulfilled in life? There are millions of Christians on psycho-tropic drugs managing depression, so I think not. The walk through one’s life can indeed present one with many difficulties, and some of those difficulties can at times seem so overwhelming that one experiences an onset of panic and fear. Life also necessitates the making of choices: what course to follow, what is the right thing to do in a given instance? Today Randi binds unto herself the “strong Name of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” She, continuing in the words of the hymn, The Breastplate of Saint Patrick, binds to herself the “power of God to hold and lead her, the very eye of God to watch over her, by His might to protect her. The ear of God is poised to hear her every need, the wisdom of God is hers to draw from. God’s hand is there to guide her as she goes along her path, a divine shield against the blows that come her way. God’s Word will inform and enliven her thoughts and the words of her mouth. The angelic hosts of heaven stand guard round about her. For Christ now shall dwell ever within, behind, before, beside her. Christ wins, comforts and restores her. Christ is her foundation, In quiet, in tempest, Christ is with her. It is Christ’s own love infusing the love others extend to her. Christ: in every way upholding her. This community of Christian faith stands round Randi too, even as the unseen throng of the bodiless powers of heaven, the martyrs, prophets, patriarchs and matriarchs, and the millions of souls who have lived and gone on before us are mystically present. We do not walk alone. We belong to Christ. We also belong to one another. We must be there for others to rely on us for support and strength. I read an interesting article in The Advocate magazine this week concerned with overcoming addictions and getting hold of one’s life in order that goals might be set and actually met. The author states that “the most dramatic and enduring life changes often occur through community-based initiatives, in which a group of people is invested in your success and you feel accountable to them. It’s called obligatory interdependence.” I find this an apt description of what being church is all about. We are church for each other. We are part of something that extends across centuries and generations, cultures and races. Christian history, our history is a mix of often rising to heroic accomplishment but includes also shameful failures and dark deeds. Each of us adds to that collective history as we live out our days and do what we do. Sometimes we do well and sometimes not so well. But we keep on, making a new beginning day after day, overcoming our personal obstacles or knowing when to just move around past them. We seek to become the best human beings we can possible be. This life does of course come to its end. The composition of our bodies returns to the elements out of which they were formed. Our spirits, once created always remain. Today as Randi places herself in the streaming waters of
the Christ’s Christ before us, behind us, beneath us, beside us.
Sunday after Christmas 2007 John 1:1-18 The origin of the human species is a mystery, perhaps the mother of all questions, that seemingly every civilization from the dawn of human consciousness has sought to address. The Abrahamic faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are no exception. And, indeed the question is one that has re-emerged as a hot-button issue now in the early twenty-first century, inserting itself even into our political discourse. Presidential candidates are queried as to their views on Darwin’s theories vis a vis the Genesis—and that word itself means “beginning”—story of the Hebrews. Who’da thunk it? The renewed controversy, one among many points in the so-called “cultural wars” that are currently raging, would often seem to denominate persons as partisans of a theistic religious view or a secular, non-theistic scientism. The time will come, and not soon enough, that people will tire of this distraction from the real, pressing issues that should be the proper topic of political debate in this land and the question can once again occupy its natural place as a vital spiritual pre-occupation of private persons. It cannot be otherwise within a system where civil affairs are distinct from religious affairs. In church as we are at this moment, the matter is appropriate for our consideration, for we are all assumedly here because we share a common interest in spiritual questions. The passage from John’s gospel appointed for this, the first Sunday after the Nativity of Jesus Christ, is so totally about this most fundamental of human questions: why are we here? This is the stuff of a science of a very distinct sort. Science—and the word, in its Latin root scire means to know is a process that can assume many forms. The work of laboratory researchers is one such process. But no less so is the work of theology. Both sorts of process involve the search for knowledge and, ultimately, human meaning. Indeed theology understands itself to be the school of sacred sciences. I believe that theological work can be considered an authentic science only when it seeks to take an open-ended approach to the quest for knowledge as opposed to being the slave to particular suppositions, placing limitations upon what the questions can be, what sort of answers are allowed, and who is entitled to ask them. You have all heard the phrase “words take on a life of
their own.” It is no accident that
I’m afraid that I have to leave off right here with the pursuit of this line of thought. I simply don’t yet know where I’m going with it. The business of preaching sometimes implies that the preacher is capable of a perfect beginning, middle and an end to his or her preachment. By the end of it, supplying some satisfying resolution either by proposing the challenge of the day or some sort of neat synthesis. In the midst of Christmas the best I can do is to encourage wonder. We are presented with the birth of a child, a baby born into the poorest and humblest of circumstance. There is the looking to the stars—even a particular star—for guidance, that supposedly leads right to this particular baby. Wise men discover the meaning of life in this child. Well, don’t we all stand in wonder before a new-born child, in complete awe of the manifestation of a completely new life before our eyes, with all its potential? God is to be found, not in any doctrines or religious practices in and of themselves. These contrivances can only help us to express our primal awe and wonder before a vastness that we cannot begin to comprehend but are ever yet drawn to track down. So we gather, we sing poetry, we eat of simple elements—a bit of bread and a swallow of wine—and we celebrate the birth of a person named Jesus Who exemplifies the best that we can be and the imperative of striving to become.
