Now that summer is here and I can sit on my porch or in my living room with the door open and listen to the children play, I hear the young voices of the nearly 25 children of our neighborhood playing ball. I hear voices saying “thank you” and “please” from them just as much as I hear “gimmie that” and it makes me wonder at my age group’s evaluation of them.
I am getting to the age when I am supposed to find fault with the young. I am supposed to get grumpy and say “the world is going to hell in a hand basket.” And I am not so sure. I have to admit some of the things that I see on TV and certainly the music I don’t understand and feel uncomfortable with it, but I find the kids I meet in church are basically like I was when I was their age---ungainly, tongue-tied (believe it or not!) and so awkward that I would not go back to that age even if I had a chance. They have certainly the sense of fair play that I had, with a wonder that life shouldn’t be fairer.
I have just finished watching the Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts-Schori, on a stream from PBS. If you haven’t seen it (http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/06082007/watch2.html ), it is well worth seeing. I am more and more seeing the wisdom of the Holy Spirit in her election. Her thorough-going sense of science that is at peace with her faith is wonderful for the Church at this time. It flies in the face of the anti-intellectualism that is assaulting Christianity from all sides. And her seeming unflappability in the face of questions is wonderful to behold. Her absolute confidence seems almost child-like, youthful and deeply hopeful. This is what we need if we are to survive as a Church.
She does not believe that the Episcopal Church will split over this entire hullabaloo over human sexuality. And even with her scientific background she has a full sense of the weight of history and context in which we live out our Christian faith. She gives me hope that the Church can and will rise to her expectations.
Now that is naïve, I know. However, sometimes I need to touch my youth too in order to welcome the new, the tough newness, which is abroad in the Church.
Will she be able to direct the Church into a place where those of faith can worship in a manner that is consistent with a faith under girded by a relationship with an all loving God? Will the Church be able to address the changes that are needed to survive this division between those who would cast us into a faith that does not inquire or does not challenge? With the leadership of ++KJS I see her ushering in a continued time of welcome and a continued time of challenge. Will some have to leave? Of course! Will others come? Of course! Thus it has ever been.
I consider ++KJS young. She has not been ordained as long as I or has the wealth of experience that I have. But she has qualities that I admire that will take the experiences she has as bishop and develop a theology of ministry for herself and for all of us in the Church. I believe her when she says that her science informs her faith and I would also guess that her faith informs her science. She stands comfortably in those two streams in a way that gives me the courage to stand in the various streams of my life and give them meaning. What more can I ask of a Presiding Bishop? What more can I ask of any other human being?
She asks for a season of discernment regarding the consecration of gay bishop. It is not so much discernment about LGBT issues—that is not what is in her mind because her understanding of Scripture and science does not judge LGBT Christians. But she calls a moratorium for the sake of community. I am not sure I agree with her, but I will follow her. I am not sure she is right, but ‘for a season’ I will suspend judgment for the sake of community.
Now if she can address the need in the Church to address the growth of over reaching power of bishops for the health of the Church…..well, then she will have attained sainthood in my estimation.
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Saturday, May 26, 2007
To think or not to think
The conversations at Father Jake’s blog bring to mind such an important piece of what it means to be an Anglican in the US or an Episcopalian for me. Ever since my swimming the Thames, I have noticed the high level of intellectual engagement in the Church. It has been a point of pride that educational prowess has always characterized seminary-trained clergy. It is not surprising then that I find myself bumfuzzled by the current level of anti-intellectualism that is characterizing some in the Episcopal Church.
During my seminary and then doctoral studies I strained to understand JDE and P for OT classes and embraced higher criticism as I understood what redaction meant. Now, I am expected to take seriously clergy who reject basic scientific data and scholarship of Scripture. To find that clergy are being ordained who belittle such complexities in the Bible and then thump arcane 5th century theologians makes me suspicious not only of their training and testing, but upon their honesty in the process towards ordination.
As one of the commentators on Fr. Jake’s blog reminded me that underlying the discrimination in denying Bishop Gene Robinson by the Archbishop of Canterbury is a denial of science. Now that is remarkable as the ABC is seen as a superb academic. But the kind of anti-intellectualism that ++Williams is succumbing to is considerable.
For the past 50 years or so both the medical and the social science disciplines have shown that homosexuality is neither an aberration of human mental health nor a threat to the social fabric. Same sex love has been a part of the human social contract of societies as long as there has been human relationship.
For the past 50 years or so, Scripture scholarship has shown that the homophobic passages found in the Bible are ones that do not apply to present day any more than the prohibition of wearing garments of more than one kind of thread. And yet… and yet…
Still we hear the same things trotted out whenever we have to deal with inclusion of GLBT persons.
The uber-right has spent a great deal of money and effort to reinforce for all Christians that science is not to be trusted. It reminds me of the parents of students in the school where I was teaching not wanting their children to learn more than what they knew. They wanted to control what their children learned as well as control their children. I am sure that they had the best intentions for their children. But knowledge and learning are not controllable. Once a child has learned to research an issue, if they are curious, they will learn on their own. What is incumbent on a parent to do is teach the child the values that will help them order what they learn. Protecting children from life is an anti-intellectualism that is rooted in fear and power.
The failure of the ABC to invite +Gene Robinson means that ++Cantur has caved into the anti-intellectuals that have invaded the Church and who have decried biblical scholarship as undermining the faith. He as succumbed to the pressure of those who have not had educations allowing them to embrace the ever-widening experience without giving the structures, values or spiritual center to discern what is right or wrong.
The real fear from the uber-right in the Communion is that they fear that if they meet +Gene they might find out that his spiritual depths far out strip many of their own and that would not do. I do hope that +Gene will attend as a guest and continue to tear down the walls of prejudice and fear that he has been doing since his consecration.
We as Church have asked much of +Gene by confirming his election. We have opened the minds of many people to an understanding of Christ’s love through him. God reveals Gods-self in the flesh of humanity, in the truths of science, in the love of people for one another, not through covenants, creeds or law. We may not throw out our minds or our hearts to accommodate present culture.
During my seminary and then doctoral studies I strained to understand JDE and P for OT classes and embraced higher criticism as I understood what redaction meant. Now, I am expected to take seriously clergy who reject basic scientific data and scholarship of Scripture. To find that clergy are being ordained who belittle such complexities in the Bible and then thump arcane 5th century theologians makes me suspicious not only of their training and testing, but upon their honesty in the process towards ordination.
As one of the commentators on Fr. Jake’s blog reminded me that underlying the discrimination in denying Bishop Gene Robinson by the Archbishop of Canterbury is a denial of science. Now that is remarkable as the ABC is seen as a superb academic. But the kind of anti-intellectualism that ++Williams is succumbing to is considerable.
For the past 50 years or so both the medical and the social science disciplines have shown that homosexuality is neither an aberration of human mental health nor a threat to the social fabric. Same sex love has been a part of the human social contract of societies as long as there has been human relationship.
