An interesting date in Methodist history

On this date in 1784 John Wesley chartered the first Methodist Church in America.

After the American Revolutionary war ended in 1783 Wesley struggled with the question of how to bring order to the Methodists in America.  The Anglican Church refused to send priests to the U.S., believing that church separation would eventually force the new country to re-join Britain. 

Wesley believed that the laying on of hands by an Anglican bishop placed priests of the Church of England in apostolic succession.  When the Anglican Church refused to provide spiritual care for these Christians Wesley began to search the scriptures for a solution.  He concluded that the bishops (episcopos) and elders (presbyteros) of the Primitive Church were functionally the same.  He decided that he himself had the authority to ordain priests.  So, he (along with other Church of England priests) ordained Thomas Coke and in turn directed that Coke ordain Francis Asbury when Coke arrived in America.

Wesley also provided a charter for the establishing of Methodist preaching-houses in America.  The Methodists opened the first of these after Coke arrived in this country.

This was not the first Methodist house of worship.  The Methodist movement had been gaining strength for almost two decades under the leadership of Francis Asbury, Philip William Otterbein, Philip & Margaret Embury and Paul & Barbara Heck.  The first Methodist congregation in “the colonies” was Wesley Chapel in New York City, which opened in 1766. It is still an active congregation – John Street United Methodist Church.

The Gospel Lesson for this Week

Luke 6:27 "But I say to you that listen, ‘Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you…’ “

This is a well-known passage that has its parallel in Matthew 5:44. This quote is from the past Sunday’s gospel lesson as suggested by The New Revised Common Lectionary (NRCL).  The verse is part of the larger Sermon on the Plain as Luke records it.  I am certainly not going to take issue with this directive.  But I have a question as it pertains to my own living out of this command.

That question is, “Who is my enemy?”  I am not trying to be at all facetious.  Who is my enemy?  I don’t have (that I know anything about) anyone in my life who is crying for my blood.  I guess there would be people of other nations that would view me as an enemy because of my own nationality.  They might regard all Americans as “enemy.”  By the same token there might be people who would regard me as enemy on racial grounds: I am white and therefore I am enemy.

But, closer to home, is someone with whom I disagree strongly an enemy?  Is someone who has hurt my feelings an enemy?  Am I to regard people who have hurt me or my family as enemy?  They may not be on my Christmas card list, but are they my enemy?

Sadly, I can think of people whom I would not welcome into my home.  They are people with whom I would be loathe to share a meal – or even a conversation.  They are people who have caused me emotional trauma, sometimes deep injury.  The great grace of my life would be never to see these folks again.  But, are they enemies?

I know of people who have committed acts of unspeakable violence or deep-rooted evil.  They did not direct their activity toward me personally.  But their wickedness touches entire communities.  Is someone like The Unabomber my enemy?

I don’t know.

Maybe I don’t have true enemies.

That doesn’t make any difference.

There are, as I confess, people toward whom I do not feel very friendly.  Jesus tells me to love them.  Love doesn’t mean that I invite them to Thanksgiving dinner.  Love doesn’t mean that I must relate to them as pals.  But love does mean that Jesus directs me to relate to others – all others – as children of God.  Jesus has sacrificed for them no more or no less than he has sacrificed for me.

I suppose part of it is that enemies aren’t labels.  For good or ill, they are people with whom The Prince of Peace has directed me to be at peace.

He didn’t say it was easy.

He said, “Do it.”

The Last Sermon of John Wesley

We have recently passed an extraordinary historical milestone.  On February 23, 1791, John Wesley preached his last sermon.  It would not be many more days until he would die.  He began preaching in 1725.  Over the span of his sixty-six-year preaching career he preached over 40,000 times according to his Journal and Sermon Register.  This meant that for a long span of time he preached three and four times per day.  There would be no way to overestimate his contribution to the Great Awakening in Britain or to the Methodist movement not only in England but worldwide.

I need to make something clear about Wesley’s sermons and his preaching.  When one refers to Wesley’s sermons, they are talking about published works.  In Wesley’s world a writer composed a sermon with the idea that an audience would read it.  Wesley published 141 original sermons in his lifetime.  Methodists consider the first 44 of these – The Standard Sermons of John Wesley – to be part of their doctrinal standards.  For Wesley, preaching was an oral activity.  He preached to congregations and crowds of people that would gather almost everywhere he went.  In these public events he would use the same or similar content in multiple locations.  They might be pieces that Wesley had memorized.  He also frequently spoke extemporaneously.

So, I pause to give thanks for a remarkable oratory career.  If he had accomplished nothing else we would remember Wesley as a prolific and effective preacher.

Matthias, Apostle

Quick: name the 12 Apostles of Jesus.  Your answer may have an asterisk at the end.  This is because there are two different answers (both correct) to the challenge.  Judas Iscariot was one of the original Twelve.  But after his suicide/death (depending on if you read Matthew 27 or Acts 1), the remaining Eleven put forth two names – Barsabbas and Matthias -- as a replacement.  After prayer and casting lots Matthias became a member of the Twelve.

Today is the (western) feast day of St. Matthias. We never hear of him again in the New Testament following his election as an Apostle.  Tradition holds that he preached in Judea before going into the world to evangelize.  The church at Cappadocia maintains that Matthias founded the church there.  There are also traditions about his apostolic activity in the area of the Caspian Sea.  Christian legend maintains that he died a martyr’s death in that region and that after his crucifixion his killers dismembered his body.