Feast of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ 2007 “Comfort, Comfort you my people, prepare for God a way, Make straight what long was crooked, Make the rougher places plain, Let the valleys rise to meet Him and the hills bow down to greet Him, For the glory of the Lord, now o’er the earth is shed abroad. All flesh shall see the token, that God’s word is never broken.” Christmas is come! Advent-tide, at least liturgically speaking, has drawn to its close finding its fulfillment in the Feast we begin to celebrate this night. But in a larger sense, Advent is never over for the Christian. While the liturgical year runs its course through its various seasons and significant days, still Advent permeates everything. I say Advent—but I ought to also say Parousia and this word, Parousia is a word that I hope you might strive to remember. It is a word which can mean “coming,” “arrival,” or “being present.” Christmas is, of course, the celebration of the birth of Jesus. Now, obviously, many, many people celebrate Christmas but not all of these celebrators, by any means, any longer think of the “holiday” in specifically Christian religious terms. Indeed, the primitive winter celebrations of the Solstice and the ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia are celebrations of the triumphant ascendancy of light—the return of it—after it’s annual autumnal diminishment. The Christian church only baptized these primitive celebrations and reinterpreted their meaning around its faith that this Jesus, born in humble circumstance in a specific time and place, is also the Christ—the expected Messiah—Who is also God of very God. For those who are “in Christ” this day is not a mere “holiday” but it is a “holy” day. It is “holy”—which is to say “set apart” from other days because it is the day of the calendar year dedicated to the memory of the moment in our earthly time when the One Who has neither beginning nor end, from Whom everything that is has come to be, appeared as fully one of us. Jesus, in His own Person, fully and most perfectly makes visible what every human person is called to emulate: to live, to be alive, to find our life’s purpose and meaning not in accumulated wealth or power over others—or any thing which is subject to perishing—but rather to grasp, by faith, that life is truly discovered and lived in loving. In the words of an ancient hymn, Jesus is “of the Father’s love begotten.” If there is any cure for the evils and ills within this world, it is love. Too few of us really believe or trust in love however. Perhaps, for some, it is because trust has too often been abused. Love can be frightfully costly. Still, it is not something that can be earned or even won. It either just is or it isn’t. God-Love just is. For human persons, we either purpose to “abide in love” or we don’t, and, therein is all the difference as to what sort of life we will live and if we are or are not persons possessed of the ultimate treasure: hope. Until hope achieves its ultimate realization—and we can only speak in various images to describe this—God’s reign fully established on the earth, the “Kingdom come,” the attainment of paradise, and so on—it only remains for us to live in hope filled expectation. That is why I say that Advent can in no way be over for us ever, until that moment when the One Whose coming into the world as Jesus of Nazareth comes again, as He asserted He would. Those who are “in Christ” as Saint Paul is fond of saying are thus able to celebrate—as we are trying to do—Christmas, but we are also living in a state of waiting, of what should be an eager anticipation that something far beyond our imagining is yet to take place. The Christ will appear among us once again in His own Person. And everything will be changed from the way we have known it. In the meantime, it remains for us to live, in relation to Christ Jesus, according to the third sense of the word Parousia that I earlier referred to: being present. Jesus the Christ is already present amongst us, acting among us, transforming people and their situations. If Christmas can have any lasting value or power once the lights and trees and baubles have come down and been stored away, it will be found in our commitment to live as “other Christs.” To show forth Christ Jesus, alive, acting, and transforming the world around us through what we do and how we live, for others. Christ, living in and through us, as fleshly tokens of that promise that God’s word is never broken: “Behold, I come and make all things new!” Merry Christmas!
Advent IV Today, being the fourth and last Sunday of Advent, signals that we are nearing the end of the season of preparation for the celebration of the nativity of Jesus. For me, to be able to look pat all the glitz, the canned Christmas music, the consumer frenzy, is essential if I am to find it possible to ever keep Christmas. No doubt, six seasons of holiday shopping binges in my secular employment in the retail industry have had a significant impact upon my attitudes with respect to this annual ordeal. The nearer Christmas gets the more desperate people become to “get something” so that so and so will have something under the tree to open. After all, if they don’t like it they can always return it. Returns: the bane of any retail sales person’s professional life, an occupational hazard in its own way. True, we may well make some of our best money as a result of this annual binge. Yet, at the same time, I do look forward to the ordinary days that will resume in January. Truth be told, my work in the retail clothing business has harmed my emotional feelings about Christmas. I can’t help but wonder what many people are really celebrating as the “reason for the season.” I fear that many people are caught up in something they themselves don’t quite understand and feel powerless to alter. And captive of the expectations of the people around them to decorate houses, cook and bake, get together with family and, above all, find an acceptable gift to satisfy each recipient. For my part, I’ve become something of a Christmas drop out as far as much of all that stuff goes. I’d just as soon give a gift on some ordinary day, just because. Not because it is what one is expected to do at a time of year but just for the sheer pleasure of surprising someone I care about. Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad thing for Christians to altogether separate the religious celebration of the birth of Jesus from this annual winter event we call Christmas. Have a winter festival if you will, but not pretend that it has much to do with Jesus. But that isn’t going to happen probably so we must strive to attain our focus. The question we might ask is why should I find reason to actually celebrate the birth of this man some 2000 plus years ago? Does the fact of this birth really affect who I am and how I live out my days? It is clear that the figure of Jesus is one that has altered history and continues to do so even in our own time. Suffice it to say that the religious views of some who claim to be devoted to His Word or example have serious consequences in our society, affecting some of the touchstone issues of our time, the right to die/euthanasia controversies, medical ethics, abortion immigration policy, or whether gay people should be allowed to marry or adopt children. People do stake their lives upon their personal faith convictions in His regard. And over the millennia, scores have willingly died, ostensibly on account of their faith in Him. That in the end he will sort everything out to what it should be. It seems I arrive back at the question I posed several weeks ago when I cited what is recorded in the Gospel to have been asked by Jesus of His disciples: “who do you day; that I am?” That really remains the question of questions—certainly for me. At this point in my life I find I am having to really thoughtfully ponder that very question as I am no longer quite able to embrace the Jesus of the orthodox variety so uncritically as I for so long did. And what about you? Has your religious thinking undergone any significant development or alteration as you have matured? Or is your faith virtually the same as it was as a result of the formation you received in childhood? How might we believe in this figure in this time of our lives? Is it possible that believing in Him can be the ultimate defining focus of our lives and everything we do with them? Is it possible for twenty-first century humans to actually worship Him as the definitive revelation of God? How do we justify any faith whatsoever in God, in the very existence of God—our God? What is it we are doing here in this little space each week, singing, praying, breaking bread, pouring a cup, partaking of them in common? If Advent is the beginning of a new yearly liturgical journey through the life and ministry of Jesus and by extension that of the community that claims to follow Him—then it is the dawn of a new opportunity, indeed responsibility to embrace a confrontation of these questions and others. If Jesus the Christ lives, lives in and through the communities of faith—this community—then what makes that evident to us, or more importantly, to some onlooker? Does it really matter to you that He was or was not born? Who do you say that He is? Why keep it?