For the past 50 years or so, Scripture scholarship has shown that the homophobic passages found in the Bible are ones that do not apply to present day any more than the prohibition of wearing garments of more than one kind of thread. And yet… and yet…
Still we hear the same things trotted out whenever we have to deal with inclusion of GLBT persons.
The uber-right has spent a great deal of money and effort to reinforce for all Christians that science is not to be trusted. It reminds me of the parents of students in the school where I was teaching not wanting their children to learn more than what they knew. They wanted to control what their children learned as well as control their children. I am sure that they had the best intentions for their children. But knowledge and learning are not controllable. Once a child has learned to research an issue, if they are curious, they will learn on their own. What is incumbent on a parent to do is teach the child the values that will help them order what they learn. Protecting children from life is an anti-intellectualism that is rooted in fear and power.
The failure of the ABC to invite +Gene Robinson means that ++Cantur has caved into the anti-intellectuals that have invaded the Church and who have decried biblical scholarship as undermining the faith. He as succumbed to the pressure of those who have not had educations allowing them to embrace the ever-widening experience without giving the structures, values or spiritual center to discern what is right or wrong.
The real fear from the uber-right in the Communion is that they fear that if they meet +Gene they might find out that his spiritual depths far out strip many of their own and that would not do. I do hope that +Gene will attend as a guest and continue to tear down the walls of prejudice and fear that he has been doing since his consecration.
We as Church have asked much of +Gene by confirming his election. We have opened the minds of many people to an understanding of Christ’s love through him. God reveals Gods-self in the flesh of humanity, in the truths of science, in the love of people for one another, not through covenants, creeds or law. We may not throw out our minds or our hearts to accommodate present culture.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
That they all may be one --Reprise
In the week following Easter 7 when the RCL appoints John 17 “that we all might be one”, the Archbishop of Canterbury (ABC) lets it be known that Bishop Gene Robinson will not be invited to the Lambeth Conference which is THE tea party that all Anglican bishops are invited to. Only +Gene and +Martyn Mimms, a bishop of Nigeria who has been posted to interfere with the American Church by his archbishop, have been not invited.
How are we to understand this snubbing? I believe that we should see it as the ABC’s finale to a sad term in office. He has steadfastly ignored the Episcopal Church’s (TEC) witness to gay and lesbian persons. He has avoided meeting with the House of Bishops HoB) or attending the General Conventions of TEC even when invited. He has proposed a Covenant relationship for membership in the Anglican Communion and supported the Primate’s attempted interference in TEC. And now he has refused to be seen in the company of a gay bishop. So much for the listening process promoted by Lambeth ’98!
To me it is clear that the Windsor Report, the Primate’s Communique, the HoB communication, the will of General Convention has all been a great exercise in nothingness and a major waste of time and money. The ABC doesn’t get it. He is as dense as Jesus’ disciples. And I doubt if the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost is going to do anything for him. And if the ABC is one of the marks of unity, I think it is time for TEC to recognize that the spirit of Anglicanism resides in TEC, not the CofE.
Either we are one or we are not. To say that all the diocesan bishops of TEC can come but he can’t have LGBT cooties in their midst is not living out the Gospel that concludes Jesus’ Priestly prayer. What an insult to TEC, to the HoB, to the HoD, to the Executive Council, to + Gene, to all of us who have tried to continue in dialog when the heart of the ABC has been closed to LGBT people all along!
Until now I have been one who has been supportive of staying in the Anglican Communion (AC) at nearly all costs. I was proud of the HoB’s communication to the Primates as to the demands they made by making it quite clear that bishops are not the only Christians with authority in TEC. But now I am not sure that we can stay in the AC if only some of our bishops are welcome and others are not.
There is no way to be in dialog, to address conflict if both sides are not at the table to speak. By excluding both +Robisnson and +Mimms, there is no way that the issue that is tearing our Communion apart can be healed. As long as people are silenced, as long as their voice is not permitted to be at the table, there is no unity and no possibility for its development.
I hope the HoB has the courage to live up to the convictions that they had in April. If the steadfastness to stand in unity with LGBT persons is as strong as it was in TX, they, to a bishop, need to decline the invitations en masse. The Executive Council and the HoB should also be unwilling to foot the considerable funding of Lambeth ’08 that it has done in the past. The ABC must know that the unity that he has so symbolized is a shattered by his actions, not TEC, or Nigeria or the Global South or Windsor compliant folk. The symbol of unity is a sham.
How are we to understand this snubbing? I believe that we should see it as the ABC’s finale to a sad term in office. He has steadfastly ignored the Episcopal Church’s (TEC) witness to gay and lesbian persons. He has avoided meeting with the House of Bishops HoB) or attending the General Conventions of TEC even when invited. He has proposed a Covenant relationship for membership in the Anglican Communion and supported the Primate’s attempted interference in TEC. And now he has refused to be seen in the company of a gay bishop. So much for the listening process promoted by Lambeth ’98!
To me it is clear that the Windsor Report, the Primate’s Communique, the HoB communication, the will of General Convention has all been a great exercise in nothingness and a major waste of time and money. The ABC doesn’t get it. He is as dense as Jesus’ disciples. And I doubt if the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost is going to do anything for him. And if the ABC is one of the marks of unity, I think it is time for TEC to recognize that the spirit of Anglicanism resides in TEC, not the CofE.
Either we are one or we are not. To say that all the diocesan bishops of TEC can come but he can’t have LGBT cooties in their midst is not living out the Gospel that concludes Jesus’ Priestly prayer. What an insult to TEC, to the HoB, to the HoD, to the Executive Council, to + Gene, to all of us who have tried to continue in dialog when the heart of the ABC has been closed to LGBT people all along!
Until now I have been one who has been supportive of staying in the Anglican Communion (AC) at nearly all costs. I was proud of the HoB’s communication to the Primates as to the demands they made by making it quite clear that bishops are not the only Christians with authority in TEC. But now I am not sure that we can stay in the AC if only some of our bishops are welcome and others are not.
There is no way to be in dialog, to address conflict if both sides are not at the table to speak. By excluding both +Robisnson and +Mimms, there is no way that the issue that is tearing our Communion apart can be healed. As long as people are silenced, as long as their voice is not permitted to be at the table, there is no unity and no possibility for its development.
I hope the HoB has the courage to live up to the convictions that they had in April. If the steadfastness to stand in unity with LGBT persons is as strong as it was in TX, they, to a bishop, need to decline the invitations en masse. The Executive Council and the HoB should also be unwilling to foot the considerable funding of Lambeth ’08 that it has done in the past. The ABC must know that the unity that he has so symbolized is a shattered by his actions, not TEC, or Nigeria or the Global South or Windsor compliant folk. The symbol of unity is a sham.
Monday, May 21, 2007
That we may all be one.
Today our gospel reading is a portion of what is called Jesus’ High priestly prayer. It is the final discourse of Jesus in the gospel of John before his Passion. It is a long discourse in which he addresses God and calls God to protect those who have followed him.