Another tradition reports that St. Helena, who was the Roman Emperor Constantine’s mother, transported the relics of Matthias from Jerusalem to Rome.

I have always had an attraction to the Matthias stories because they indicate that there is an equal place in gospel work for relative late-comers.

Saint Matthias is the patron of carpenters, tailors, those with smallpox, and addicts of all kinds & their caregivers.

This is the collect for The Feast of St.Matthias from the Book of Common Prayer:

Almighty God, who in the place of Judas chose your faithful servant Matthias to be numbered among the Twelve: Grant that your Church, being delivered from false apostles, may always be guided and governed by faithful and true pastors; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Psalm 1

Psalm 1

Happy are those

   who do not follow the advice of the wicked,

or take the path that sinners tread,

   or sit in the seat of scoffers;

but their delight is in the law of the Lord,

   and on his law they meditate day and night.

They are like trees

   planted by streams of water,

which yield their fruit in its season,

   and their leaves do not wither.

In all that they do, they prosper.

The wicked are not so,

   but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgement,

   nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;

for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,

   but the way of the wicked will perish.

The Psalter Reading for this past Sunday in the New Revised Common Lectionary (NRCL) is Psalm 1.  It is a delightful text and is worthy of our meditation. 

When I ponder this text, one of the questions I ask is, “Why is this Psalm 1?  It is not that it is unworthy of a place of prominence.  But I simply wonder, “Why this one.”  Now, I know that this text has occupied this particular position for a thousand years and more.  I have no point of contention or dispute over its right to be here.  I just wonder, “Why this one?” 

If you think of the entire body of The Psalter, you see texts that we know simply by reference.  All you have to say is “Psalm 23,” and the entirety of “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want,” floods over you in its entirety.  You might say the same thing about Psalm 51 (a Psalm of repentance) or Psalm 100 (Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth…).

One might observe that Psalm 119 is the lengthiest Psalm.  The reader might also remember that the 117^th Psalm is the briefest poem in the collection. 

We remember that Jesus quoted Psalm 22 (My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?)  and Psalm 31 (Father, into your hands I commend my spirit!) from the cross.

The first text in a 150-psalm collection sets the tone for all the rest.  It cannot possible embody all of the emotions and experience of the entire Psalter.  But, it of necessity carries an appropriate tone as it introduces all that is to follow.

There is a fiction in The United Methodist Church that the Charles Wesley hymn “O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing” has been the initial hymn in all Methodist hymn-books since the beginning.  This is not true.  There have been a few – not many, but a few – Methodist song books where this song was not the first.  The most recent is The Methodist Hymnal of 1935, which had “Holy, Holy, Holy” as its first hymn-text.  This is to say that “O for a Thousand Tongues” set the tone for all that was to follow in most of the Methodist song-books throughout the church's history.  For a denomination that transmitted its theology largely through the content of its hymns, the initial hymn carries a lot of freight.

So, Psalm 1 is an admirable choice for the beginning of the Psalter.  In a simple – but never simplistic – fashion, it speaks of blessing, of communion with God, and of the reward of righteousness.  These themes and their antitheses are the subject of much that is to follow. 

Good choice!

Taking License

Like most pastors I have a lot of pieces of paper framed and hanging on my wall.  A friend of mine calls such collections our “works righteousness” walls.  In one cluster there are my academic parchments – my college and seminary diplomas.  In another grouping are my ecclesiastical credentials.  These include the parchments recognizing my ordination as deacon and as elder (these date back to a time when elder’s ordination was a two-step process.  Elders and Deacons are separate orders in the United Methodist Church now).

But there is one more.  It is my License to Preach in the United Methodist Church (UMC).  This is a document that signifies that the church granted me limited authority to carry out certain pastoral acts while I served as a student pastor (a designation that no longer exists in the UMC).  The church appointed a student pastor to a church or charge, and the student could preach and do a few other things there.  

A student pastor visited in hospitals and sickrooms.  Student pastors could conduct funerals.  They could officiate at weddings in the churches where they preached.  The student pastor did limited administration within their own pastoral charge.  But the student pastor could not administer the sacraments.  If a Baptism was in order the student had to recruit an ordained elder to do that task.  An elder was also necessary for serving Communion.

The rules of the church are a little different now.  Local Pastors (who have a bit more training and who are examined a tad more closely before they receive a pastoral assignment) can now baptize and preside at the Communion table in their own appointment (although they cannot administer the sacraments beyond their own local congregation).

I spend this time because in the past week I have passed the 43rd anniversary of the issuing of my License to Preach.  I had been doing church work for a little over a year.  I went through the certifying process during that time.  Then, with the reception of that first certificate, I began a long journey of credentialing and ministry.

In those days a pastor went through a renewal of license process annually as long as s/he was preaching.  This held true until ordination as a deacon.  At that point the student preacher ceased to be under the supervision of the District Committee on Ordained Ministry (the entity that granted the License) and began a time of oversight by the Conference Board of Ordained Ministry.  When the candidate received Elders ordination s/he attained a status of being able to execute all duties of the pastoral office without restriction.

