Upon the collect for the Fifth Sunday of Lent

A collect is a short form of prayer  constructed (with variations of detail) from (1) an invocation, (2) a petition, and (3) an ascription of glory.  In form a collect is one (sometimes quite complex) sentence or two at most.  The collects in The Book of Common Prayer ae mostly medieval in origin, though some were composed by Thomas Cranmer.

  Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly
wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to
love what you command and desire what you promise; that,
among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts
may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with
you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

The line is, "How many Christians does it take to change a light bulb?"

CHANGE?!

That may be funny.  It is also demonstrably true.  As a group, Christians are not big fans of change.  Oh, we have made our peace with air conditioning, padded pews and electric organs.  But we can be set in our ways in regard to process and what we sometimes call "Tradition."  It has been remarked that the Seven Last Words of the Church will be, "we've never done it that way before."

Our collect invokes the action of God to "fix our hearts in the face of the swift and varied changes of the world."  I believe that one of the attractions the church offers is that we tend to do the same things in the same ways week after week.  That kind of constancy can be a blessing.  But mindless routine is a curse.  We trust in the steadfastness of God to anchor us in what is righteous while preventing us from falling victim to the blasphemy of the mundane.

I believe that the pivotal word in this prayer is not "unruly" or "changes " or "fixed."  I believe the key term in this entreaty is "joy."  We pray that God will set our hearts on our true source of joy, the Lord Jesus Christ.  Lent is so often portrayed as a dark and dour time.  But it is the very purpose of the season to bring us into deeper communion with the source of  our hope.  And of our joy.

Upon the collect for the Fourth Sunday in Lent

A collect is a short form of prayer  constructed (with variations of detail) from (1) an invocation, (2) a petition, and (3) an ascription of glory.  In form a collect is one (sometimes quite complex) sentence or two at most.  The collects in The Book of Common Prayer ae mostly medieval in origin, though some were composed by Thomas Cranmer.

 Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down
from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world:
Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in
him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one
God, now and for ever. Amen.

We have all heard of harsh prison sentences where the incarcerated individual is limited to  "bread and water."  The intent of the punishment is to put a convicted law-breaker on a subsistence diet.  It is enough to maintain, but it is meant not to be a means by which the prisoner may thrive.  It is a starvation diet.  It is intended to cause discomfort and even misery.

For the Community of Faith, it is different.  Christ is the true bread of heaven.  In John 6, Jesus says, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."  Within our faith, we uphold the belief that Christ is sufficient for our nurture, our flourishing, and our salvation.  

It is not the intent of a gracious God that we "get by."  Christian folks think not just of subsistence life, but abundant life.  God provides for our bodies and our spirits in a way that no other source can deliver.  

We remember the gift of Holy Communion that provides for our spirits and serves as a foreshadowing of the full range of gifts that Christ the Bread of Life provides.

Upon the collect for the third Sunday in Lent

A collect is a short form of prayer  constructed (with variations of detail) from (1) an invocation, (2) a petition, and (3) an ascription of glory.  In form a collect is one (sometimes quite complex) sentence or two at most.  The collects in The Book of Common Prayer ae mostly medieval in origin, though some were composed by Thomas Cranmer.

 Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves
to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and
inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all
adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil
thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus
Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy
Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

 

This is the Collect for the Third Sunday in Lent.  It contains the affirmation, "We have no power in ourselves to heal ourselves."  Among the many themes of this stretch of time is our total dependence on God's Grace.  The church has combated the concept of "works righteousness" from its beginnings.  

One can understand the reasoning behind embracing a theology of works.  In a culture of the "self-made individual" and "pulling oneself up by the bootstraps" it is attractive to think that our salvation can be accomplished by our own actions.  If we work hard enough, strive faithfully enough, and check all the boxes that should be enough to earn a spot in heaven.

But the church has never taught that.  Salvation is not a human activity.  Deliverance is an act of God, and God grants that gift not to the active but to the faithful.