Sunday of Advent II 2007 9 December Matthew 3:1-12 “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.” So often when I read these words I think of them set to the musical arrangement of the rock-opera Godspell that debuted in 1970 and was wildly popular in my college-age generation. The music sounds almost quaint to the ear of a twenty-first century listener—it is certainly time-bound—in a way that a much earlier rock-opera by the name of Messiah by G. F. Handel has never seemed to me to be. Nevertheless, when I read over the lyrics of Godspell, I was struck by the fact that a Broadway lyricist and composer had discovered within the Hebrew Scriptures a powerful vehicle by which to challenge the society of his time. I don’t believe there has been anything quite like it since. The passage from St. Matthew’s gospel heard today on the
Second Sunday of Advent replays the piercing lyric of John the Forerunner and
Baptist’s admonition to the society of his time:
“Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven has come near!”
Heard within the serene environment of our churches these words perhaps
don’t bear the kind of power that they apparently did in John’s own time.
Recall that this is a man who very successfully upset the status quo,
even to the very highest levels of authority in the His message is one which is still very much in need of hearing. One wonders if one day there might appear a modern musical voicing that will arrest the attention of the current generation in the manner of Godspell over thirty years ago? John was a man who, as the saying goes, “Spoke truth to power.” He blasted his contemporaries for their hypocrisies. They wanted to think of themselves as the chosen people of God, faithful to the Law of the Covenant, a light to the nations. John stood to accuse them of hiding behind an outward show of practicing their faith, as a cover for the misdeeds they were also purposefully engaging in. As we know from all of history, no matter the brand of religion, there is always this pitfall to beware. Each of us must not only do the work to figure out what we believe and by what values we will live, but also, once having subscribed to principles, strive to live true to them. We all falter along this course time and again, in little ways mostly but sometimes in larger ways too. Thus the challenge to grow as human beings into the most authentic selfhood that we are not only capable of, but moreover, to which we, as professing Christians, believe ourselves to be called by the voice of the Spirit of God. We in our own time, particularly as a nation, are much accustomed to seeing ourselves as paragons of righteousness. Politicians have much employed biblical images to characterize our nation as a “shining city on a hill,” and a “light to the nations.” Indeed this is a marvelous country, having in many ways been the envy of the world, a place that more people want to get in then get out from. There is a rule of law, and a fundamental fairness and equity that is unequalled anywhere and not to be taken for granted. We have an unparalled wealth and freedom for self-determination. We have accomplished much good in world affairs. But not always. We have no right to any false piety. We must always remain vigilant that our national doings not be covered over with some thin veil of sanctimonious national religiosity. In the same way, as religious communities, be they Christian, Jewish, Islamic, or whatever, people must strive that their profession of faith not be a club used against others. And, as individuals, that we not hide behind the practice of spiritualities and religion at the same time we give ourselves passes to use or manipulate others, to be simply nasty , to cheat, to gain advantage or more money by dishonest means. The message of the Forerunner and Baptist John today to us
is to prepare a way for the coming of the Lord into our own lives.
To make the crooked ways straight. That
means simply, to provide the Lord an Prepare a way for the Lord! Make straight a highway for our God!
Luke 16:1-13 Now there are
a couple of things that have to be made clear here in order to explain what is
really going on. Firstly, Jesus speaks of money here as “dishonest wealth,”
implying that the whole operation wasn’t exactly above board.
Jewish law forbade charging interest on a loan, but people could get
around that simply by writing contracts for larger amounts. So if you owed 50
sheep, the contract was written for 100. Secondly,
in those times and in that part of the world, there was, and to an extent still
is, an implicit understanding that managers have an unofficial right to
“skim” a bit off the top for themselves.
A good manager, if you wish, was one that just stole “an honest
amount.” This is the historical and social context in which this gospel is
written, and these are the sort of people that Christ was talking about in this
parable. Now when the
manager, let’s call him ‘Augie,’ gets called on the carpet and fired for
mishandling his master’s wealth, and then is further asked to come up with the
account books, he is unmistakingly distressed about his future. Let’s
understand that there were no “monster dot coms” in those days where he
could post his resume, and all that
good living made it highly probable that he wasn’t buff enough to do menial
labor, so he embarked upon a plan to, as we say in theological terms,
“covereth his butt.” And so Augie
calls in a couple of big debtors and encourages them to rewrite their contracts,
significantly lowering the amounts owed to the boss, the “Don” if you will.