The particular portion that we have today is on unity. He prays that those who follow him might be one. I must admit that I have found this particular passage very difficult to preach on at the moment. And when I find difficulty in preaching on it, I know that God has some real meaning to impart to me or to people who are to hear this sermon. It is at times like these that being obedient to the lectionary requires more attention and trust that God’s word will be heard, not my particular feelings about a passage.
What we find in today’s reading is not just a mere sense that we should all think the same. What I hear loud and clear is that God is calling us to a kind of unity that we would rather not deal with. That I am here to preach in a communion not my own says that there is something amiss. That we even have different denominations says that something is amiss. God wants us all to be the same, some would say. But I think that is far too simplistic a rendition of this passage.
John has brought together the whole life of Jesus to this discourse. The words of Jesus have been redacted more in John than in any other gospel, but that does not damage the message that God would have humanity be one---not in our thinking, not in our opinions, not in even our actions but in our love.
And I would suggest to you that this passage in John while very beautiful and wonderfully poetic is perhaps the hardest to live. It stands on the premise that because we can see God in the person of Jesus, we can then see God in one another because of Jesus. It is the hardest part of being a Christian there is. All the rules of being a good Christian are enveloped in this one statement. It is why the Golden Rule is so difficult, because all too often we cannot see the Christ in one another.
Jesus says “The glory that you have given me I have given them , so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
Now usually John refers to Christ’s glory as his passion. And Jesus knows that God has given us a passion to live through so that we may be made one. And isn’t it the truth that when organization, families have to go through tough times, they are often brought closer together.
I hope and pray that this is what is happening in my own denomination. I pray that the fighting that is going on in the Episcopal Church will make us stronger and faithful even though it is seems to be tearing us apart. But what does that say to us, here at St. Luke’s? What does it mean when an Episcopalian talks of her church among a bunch of Lutherans? Does it heighten or soften the anxiety of our separateness?
Do we find Christ in this exercise or not or do we merely wipe the sweat from our brow and say “there but the grace of God goes the Lutheran Church”? Are we really one or not? Can we find in one another the Christ, the passion of the Savior, that draws us mightily together so that we too can pray this prayer?
Can we find in our own journey in faith the sense of unity despite different customs, liturgy, even how we understand what bishops mean, to find the Christ in one another to bridge the differences between us to make a common journey?
I believe that in this 21st century we are going to see a total realignment of churches if not in the whole world, at least in the US. I see a reconfiguration of Christianity based less on protestant and catholic norms but based more on how we understand Scripture and the difference between truth and fact. I see a reordering of church communities based less on ethnicity and more on how we live out our baptismal vows. We will find commonality less on creedal statements or liturgy and more on how we understand the relationship of the Divine in the lives of people. And please God we will be known less for our rules and regulations, or even our creeds, and be known by the love we show one another in healthy and holistic ways.
I believe that is what Jesus is teaching us in this prayer today. I know that I have to listen to this prayer intensely so that I can remain in my own communion. I must be willing to see Christ in my bishop even if he has a hard time finding Christ in me. I know that you need to listen intently to this prayer that you may address the issues that face this parish. We are called to know that God’s name has been preached among us. Each of us has been called to honor that name with our lives, our actions, the way we treat one another. Our Lord prayed that we be loved with the love that God loved him and that it may be in us.
These are not just nice poetic words—they are powerful words that work in us that for which they were prayed. Loving others is not just something nice—they are passion. They are words calling forth a willingness to endure the passion our Lord endured. It is the willingness to lay down our lives for one another, not in battle, but in surrender to love. It is far easier to lay down our lives in battle than to lay down our lives in surrender to love, I can assure you.
God has loved us before the foundations of the world. And even though we make a mess of the world, we stand forgiven before God washed in the mercy of Divine forgiveness. All of us---ALL OF US stand in that mercy no matter what we have done. And because we all stand in that mercy, none of us have the right to hold judgment against another. We by rights have only one attitude, to be in holy relationship with one another. It is what communion is about. It is what Scripture is about. It is what life is about.
We are one.
But that does not mean that we are the same. It means that we must find the Christ in one another despite the idiosyncrasy of the other, the strangeness of the foreign, in that which is different from each other. We do not have the right to malign others because they are different. We may not find evil in the actions of others just because they do not fit our norms. ( I do believe in evil but it is rare.)
This is the message that we as Christians all through the ages have always found so difficult—that people who think differently can be one with one another. It is why we have orthodox, catholic, reformed and evangelical Christians of so many stripes. It is why we have had holy wars over who believed what. We have had splits and holy and unholy alliances throughout history. We often confuse politics with theology. We often carry more ideology than faith when we come to the altar and kneel in humility before our God , we often exclude those we don’t understand from our midst.
But Jesus prayed that we all might be one ---those who had seen him and those who had just heard of his love. Jesus prayed that God’s love might be in us, that we might be known by the way that we shared that love with others.
Let’s make St. Luke’s a center of loving for the people of Sidney and the area around here. Let’s find in one another the image of Christ and trust that each other’s faith is given by God just as surely as our own has been given. It doesn’t make us feel very righteous. It is hard to point to how powerful we are. But I believe that it will draw others to know of the faith who have not heard the gospel of Christ’s love. And if we are not about that, we have no reason for being here.
Faith in Christ is not about being good. It isn’t about being holier than others. Faith is about being willing to love.
The particular portion that we have today is on unity. He prays that those who follow him might be one. I must admit that I have found this particular passage very difficult to preach on at the moment. And when I find difficulty in preaching on it, I know that God has some real meaning to impart to me or to people who are to hear this sermon. It is at times like these that being obedient to the lectionary requires more attention and trust that God’s word will be heard, not my particular feelings about a passage.
What we find in today’s reading is not just a mere sense that we should all think the same. What I hear loud and clear is that God is calling us to a kind of unity that we would rather not deal with. That I am here to preach in a communion not my own says that there is something amiss. That we even have different denominations says that something is amiss. God wants us all to be the same, some would say. But I think that is far too simplistic a rendition of this passage.
John has brought together the whole life of Jesus to this discourse. The words of Jesus have been redacted more in John than in any other gospel, but that does not damage the message that God would have humanity be one---not in our thinking, not in our opinions, not in even our actions but in our love.
And I would suggest to you that this passage in John while very beautiful and wonderfully poetic is perhaps the hardest to live. It stands on the premise that because we can see God in the person of Jesus, we can then see God in one another because of Jesus. It is the hardest part of being a Christian there is. All the rules of being a good Christian are enveloped in this one statement. It is why the Golden Rule is so difficult, because all too often we cannot see the Christ in one another.
Jesus says “The glory that you have given me I have given them , so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
Now usually John refers to Christ’s glory as his passion. And Jesus knows that God has given us a passion to live through so that we may be made one. And isn’t it the truth that when organization, families have to go through tough times, they are often brought closer together.
