This is some work I did in conjunction with others, and is the result of a lot of conversations with people in a wide variety of capacities, chuch members, episcopalians around the diocese, neighbors and even other demoninations.
I envision St David's morning congregation as a resource of traditions. The episcopal church is rich in traditions and one of it's strengths is that it is willing and able to periodically evaluate those traditions, revise them to meet particular needs, and most especially to pass the meaning and relevance of those traditions on to future generations.
Visions of our liturgy:
We envision reinstating the 8am service, this is a time dear to the heart of many of our members and in my own experience and excellent way for people who work in the church education or liturgical aspects of other services to have the important experience of worshiping in the pews. I think it is very important for everyone, and especially clergy to be allowed to engage in the private and enfolding experience of worship in the same way as the laity. The 8am service is also, in the tradition of the episcopal church, the last bastion of an older practice of the liturgy; this is I believe primarily due to a quirk of later life that enables us to rise earlier combined with that very essence that makes traditions endure, that they provide comfort in their changelessness.
We envision keeping our 2pm service. I see this service becoming, over time, a gathering that embraces much more closely the traditions and expressions of worship that the emigrees who make up this congregation have in their hearts. This will require raising up the natural leadership in this community to positions of ascribed power, and sharing with them the means and information to recreate those forms of worship they may have only experienced as audience members. Examples of this would be more music or dance from the countries of origin and more of the service in the languages of origin of the members. At this time, we have members from more than just Sudan as well as member from more than just the Sudanese Episcopal Church. All of our experiences enrich our liturgy and our experience of the Holy. At this time, in order to create cohesion of our group and worship we are using a service that is perhaps too reliant of the words of the ECUSA Book of Common Prayer and therefore too reliant on words that more accurately reflect a North American perspective. With time and attention given to eliciting peoples memories, we will be able to honor the traditions of our members and create a worship experience much richer and much different than we have now.
I envision this space allowing leaders to be developed that can then take practical and spiritual knowledge as well as positive ties to the world church home to their respective countries
We envision adding another worship service to our Sunday worship schedule. A service at 11am. There is a real need to provide a safe sanctuary for people who have been ill-used in the world and in the church but have not turned from God. Many people have heard the message of Christ and cannot reconcile it to what they see in the media or have experienced in church. I envision a worship service that is primarily a teaching service with a great deal of visible lay leadership. There is a fear of priests, there is a fear of charismatic individuals and there is a fear of group oppression for not following the normative behavior of the majority. This safe space, I envision, will hold everyone to a higher standard of personal responsibility to respect others.
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
Judge not, lest ye be judged.
Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. or the 70*7 verse from Matthew.
These three verses I need to look up the scripture reference for.
These three verses we are all taught over and over again. It is a sad state of affairs that many churches do not practice this simple and radical idea with conscious intent. I propose that it is time, not only to practice what we preach, but to envision and implement the practice of conscientious tolerance.
Within the framework of this worship ideal, I envision people having personal mentoring relationships with other survivors like themselves who have come further in their relationship with God, with their own forgiveness. I envision bringing up the laity into positions of authority, such as LEM's, Lay Preachers, and Lay Readers. I do not necessarily envision a Eucharist at every meeting of this group, and when we do celebrate the Eucharist, I see having several different priests that perform the service. This allows the laity to experience a variety of priests in the authoritative position, and creates opportunities for cross contamination of congregations.
Friday, July 14, 2006
More Visioning
Some thoughts kicking around.
We are trying to figure out what to do with our church building. I got annoyed with what someone said because they do not understand how painful these negotiations are, and they are negotiations. Churches do not have bottomless funding any more than any other institution, especially not for profits. What churches do have are huge capital resources that are difficult to maintain but are vital to the general economy. We are cognizant of it, and we need to be aware that the secular world takes us for granted, and that we take ourselves for granted. I don't think any church member feels that more than one who is in a church that can't afford it's building.
Because church isn't about buildings. It's about people. For a certain sized gathering, it is necessary to have a dedicated space. Also, all people like to have dedicated space for sacred activities. How many people have personal altars in their home, no matter their spiritual preference?
Like I said, we are trying to figure out what to do with the space. There are about a dozen of us, and we would all rather be doing something to complement our faith. I have not yet found any spiritual satisfaction in changing flourescent lights. Maybe I am missing the point, but I would really rather be leading people in personalized spiritual discussions and housing the homeless and feeding the hungry and engaging the secular world with regard to it's self centered behavior. Practically, I am the only person still young enough to climb a ladder. The real measure of ministry is how graciously one can mop up a toilet overflow. And I have done that too.