Sort of the equivalent of you being called into the bank that holds your
mortgage and being told, “just
take 50 or 60 grand off the top… it’ll be fine!!” He
made them, if you will, “a deal they couldn’t refuse.” We don’t
really know if these diminished amounts represented overages to compensate for
illegal interest or were perhaps destined for Augie’s comfortable retirement
years on the sunny coast of the Mediterranean.
It really makes no difference. Nor
do we know if any of the debtors objected to having their obligations halved,
but that makes no difference either. But
what we do know is that clever old
Augie has now put himself in a position where he has totally ingratiated himself
in the eyes of the debtors and, by having them rewrite their own contracts, has
actually implicated them in his chicanery. This, he
feels, will make them warmly welcome him into their lives, and possible provide
him with suitable employment. Augie is one smart cookie. He has developed a
scheme to provide for his future before his termination is mad final. The boss,
for his part had grudging respect for his crafty accountant and commended him
for his clever scheme before giving him the boot. The
actual word used in scripture means more “pragmatically” than
“shrewdly.” Sort of the
equivalent of today’s… “I gotta hand it to you.” And here is
where the parable takes a strange and confusing twist -- at least on the surface
it does. Jesus continues with “For the people of this world are more shrewd in
dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. I tell you, use
worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will
be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” Why is Jesus
telling his disciples such a story? The values of both the rich man and his
manager are deeply similar. Both are focused on how to get and keep lots of
money and, as a rule, rich men don't
fare well in Luke's gospel. In three different stories where Luke uses the
phrase, "rich man", the riches cause much turmoil and sadness in their
lives. A concern for riches, Luke
said, can choke out spiritual life. In fact, I
think that the most profound interpretation of what Jesus is to realize that he
is not recommending the ways of the rich man or his dishonest manager at all. He
is telling us that the rich man commended his dishonest manager because “it
takes one to know one,” and that People of this kind are more sophisticated
with the scheming of this world than are people who have a spiritual view of
life. He was
telling us that if this is what we want life to be all about, then go ahead and
make friends like the dishonest manager did – and we will be welcomed into
their eventual destiny!" Most
theologians feel that the rest of today’s readings were likely spoken on
another occasion by Christ and added here by Luke. They deal with faithfulness
and the need to focus on our relationship with God. If we are able to have faith
in the little things, then we can also have faith in larger things, and if we
are dishonest in little things it can lead to dishonesty in larger things as
well. The gospel lesson concludes with Jesus saying, "You cannot serve God
and wealth." Jesus
is differentiating here, as he has done many times, between the values of this
world and those of the kingdom he has come to proclaim. We are essentially
spiritual beings, “children of the light” who were created in God’s image
for a relationship Him/Her. The
dishonest manager and his embezzling accountant are both totally given to this
world and to things that can not last. Jesus
again tells us we cannot serve or worship both God and material things.
Literally, what he said is, "You cannot be in bondage to God and worldly
wealth." To have faith is a
character issue, not a quality we can turn on and off at will. It is not
something we "have", it is who we are. The
word translated as "faithful" here, by the way, also means
"trustworthy." Jesus makes it clear that we cannot be
"somewhat" trustworthy or a "little bit" faithful. He
teaches us that faithfulness and dishonesty are at the same end of the spectrum,
and that we are not "sometimes" faithful and "sometimes"
dishonest. And so, we
can say that today’s lesson simply says that our faith can accumulate heavenly
capital, and even if we do this in a small way God will see us as trustworthy
and worthy of the kingdom. If we don’t, he won’t. If we don’t share now,
we won’t be entrusted with “true riches” later on.
Jesus asks us: if you have
not managed your finances prudently, will God give you eternal life? We one cannot make a god out of money and serve God at the same time.
If we are to be true disciples must serve exclusively, using material
resources for God’s purposes.
The alternative is enslavement to materialism.
Luke
16:19-31 Today’s gospel continues
two trends that we have seen in the last weeks with Luke.
The first trend is that the story appears in no other gospel, and the
second is that a “rich man” is once again the villain. There is a lot of imagery in
this story tho, and although it may seem pretty straightforward, it’s
important to understand it to evaluate what Luke is trying to teach us. Today’s rich man was
dressed in purple and fine linen. While we can appreciate even today the feeling
of fine linen next to our skin, it
becomes more of a contrast when we remember that most people at the time wore
clothing of “home-spun” fabrics,
rough to the touch and probably simplistic in style and cut. That the “rich man” wore
purple is also a fact of some importance. Rome, Egypt, Palistine, and Persia all
used purple as the imperial standard. Purple dyes were rare and expensive; only
the rich had access to them. The purple colorants used came from different
sources, most from the dye extraction from fish, mollusks or insects. Purple was
also used for textile furnishings of the Tabernacle and for the sacred vestments
for High Priests. This “rich
man” was no mere commoner, he was a man of importance, and Luke wants us to
see that with no difficulty. And he ate well, too. Every
day. In a time where the poor existed on grain, breads and fish this man really
lived it up. Plus he lives in
a house with a gate, which tells us that it was probably a walled compound, an
imposing estate far more spacious and far better decorated than the vast
majority of folks around him. Lazarus, on the other hand,
is dirt poor, hungry, sick and crusty, the object of pity even by the dogs that
lick his sores. Now that in
itself is repugnant enough to set the contrast of Luke’s tale and get our
attention, but couple that to the extra information that Lazarus means “the
one that God has helped” and you can immediately see where Luke is heading
with this. They both die, and Lazarus
makes it to heaven, the rich man…..well… he doesn’t.