I hope and pray that this is what is happening in my own denomination. I pray that the fighting that is going on in the Episcopal Church will make us stronger and faithful even though it is seems to be tearing us apart. But what does that say to us, here at St. Luke’s? What does it mean when an Episcopalian talks of her church among a bunch of Lutherans? Does it heighten or soften the anxiety of our separateness?
Do we find Christ in this exercise or not or do we merely wipe the sweat from our brow and say “there but the grace of God goes the Lutheran Church”? Are we really one or not? Can we find in one another the Christ, the passion of the Savior, that draws us mightily together so that we too can pray this prayer?
Can we find in our own journey in faith the sense of unity despite different customs, liturgy, even how we understand what bishops mean, to find the Christ in one another to bridge the differences between us to make a common journey?
I believe that in this 21st century we are going to see a total realignment of churches if not in the whole world, at least in the US. I see a reconfiguration of Christianity based less on protestant and catholic norms but based more on how we understand Scripture and the difference between truth and fact. I see a reordering of church communities based less on ethnicity and more on how we live out our baptismal vows. We will find commonality less on creedal statements or liturgy and more on how we understand the relationship of the Divine in the lives of people. And please God we will be known less for our rules and regulations, or even our creeds, and be known by the love we show one another in healthy and holistic ways.
I believe that is what Jesus is teaching us in this prayer today. I know that I have to listen to this prayer intensely so that I can remain in my own communion. I must be willing to see Christ in my bishop even if he has a hard time finding Christ in me. I know that you need to listen intently to this prayer that you may address the issues that face this parish. We are called to know that God’s name has been preached among us. Each of us has been called to honor that name with our lives, our actions, the way we treat one another. Our Lord prayed that we be loved with the love that God loved him and that it may be in us.
These are not just nice poetic words—they are powerful words that work in us that for which they were prayed. Loving others is not just something nice—they are passion. They are words calling forth a willingness to endure the passion our Lord endured. It is the willingness to lay down our lives for one another, not in battle, but in surrender to love. It is far easier to lay down our lives in battle than to lay down our lives in surrender to love, I can assure you.
God has loved us before the foundations of the world. And even though we make a mess of the world, we stand forgiven before God washed in the mercy of Divine forgiveness. All of us---ALL OF US stand in that mercy no matter what we have done. And because we all stand in that mercy, none of us have the right to hold judgment against another. We by rights have only one attitude, to be in holy relationship with one another. It is what communion is about. It is what Scripture is about. It is what life is about.
We are one.
But that does not mean that we are the same. It means that we must find the Christ in one another despite the idiosyncrasy of the other, the strangeness of the foreign, in that which is different from each other. We do not have the right to malign others because they are different. We may not find evil in the actions of others just because they do not fit our norms. ( I do believe in evil but it is rare.)
This is the message that we as Christians all through the ages have always found so difficult—that people who think differently can be one with one another. It is why we have orthodox, catholic, reformed and evangelical Christians of so many stripes. It is why we have had holy wars over who believed what. We have had splits and holy and unholy alliances throughout history. We often confuse politics with theology. We often carry more ideology than faith when we come to the altar and kneel in humility before our God , we often exclude those we don’t understand from our midst.
But Jesus prayed that we all might be one ---those who had seen him and those who had just heard of his love. Jesus prayed that God’s love might be in us, that we might be known by the way that we shared that love with others.
Let’s make St. Luke’s a center of loving for the people of Sidney and the area around here. Let’s find in one another the image of Christ and trust that each other’s faith is given by God just as surely as our own has been given. It doesn’t make us feel very righteous. It is hard to point to how powerful we are. But I believe that it will draw others to know of the faith who have not heard the gospel of Christ’s love. And if we are not about that, we have no reason for being here.
Faith in Christ is not about being good. It isn’t about being holier than others. Faith is about being willing to love.
Monday, April 16, 2007
"The ABC is coming, The ABC is coming"
For those of us old enough to remember "The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming", that flick that spoofed all the Red drama that characterized my youth, I think that we may be putting our hopes in the attendance of the Archbishop of Canterbury (ABC) in a similar bucket as those of the old movie. I do not believe that meeting with the ABC will provide a solution to the problems in the Episcopal Church (TEC) any more than the appearance of a broken down Soviet submarine did to the people of the movie. But it may be the beginning of Perestroika within the Anglican Communion.
That the ABC has been avoiding meeting with the leadership of TEC since his appointment has been obvious. His numerous meetings with conservative elements in TEC has been ominous at best and subversive at worst. I can understand that the ABC did not want to interfere in what was initially seen an internal issue in TEC. However, the omnipresence of CANA, IRD and AAC leaders in the ABC's vision as well as the spreading around of financial resources from the Uberright has made what should be an issue within the American church, an international breaking point.
I am grateful to +Paul Marshall of the Diocese of Bethlehem for his open letter to the ABC to meet with the House of Bishops (HoB) and/or the Executive Council. That letter became a catalyst, I believe, for the HoB to make a unanimous call to Dr. Williams to be with them for a time a prayer and discussion. That letter voiced a concern that many were feeling but not articulating.
We do know that ++Jefferts-Shori invited the ABC to come to meet with the HoB but was told that he couldn't work it into his schedule. Often times men have difficulty hearing what women say the first time, especially when those men are not accustomed to listening to women's voices. Perhaps the ABC will now understand that ++Katharine DOES speak for TEC!
Unlike many Americans, I do not believe that American needs to be listened to anymore carefully than any other nation. And if the Uberright had not started to interfere in the African churches with their self-righteousness, this would be an internecine squabble with in the American Church. But like the Bishop of Honduras used to say: "Being in bed with America is like an ant in bed with an elephant. It can be done but the ant is always nervous." Our size and our resources make the less wealthy national churches nervous. That nervousness needs to be assuaged and only conversation with the ABC and HoB can help assuage it.
That the ABC is coming is a good and perhaps holy thing. I do hope the differentiation that characterized the HoB in their April communication will continue to serve the Church in September. The issue is not to force the ABC to think differently. It is an invitation to be with--to be IN communion. It is time. And thanks to all on either side of the Pond who made it happen.
That the ABC has been avoiding meeting with the leadership of TEC since his appointment has been obvious. His numerous meetings with conservative elements in TEC has been ominous at best and subversive at worst. I can understand that the ABC did not want to interfere in what was initially seen an internal issue in TEC. However, the omnipresence of CANA, IRD and AAC leaders in the ABC's vision as well as the spreading around of financial resources from the Uberright has made what should be an issue within the American church, an international breaking point.
I am grateful to +Paul Marshall of the Diocese of Bethlehem for his open letter to the ABC to meet with the House of Bishops (HoB) and/or the Executive Council. That letter became a catalyst, I believe, for the HoB to make a unanimous call to Dr. Williams to be with them for a time a prayer and discussion. That letter voiced a concern that many were feeling but not articulating.