The collect goes on to petition the Lord to keep and defend us.  This is a further assertion that we are utterly dependent on God.

The season of Lent is a time of seeking to be drawn closer to God.  It is not about us.  It is about God.

Upon the collect for the day

O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns,one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

This is the collect for the week (The Second Sunday in Lent) from The Book of Common Prayer. As with most of the prayers in this volume this collect has a simple elegance that I find in few other places.  If you compare the BCP to most of the liturgical and prayer resources of The United Methodist Church the UMC material hides its face in shame.  One of my mentors in commenting on Methodism’s rituals told me, “Some day our church will employ a poet as part of the liturgy production process, and we’ll be far better off than we are now.”

Truer words.

But, as I consider the work at hand, one term strikes me.  It is the word “unchangeable.”   It comes in the phrase “to hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son.”  I hear this with the ears of someone who has endured the blather of the United Methodist Church’s special called General Conference of three years ago.  I heard this word and similar ones bandied about by people who seemed to have no idea what their language meant.

Because there is a difference between “unchangeable” and “unchanging.”  Unchangeable is a word that we reserve for God and Christ and the Holy Spirit.  It speaks of Truth with a capital “T.”  Unchanging is a more stubborn word and folks seem to use it to defy the reality that things of the faith and understanding and revelation are fluid in their natures.  The list of things about which the church (or much of the church) has altered the literal language of the Bible is endless.  The role of women, slavery, treatment of children, polygamy, capital punishment and a host of dietary laws do not begin to complete the list of practices that modern-day Christians have modified beyond the letter of the law in Scripture. 

Anyone who says that faith and commandment and law are static terms in the practice of the Christian religion is either naïve or spends their entire life with their head in the sand.  God is unchangeable.  Revelation is ever-changing.  That we are not bound by a rigid set of laws under penalty of damnation is affirmed in the first line of today’s collect: O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy…  If it is God’s nature to put mercy first, it seems only fitting that those who would identify themselves as children of God should do the same.

Chalking of the Doors

There is a charming seasonal custom that dates back into the history of the church that is known as “The Chalking of the Door.”  It has its roots in a time before there were any concerns of denominationalism, and so it was simply a practice of “the church.”  Modern-day Catholicism continues this practice, but it also has adherents in other communions as well.

It is, at root, a house blessing.  With chalk (symbolizing a common, ordinary substance and being a material that does no lasting damage to the door) the participants mark a series of symbols on the door.  This year the markings would look something like “20 † C † M † B † 24.”  The numerals are the first and last pairs of numbers that together mark the current year (2024).  The crosses are an invocation of Christian blessing.  The letters C M B indicate two things.  They are the first letters of the traditional names of the Wise Men from the East who visited the Baby Jesus in Matthew 2:1-12 (Caspar, Melchior and Balthazzar).

The letters are also the initials for the phrase Christus mansionem benedicat, which means, “May Christ bless this house.”  These blessings are part of a simple ritual that includes seasonal hymns or carols and a responsive or antiphonal invocation.  The blessing frequently includes reference to the Wise Men visiting the house of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, paying homage and offering gifts.  This accounts for the practice of annually blessing homes on or near the Day of Epiphany.

So, for all of us, in 2024 may Christ bless our houses.

The Wesley Covenant Prayer

This evening (December 31) many churches – though not nearly as many as once was the case – will be holding Watch Night services.  These gatherings mark the end of the calendar year and the beginning of the new.  Such assemblies may spend a little time reflecting on the year past, but their primary concern is what lies ahead.  The new year carries with it a sense of turning the page, of starting with a clean slate and undertaking a fresh, new set of hopes.  The opening of a new planner and the making of resolutions signal an opportunity for doing things a bit differently than has been the case in the past.