We can't just up and close the doors as much as I sometimes want to. We provide worship space for African refugees. They need space too. And a rotating homeless shelter. And three Anonymous groups. And a Norwegian Dance troupe. And two preschools. And the Ukelele Association of Portland. And the League of Women Voters. And the list goes on. None of these groups have the resources to purchase property and build individual places. None of them generate enough income to pay for dedicated retail. Few of them even need dedicated real estate. They have a lot to share, and so do we.
We are trying to figure out what to do with the building, because even with all these groups paying and donating what they can, even with tithe from the members of the church, even with dipping into bequests of previous generations of St David members, we cannot afford to pay our priest, and we cannot afford to to the large capitol maintaining or improving that needs to be done on the property. At some point, the leaks in the roof are going to lead to to a whole new roof. Then what do any of us do?
We want to do the things that make us Christians. Sometimes that is providing a place for someone who has nowhere to go. But in the end, no matter how liturgical the practice, Christianity does not require a building. Preschools, and Anonymous meetings, and Ukelele Association meetings do.
I can envision a building that houses these sorts of groups. I can see it compatible with Christianity. Plenty of churches if they can find the space meet in community centers. The trick is to turn the church into a community center.
We are trying to figure out what to do with our church building. I got annoyed with what someone said because they do not understand how painful these negotiations are, and they are negotiations. Churches do not have bottomless funding any more than any other institution, especially not for profits. What churches do have are huge capital resources that are difficult to maintain but are vital to the general economy. We are cognizant of it, and we need to be aware that the secular world takes us for granted, and that we take ourselves for granted. I don't think any church member feels that more than one who is in a church that can't afford it's building.
Because church isn't about buildings. It's about people. For a certain sized gathering, it is necessary to have a dedicated space. Also, all people like to have dedicated space for sacred activities. How many people have personal altars in their home, no matter their spiritual preference?
Like I said, we are trying to figure out what to do with the space. There are about a dozen of us, and we would all rather be doing something to complement our faith. I have not yet found any spiritual satisfaction in changing flourescent lights. Maybe I am missing the point, but I would really rather be leading people in personalized spiritual discussions and housing the homeless and feeding the hungry and engaging the secular world with regard to it's self centered behavior. Practically, I am the only person still young enough to climb a ladder. The real measure of ministry is how graciously one can mop up a toilet overflow. And I have done that too.
We can't just up and close the doors as much as I sometimes want to. We provide worship space for African refugees. They need space too. And a rotating homeless shelter. And three Anonymous groups. And a Norwegian Dance troupe. And two preschools. And the Ukelele Association of Portland. And the League of Women Voters. And the list goes on. None of these groups have the resources to purchase property and build individual places. None of them generate enough income to pay for dedicated retail. Few of them even need dedicated real estate. They have a lot to share, and so do we.
We are trying to figure out what to do with the building, because even with all these groups paying and donating what they can, even with tithe from the members of the church, even with dipping into bequests of previous generations of St David members, we cannot afford to pay our priest, and we cannot afford to to the large capitol maintaining or improving that needs to be done on the property. At some point, the leaks in the roof are going to lead to to a whole new roof. Then what do any of us do?
We want to do the things that make us Christians. Sometimes that is providing a place for someone who has nowhere to go. But in the end, no matter how liturgical the practice, Christianity does not require a building. Preschools, and Anonymous meetings, and Ukelele Association meetings do.
I can envision a building that houses these sorts of groups. I can see it compatible with Christianity. Plenty of churches if they can find the space meet in community centers. The trick is to turn the church into a community center.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Who are Episcopalians?
Some of you, amongst the whole 6 people who have read my blog (I know because you have posted a comment-thank you), may know how I ended up an Episcopalian. Long story short, they were the neighborhood church kind enough to start at 10:30 in the morning. But the reason I actually joined the church, is that they, as a whole church, seemed to be working at living as 1st century Christians, utilizing the breadth of knowledge accumulated by Christians since that time. (begin your own education here.)
Now, I have been in communion in San Jose, CA and I have been in communion in Bakersfield, CA, and in case you don't know, their respective diocese fall in the two extreme opinions currently getting all the press. And while it is certainly true that I started attending Episcopal churches because the Presbyterians met at 10am I kept going due to the amazing similarity between the people in those two churches in the Diocese of El Camino Real and the Diocese of San Joaquin.
You may not see it in the blogosphere, and you may not hear about it in the secular media, but thoughtful and reasoned and compassionate are the people who call themselves Episcopalian. If this church is "dying" and "schisming", then it is because those who are thoughtful and reasoned and compassionate are also patient and unassuming and good listeners. ( What is the definition of a good listener? Someone who is not talking, of course.)