He ends up in the torment of hell. Now l need to make it clear here that
this concept of hell as a place of fiery and eternal torment doesn’t really
mesh with my own beliefs, but again it’s important as a medium of contrast for
Luke in making his point with the story. Evidently,
the damned in hell can see heaven at a distance, for the rich man, under full
torment, can actually see Lazarus and Abraham together there.
Now one would have thought
that the eternal fires of Luke’s hell would be an equalizer of all souls, but
did we all catch the fact that even as the rich man called for mercy he
continued to treat Lazerus as an object? He’s a nervy bugger. He actually
asked Abraham to send the poor man down to him to cool his tongue.
Now the mood of today’s gospel has been set, the poor and oppressed
audience is hopping mad at the disdain of the rich man, frothing at the mouth as
it were and incredulous at the rich man’s audacity, and Luke is now ready to
apply the lesson. And what we learn is exactly
what we learned before, that what we do during our earthly lives will reflect on
what may come afterward. And it’s
that concept, basic to all religions from the ancient Egyptians to modern day
Buddhists that is being reiterated here. It’s another version of “what you
sow so shall you reap.” That there is a wide divide, a “chasm,” between
doing what is right and just with our lives, and what is wrong and improper. This gospel is not
necessarily about the rich, it is however about the abuse and disdain that can
accompany wealth and power. There were many prosperous and wealthy people that
were and followers of the Christ, and Luke has been very careful in setting up
the rich man as an abuser of his wealth and station to differentiate him from
these followers.. There also seems, at least to
me, to be a hidden message in this Gospel, a subliminal criticism of the old
religion’s principles and practices, with the “rich man” in his fine
purple being a symbol of the corruption and exploitation of the temple high
priests. This is the sort of
criticism that could have been easily understood by the average people of the
times, implied rather that implicit. There’s some “stuff” in
today’s message that ruffles my feathers, as well. I
tend to see heaven and hell as a dynamic rather than static, very much in
concert with how we live our lives, and certainly a part of us while we are
living. I completely disagree with Luke’s “you can’t get there from
here” message. As we grow
spiritually there is no reason to think that we are beyond attaining our own
heaven, and conversely once we have earned it, there’s no reason to think that
we don’t have to work constantly at keeping it. Luke also puts a unique twist
on telling us to have faith, when he writes “If they do not listen to Moses
and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the
dead." Now I don’t know about you, but if my long dead grandpappy showed
up at my door one morning with a box of fresh Danish pastry and the message that
there was in fact a heaven and a hell, I would have nooooo trouble believing
him. But that wouldn’t be faith, would it, that would be fact. Faith
is the mystery, fact is the science. Our world is so much more
complex than when the scriptures were first written,
and I think it would be impossible to describe who and what we are today
in terms of what was available then to those who wrote them.
Conversely, we should try to consider the social confines that limited
the scripture writers when we try to understand them, expanding them as it were
to fit into our modern dimension. When we do that in an
intelligent manner, the truth becomes obvious and simple. In our modern world
there are many ways to be rich. There are many ways to be powerful. There are
also so many ways to abuse and exploit. If
we are to win our battle for spiritual enrichment and perfection, then we must
recognize and control our actions to the better good of ourselves and those
around us.
We’re
gathered here today to pay homage to Vicki, and to bid her goodbye, but how
exactly do we do that? How
exactly do we confront the realization that we shall, in this life at least,
never see her again? We
won’t experience her ascerbic wit, we
won’t feel her cheer and laugh with her at a party.
We won’t hear her complain about losing money on the horses. All that
is gone. But in
fact, when all is said and done, just how do we say goodbye to ANYONE that we
lose to death. What are the feelings and emotions that we experience, and how
can we deal with them? It’s
generally accepted in a world that has to qualify everything on paper in black
and white that there are seven stages of grief.
Acceptance, anger, denial, depression, fear, guilt and shock.
To an extent, there is a certain truth to this, but when you get right
down to it it’s a clinical and
cold rationalization that is about as comforting to us as an ice bath in a snow
storm. Overcoming
grief is a healing process, and so many of us turn to our God for this healing. Notice here that I specifically didn’t say
“Church,” because a person doesn’t need church to experience God. It
falls to each of us to call upon our internal spiritual resources to assuage our
grief. Each of us must handle
it, must manipulate it, must conquer it in a manner that suits our personal
spiritual journey. And no doubt
about it, our individual journeys are as diverse as the stars in the sky.
And so,
when a good friend or loved family member like Vicky has lived her life and,
regardless of the circumstances, is removed from our midst, we gather together
in respect, in love, and in remembrance of our interactions with her, but also
we gather as a group bonded albeit temporarily by this great loss, in common
sorrow. We sit together in
this humble place made holy by our presence, reciting the prayers that
for thousands of years have comforted us, given us solace, uniting us in what
might be called a common consciousness, a singleness of purpose. We renew
old acquaintances, and poignantly remember the good times, the bad times, the
little episodes in our lives that meant so much at the time but have been long
ago eroded by the pressures, frustrations and turmoil of our everyday lives. But now,
the absolute finality of Vicki’s passing stamps some of these memories as
indelible impressions onto our souls. For
some, it may be her fascination with Peyton Manning and Mat Kennseth. For
others, perhaps it was her encyclopedic memory about the people she met, or her
fierce protection of young people, especially her grandchildren.
Many will remember her as at the
same time, tough, frank, and straight forward.
She lived her life on her own terms, and never held grudges.