The Wesleyan tradition includes a bit of liturgical material known as The Wesleyan Covenant Prayer.  Although John Wesley did not compose this prayer, he adapted it for Methodists and printed it in a pamphlet called Directions for Renewing our Covenant with God in 1780.  In 1784 when Wesley issued The Sunday Service of the Methodists; With Other Occasional Services to be used by the Methodists in North America, he included this prayer as part of A Service for Covenant Renewal.  This service has informally become known as The Wesley Covenant Service.  At the heart of this observance is this prayer:

I am no longer my own, but thine.

Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.

Put me to doing, put me to suffering.

Let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee,

exalted for thee or brought low for thee.

Let me be full, let me be empty.

Let me have all things, let me have nothing.

I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.

And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

thou art mine, and I am thine.

So be it.

And the covenant which I have made on earth,

let it be ratified in heaven.

Amen.

I offer this prayer as a word of hope for the days ahead.

Happy New Year!

The Annunciation

The Annunciation
by Henry Ossawa Tanner

Today is The Feast of the Annunciation to Mary, the celebration of the announcing to Mary by the angel Gabriel that she would be the mother of the Savior of the world.  We find the account in Luke 1:26-38.

Most Christian traditions revere Mary to one degree or another.  Roman Catholics and Orthodox churches call her theotokos – the mother of God.  Protestant churches (for a lot of reasons, some of them a bit convoluted) have not historically elevated her in the same way.  But they look to her as an example of obedience and humility.

Her question, “How can this be?” sums up much of her situation.  In the end she does not understand, but she submits.  This is the essence of faith.

Anglican, Roman and Eastern churches observe the feast on this day.  Some communions choose instead to follow the practice of the ancient Spanish – Mozarabic—calendar and observe the feast on December 28.  The rationale for this is that it removes the feast day from the season of Lent, and it locates the observance nearer to the observation of Christmas.

Cyril of Jerusalem

Cyril of Jerusalem

Today is the Feast day of Cyril of Jerusalem.  He was bishop of the church there from C.E. 349 – 386.  We know virtually nothing of his life prior to the beginning of his episcopacy.  He followed Bishop Maximus, who hand-picked Cyril as his successor.  Cyril was deposed and reinstated three times (357, 360, 367) due mostly to the theological attacks of Acacius of Caesarea.  Acacius was the voice of Arianism in those days and was in bitter dispute with both Cyril and Athanasius of Alexandria.

Some of the controversy surrounding Cyril was due to his refusal to use the term homoousios in credal statements or in his writings.  He was in no way critical of the concept, but he considered the term itself inadequate within the technical language of his argumentation.

Cyril’s great contribution is his composition of a series of twenty-three pre-baptismal catechetical lectures.  He wrote these early in his episcopacy as instruction for those candidates who were concluding their preparation for baptism at the time of the Easter Vigil.   You can find them here. 

In lecture one he says,

While it rests with (God) to plant and water, it is your part to bring forth fruit.  It rests with God to bestow grace, but with you to accept and cherish it.  Do not despise the grace because it is freely given, but rather cherish it with reverence once you have received it.

Cyril’s lectures make for some insightful Lenten devotional reading.

Giving up something for Lent

Lent is a season that -- for some -- includes fasting as a way of observing this time.   Jesus fasted for forty days following his baptism.  During this time, he was in the wilderness being tempted by the Devil.  This fast and the Lenten season are connected by this number of days and by this fasting practice.

I don’t know that many people literally fast for this entire period.  Even with the fact that Sundays don’t make up a part of this self-denying season, I don’t hear people reflecting on their season-long denial of food.

Some folks participate in a partial fast.  They will refrain from eating until three in the afternoon, or until sunset (they hate to see Daylight Saving Time come).  Others follow a long-standing church tradition of abstaining from “pleasant food.”  I suppose that is a bit of a subjective evaluation.  One person’s “pleasant” is another one’s “rejection.”