We do know that ++Jefferts-Shori invited the ABC to come to meet with the HoB but was told that he couldn't work it into his schedule. Often times men have difficulty hearing what women say the first time, especially when those men are not accustomed to listening to women's voices. Perhaps the ABC will now understand that ++Katharine DOES speak for TEC!
Unlike many Americans, I do not believe that American needs to be listened to anymore carefully than any other nation. And if the Uberright had not started to interfere in the African churches with their self-righteousness, this would be an internecine squabble with in the American Church. But like the Bishop of Honduras used to say: "Being in bed with America is like an ant in bed with an elephant. It can be done but the ant is always nervous." Our size and our resources make the less wealthy national churches nervous. That nervousness needs to be assuaged and only conversation with the ABC and HoB can help assuage it.
That the ABC is coming is a good and perhaps holy thing. I do hope the differentiation that characterized the HoB in their April communication will continue to serve the Church in September. The issue is not to force the ABC to think differently. It is an invitation to be with--to be IN communion. It is time. And thanks to all on either side of the Pond who made it happen.
Sunday, April 8, 2007
The Tomb is Empty
Holy Redeemer Lutheran
Binghamton, NY
April 8, 2007
“The Tomb is Empty”
Luke 24: 1-12
Alleluia! Christ is Risen! The Lord is risen indeed, Alleluia!
I don’t know if you have ever noticed, but in the four Gospels, Mark, Matthew, Luke and John, the stories of the Resurrection are different. In Mark there are no appearances of the risen Christ but a promise that he will come to the disciples in Galilee. In Mathew we hear of Jesus’ appearance to the disciples in Galilee. In Luke, as we heard this morning, an angel tells the disciples that he is risen and it will be next week when we hear of Jesus’ appearance on the road to Emmaus. And in John we hear Mary finding Jesus in the garden in Jerusalem.
It is well worth your looking up these bible passages at your leisure and reading the different stories of the Resurrection. One isn’t right and the others wrong. They are just four different accounts of the mystery of the Resurrection that people told and which were set down some 30 to 80 years after the event. But there is one thing that is common to all of these stories: In each Gospel, the tomb is empty.
In each Gospel we are brought quickly to the apex of the story of Jesus. These gospels are not about Jesus’ life and death anymore. They are not about his teachings or his ministry, who he healed or even raised from the dead. They are about the fact that something powerful happened not just to Jesus, but for all humanity. In Luke, when the women go to prepare his body with spices, they find the stone rolled away. They could not find his body. Then two in white, which all of his followers would have identified as angels said, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen.”
The tomb is empty.
Most of the time when we say that something is empty it is a negative thing. We even have psychologists telling us that if we see that something is half-empty we tend to be negative people. To see life based upon on what we don’t have creates a need to get more ---to spend our lives trying to fill up the voids in our lives. We often refer to the emptiness of our lives or the vacant place within ourselves as something that needs to be crammed with meaning. And yet when we find this scene in Jesus’ life we find that it is the emptiness that carries the weight of meaning for the Christian.
“Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified and on the third day rise again,” the angels say to the women. For the Christian to believe that Christ is risen and not in the tomb of death, is THE statement of faith. The earliest creed in the Church was: “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.” It was in the past and it is today, and it will be forever, the most basic understanding of the Christian faith. When you try to type out Christ is risen, on your computer, you will find that the grammar correction will automatically say “Christ HAS risen”, but that is not the statement of faith! It is not past tense. It isn’t past perfect even. The faith tells us that Christ IS risen. It is something that is going on right now and has been going on for 2,000 years. The tomb continues to be empty, because he is risen as he said.
The Empty Tomb is the sign that life is full.
Philip was a nine year old that was what we might call developmentally disabled. He had difficulty keeping up with his fellow classmates. The children in his Sunday school class were often impatient with him. One Easter the teacher of the class brought some plastic eggs that you can get at the dollar store and told her class to find something that symbolized the resurrection an put it in their eggs and then return to class. One girl found a butterfly and placed it in her egg. A boy found a blade of new grass and put it in his egg. Another boy thought Jesus was the rock and placed a small stone in his egg. But when Philip returned he had nothing in his egg. “Oh Philip, you didn’t do it right,” the kids said. “That’s stupid.” “I DID do it right.” Philip said. “The tomb was empty.”
As so often happens with slow children, Philip died that year. At the offertory at his funeral his Sunday school classmates processed up to the altar each laying their empty plastic eggs on the altar. They too understood what Philip had said: “The tomb is empty.”
We no longer need to fear death because the tomb is empty. We no longer need to fear what life has in store for us, because he is risen right here and now. We no longer have to fret about what we are to eat, or what we are to wear. We no longer have to worry that our children are going to be ok. We no longer have to wonder about how our lives are going to work out because the tomb is empty.
The grace that is worked for us in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the kind of action that tells us that God is about saving all of creation. This does not mean that we do not have to do our part. This does mean that we have to assume the responsibility for the gifts God has given us. But all too often we humans forget that God is still working out our salvation in that empty tomb—that it is God who is still gracing us with the love he showed in raising his Son.
The empty tomb becomes a metaphor for our lives. It becomes a way for us to face life with hope. If death cannot stop us, what need we be afraid of? If life is given in the quiet of the tomb, why should we be scared of what death might bring? If grace is flooded upon us even in our sinfulness, what is keeping us from turning our lives over to Christ? It is in the empty tombs of our existence that God comes close to us, raises us and restores us so that each part of our life can be filled with those resurrection moments—that we can know the meaning of life eternal.
It is in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus that we see our own lives. But it is also in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus that we can see the gift of others too. When we lay down our own fears, then we can look in to the lives of others and find in them the salvation that God holds out to them as well. It is in the empty tomb that we find that we do not have to fill up our voids to the exclusion of others. There is room on this wee earth for all God’s children. It is in the empty tomb that we come to know that Ultimate power comes from God and that all other power is false.
The story of the resurrection is timeless. It is not a matter of what happened 2,000 years ago that makes a difference in our lives today. The story of Jesus is our story. His life is our lives. It was his faith in God that allowed him to know that death was not the end. And it is our faith that allows us to look into those empty places in our lives and know that it is not the end. For us the empty tomb must be the place where we find the faith to make this world a place that is different. It must be our willingness to face the powers of this world with God’s power knowing that eternal life is always ours. It is in the voids of our worlds that we must be willing to show forth God’s love to those who do not think as we do. Like the women at the tomb, we must hear the angels, though. We may not look for the living among the dead. We must, as Church look for those who need to know the love of God and share it with them. And we must be about the tearing down of power structures that are not of God.
It is among the living that we are to live out of our empty tombs, freed from fear, freed from the bondage to power that is not of God. It is among the living that we are called to love one another in the name of Christ. It is among the living we are to embrace God’s power so that we do not fear it but share it. For this day of Easter proclaims that God’s power is enough. This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
Binghamton, NY
April 8, 2007
“The Tomb is Empty”
Luke 24: 1-12
Alleluia! Christ is Risen! The Lord is risen indeed, Alleluia!