I don't know if the "middle is shrinking" but there are a lot of people who don't see why there needs to be so much mud-slinging and urgency while things sort themselves out. As I often hear, "It's un-Episcopalian" to be so urgent and so nasty. In truth, most of the pressing questions I hear in actual parishes sound something like this. "Do you think you can donate some flat sheets to the shelter, we are running low?"
That wasn't rhetorical. We really need some flat sheets. If you live in the Portland area, I'll even come pick them up.
Now, I have been in communion in San Jose, CA and I have been in communion in Bakersfield, CA, and in case you don't know, their respective diocese fall in the two extreme opinions currently getting all the press. And while it is certainly true that I started attending Episcopal churches because the Presbyterians met at 10am I kept going due to the amazing similarity between the people in those two churches in the Diocese of El Camino Real and the Diocese of San Joaquin.
You may not see it in the blogosphere, and you may not hear about it in the secular media, but thoughtful and reasoned and compassionate are the people who call themselves Episcopalian. If this church is "dying" and "schisming", then it is because those who are thoughtful and reasoned and compassionate are also patient and unassuming and good listeners. ( What is the definition of a good listener? Someone who is not talking, of course.)
I don't know if the "middle is shrinking" but there are a lot of people who don't see why there needs to be so much mud-slinging and urgency while things sort themselves out. As I often hear, "It's un-Episcopalian" to be so urgent and so nasty. In truth, most of the pressing questions I hear in actual parishes sound something like this. "Do you think you can donate some flat sheets to the shelter, we are running low?"
That wasn't rhetorical. We really need some flat sheets. If you live in the Portland area, I'll even come pick them up.
Call me an Ableist, but...
I am just a little concerned about my viability as a candidate for ordination when the blogger most closely reflects my views on orthodoxy and Anglicanism has a note from the doctor saying he has gone mad.
of course, I could be wrong....
of course, I could be wrong....
Thursday, June 22, 2006
How to Interpret Scripture
I have mainly used this blog as a place to keep track of my sermons over the course of the two years I have spent learning homiletics. And I know that my sermons are pretty dry reads, what livens them up in person is my Freudian tongue and tendency to burst into tears whenever I get excited. However, to the whole conversation of who is and who is out of bounds with Christ and with the Church, I want to add the idea that begins and ends all of my deliberations over Scripture.
"Whoever, then, thinks that he understands the Holy Scriptures, or any part of them, but puts such an interpretation upon them as does not tend to build up this twofold love of God and our neighbor, does not yet understand them as he ought. If, on the other hand, a man draws a meaning from them that may be used for the building up of love, even though he does not happen upon the precise meaning which the author whom he reads intended to express in that place, his error is not pernicious, and he is wholly clear from the charge of deception."
St. Augustine, On Christian Doctrine
Read the rest of Augustine here: http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/jod/augustine/ddc1.html
I think Augustine is pretty Orthodox, and a pretty straight forward read, but I have a degree in philosophy, so perhaps I am biased about that.
"Whoever, then, thinks that he understands the Holy Scriptures, or any part of them, but puts such an interpretation upon them as does not tend to build up this twofold love of God and our neighbor, does not yet understand them as he ought. If, on the other hand, a man draws a meaning from them that may be used for the building up of love, even though he does not happen upon the precise meaning which the author whom he reads intended to express in that place, his error is not pernicious, and he is wholly clear from the charge of deception."
St. Augustine, On Christian Doctrine
Read the rest of Augustine here: http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/jod/augustine/ddc1.html
I think Augustine is pretty Orthodox, and a pretty straight forward read, but I have a degree in philosophy, so perhaps I am biased about that.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Of Orthodoxy and Windsor
I haven't really made my two cents known on all of this here, because really, it's an archive. But I would like to say that I consider myself to be both Orthodox and Traditional. And this really means that in the face of dilemmas of faith, I like to reconsider my source material.
So this is some source material that I haven't heard to much of:
XX. Of the Authority of the Church.
The Church hath power to decree Rites or Ceremonies, and authority in Controversies of Faith: and yet it is not lawful for the Church to ordain any thing that is contrary to God's Word written, neither may it so expound one place of Scripture, that it be repugnant to another. Wherefore, although the Church be a witness and a keeper of Holy Writ, yet, as it ought not to decree any thing against the same, so besides the same ought it not to enforce any thing to be believed for necessity of Salvation.
XXXIV. Of the Traditions of the Church.
It is not necessary that Traditions and Ceremonies be in all places one, or utterly like; for at all times they have been divers, and may be changed according to the diversity of countries, times, and men's manners, so that nothing be ordained against God's Word. Whosoever, through his private judgment, willingly and purposely, doth openly break the Traditions and Ceremonies of the Church, which be not repugnant to the Word of God, and be ordained and approved by common authority, ought to be rebuked openly, (that others may fear to do the like,) as he that offendeth against the common order of the Church, and hurteth the authority of the Magistrate, and woundeth the consciences of the weak brethren.