So, in practical ways, that License on my wall doesn’t reflect my current status at all.  The print is fading. The paper itself has begun to deteriorate. It contains the signatures of the folks on that long-ago committee who helped me get started.  Some of them are no longer alive.    It is a reminder of a time gone by.  But it is also a symbol to me of a beginning, of an attitude and an enthusiasm for my pastoral work that I had when I first started out.  It sometimes pushes me when I feel the occasional pressure of these tasks closing in on me.  

It’s not coming down.

You’ve seen this photograph, right?  A photographer snapped it as crowds spilled out into the streets of New York City celebrating V-J Day (Victory over Japan) on August 14, 1945.  The sailor grabbed the nurse and kissed her in exuberance. The moment was captured on film by Alfred Eisenstaedt  and has become iconic.

Well, the sailor is George Mendonsa.  He died yesterday, February 18, 2019, at the age of 95.  His on-line obituary says that “Mendonsa fell and had a seizure at the assisted living facility in Middletown, Rhode Island, where he lived with his wife of 70 years.”

I wasn’t around when the events of the photo took place.  But I have seen this picture all of my life.  It bears the title “V-J Day in Times Square.”  But for most people it is simply “The Kiss.”  It is a reminder of the power of the photograph.  “A picture is worth a thousand words” is one of those clichés that just happens to be true.  Photographs evoke memories and emotions easily.  I can describe an image in just a few words, and you see it clearly.  You also probably have some feeling that relates to that memory.  Let’s try some:

John Kennedy Jr. saluting as his father’s coffin passes by:

The woman kneeling and crying over one of the slain at Kent State:

The evacuation of Saigon;

The Challenger explosion (“Massive malfunction”);

One of the Twin Towers smoking before it fell.

I suppose that video recordings will replace static images.  Newspapers and magazines are declining in circulation.  Video clips replace photographs as the conveyors of news and other occurrences.  The significance of photographs is now confined to the Selfie.

For me, a bit of a dinosaur, that’s too bad.

(In the interest of accuracy, the nurse in “The Kiss” is Greta Zimmer Friedman, who died in 2016 at the age of 92.)

Martin Luther, teacher

Martin Luther 1483 - 1546

It was on this date in 1546 that Martin Luther, the church reformer, died at the age of 62.  Luther was born in 1483 in Eisleben, Germany.  He was a professor of theology, composer, priest and monk.  He called into question several practices of the Roman Catholic Church and in 1517, angry with Pope Leo X’s new round of indulgences to help build St. Peter’s Basilica, nailed a list of 95 Theses (objections) to the University of Wittenberg’s chapel door.

He was tried by the Diet of Worms, a secular tribunal.  Although it could give Luther no scripture references to refute any of his positions, it condemned him as a heretic and Luther became a fugitive.  Some friends concealed him in Wartburg Castle.  It was here that he completed his work of translating the New Testament into German. 

Though still a wanted man he established a new church that later became the Lutheran Church.  He eventually married and had six children.  He administered his church for several years before dying of complications from a stroke.

He is revered for his scholarship and bravery and rightly so.  He is the principal shaker and mover of The Protestant Reformation.  He is not without spot or blemish, though.  In 1524 there was a rebellion by the peasant class of in the city of Eisenach.  Luther took the side of the German princes, who were financially supporting his church.  Thousands of peasants died in the struggle.

Luther was also fiercely Anti-Semitic.   He published The Jews and Their Lies, a 65,000-word treatise, in 1543 that called for confiscation of all Jewish-held lands and properties, the destruction of all houses of worship and prayer books, the forbidding of preachers to preach and the conduct of religious services, and their expulsion from Germanic lands.

"We've never done it that way before!"

It was on this date in 1739 that Methodist pioneer George Whitfield (1714 – 1770) preached in the open air for the first time.  After he graduated from Oxford University (where he had met and ministered with John and Charles Wesley), the Church of England did not immediately assign him to a pulpit.  So, he worked as an itinerant evangelist.  When meeting-houses were not available he decided to preach in the open air. 

Whitfield was enthusiastic and theatrical.  He had a loud, booming voice and was soon drawing extraordinary crowds of people who did not or could not attend worship in Church of England buildings.

He invited John Wesley to accompany him to a preaching event in April of that year.  Whitfield (also sometimes spelled Whitefield) wanted to return to America and continue his former evangelistic work there.  So, he desired Wesley to assume his mantle in Britain.  Wesley attended, but did not join in the leadership of, a meeting on April 1.  He saw the extraordinary response to Whitfield’s preaching, and could not deny that souls were being saved.  He wrote:

I could scarce reconcile myself at first to this strange way of preaching in the fields, of which he (Whitefield) set me an example on Sunday; having been all my life - till very lately - so tenacious of every point relating to decency and order, that I should have thought the saving of souls almost a sin, if it had not been done in a church.       –"The Journal of John Wesley,” April 1, 1739

He later recorded a fuller account of his initial experience with what he called “Field Preaching:” insisting that he only turned to the fields when the doors of the churches were closed. 

        There was no scheme at all previously formed, ... nor 

        had I any other end in view than this-to save as many 

        souls as I could. 

        –"A Farther Appeal to Men of Reason and Religion” (1745).