I don’t know if you have ever noticed, but in the four Gospels, Mark, Matthew, Luke and John, the stories of the Resurrection are different. In Mark there are no appearances of the risen Christ but a promise that he will come to the disciples in Galilee. In Mathew we hear of Jesus’ appearance to the disciples in Galilee. In Luke, as we heard this morning, an angel tells the disciples that he is risen and it will be next week when we hear of Jesus’ appearance on the road to Emmaus. And in John we hear Mary finding Jesus in the garden in Jerusalem.
It is well worth your looking up these bible passages at your leisure and reading the different stories of the Resurrection. One isn’t right and the others wrong. They are just four different accounts of the mystery of the Resurrection that people told and which were set down some 30 to 80 years after the event. But there is one thing that is common to all of these stories: In each Gospel, the tomb is empty.
In each Gospel we are brought quickly to the apex of the story of Jesus. These gospels are not about Jesus’ life and death anymore. They are not about his teachings or his ministry, who he healed or even raised from the dead. They are about the fact that something powerful happened not just to Jesus, but for all humanity. In Luke, when the women go to prepare his body with spices, they find the stone rolled away. They could not find his body. Then two in white, which all of his followers would have identified as angels said, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen.”
The tomb is empty.
Most of the time when we say that something is empty it is a negative thing. We even have psychologists telling us that if we see that something is half-empty we tend to be negative people. To see life based upon on what we don’t have creates a need to get more ---to spend our lives trying to fill up the voids in our lives. We often refer to the emptiness of our lives or the vacant place within ourselves as something that needs to be crammed with meaning. And yet when we find this scene in Jesus’ life we find that it is the emptiness that carries the weight of meaning for the Christian.
“Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified and on the third day rise again,” the angels say to the women. For the Christian to believe that Christ is risen and not in the tomb of death, is THE statement of faith. The earliest creed in the Church was: “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.” It was in the past and it is today, and it will be forever, the most basic understanding of the Christian faith. When you try to type out Christ is risen, on your computer, you will find that the grammar correction will automatically say “Christ HAS risen”, but that is not the statement of faith! It is not past tense. It isn’t past perfect even. The faith tells us that Christ IS risen. It is something that is going on right now and has been going on for 2,000 years. The tomb continues to be empty, because he is risen as he said.
The Empty Tomb is the sign that life is full.
Philip was a nine year old that was what we might call developmentally disabled. He had difficulty keeping up with his fellow classmates. The children in his Sunday school class were often impatient with him. One Easter the teacher of the class brought some plastic eggs that you can get at the dollar store and told her class to find something that symbolized the resurrection an put it in their eggs and then return to class. One girl found a butterfly and placed it in her egg. A boy found a blade of new grass and put it in his egg. Another boy thought Jesus was the rock and placed a small stone in his egg. But when Philip returned he had nothing in his egg. “Oh Philip, you didn’t do it right,” the kids said. “That’s stupid.” “I DID do it right.” Philip said. “The tomb was empty.”
As so often happens with slow children, Philip died that year. At the offertory at his funeral his Sunday school classmates processed up to the altar each laying their empty plastic eggs on the altar. They too understood what Philip had said: “The tomb is empty.”
We no longer need to fear death because the tomb is empty. We no longer need to fear what life has in store for us, because he is risen right here and now. We no longer have to fret about what we are to eat, or what we are to wear. We no longer have to worry that our children are going to be ok. We no longer have to wonder about how our lives are going to work out because the tomb is empty.
The grace that is worked for us in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the kind of action that tells us that God is about saving all of creation. This does not mean that we do not have to do our part. This does mean that we have to assume the responsibility for the gifts God has given us. But all too often we humans forget that God is still working out our salvation in that empty tomb—that it is God who is still gracing us with the love he showed in raising his Son.
The empty tomb becomes a metaphor for our lives. It becomes a way for us to face life with hope. If death cannot stop us, what need we be afraid of? If life is given in the quiet of the tomb, why should we be scared of what death might bring? If grace is flooded upon us even in our sinfulness, what is keeping us from turning our lives over to Christ? It is in the empty tombs of our existence that God comes close to us, raises us and restores us so that each part of our life can be filled with those resurrection moments—that we can know the meaning of life eternal.
It is in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus that we see our own lives. But it is also in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus that we can see the gift of others too. When we lay down our own fears, then we can look in to the lives of others and find in them the salvation that God holds out to them as well. It is in the empty tomb that we find that we do not have to fill up our voids to the exclusion of others. There is room on this wee earth for all God’s children. It is in the empty tomb that we come to know that Ultimate power comes from God and that all other power is false.
The story of the resurrection is timeless. It is not a matter of what happened 2,000 years ago that makes a difference in our lives today. The story of Jesus is our story. His life is our lives. It was his faith in God that allowed him to know that death was not the end. And it is our faith that allows us to look into those empty places in our lives and know that it is not the end. For us the empty tomb must be the place where we find the faith to make this world a place that is different. It must be our willingness to face the powers of this world with God’s power knowing that eternal life is always ours. It is in the voids of our worlds that we must be willing to show forth God’s love to those who do not think as we do. Like the women at the tomb, we must hear the angels, though. We may not look for the living among the dead. We must, as Church look for those who need to know the love of God and share it with them. And we must be about the tearing down of power structures that are not of God.
It is among the living that we are to live out of our empty tombs, freed from fear, freed from the bondage to power that is not of God. It is among the living that we are called to love one another in the name of Christ. It is among the living we are to embrace God’s power so that we do not fear it but share it. For this day of Easter proclaims that God’s power is enough. This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
Friday, April 6, 2007
Maundy Thursday
A sermon preached at Holy Redeemer Lutheran Church, Binghamton, NY
“Why is this night different from all other nights?” This is the question that is asked at the beginning of the Jewish Seder supper on the night of Passover. The youngest child asks this question and begins the telling of the story of Israel’s emancipation from slavery, the protection that God gave them in the desert and the sustenance that was afforded them until they came into the Promised Land.
Passover is this traditional meal that Jesus longed to eat with his disciples. It is the Last Supper in which Jesus places a new meaning on the blessing of bread and wine that are shared. Jesus shares with his disciples his body and blood—his presence as they participate in their most important ceremony of their heritage, of their faith and of their people. “This is my body; this is my blood.” Jesus says. And throughout the past two thousand years we have been celebrating his actions, living again and again this one act of self-offering.
Each Sunday I have been with you I have celebrated this feast of God’s making with you. We have sung and communed with our hearts open wide to God’s gift. I would guess that some of us go through the motions sometimes. And at times it is the most profound act of faith that we do in our week--- this sharing in the death and resurrection of our Savior. And throughout the year we probably find ourselves receiving Christ’s body and blood with varying degrees of attention, understanding, theological awareness, emotion or whatever. But is at the point of our reception of Christ’s Body and Blood something stops us and says to us: “I am with you”. “I am always here” “You can find me in the breaking of the bread even when you can’t find me anywhere else.” That is the promise of Maundy Thursday.