So, observing this time with an exercise of self-denial takes on many forms.  “Giving up something for Lent” leaves the realm of food behind for a lot of people.  They instead abandon practices or diversions for these days.

It is not up to me to judge another person’s spiritual discipline.  But I would ask anyone to evaluate their choices with this question: Is that which you are setting aside good enough to give up for Lent?   What I mean by that is does a person set aside something that is bad for them and then claim it as a spiritual discipline?  I have heard people talk of giving up excessive consumption of alcohol, smoking, driving over the speed limit, cursing, overeating and a host of other behaviors in the name of observing the season.

As difficult as it may be for some individuals to set aside addictive behavior, I question the labeling of these things as a sacrificial gift that one places before the Throne of Grace.  If I “give up” overindulging of food, do I set my practice down at the feet of Christ and say, “Lord, I have given up gluttony in my devotion to you?”  I mean, isn’t gluttony one of the Seven Deadly Sins?  Isn’t it a practice that I should have avoided from the get-go?  Do I give myself permission to be a glutton again once Lent is over and Easter commences?  That just doesn’t seem right.

So, what is appropriate if we observe this practice?  I have known people who have given up seemingly small things, but they required real effort on the part of the practitioner.  One of the positives that grows out of a decision to deny something is that some believers leave behind a practice and in its place, they substitute times of prayer, meditation or reflection.  When Lent passes, they may re-order their lives for the long haul.  Or, they may resume their former ways with a new appreciation of the part that the thing they have done without plays in their lives.

So, if we have set something aside (or start today, as there is no need to be legalistic – it’s not too late), we might want to make sure that it’s good enough.

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.

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.

We all need a little help sometimes

In the book of Acts, chapter eight, verses 26-39 we read the story of the Apostle Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch.  The Ethiopian was an official in charge of the treasury of the queen of Ethiopia. He was returning to Ethiopia after having gone to Jerusalem to worship.

I think we admit that there could be a lot to unpack here.  A eunuch would not have been allowed beyond a certain point in the Temple precincts.  Eunuchs were prohibited from entering the Temple proper.  The account says that the eunuch had been in Jerusalem “to worship” (v. 27).  Worship is a word that entails animal sacrifice in situations such as this.  And again, there are several religious firewalls in place regarding this description.  No doubt that this traveler had come to Jerusalem for devotional purposes, but the way in which this account is before us is a bit odd.

In any event, the narrative unfolds with an angel of the Lord directing Philip first to this particular road, and then to approach the chariot of the eunuch.  The official was reading (and the practice of the day was always to read aloud; reading silently was almost unheard of) from Isaiah.  Particularly his passage is from chapter 53 of that book.

When at the command of the angel Philip comes near the Ethiopian’s chariot, the apostle hears the reading and he asks a question.  He asked, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’  (The eunuch) replied, ‘How can I, unless someone guides me?’ (vss. 28-29)

In this little passage, we get a profound instruction.  The eunuch was reading, but he did not comprehend all that was before him.  He has the wisdom to confess to Philip that comprehending this text was beyond him without the instruction of someone more knowledgeable.  

By inference we hear the eunuch saying that he could read such a passage over and over innumerable times, but he would never be any closer to discerning its significance.  He could commit it to memory, recite it forward and backward, but in the end have no clear understanding of these verses.

When Josh Pastner was Head Coach for The University of Memphis’ men’s basketball team, he would day “Practice doesn’t make perfect.  Perfect practice makes perfect.”  He was saying that a player could stand at the free-throw line and shoot a thousand shots a day, but with flawed technique the player would never get any better.  True improvement only comes with good coaching.

I offer this as a comment on the spiritual discipline of Bible study.  Reading the Bible repeatedly is spiritually productive only to a point.  (And I might especially add that reading flawed versions of the Bible can do extraordinary violence to one’s engaging of scripture.)  True depth of understanding – and therefore spiritual maturity – comes from consulting those who know far more about the Bible than most of us.  Books (or people) that are conversant in the original biblical languages, that comprehend the context of the composition of scripture and who can offer us insights into interpretation give us an opportunity to reach far beyond our own grasp. 