Whitfield’s bold activity was as responsible for the First Great Awakening in America as any other single cause (outside, of course, to the powerful movement of The Holy Spirit). “Open Air Preaching” also determined the direction of the Methodist movement for the next generation.  Field Preachers would preach to miners and other laborers on-site before they started their work day.  It was from these working-class roots that Methodism received its first energy toward popular acceptance.  Soon, every Methodist preacher and evangelist was, at least part of the time, addressing crowds out-of-doors.  Brush arbors and tents followed.  But it was a long time before dedicated Methodist “preaching houses” became part of the fledgling church’s landscape.

The Dead Sea Scrolls remembered

It was on this date in 1949 that Gerald Lankester Harding and Roland de Vaux begin formal excavations at Cave 1 in the area of Khirbet Qumran in southern Israel.  They were searching for further examples of ancient manuscripts that became known as the Dead Sea Scrolls.

In 1946 Bedouin shepherd Muhammed edh-Dhib, his cousin Jum'a Muhammed, and Khalil Musa were tending flocks in the area when edh-Dhib threw a stone into one of the caves.  Instead of hearing the rock smack against the cave wall the trio heard the sound of pottery breaking.  Inside they found a rolled-op scroll (that scholars later identified as a manuscript of the Book Isaiah Scroll.  They also recovered scrolls containing a Habakkuk Commentary and the Community Rule (more about that momentarily).

Some intrigue followed as scholars and merchants sought to establish authenticity and right of possession.  As the story unfolded both the scientific and religious academic communities became quite excited.  This led to the work of Harding and de Vaux.

To date researchers have found twelve caves that contain 970 manuscripts and over 16,000 fragments.  These documents fall into two categories.  First there are biblical manuscripts and biblical commentaries.  Copies of the entire Old Testament are present with the exception of the Book of Esther.  The scrolls are almost identical to the Masoretic Texts of the Old Testament (which are the oldest and most reliable of the biblical Hebrew manuscripts and are the basis for almost all Old and New Testament translations in the modern day).  These texts support the integrity of the copying and transmission process over the course of the last two thousand years.

The second family of scrolls relates to the sect that produced the writings.  This group is known as the Essenes.  They were a separatist group that had a short life from about the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century CE.  These scrolls describe the ordering of their lives together (The Community Rule  mentioned above and others) as well as their theological and eschatological ideas.  The Qumranians were monastics.  They built a small settlement near the Dead Sea (hence the term “Dead Sea Scrolls").  There were community living quarters, kitchens, a library, a scriptorum and other facilities necessary to carry on a common life.

Most researchers believe that the Essenes hid the scrolls in order to protect them during the Jewish Revolt sometime between 66 and 68 CE. The Romans destroyed the site at Qumran, and no one ever recovered the scrolls.

I became intrigued with the Scrolls while I was in High School.  I did an Independent Study on the scrolls as an undergraduate.  I have tried to keep up with research, but I find that I frequently fall behind.

Some of the manuscripts are on display at The Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem.  Most of the scrolls are available for scholarly research there.  A digital copy of some of the writings is available here.

Let us gather at the…table

In our congregation’s weekly Bible study recently, we considered   Matthew 11:28: Come to me, all who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.  It is a wonderful invitation, and I could spend a lot of time on it.

But what captivated my interest in that hearing was that it transported me to a time long ago.  In the church where I grew up, the first Sunday of each month was Communion Sunday.”  Our method in that observance was to follow the direction of the ushers and queue in the outside aisles between the pews and the sanctuary walls.  We would then go to the chancel rail and kneel.  There we received the little morsel of communion bread and the individual glasses of grape juice.  The pastor would usually move down the row with the tray of bread, and someone else would follow with the tray containing the cups.  When he had served everyone, the minister would give a table dismissal.  This was usually a short scripture verse and then the phrase, “Rise, and go in peace, and the peace of God go with you.”  We would all stand up and return to our seats by the center aisle.

One of the verses that our pastor would employ as a dismissal was Matthew 11:28.  Whether I was kneeling at the chancel or sitting in my seat, I sort of felt like I had completed the communion act when I heard, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”

As time went on, I was exposed to a number of alternate approaches to serving communion.  I found many (most) churches have the worshipers approach by the center aisle and return by the side passages. 

Many congregations, particularly those that have a larger number of worshipers, will serve the elements as the people stand at the head of a line that forms at the chancel.  In this same vein there are churches that use multiple stations to serve people, usually as the recipients stand. 

Of course, there are denominations that serve the elements to people while they remain in the pews.  Ushers or deacons or people with other designations serve the trays of bread and multiple cups to worshipers at the end of each seat and then these folks pass the trays to their neighbors.

It is the fashion in recent times to receive the elements by means of intinction.  In this method the communicant receives a morsel of bread and then dips the bread into a common cup.  This allows the entire worshiping body to share in the one loaf and single cup.  It sounds terrific in theory.  In practice it can be problematic.  For one thing, there seems to be a lot of people who cannot dip the bread into the cup without also getting a bit of their hand in the liquid as well.  Or, they pinch the very end of the bread by as few grains as possible, so that when they lower the bread into the cup, only about half of their bread comes back out.  Two or three floaters can put others off their feed very quickly.  This approach is unaesthetic as well as unhygienic. 

Churches that use true wine for the sacrament avoid a lot of this, of course.  The tradition is that the church serves wine in a gold or silver chalice.  After the priest serves each person, they rotate the vessel and wipe it with a clean napkin.  Studies show that this is an essentially risk-free method of approaching communion.