Who of her family has not heard her say, "That's the way it is -
deal with it!" Let’s close our eyes for a second or two…and listen to
her speak to us! It’s these ingrained memories, called up with love and devotion, that
are the essence for dealing with our grief regardless of what “stage” of
grief the textbooks say we are in. And
it’s these memories that will keep Vicky alive in our souls and in our hearts.
And, if Vicky is alive in our souls and in our hearts, we don’t ever
have to say goodbye! Amen
Here he stands before us all, minutes away from being newly ordained a priest, with the spiritual power of thousands of years surging trough his very being, consecrated with the same hands that have themselves been consecrated by successive generations all the way back to Christ’s original apostles. It’s the culmination of years, decades even, of study; a long, circuitous and often arduous road that many would have quite honestly abandoned. And we, as Ted’s witnesses, his friends, family and colleagues, get to experience just the slightest glimpse of this incredible journey with today’s readings, selections from Ted’s heart unified by their very diversity. In our first reading we’re treated to the sublime poetry of the book of wisdom, invoking the elegance of Sophia, the divine feminine personification of wisdom who was so very important to the people of the Old Testament. In fact, to many the identification of Jesus with Sophia, and the adaptation of Sophia characteristics into the Messiah definition, lies at the heart of many New Testament Christologies, although the divine feminine aspect of her essence has been callously pushed aside by Patristic church fathers in order to avoid gender confusion. But Sophia is with us here today, made graceful and willowy and radiant by the very words that Ted has chosen to describe her. She entreats us to seek her, and tells us that if we do she will be anxious to reward us. She reminds us that our beliefs can be rendered impotent if they are not backed up by wisdom. And then we hear from Master Johannes Eckhart, that great German
theologian,
philosopher
and mystic of the late 13th and early 14th
century who valiantly speaks to us of that spark of Godly light born in each of
us, amplified by baptism, and further magnified by our individual spiritual
journeys. This birth of God in
each of us is one of the stepping stones of our evolution of faith today as
modern Christians, understanding the
dynamism of social mores in the
development and sustaining of belief structures.
“What good is it to me,” he calls out to us “for the creator to
give birth to the Son if I do not also give birth to him in my time and in my
culture.” Like so many
progressives that were born before their time, much of Eckhart’s theology and
instruction were not viewed with overwhelming favor by a church that was already
narrow-minded and insular. But
despite the accusations of heresy his work lives on, respected and studied today
by those of us who feel that there is indeed something of spiritual value to be
gleaned from insight to anyone’s
soul. The Gospel of Luke
that Ted has chosen is in fact a particular favorite of mine… although I
always have this nagging image of Luke pounding on a Caribbean steel drum and
singing the Hebrew equivalent of “Don’t Worry Be Happy.”
It’s the sort of verse that I think is generically always applicable to
whatever doubts we happen to be experiencing,
with an impetus that changes according the situation.
In Ted’s case, I think the synopsis is probably:
“Well, now that I have the priesthood, now that I finally have done
this, now that I have met my goal and fulfilled a lifelong ambition…. Now what
in blazes do I do with it?” Now when we think
of that it’s an extremely valid question. This isn’t like that pretty
certificate for a perfect bowling game that can be framed and mounted on the den
wall next to that glorious black velvet print of doggies playing billiards.
It’s not like finally finishing that hideous course in differential
equations knowing that it can immediately be forgotten forever. But rather
it’s an accomplishment of staggering personal importance that begins life-long
responsibility, dedication, and yes even burden.
Last month, at the
annual convocation of the Church of Antioch in California, one of the guest
speakers who is writing a book on Independent Catholicism called us
“Amateur” clergy, and it took me a moment to realize that this was not a
reference to our callings, but in fact an explanation that we have taken on this
vocation in addition to our normal “pay the rent and put food on the table”
lives. And Ted is certainly no
exception to that. But I think
to assume that being a priest can ever be “part-time” is certainly not
valid. Now I admit that
our Ted probably won’t be the kindly and benevolent padre of a small local
parish overseeing bake sales, Christmas pageants and Sunday soft ball games
followed by a greasy fried chicken dinner at the home of one of his congregants.
That’s just not what it’s all about. And we probably
won’t see ever him turning on his heels in front of 2000 fervent believers,
barking salvation and punishment while clad in an Armani Suit and Gucci
Loafers… (well… come to think of it… maybe the shoes.. but that’s
another story). But for every one
of those traditional and stereotypical ministry roles that may not
be in the cards for Ted, there are unlimited possibilities for him to spread the
word of God and to use the indelible imprint on his soul that is the priesthood.
The teachings of Master Eckhart and many like him are dear to the hearts
of most of us in Independent Catholicism. We understand the importance of clergy
not for control and the administration of dogma, but in teaching and guiding
others along their individual spiritual journeys, journeys themselves as diverse
as the image in which our God created us. If Ted, as a
priest, manages to direct even one soul on his or her quest for spiritual
fulfillment; If he manages to make even the tiniest ripple in the wave of
hostility and hatred that we are experiencing in today’s world, if he manages
to provoke even the minutest crack in the wave of religious intolerance and
ignorance that surrounds us……………. Then all of this hard work, this
energy, this devotion that has led up to this day will not have been in vain.
And with the winds of Sophia’s wisdom at his back, he certainly can not
fail. Amen
2 December 2007 Sunday of Advent I Matthew 24:36-44; Romans 13:11-14 Advent is upon us once again. Yet Advent is a season that has no bearing outside of churches, and at that, for most people, probably only on Sundays. This past week the “Grand Illumination”
downtown was inaugurated, the tree on the Capitol portico was lit, and
night by night more houses on more streets are awash with lights strung about.