That is not to say that we should let writers of commentaries do our thinking for us.  But, if we employ such tools to assist us in forming our own conclusions, we are much better off than if we are merely throwing darts at the board of biblical understanding. 

How can I (understand), unless someone guides me?

"You were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak..."

The Epistle reading for this week suggested by the New Revised Common Lectionary (NRCL) is 1 Corinthians 12:1-11.  This reading is part of the much longer discussion of spiritual gifts that extends through the middle of chapter 14.  12:2 reads: You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak.  It is an odd little verse that commentators frequently ignore while moving on to the greater argument about spiritual gifts that Paul develops.

But I do pause over it a moment.  The NRSV translates the phrase referring to idols as idols that could not speak.  Other versions offer the simpler dumb idols.  There is a bridge connecting verse 2 with verse 3, Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says, "Let Jesus be cursed!" and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit.  That connection involves idols that cannot speak and people or spirits that either affirm or blaspheme verbally.  It may be a stretch, but it makes sense to me.

But the thing that captivates me is this identification of dumb idols.  It is true that idolatry is the one great transgression in both the Old and New Testaments.  Knowing that can spin Paul and his readers into the observations about oral expression.

That brings me back to idols that could not speak.  I wonder what that must be like.  I can envision people bowing down and praying before idols.  Some understandings of idols may have compelled worshippers to offer sacrifices in the presence of idols.  My question is, “How does an idol-worshiper receive affirmation?”  I suppose that if the petitioner prays for rain and then it rains that the worshiper could say, “Well, my offering must have been accepted.  The idol has granted my request.  The idol must have approved my offering.”  But, what if the idol-worshiper requests something besides favorable weather or a good harvest?  Does such a person ever ask for direction, or comfort, or other items that we do not objectively measure?

If this idolater feels like the idol’s spirit is leading them down a particular path that gets pretty subjective.  An individual could act in any manner they choose and write it off to, “Well, I feel like the idol is leading me in such-and-such a direction.”

That strikes pretty close to home.  I don’t know that there is a hair’s breadth of difference between the idol-worshiper and any Christian believer who bases their action on some ill-defined “feeling.” 

Does the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob answer prayers?  Does the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ grant petitions?  I say a resounding “yes” to these questions.  Does God give some kind of secret instruction to the few, especially to the few whose thoughts or behavior fly in the face of all we know of the nature of God?  I don’t think so.  Lacking the rending of the heavens and the voice of God booming like thunder, it is our common experience and tradition that directs us along the paths that God chooses.  As is the case with those who worship dumb idols, for people of faith a lack of clear instruction does not mean that we get to make up our own answers.

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

Did you know that January 18-25 (from Friday through Friday [?]) is The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity?  Neither did I.  If you don’t have a resource like the United Methodist Program Calendar, you may not have had any way of knowing.  I haven’t received anything from the denomination, the conference or my district promoting it in any way.  I can remember in the past receiving all manner of items related to this time.  There would be bulletin inserts and wall posters.  I would get suggested orders of worship and children’s activity books in the mail.  Clergy meetings would have time set aside to interpret this week to pastors.  It was as regular as clockwork.

Then, in THIS year, we don’t hear anything?  When fightings without and fears within threaten to rend The United Methodist Church asunder we don’t hear a whisper regarding prayer and unity?  What are the Powers That Be thinking?

It is true that the Week of Prayer has its origins in ecumenical concerns.  I don’t mean to diminish the importance or the urgency of these issues at all.  But, how do we not take advantage of a built-in apparatus for unifying prayer to encourage United Methodists to bring our concerns regarding agreement before the Throne of Grace in an organized – dare I say methodical – fashion?

So, pray for Christian Unity.  And United Methodist unity. 