There are congregations that offer any combination of element forms or options for posture to communicants.  I am not of a mind to pass any judgment on the “right” way or “wrong” way to serve communion.  But I will have to admit that for the above-mentioned reasons and others I am beginning to lose my attraction to intinction.  The commonality is a plus.  It is also among the most time-efficient methods of serving.  However, I am beginning a campaign to put this practice in my rear-view mirror, at least for a season. 

I have spent no little time considering this and I believe it is time to move on it.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

A not-so-proud moment

U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy charged that communists had infiltrated the State Department at all levels on this date in 1950. This was the beginning of "McCarthyism."

McCarthy saw communists hiding behind every rock and tree.  This was in the Cold War era when “communist” was code not only for a political system that was over against so-called “democracy.”  It was also a label that right-wingers hurled at anyone who did not agree with every aspect of their politics, religion, sociology and all other opinions. 

McCarthy targeted liberals of all kinds, gays, artists of any medium and almost anyone else to whom he could make his charges of disloyalty, subversives and even spies stick.  “McCarthyism” is a term that applies to witch hunts and hurling unsubstantiated accusations at ideological opponents.

The McCarthy Era is among the darkest days of U. S. history.  Strong-arm tactics, ignoring of due process and outright lies are the characteristics of the period.  The approach was “make your opponent appear to be evil, and the opponent’s position appears evil.”  It is a rotten way to do business and is the polar opposite of civil discourse.

The U. S. Senate censured McCarthy in 1954.  Although he stuck to his guns for the rest of his life (and remained a Senator from Wisconsin until his death in 1957), he was never a force in national politics again.

One would hope that we would learn the lesson of history.  But, in contemporary politics and in church debate I am afraid that McCarthyism lives.

What a great day!

Today is a feast day of an entirely different sort.  It is not a High Holy Day in the religious calendar.  But it is a great day for some of us, nonetheless.  “I love you” are undoubtedly the most beautiful three words in our language.  But today is a day for celebrating a most wonderful four-word phrase:

Pitchers and catchers report.

It is the official opening day of Spring Training Camp (or spring training camp, depending on how you feel about it) in Jupiter, Florida for the St. Louis Cardinals.  Other clubs have their opening within three or four days either way of the Cardinals date.  The pitchers (needing a few days to get limber before even soft-tossing to hitters) show up first.  And, because they need someone to throw to, the catchers report early as well.  Before long, position players will check in.  Then, exhibition games and before long – Opening Day.

The thing is, every year along about the end of the season, I say, “I really invest too much emotion in this stuff.  I need to back off.  Next year, I will be much more the casual fan.”  And I convince myself of this through about the middle of December.  Then, every year without fail, the fires start to burn again.  This is especially true if my team has had a good Hot Stove Season (making trades and signing contracts with free-agents).  So, once Groundhog Day passes, I find myself waiting anxiously once again.  Today is the day.

Pitchers and catchers report!

The ticking of the clock is getting loud

We are less than three weeks away from the United Methodist Church’s Special Session of General Conference.  An important milestone for me is that there is one more weekend before the session convenes.  Next Sunday will be the last opportunity delegates have to assemble in their own churches.  Sometime that week the participants will make their way to St. Louis and the gavel will fall on Saturday the 29^th.

So, this coming Sunday will be (for most) the last regularly-scheduled service of worship prior to their historic meeting.  It will be the last sermon (preached or audited) before the crucial debates of the Conference.  It will probably be the last Communion for a portion of the crowd.  Sunday will be the final opportunity for encouragement.  There will be only one more gathering in a prayer circle.  Last handshakes and parting “Good lucks!” will abound.

It is coming so fast.

So, in these final days before General Conference, I entreat any who read these words to be in prayer.  No matter what your position on the issue of human sexuality, no matter which plan you support, no matter what your long-term vision for the United Methodist Church – please, pray.

There is so much violence to people and to the church that could come about.  Relationships could be fractured.  The delegates could make decisions that would take decades from which to recover.  As important as the issue before the Conference may be, I believe that our fellowship is more important still.  If people get hurt, if congregations and conferences splinter, can anyone truthfully say that this is the better option?

The clock is ticking.  The time is approaching.

Pray.

Please, pray.

A Common Thread

This Sunday (the Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany) the Revised New Common Lectionary (NRCL) has one of those Sundays when there is a common thread though the Old Testament, Epistle and Gospel readings.  There are those who maintain that this is the case every week.  This is in contrast to the design of the NRCL except on certain Feast Days.  Each reading is a text that stands on its own bottom (except for the Psalter Reading, which is usually a commentary on the OT lesson).  An artificial thematization of all the readings does a great disservice to the individual lections and to the day’s pattern as a whole.

Even so, once in a while it occurs anyway.  This week the OT reading is from Isaiah 6:1-8, (9-13) and includes verse 5:

And I said: "Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!" 

The Epistle is 1 Corinthians 15:1-11.  In the course of this reading we find verse 9:

For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 

Finally, the Gospel Lesson is Luke 5:1-11.  In verse 8 we read:

But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!"

The theme of unworthiness appears clearly in all of these texts.  One could argue that human unworthiness is a doctrine that underlies every verse of scripture.  Unworthiness means something slightly different in each of these passages.  But, when we take them collectively, they certainly capture our attention.  A believer doesn’t have to kick themselves in the head repeatedly in order to appreciate the idea.  However, in a time of pride and arrogance a little humility would not be misplaced. 