It is the reason why we have come to share our sandwiches and eat our soup. It is the reason that in this most hectic of weeks in the Christian Calendar, we stop and wonder why this night is different from every other night. We wonder what is so important that we should receive Communion so often. We wonder why the ritual is so compelling that it should be celebrated every Sunday.
I don’t know about you but the most precious times in my life has been when the whole family has come together for a meal. It is when we hear all the latest gossip about family members. We also tell all the stories of the past so that the younger members know what it means to be members of the family. It is also the most nerve wracking, the most aggravating and most likely when the most horrendous arguments get played out. It is the nature of families, and it is the nature of family meals, I think. Emotions are high; expectations are high, and we want everything to go right. I remember my mother planning for days what was to happen when the family came—and we are a small family.
I would think it was not so different in Jesus’ day. In the Gospel we hear of the preparations that were made for this Passover meal so that everyone could share this holy time with the Teacher. But what does Jesus do? He did something quite uncharacteristic for the host of the Passover meal in that day. According to John’s Gospel, he went around and washed his followers’ feet. He took a basin of water and washed their dirty, sandaled feet. It is hard to duplicate in today’s society what this act was like, because it was the work that slaves did. Jesus took upon himself the duties of a servant.
In the Episcopal tradition we have the ritual of the washing of the feet in which the priest washes the feet of his or her parishioners. When I lived in CA, it worked pretty well because most everyone wore sandals, but when I came back to upstate NY it is harder to get folks to get rid of their socks for the service. It is generally a bit too chilly on Maundy Thursday. But when it does happen it is a holy moment and in a small parish you can allow parishioners to wash each others’ feet. Many grudges are healed in that kind of service.
In the convent it was the superior of the community who used to wash her sister’s feet. It was a profound sign of humility and service. And yet like Peter we find it difficult to do it or allow it to be done for us. I served the soup tonight for a reason. It is the pastor’s duty to feed her people whether here or downstairs.
Whether we find in Maundy Thursday the sign of Christ feeding us in the Eucharist or we find in Christ the humility of servant-hood, the symbol of God’s saving action, it doesn’t matter. This night is different from every other night because Jesus attached to that Passover story a way of participating not only in God’s love for us, but also to participate in one another’s lives at a profound level. We have been called to receive the love of one another and to give God’s love to one another. We not only offer it, but we receive that which Jesus intended us to receive: God’s love.
Some weeks ago I attended a meeting within my own tradition regarding the sharing of communion with the Methodists. A couple of older clergy were there greatly concerned about the Methodist’s understanding of Holy Communion. There was some talk about transubstantiation, consubstantiation and a few other ‘substantiations’ that I hadn’t heard of. Finally I asked: “What is the purpose of a communion service with the Methodists? Isn’t it to make Christ present to the whole of the community? Is it necessary to wonder HOW or WHEN bread is made body or wine is made blood? Isn’t it enough that we stand in the mystery that none of us understand that God may make God present when God wishes? We need but be willing to name what God has done and claim it as God’s continuing work among us.”
An Episcopal colleague of mine tells the story of five-year old Margaret who had been receiving Holy Communion from an early age coming to the communion rail with two of her 5 year old friends and their dad. Dad wanted his children to receive Holy Communion when they understood what it meant. The children were holding their hands out to receive like Margaret, but dad was trying to hold them back. Then Margaret said “Don’t worry, I will share and she broke her host into three parts and gave them to her friends. My colleague said to the dad: “Don’t stop this! They understand the meaning of Eucharist better than we do.” Sometimes it is the child in and among us that allows us to know the profound mystery of God’s love.
I have to admit that even though I looked all over the website at ELCA.com and the last 10 years of The Lutheran magazine, I could find no description of what Holy Communion means except that Lutherans accept that it is the Real Presence of Christ. Is there anything more that needs to be said? Do we need to parse out what that means, or can we accept that definition for gift? I am certainly comfortable with that description. And when others ask, tell them that as Lutherans you believe in the Real Presence of Christ. What we will do tonight around this altar is share bread and wine and most of all God’s love.
The bread that is broken and the wine that is poured out for us is nothing less than Christ. It is through that brokenness that we know healing; it is through that pouring out that we know what it means to be give our all for Christ. And when we receive it, we participate in 2000 years of other faithful people claiming and spreading the love of God too. We participate in our Savior’s gift of grace by living out that love every day of our lives. And if we don’t get it right all the time, we stand in that saving goodness that makes up for all our frailties.
This night is different from any other night because the Passover we celebrate is one of liberation from the fear of everything. It is a participation in the security of God’s love. It is a celebration of the greatest mystery of our faith. It is the living into of Christ’s saving action. It is all of these things and more---way, way more. We need but know God’s forgiveness, God’s acceptance, God’s generosity, God’s comfort, God’s mercy to know that Holy Communion signs for us the wholeness of God’s friendship with us.
This night is different from other nights because we find that it is through this sacrament, this sign of God’s love we understand that when we participate in this Holy Communion we are called to love others. We are to call from our society to live out the justice that Christ’s death demands. We are nurtured by this sacred meal so that we can by grace live out fairness and wholeness not only for ourselves but for others too. It is not enough to just “receive our Jesus” and return to what we have been before. This night calls us to live up to the life Jesus calls from us—the life he lived in honesty and truth. It is not enough for us just to “eat and run” in this holy meal. The Eucharist is not ‘fast food’ wolfed down on the way to something else. This Holy Communion is the center of our lives. To eat this bread and drink this cup means that we honor what God has done for us by sending us his Son. And as a response to this holy meal, we commit ourselves to living lives that proclaim God’s love in every aspect of our lives.
This night is different from every other night because we are invited to live the story once more. We strip the altar in remembrance of Jesus’ Passion and transparency. We honor God in our actions this night as well as honor ourselves with God’s gift of Christ to us. It is the sign of our trusting in the God who makes all life have meaning, who promises life eternal, who gives us signs of Jesus’ presence among us in flesh and blood, and who graces us with saving love every moment of our lives. This night is different from every other night because we have come to believe that Christ is present as he said he would be in the breaking of the bread and in the service of our fellow human beings. AMEN
“Why is this night different from all other nights?” This is the question that is asked at the beginning of the Jewish Seder supper on the night of Passover. The youngest child asks this question and begins the telling of the story of Israel’s emancipation from slavery, the protection that God gave them in the desert and the sustenance that was afforded them until they came into the Promised Land.
Passover is this traditional meal that Jesus longed to eat with his disciples. It is the Last Supper in which Jesus places a new meaning on the blessing of bread and wine that are shared. Jesus shares with his disciples his body and blood—his presence as they participate in their most important ceremony of their heritage, of their faith and of their people. “This is my body; this is my blood.” Jesus says. And throughout the past two thousand years we have been celebrating his actions, living again and again this one act of self-offering.