You can see all that the UMC has to offer on the subject this year here.

The World Council of Churches has some info here.

The United Methodist Church Official Site links to a Roman Catholic resource for the week under the title “Ecumenical Sunday” (January 20) here.

Further thoughts on Baptism

In meditating on The Sacrament of Baptism and on The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord recently, I confess to one glaring omission.  In the midst of observing on (and lamenting over) the various disputes that arise related to these subjects I skated right past one of the crucial facets of the day.  The second reading for Sunday contained in The New Revised Common Lectionary (NRCL) is instructive.  That reading is Acts 8:14-17:

Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. The two went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit (for as yet the Spirit had not come upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus). Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

The reading reminds us that central to our understanding of Christian Baptism is the concept that it is at the moment of Baptism that the God confers the Holy Spirit on the person(s) being baptized.  This may not be a Pentecost-type moment for some, but it is the understanding of The United Methodist Church and others that this is the moment in which God acts. 

The reading from Acts 8 nods to some of the complexities that surround the church’s dealing with the Samaritan believers.  It is important for us to remember that these are the fledgling days of the Christian Faith.  Doctrine and practice would be worked out and refined as time went along.  But, even allowing for this, the text is careful – even precise – in its language.  Some people in Samaria had come to faith.  That profession had led to their baptisms.  But their baptism was in the name of the Lord Jesus.  Whether this is an irregularity or a misunderstanding on the part of those administering the baptisms, we cannot say.  But, the church even in that day was careful not to re-baptize these believers.

Now, one could make the argument that, since these Samaritans did not receive Triune Baptism – baptism in the name of The Father, and The Son, and The Holy Spirit – that their baptisms were not legitimate.  But Peter and John did not take that position.  Instead, they administered a kind of remedial grace in laying hands on the Samaritans.  In that act, the Holy Spirit came upon them. 

The details of early baptismal practice are a bit murky.  It is legitimate to point out that when the gift of The Holy Spirit initially came upon the church at The Day of Pentecost that baptism was not involved.  Within that context it is probably safe to say that at least some of the inhabitants of the Upper Room on that day had been baptized already.  According to John 4:2 (although it was not Jesus himself but his disciples who baptized) baptism was an early part of the ministry of Jesus and his disciples.  Yet, we would hardly expect to have a description of those baptisms as being Triune.  Nor would we anticipate that accounts of these acts would include the bestowing of the gift of the Holy Spirit, as the Spirit as a gift to believers was not a part of the narrative at that time.  This is to say that the action of baptism in Jesus’ lifetime was worked out in time and experience in the days that immediately followed Christ’s Ascension.

In our day it is the understanding of the church that, in the act of baptism, The Holy Spirit comes to abide in the heart of the individual.  There is no perfect scheme that takes into account all situations.  In John’s Gospel, the 22nd chapter for instance, Jesus imparts The Holy Spirit by breathing on the disciples who assembled in the upper room.  

But, as the church and its members rely on our common experience as an authority in working out our understanding of God, experience teaches us that it is in baptism that God commonly chooses to give this gift.

Perhaps if we accentuated this facet of baptism more, the matters of “how much water” and “when in the life of a person” would fade away, and that the matter of grace would move front-and-center in our understanding.

"The Chalking of the Doors"

There is a charming seasonal custom that dates back into the history of the church that is known as “The Chalking of the Door.”  It has its roots in a time before there were any concerns of denominationalism, and so it was simply a practice of “the church.”  Modern-day Catholicism continues this practice, but it also has adherents in other communions as well. 

It is, at root, a house blessing.  With chalk (symbolizing a common, ordinary substance and being a material that does no lasting damage to the door) the participants mark a series of symbols on the door.  This year the markings would look something like “20 † C † M † B † 19.”  The numerals are the first and last pairs of numbers that together mark the current year (2019).  The crosses are an invocation of Christian blessing.  The letters C M B indicate two things.  They are the first letters of the traditional names of the Wise Men from the East who visited the Baby Jesus in Matthew 2:1-12 (Caspar, Melchior and Balthazzar).