An enduring text in my own journey is the Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican (Luke 18:9-14).  The declaration of the Publican, “Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner!) carries a lot of spiritual freight.

I don’t believe that we like to think about our relative worthiness much.  Maybe we need to get over that.

Connie Mack

Connie Mack

Yesterday marked the anniversary of the death in 1956 of one of the greatest names in American professional baseball.  You might not recognize the name Connie Mack (Cornelius McGillicuddy), because he wasn’t an on-the-field player.  He was, rather, a team manager.  He was the longest-serving manager in Major League Baseball history.  He holds a record of 3,731 wins, 3,948 losses and managed 7,755 games. He was the first manager to win the World Series three times.  In the interest of transparency, Mack held controlling interest in the Philadelphia Athletics from 1940 until his retirement following the 1950 season.

Connie Mack was the last major-league manager to manage in street clothes rather than wearing a team uniform.  The photos of him in a three-piece suit and straw hat in the dugout seem odd today.  But Mack began in a different era and held over the practice of his youth.

Connie Mack hoped to make his players not only exceptional athletes, but exemplary human beings.  He developed a code of conduct for his players:

• I will always play the game to the best of my ability.
• I will always play to win, but if I lose, I will not look for an excuse to detract from my opponent's victory.
• I will never take an unfair advantage in order to win.
• I will always abide by the rules of the game—on the diamond as well as in my daily life.
• I will always conduct myself as a true sportsman—on and off the playing field.
• I will always strive for the good of the entire team rather than for my own glory.
• I will never gloat in victory or pity myself in defeat.
• I will do my utmost to keep myself clean—physically, mentally, and morally.
• I will always judge a teammate or an opponent as an individual and never on the basis of race or religion.

I’ll not bother to comment on the contrast between Connie Mack’s code and the behavior of some modern-day professional athletes.

Shibe Park, the home stadium of the Philadelphia Athletics and later the Philadelphia Phillies, was renamed Connie Mack Stadium in 1953.  It remained the home of the Phillies until it closed in 1970.  I remember the Phillies playing there when I watched/listened to ballgames as a youth.

Many depictions of Connie Mack show him with a rolled-up scorecard that he used to direct the positioning of players on the field.  One seldom saw Mack during games without that rolled-up card in his hand.

Another hill far away...

Brow of the Hill Near Nazareth
by James Jacques Joseph Tissot

This past Sunday’s gospel lesson from The New Revised Common Lectionary (NRCL) is from Luke 4:21-30.  Verse 29 reads, They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff.

That line has always been a peculiar one as I considered it.  Intellectually it is not puzzling at all.  Jesus’ words in the preceding verses border on blasphemy.  Although as the text progresses it is not Jesus' proclamation that he fulfills the words of Isaiah the Prophet that anger the crowd at the Nazareth synagogue.  When he speaks these words, folks seem to be impressed.  It is when Jesus as much as says that he will heal no illness or exorcise no demon in his home town that people get riled up.

It is as if they say, “We don’t mind a little borderline blasphemy, but we won’t be ignored or discounted.”  The reaction is human enough.  It is fraught with resentment and rage.  The mob mentality takes over and the people chivvy Jesus to the edge of town and to “the brow of the hill.”  Their intent is to toss him over the side.  However, with little fanfare apparently, Jesus halts their murderous progress and goes back the way he came.

In studying the passage, I came across this painting by Tissot.  I was somehow taken by it.  It is not particularly detailed.  In fact, it is difficult to single out Jesus in the picture at all.  But it has a kind of scope that draws me into it.  It depicts the commotion and chaos that must have been present in the moment.  There are other depictions of the story that seem to have Jesus in charge the entire time.  He stands heroically facing his fellow Nazarenes and appears to be facing them down.  Tissot puts Jesus in a bit of a defensive posture and places Jesus within the panoramic frame of all Nazareth.  It is as if, for a moment, we are not sure who is going to win here.

I still have a lot of questions about this passage.  But I find the picture has helped me focus a bit, and perhaps helps me to ask some of the correct questions.  

_____________

Tissot, James Jacques Joseph, 1836-1902. Brow of the Hill Near Nazareth, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN.http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=55366 [retrieved February 6, 2019]. Original source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brooklyn_Museum_-_The_Brow_of_the_Hill_near_Nazareth_(L%27escarpement_de_Nazareth)_-_James_Tissot.jpg.

Toe the Line?

In his book How to Read the Bible & Still be a Christian John Dominic Crossan says,

…in 621BCE, the high priest Hilkiah informed King Josiah of Judah that he had found the book of Deuteronomy, which he called the “book of the law,” in the Jerusalem Temple (2 Kings 12:8).  Thus began what today is called the Deuteronomic Reform under the slogan “one God in one Temple – at Jerusalem” (note, for example Deuteronomy 12:13-14).

WHAT IS MOST STRIKING¹ and even startling about the book of Deuteronomy is how it is dominated by covenant, with covenant dominated by Sanction, and with Sanction dominated by curses and blessings.²

These sorts of writings – taken out of both literary and historical context – prompt some modern-day folks to take the position that sanctions and curses are the appropriate response toward all with which they disagree.  Some of the horribly vindictive rhetoric coming out of the conservative camps in regard to the Way Forward and United Methodist General Conference that gathers later this month appeals to such passages as a rationale for their attitude.