The Christmas music went on at work the day after Thanksgiving as did the
mandatory telephone greeting “Happy Holidays, Brooks Brothers at You yourselves have undoubtedly been thinking about your holiday entertaining calendars, menus, gift lists, and when your tree will go up. We just decided last night where the tree will go this year. It is that time of year when people are full of the expectation of Christmas’ nearing and busy with the tasks of making ready. Advent, as a liturgical season, is kind of misunderstood
actually in addition to being swamped by Christmas itself, and that is I think
unfortunate as it has such an important message.
Most often, people, when they even think about what Advent is all about,
assume that it is simply the period of anticipation of the celebration of
Jesus’ birth. Strictly speaking,
this is not the case. This
becomes clear when we consider the scripture readings that are heard during
these four weeks. The Gospel for
today is about the coming of Jesus to be sure, but not that at What we are to be reminded of during this time is that the
Church, the people of God, is in a season of existence, as it were, spanning two
moments, the first coming of the Lord Jesus at His birth in Bethlehem of Judea,
and the final coming on the “Last Day.”
The Church looks back but also looks ahead.
Jesus has come but Jesus is also coming.
And, whereas His first coming into the world was a quiet, local event,
His second is portrayed as an entrance signaled by cataclysmic events that no
one can fail to miss. More than that
we simply do not know and it is useless to speculate as to the when of it.
The point is that we live now in a state of yet/not yet.
The reign of God has been announced by John the Forerunner and Baptist,
Jesus was born and grew into manhood and went about preaching the No one should think to celebrate the first coming of Jesus—warm and festive of a holiday season we have made of it—without also being poised in an attitude of expectation of His next appearance. Indeed, the cry of the early Church was Maranatha! Come Lord, quickly! The pressing matter however is what practical difference
both our celebration of His birth and expectation of His second coming will make
in our lives here and now. The
Gospel narrators and Is it really possible to live this way? I believe it is and Christian history bears witness to it in the lives of scores of its saints. Now, we can’t be expected to pass each day literally panting in expectation. But we can nurture a God-mindedness that is fed by way of time devoted to meditation or prayer, in time set aside by us, even seized out of our hectically paced days and nights. Time to pause and reflect upon the day at hand, either just beginning or about to be closed in sleep. With what joy do I greet each new day, as an opportunity to do some good for others, to scatter about some deeds of compassion or simple patience, to cause someone to smile in happiness? With what gratitude do I meet the end of each day, for the gift of life, of shelter, food, employment, loving companionship, and not least of which, for the gift of faith and seeking? In all that we do by the light of day, let us therefore keep watch over ourselves, that we comport ourselves as disciples of Jesus the Christ, and by night, let us slip into sleep mindful of that eternal sleep which awaits each of us. We do not know the moment when we shall be taken from this life. We do not know the moment when Christ will appear again. All that is required is that we look to both events with faith-filled expectation of discovering the fullness of our potential being . In the ancient words of the Church’s night prayer: “Protect us, Lord, as we stay awake; watch over us as we sleep, that awake, we may keep watch with Christ, and asleep rest in His peace.” May your Advent be a season of blessed expectation! Make ready! May the presence of Christ fill your days and your nights until He comes. Let the cry of the Church be your own: Maranatha! Come Lord, even quickly!
25 November 2007 Last Sunday of the Liturgical Year/Christ the King Luke 23:33-43 Today is the last Sunday of the Liturgical Year. According to the Western, Latin arrangement, a new liturgical year begins with the first Sunday of Advent, which this year falls next Sunday. The passage from the Gospel of Saint Luke appointed for today relates an account of the crucifixion of Jesus. The charismatic man who had been the last three years attracting large crowds and a devoted following of disciples, is seen to be brought to destruction by way of a gruesome execution. Hanging upon the cross, Jesus is derided and scoffed at by various of the soldiers and onlookers and even by a man crucified at his side: “He saved others, cannot He save Himself? If He be the King of the Jews, why does He not act to save Himself from this ignominious death?” A mocking inscription was nailed over His head titling Him “King of the Jews.” Now, most of us have trouble with even thinking about kings in a serious manner. For most people, kings are a thing of the past and, where they do exist, often seem as rather quaint tokens, of questionable practical use, and expensive to maintain at that. The dictators and tyrants of the present age don’t any longer claim kingly titles or thrones. President or General seem to suffice just fine for them. Some, in modern times have even thought to distance Jesus from notions of His being a king, owing to the cultural divide which separates many people from a time in earlier history when the rule of kings was the norm, and not always to the detriment of their people. One need only consider that the sufferings of peoples hasn’t diminished in the least for fact of their rulers substituting titles such as Secretary General of the Party, Fuehrer, Generalissimo, or President-for-life. Indeed some of the very worst atrocities in human history have occurred at the hands of twentieth century tyrants, though uncrowned, wielding power and in such wise as to make the likes of Tsar Ivan the Terrible of Russia to blush. The Christian faith, however, continues to revere the Kingship of Christ and we would do well, rather than to recklessly discard a concept that perhaps is not so readily grasped on account of our political indoctrinations, to think more deeply about what it might mean to relate to Jesus as our King. Indeed, the more noble conceptions of what a king—or reignant queen is to be over his or her people, embodies the understanding that the role is in fact one of servanthood. The sovereign rules over the civil state in the capacity of serving God’s own intent that the people flourish and prosper, in good order. It is also the responsibility of the sovereign to provide for the needs of the widow, the orphan, and the poor, as attested even in the Old Testament itself. The administration of law is not for purposes of abusing the populace, but should provide a just application of power in order to provide for the common welfare. Indeed, the person of Jesus, the Christ, is looked to as the perfect image of sovereign rule. How is it that Jesus came to be called king?