The letters are also the initials for the phrase Christus mansionem benedicat, which means, “May Christ bless this house.”  These blessings are part of a simple ritual that includes seasonal hymns or carols and a responsive or antiphonal invocation.  The blessing frequently includes reference to the Wise Men visiting the house of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, paying homage and offering gifts.  This accounts for the practice of annually blessing homes on or near the Day of Epiphany.

So, for all of us, in 2019 may Christ bless our houses.

January 7

I sometimes come across things that capture my fancy for no particular reason.  For instance, I found out that it was on this date in 1610 that Galileo Galilei makes his first observation of the four Galilean moons: Ganymede, Callisto, Io and Europa, although he is not able to distinguish the last two until the following day.  I have always had a mild fascination with Galileo.  I have this picture in my study

Galileo and Viviani by Tito Lessi

So, the mention of Galileo caught my eye.  It is remarkable what has happened in astronomy in the last several years.  This is what Galileo saw in 1610:

This is an image of the same bodies captured by Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) on the New Horizons spacecraft during its flyby of Jupiter in late February 2007.

My takeaway, aside from the breathtaking nature of the images, is that our understanding is always changing.  It is supreme arrogance to assume that we know all there is to know about anything.  This applies to astronomy, or theology, or life.

I hope to keep my eyes open.

The Epiphany of the Lord

On the Feast of The Epiphany there is a lot of baggage that needs to be cleared away in order to get to the heart of the matter. Much of the clutter surrounding the day does no harm, but it can obscure our view of the central concern of our observance.

For instance, our creches and our hymnody insist on three wise men.  Matthew chapter two, where the single biblical account of the visit of the wise men occurs, does nothing to enumerate these Eastern travelers.  Tradition has calculated that total because of the number of gifts that the gospel records.  Matthew says in verse 11 that they offered the child gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  There is nothing, however that indicates that there was “one wise man, one gift.” The number of visitors could have been two, and the gifts may have been presented collectively.  It is interesting to note that some Eastern Christianity practitioners give twelve as the number of wise men. Some Christian traditions name the wise men, designating them as Melchior, Gaspar and Balthasar.  The Cologne Cathedral in Germany houses a great shrine of the Magi, even purporting to house relics from “The Three Holy Kings.”

The designation Magi is the plural of Magus.  (This is the from which we receive the word “magic.”)  The Magi were priests or other adherents of Zoroastrianism in Persia.  The existence of the sect is verified from a variety of non-biblical sources.

In many modern-day manger scenes, the Wise Men play a significant symbolic role.  In some depictions, one of the three figures is quite young.  A second is middle-aged.  The third appears as a very elderly man.  The meaning is clearly that people of all ages respond to the coming of Christ into the world.  In like manner there are creches that have one wise man of fair skin, blond hair and blue eyes.  A second member of the group has olive skin and straight, dark hair.  The final traveler has very dark skin and thicker features.  These diverse characters indicate that the Savior comes not to one group, but to every nation.

That these visitors receive the title “kings” comes from scriptural references such as Isaiah 60:3 “Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn,” or Psalm 72:10 “May the kings of Tarshish and of the isles render him tribute, may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts.”  Again, while the association is certainly present, the actual designation of the Eastern travelers as kings is nowhere explicitly present in Matthew.

Henry van Dyke’s The Other Wise Man is a delightful story, but it, too, serves to muddy the water a bit.  There are scores of other fictional works and seemingly countless fragments of Christian lore and legend that also take a kernel of truth and expand on it beyond the boundaries of literary precision.

So, if we set all of these things aside, what do we know?  I am not engaging in any literary-critical questions here.  I do want to take a look at what is before us in the received text.