This “second telling” of the Law (lit. deuteros "second" + nomos "law") surfaced at a time of great political and religious upheaval.  No matter what one’s view of the severity of sanction and curse in the book, Josiah and Hilkiah were of the opinion that it was only by imposing strict regulations and harsh enforcement that the Kingdom of Judah and the faith of the Hebrews was going to be preserved.  It is akin to marshal law or the declaration of a state of disaster.  Such things were not ever the norm in Israel.

I understand that some folks believe the situations to be analogous.  They see these times as a period of religious upheaval.  They see strict enforcement as the only way to preserve the unity of the United Methodist Church.  Things fall apart, though, with the realization that The United Methodist Church is an all-volunteer organization.  Even the highest-paid professional clergy, bureaucrats and agency workers joined the church by choice.  One can always walk away without threat to life or limb.  As a fellowship of believers who relish the doctrine of free will, the church as a whole ought to perceive vindictiveness as abhorrent. 

The Right masks its marshal law plan with words such as “accountability,” meaning that anyone who does not agree with their party line is wrong, even chargeable, and that those with whom they disagree must be identified and punished if the so-called offender refuses to conform with their definition of “the correct.”

Let’s be clear: The Right is not called of God or of anyone else save they themselves to be the Credential Police.  I have heard representatives of their position preach from pulpits about “love” and “grace” and “room for all of God’s children at God’s table.”  Until someone disagrees with them.  Then the vigor of their wrath knows no bounds.

Deuteronomy is not the whole of Scripture.  For every passage on Law there is a corresponding text extolling Grace.  I don’t know where all this will end.  But I trust that Self-Justification will never prevail.

Lord, have mercy.

Christ, have mercy.

Lord, have mercy.

¹Capitals are the author’s.

²John Dominic Crossan, How to Read the Bible & Still be a Christian (New York: Harper Collins, 2015), pp. 89-90.

An observation on John Wesley

In John Wesley’s Sermon #40 Christian Perfection, which he wrote in 1741 and included in all editions of Sermons on Several Occasions (not to be confused with his tract A Plain Account of Christian Perfection, which he published in 1777), he says,

There is scarce any expression in Holy Writ which has given more offence than this.  The word ‘perfect’ is what many cannot bear.  The very sound of it is an abomination to them.  And whosoever ‘preaches perfection’ (as the phrase is), i.e. asserts that it is attainable in this life, runs great hazard of being accounted by them worse than a heathen man or a publican

And hence some have advised, wholly to lay aside the use of those expressions, ‘because they have given so great offence.’

 I read this and I think, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”  Christian perfection is something that Wesley believed was possible in this life.  But he was quick to say that perfection is not something we do; perfection is something God does in us.  Wesley speaks of it at great length and I’ll not repeat all of that here. 

What I do want to pursue for a moment is observation that some of Wesley’s contemporaries were put off or even offended by the discussion of perfection.  He further reports that some – and we infer that the “some” are preachers and class leaders – in order to avoid offending anybody, threw out the term perfection altogether.

Some would say that perfection is unrealistic.  They claim that to take the command of Jesus from Matthew 5.48: Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect...  is to set the bar too high.  Or they maintain that Jesus is engaging in hyperbole and that this is the only way to understand perfection.  So, when Wesley and others preached that perfection was real and the will of God, some folks were offended.

I hear the echoes of Wesley’s observation all around me today.  When the church calls its members (or the world) to a high-road morality the hearers don’t engage in debate.  They don’t indulge in academic or spiritual discourse.  Instead they frequently express offense and they demean the church or its spokespersons and then stomp off.  They don’t dispute the claim or call that the speaker makes.  They offer no alternative, nor do they build a reasoned case of their own.  But they get offended.  They let everyone know about it.  And their sense of offense becomes the central issue and the moral bidding gets lost.

Wesley found these circumstances to be a colossal frustration and a misuse of emotional energy.

As I say, not much changes.

Of Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs

I had a conversation with a pastor friend the other day in which my friend spoke of a couple in her congregation that had ceased to attend worship in that church.  Upon contact they told the pastor that they were attending another church, and that the reason was that this other group sang “the old songs” in worship.

My discussion with this pastor speculated on some of the possible reasons why these folks had chosen an alternative to their long-time fellowship.  One is as likely as the other, and we’ll never know for sure.  But for the moment I am going to take this couple at their word.

At first glance it seems a small thing.  How many songs/hymns does the average congregation sing in a weekly worship service?  Three?  Four?  Factor in an anthem, maybe a choral introit, a prelude, a postlude and an offertory and the musical opportunities do begin to stack up.  But truth be known, I don’t think I have ever heard anyone say, “Well I just got tired of the constant new music during the offering and I decided to go somewhere else!”  So, what is at issue is three, maybe four singing events per week.

It is easy to dismiss such a small percentage of all the goings-on in worship.  But in many worship orders the singing is one of the few opportunities for congregational participation that Sunday morning offers.  Some churches may include a unison Affirmation of Faith.  Many pray The Lord’s Prayer together.  We ask the folks in the pew to put money in the plate when we take up the Offering.  But a given congregation may not do all these things every week.  Other participatory acts may be infrequent at best.