At the first, there were those of his own contemporaries who had hoped
that he would restore the Davidic line of kingship and I don’t think that He meant, in saying this, that His kingdom was otherwise located in some celestial abode. I do believe that He was teaching his hearers, of his own time and ever after, that human beings are utterly capable of rising to unimagined heights of awareness of the unity of all being in that ultimate font of Life He referred to as His Father. He Himself was the ultimate manifestation of that potential, living in the midst of his own society, but forever after as well. He constantly pointed beyond the surface, where most of us tend to spend most of our time and fix our consciousness, to that limitless Reality which exists, in total mystery, in and of itself, dependent upon nothing, unspeakable in its essence. This which—Whom-- we call God. God from Whom emanates every manifestation of evolving forms of universes and galaxies, stars, and planets, and what specific forms of life, conscious and otherwise, that inhabits those bodies. Jesus is rightly looked to as the summit of human perfectibility, according to his own, authentic human nature, linked as He is in manner beyond clear comprehension, with the Divine One and thereby fully divine Himself as well. Jesus: true God and true man. God, in complete and essential oneness with “His Father” from eternity, becoming man in time, losing nothing of His divinity thereby, being at once nonetheless fully human. Jesus of Nazareth embodies the Divine Sophia, the Holy Wisdom, Which—Who—sources all that is or can be and to Which—Whom all returns in an endless stream of inter-movement. The glory of this king, Jesus, was not that of earthly, political power. The seat of His throne no mere gilded chair. The hope and trust placed in Him not delimited by the parameters of our present physical form and existence. Rather, His power commands the minds and hearts of all humanity to follow Him, in discipleship, into perfect submission to the rule of Goodness, Truth, Oneness, and Beauty. That in so doing, the realm of this world might be revealed in all its innate harmoniousness, a far cry from the tempests of international rivalries. The nature of His wealth cannot be bagged and locked up in the manner of gold bullion. The splendor of His riches is to be found rather in the limitless self-offering of love whereby He opted not to “save Himself and come down from that cross” but to spend Himself entirely for the sake of repairing a broken world, holding back nothing on account of that love. A King like no other, before or since. This King, Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, the Wisdom, is a King of Glory because He embraced Servant-hood. He is a King of Glory, precisely because He did not allow that His enemies be resisted or overcome by force of military arms, but because He gave Himself into their hands and willingly succumbed to the death they meted Him. He turned conventional sensibilities inside out and taught that there is a higher plane on which humans can live. Unfortunately, we just don’t seem to have gotten His point. Christians have sharpened their swords and cast artillery with which to vanquish people with no less frequency than others. Christians and churches can be as cruel as anyone not pretending to live by His teaching. If the glory of the Christ-King is to be found in His Self-emptying, what of the glory of Christians? Surely not in magnificent temples, basilicas, and mega-church complexes. Not in position or honors. Neither in political influence wielded like a bludgeon to straitjacket a society in blind, uncritical comformity to either civil or ecclesiastical authority. Surely not in any self-righteous condemnation of those who see things differently, experience truth differently, love differently. The glory of the Rule of Christ in our lives will be experienced insofar as we take hold of the liberation He brought into the world whereby all that would hold us back from living for the good of others would no longer have power over us. If I am willing to take His name, to be called “Christian,” does that mean that I am willing to emulate His self-emptying by casting off my arrogances and self-serving ways? Will I give up my hatreds and angers and bitternesses that destroy other people? Will I stop with the nasty comments and criticisms that eat at the self-esteem of others and, in turn, often provoke vengeance? Can I strive to look for the true meaning of life in service to others, especially those most in need of the comfort of discovering that someone really does care after all? In his recent book The Transcended Christian, Daniel Helminiak writes of human liberation as the in-breaking of the reign of God. He says, “If the thrust of a movement is positive, it is an expression of the reign of God because the movement in question is life giving. It is a matter of people’s basic civil, human, and moral rights; a matter of justice, mutual responsibility, equal opportunity, and social contribution. It is a matter of people’s finding themselves and being happy to be alive, of bonding deeply with others and entering into rich and supportive relationships, of finding a worthwhile reason for living and creating a wholesome life that benefits everyone.” (pp.98-99) Christianity ought be such a royal movement as to bring about these ends. Gentle Shepherd parish community should be a Kingdom-place where all of these values are experienced and promoted. Only then might we credibly make the claim that Christ is our King. Only then dare we to sing it in our hymns. Or look one another and the surrounding society in the face.
Let’s talk today about Faith No religious faith,
regardless of the denomination, can be based purely on evidence, but it can, to
a greater or lesser extent be supported by evidence.
To have faith is not ignoring the workings of your mind in order to rely
on your heart. It’s not about suppressing reason and intellect in favor of
emotion. Indeed, I think
that faith is about seeking and knowing God with
all facets of our human character. It's not
"blind faith" as many of us have undoubtedly and mistakenly
thought...rather It's
a "premeditated, a deliberate faith" based on our personal
interpretation of the evidence. And there’s
plenty of evidence around, not only
in what we can glean from the scriptures and other writings but in our every day
world. We have to each of us collecte this and analyze it to serve us in our
individual belief system, realizing that like snowflakes, each of our belief
mechanisms can and will be different. OK, now what...? If
we intellectually believe, by a preponderance of
evidence that works for us personally, that there is a God.. then how do
we define faith, as far as it concerns us? |