What we have is a declaration that God is at work in order to bring about the final realization of God’s divine plan.  This will occur in spite of the most wicked expressions of opposition, such as those exhibited by King Herod.  Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah of the Jews; he is the fulfillment of Old Testament scripture; and he is the savior of the entirety of creation, in spite of any artificially-erected boundaries. 

In the early days of the church, it was Epiphany rather than Christmas that was the pre-eminent winter feast.  The revelation of worldwide salvation took precedence over the birth of the king of the Jews.

Sadly, the church now treats this great day as an ending of something, rather than a beginning.  The Epiphany comes at the conclusion of the Twelve Days of Christmas.  It has its moment as a flash in the pan and then the calendar moves on.  Even though the following eight weeks (in 2019) receive their designation as “The Season After Epiphany,” observances such as The Baptism of the Lord and The Transfiguration move to the forefront during these days.

But, today is the great Feast Day.  Let’s not let it slip away too quickly.

The Wesleyan Covenant Prayer

This evening (December 31) many churches – though not nearly as many as once was the case – will be holding Watch Night services.  These gatherings mark the end of the calendar year and the beginning of the new.  Such assemblies may spend a little time reflecting on the year past, but their primary concern is what lies ahead.  The new year carries with it a sense of turning the page, of starting with a clean slate and undertaking a fresh, new set of hopes.  The opening of a new planner and the making of resolutions signal an opportunity for doing things a bit differently than has been the case in the past.

The Wesleyan tradition includes a bit of liturgical material known as The Wesleyan Covenant Prayer.  Although John Wesley did not compose this prayer, he adapted it for Methodists and printed it in a pamphlet called Directions for Renewing our Covenant with God in 1780.  In 1784 when Wesley issued The Sunday Service of the Methodists; With Other Occasional Services to be used by the Methodists in North America, he included this prayer as part of A Service for Covenant Renewal.  This service has informally become known as The Wesley Covenant Service.  At the heart of this observance is this prayer:

I am no longer my own, but thine.

Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.

Put me to doing, put me to suffering.

Let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee,

exalted for thee or brought low for thee.

Let me be full, let me be empty.

Let me have all things, let me have nothing.

I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.

And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

thou art mine, and I am thine.

So be it.

And the covenant which I have made on earth,

let it be ratified in heaven.

Amen.

I offer this prayer as a word of hope for the days ahead.

Happy New Year!

The Feast of St. Stephen, Martyr

Even though we count the Days of Christmas as our twelve-day celebration moves on, the Christian Calendar reminds us that the birth of Christ neither takes place in a vacuum nor does it occur without consequences.  I have heard it said, “One lights a candle, but casts a shadow.”  The story moves on, not letting the baby remain in the manger for long.  There are repercussions for the birth of a Savior.

December 26 is Boxing Day, to be sure.  It is on this day that the that the events of the seasonal song “Good King Wenceslaus” occur.  But it is also the first feast day following the Feast of the Nativity.  It commemorates the death of the first Christian martyr, St. Stephen.  Acts 6 and 7 tell the story of how he was made a deacon (a server of tables) in the Jerusalem Church, of how he was filled with the Holy Spirit, and of how we was stoned to death at the direction of the Jewish Sanhedrin.  His feast day reminds the church of all people who, throughout history, have suffered and died for their Christian faith.

We don’t like to think of suffering and danger and martyrdom.  This is especially true at this time of the year.  But it would be both gross negligence and a dishonoring of the faith of the martyrs to turn a blind eye to this observance.  Had there been no babe in the manger there would be no stoning of Stephen.  They are as interconnected as gears in a machine.  The day is a sober insertion into our tidings of comfort and joy.

So, it is a day of two turtledoves, of a second day of reveling in the merriment surrounding our remembrance of Christ’s Nativity.  But it is also a day that reminds us that faith sometimes comes with a cost.  Just because we are not in danger of stoning doesn’t make that truth any less real.