So, hymn-singing is one of only a handful of non-passive elements in many of our churches.  If the few chances for people to join in are made up of the unfamiliar or the uncomfortable, it is a fair criticism to say, “I am more comfortable somewhere else.”  This would be especially true, I think, in a setting where the change in music had been abrupt.

Music often touches the heart in a way that prose cannot.  I am not speaking of mere “feel good” moments.  Music is evocative.  It can transport us to times and places from which we are far removed.  I remarked in a sermon recently that people can think of times when they have buried loved ones more than fifty years ago.  They can’t quote a single verse of scripture from that day, nor do they remember any word that was spoken.  But often they recollect every piece of music that was played or sung.  

Church music is one of those “all things to all people” topics.  It is difficult to include A Mighty Fortress is our God and Bringing in the Sheaves in the same service.  But in a time of fragile balance, most of the churches of which I am aware could benefit from being more intentional in their consideration of their music.

I hope my friend’s folks come back.

Cornelius the Centurion

Today is the Feast of Cornelius the Centurion.  In point of fact, it is a feast of Cornelius.  The Roman calendar recognizes him on February 2 (already a busy day of observances) and the Orthodox Churches place this feast on September 13.  The Anglican calendar chooses today.  It’s not a bad day to celebrate his life.

Acts 10 tells his story. According to verses 2 and 3, Cornelius was a devout man who feared God with all his household; he gave alms generously to the people and prayed constantly to God.  He resided in Caesarea.  In a vision he received a command to send servants to Joppa to fetch Peter.  While this was going on Peter had a vision while a guest in Joppa.  In this vision, Paul had a three-time revelation about being commanded to eat what he understood to be ritually unclean food.  Each time he protested there was a voice that instructed him that What God has made clean, you must not call profane.  (verse 14)

When he woke Peter received the delegation from Cornelius at God’s command.  The next day he accompanied the servants to Caesarea.  Cornelius explained his own vision and in verse 34 made the now-famous statement I truly understand that God shows no partiality.  He preached to a small crowd and the Holy Spirit came upon them.  Peter baptized them and remained with them several days.

So, Cornelius and his household were among the first Gentile converts (the narrative concerning the Ethiopian Eunuch is in chapter 8).  The events in Caesarea caused a great controversy, as you can imagine.  But in the end, the Gentile believers were accepted by the early church and the door opened for a larger Gentile mission.

Eunuch or Centurion, someone has to be first.  The universal grace of God is sometimes revealed in stages.  The recognition of Cornelius’ profession changed the complexion of the church for ever. 

Thanks be to God.

The Day the Music Died

It was 60 years ago today that a small chartered airplane carrying Ritchie Valens, Buddy Holly and J.D. “The Big Bopper” Richardson crashed outside of Clear Lake, Iowa.  They were flying in a snowstorm and the pilot of the aircraft an inexperienced bad-weather flyer.  The pilot also perished.

This was the first pop music air tragedy, but there have been numerous others.  Patsy Cline, Jim Croce, members of the Lynyrd Skynyrd band, Otis Redding, and John Denver are among those who have died in plane crashes.  Some other musical celebrities have died in crashes involving helicopters.  

Don McLean's 1972 release "American Pie" is a lament over the deaths.  McLean maintains that the song is about America and the loss of innocence.  Maybe.  But there is no song without the events of sixty years ago.  

R.I.P Ritchie, Buddy and Bopper.

Candlemas

Today is the Feast of Candlemas.  It is a fixed feast that the church observes on the second of February.  Other designations for the day include The Presentation of the Lord, The Presentation of Jesus at the Temple and The Purification of the Virgin Mary.  It marks the event that the Mosaic Law prescribes forty days after the birth of a male child.  Luke 2:23–52 tells the story that describes both this and the participation of Mary and Joseph in the tradition of the redemption of the first-born.

Candlemas refers to the practice of the church in which it blessed the beeswax candles that it would use over the next twelve months.  Sometimes there were extra candles and parishioners would take these blessed candles home for their household use.  Other parishes encouraged people to bring their own candles to the blessing ceremony and then return home with the newly-consecrated candles.

The Lukan passage contains the beautiful poem that the church calls the Nunc Dimittis.  The common English title is The Canticle of Simeon. It reads:

Lord, you now have set your servant free

   to go in peace as you have promised;

For these eyes of mine have seen the Savior,

   whom you have prepared for all the world to see:

A Light to enlighten the nations,

   and the glory of your people Israel.
         

--The Book of Common Prayer

John Wesley had a fondness for the day.  He mentions the feast and his own worship practices for the observance in several places in his Journals and Diaries.

Candlemas is the official end of all Christmas and Epiphany observations across the church.  Some communions have active celebrations up to this day.  Others pack away any last bits of seasonal appointment before sundown.  

If the calendar aligns in a certain fashion, the Candlemas celebration almost immediately precedes the commencement of Lent.  If certain factors fall into place, Ash Wednesday can occur as early as February 4.  So, in that peculiar alignment Candlemas, Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday would fall on consecutive days.  Usually, though, there is a bit more space between The Presentation and Ash Wednesday.  (This year, for instance, Ash Wednesday does not come around until March 6.)

Beyond the blessing of candles, I am not aware of any widespread activity that celebrates this day.  But, maybe we can all light a candle and remember the victory of light over darkness.  We remember Jesus’ Presentation on this day.  We can also reflect on the “why” of His coming.

Happy Candlemas.