Each Sunday I have been with you I have celebrated this feast of God’s making with you. We have sung and communed with our hearts open wide to God’s gift. I would guess that some of us go through the motions sometimes. And at times it is the most profound act of faith that we do in our week--- this sharing in the death and resurrection of our Savior. And throughout the year we probably find ourselves receiving Christ’s body and blood with varying degrees of attention, understanding, theological awareness, emotion or whatever. But is at the point of our reception of Christ’s Body and Blood something stops us and says to us: “I am with you”. “I am always here” “You can find me in the breaking of the bread even when you can’t find me anywhere else.” That is the promise of Maundy Thursday.
It is the reason why we have come to share our sandwiches and eat our soup. It is the reason that in this most hectic of weeks in the Christian Calendar, we stop and wonder why this night is different from every other night. We wonder what is so important that we should receive Communion so often. We wonder why the ritual is so compelling that it should be celebrated every Sunday.
I don’t know about you but the most precious times in my life has been when the whole family has come together for a meal. It is when we hear all the latest gossip about family members. We also tell all the stories of the past so that the younger members know what it means to be members of the family. It is also the most nerve wracking, the most aggravating and most likely when the most horrendous arguments get played out. It is the nature of families, and it is the nature of family meals, I think. Emotions are high; expectations are high, and we want everything to go right. I remember my mother planning for days what was to happen when the family came—and we are a small family.
I would think it was not so different in Jesus’ day. In the Gospel we hear of the preparations that were made for this Passover meal so that everyone could share this holy time with the Teacher. But what does Jesus do? He did something quite uncharacteristic for the host of the Passover meal in that day. According to John’s Gospel, he went around and washed his followers’ feet. He took a basin of water and washed their dirty, sandaled feet. It is hard to duplicate in today’s society what this act was like, because it was the work that slaves did. Jesus took upon himself the duties of a servant.
In the Episcopal tradition we have the ritual of the washing of the feet in which the priest washes the feet of his or her parishioners. When I lived in CA, it worked pretty well because most everyone wore sandals, but when I came back to upstate NY it is harder to get folks to get rid of their socks for the service. It is generally a bit too chilly on Maundy Thursday. But when it does happen it is a holy moment and in a small parish you can allow parishioners to wash each others’ feet. Many grudges are healed in that kind of service.
In the convent it was the superior of the community who used to wash her sister’s feet. It was a profound sign of humility and service. And yet like Peter we find it difficult to do it or allow it to be done for us. I served the soup tonight for a reason. It is the pastor’s duty to feed her people whether here or downstairs.
Whether we find in Maundy Thursday the sign of Christ feeding us in the Eucharist or we find in Christ the humility of servant-hood, the symbol of God’s saving action, it doesn’t matter. This night is different from every other night because Jesus attached to that Passover story a way of participating not only in God’s love for us, but also to participate in one another’s lives at a profound level. We have been called to receive the love of one another and to give God’s love to one another. We not only offer it, but we receive that which Jesus intended us to receive: God’s love.
Some weeks ago I attended a meeting within my own tradition regarding the sharing of communion with the Methodists. A couple of older clergy were there greatly concerned about the Methodist’s understanding of Holy Communion. There was some talk about transubstantiation, consubstantiation and a few other ‘substantiations’ that I hadn’t heard of. Finally I asked: “What is the purpose of a communion service with the Methodists? Isn’t it to make Christ present to the whole of the community? Is it necessary to wonder HOW or WHEN bread is made body or wine is made blood? Isn’t it enough that we stand in the mystery that none of us understand that God may make God present when God wishes? We need but be willing to name what God has done and claim it as God’s continuing work among us.”
An Episcopal colleague of mine tells the story of five-year old Margaret who had been receiving Holy Communion from an early age coming to the communion rail with two of her 5 year old friends and their dad. Dad wanted his children to receive Holy Communion when they understood what it meant. The children were holding their hands out to receive like Margaret, but dad was trying to hold them back. Then Margaret said “Don’t worry, I will share and she broke her host into three parts and gave them to her friends. My colleague said to the dad: “Don’t stop this! They understand the meaning of Eucharist better than we do.” Sometimes it is the child in and among us that allows us to know the profound mystery of God’s love.
I have to admit that even though I looked all over the website at ELCA.com and the last 10 years of The Lutheran magazine, I could find no description of what Holy Communion means except that Lutherans accept that it is the Real Presence of Christ. Is there anything more that needs to be said? Do we need to parse out what that means, or can we accept that definition for gift? I am certainly comfortable with that description. And when others ask, tell them that as Lutherans you believe in the Real Presence of Christ. What we will do tonight around this altar is share bread and wine and most of all God’s love.
The bread that is broken and the wine that is poured out for us is nothing less than Christ. It is through that brokenness that we know healing; it is through that pouring out that we know what it means to be give our all for Christ. And when we receive it, we participate in 2000 years of other faithful people claiming and spreading the love of God too. We participate in our Savior’s gift of grace by living out that love every day of our lives. And if we don’t get it right all the time, we stand in that saving goodness that makes up for all our frailties.
This night is different from any other night because the Passover we celebrate is one of liberation from the fear of everything. It is a participation in the security of God’s love. It is a celebration of the greatest mystery of our faith. It is the living into of Christ’s saving action. It is all of these things and more---way, way more. We need but know God’s forgiveness, God’s acceptance, God’s generosity, God’s comfort, God’s mercy to know that Holy Communion signs for us the wholeness of God’s friendship with us.
This night is different from other nights because we find that it is through this sacrament, this sign of God’s love we understand that when we participate in this Holy Communion we are called to love others. We are to call from our society to live out the justice that Christ’s death demands. We are nurtured by this sacred meal so that we can by grace live out fairness and wholeness not only for ourselves but for others too. It is not enough to just “receive our Jesus” and return to what we have been before. This night calls us to live up to the life Jesus calls from us—the life he lived in honesty and truth. It is not enough for us just to “eat and run” in this holy meal. The Eucharist is not ‘fast food’ wolfed down on the way to something else. This Holy Communion is the center of our lives. To eat this bread and drink this cup means that we honor what God has done for us by sending us his Son. And as a response to this holy meal, we commit ourselves to living lives that proclaim God’s love in every aspect of our lives.
This night is different from every other night because we are invited to live the story once more. We strip the altar in remembrance of Jesus’ Passion and transparency. We honor God in our actions this night as well as honor ourselves with God’s gift of Christ to us. It is the sign of our trusting in the God who makes all life have meaning, who promises life eternal, who gives us signs of Jesus’ presence among us in flesh and blood, and who graces us with saving love every moment of our lives. This night is different from every other night because we have come to believe that Christ is present as he said he would be in the breaking of the bread and in the service of our fellow human beings. AMEN
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