Every particular or national Church hath authority to ordain, change, and abolish, Ceremonies or Rites of the Church ordained only by man's authority, so that all things be done to edifying.
(Note, XXV. Of the Sacraments says that all sacraments except Baptism and The Lord's Supper are ordained by man's authority BCP 872)
Articles of Religion, Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States of America, 1801 (we dropped the Protestant, perhaps too soon), BCP 867
And another source that has been mentioned, but not as often as it could have:
3. That in all things of human ordering or human choice, relating to modes of worship and discipline, or to traditional customs, this Church is ready in the spirit of love and humility to forego all preferences of her own;
4. That this Church does not seek to absorb other Communions, but rather, co-operating with them on the basis of a common Faith and Order, to discountenance schism, to heal the wounds of the Body of Christ, and to promote the charity which is the chief of Christian graces and the visibile manifestation of Christ to the world.
As inherent parts of this sacred deposit, and therefore as essential to the restoration of unity among the divided branches of Christendom, we account the following, to wit:
1. The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the revealed Word of God.
2. The Nicene Creed as the sufficient statement of the Christian Faith.
3. The two Sacraments,--Baptism and the Supper of the Lord,--ministered with unfailing use of Christ's words of institution and of the elements ordained by Him.
4. The Historic Episcopate, locally adapted in the methods of its administration to the varying needs of the nations and peoples called of God into the unity of His Church.
Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral 1186, BCP 876
and lastly:
WE BELIEVE in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come.
Amen.
Nicene Creed, old (really old, this is just the latest English version in the Book of Common Prayer) BCP 358
In all of the Windsor Doublespeak passing itself off as resolution material, nowhere do we simply state that we don't have the authority to answer Windsor as it stands. There is not top down architecture with which to accomplish such a thing, we don't tell parishes or diocese what to do, and an apology for freaking people out with our crazed democracy is perhaps the best we will ever do at the national level. All we can promise is that we will not be the ones to walk away from the table, and the table is the only place it matters. There is another Article of Religion (XXVL Of the Unworthiness of the Ministers, which hinders not the effect of the Sacraments-BCP 873) which ought to cover all of our dis-ease, on both sides of the theological argument.
And, as far as I can tell, the only theology we insist on is that found in the Creed.
Is there some really good reason that our Tradition and Orthodoxy are not a good enough answer to Windsor?
To quote my favorite apologist, although you can hardly call him that, GK Chesterton, from Orthodoxy-
“Can he hate it enough to change it, and yet love it enough to think it worth changing?”
I suspect that may be a good sum up of what is going on in TEC right about now, from both points of view.
Let us pray for the Church and for the world.
So this is some source material that I haven't heard to much of:
XX. Of the Authority of the Church.
The Church hath power to decree Rites or Ceremonies, and authority in Controversies of Faith: and yet it is not lawful for the Church to ordain any thing that is contrary to God's Word written, neither may it so expound one place of Scripture, that it be repugnant to another. Wherefore, although the Church be a witness and a keeper of Holy Writ, yet, as it ought not to decree any thing against the same, so besides the same ought it not to enforce any thing to be believed for necessity of Salvation.
XXXIV. Of the Traditions of the Church.
It is not necessary that Traditions and Ceremonies be in all places one, or utterly like; for at all times they have been divers, and may be changed according to the diversity of countries, times, and men's manners, so that nothing be ordained against God's Word. Whosoever, through his private judgment, willingly and purposely, doth openly break the Traditions and Ceremonies of the Church, which be not repugnant to the Word of God, and be ordained and approved by common authority, ought to be rebuked openly, (that others may fear to do the like,) as he that offendeth against the common order of the Church, and hurteth the authority of the Magistrate, and woundeth the consciences of the weak brethren.
Every particular or national Church hath authority to ordain, change, and abolish, Ceremonies or Rites of the Church ordained only by man's authority, so that all things be done to edifying.
(Note, XXV. Of the Sacraments says that all sacraments except Baptism and The Lord's Supper are ordained by man's authority BCP 872)
Articles of Religion, Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States of America, 1801 (we dropped the Protestant, perhaps too soon), BCP 867
And another source that has been mentioned, but not as often as it could have:
3. That in all things of human ordering or human choice, relating to modes of worship and discipline, or to traditional customs, this Church is ready in the spirit of love and humility to forego all preferences of her own;
4. That this Church does not seek to absorb other Communions, but rather, co-operating with them on the basis of a common Faith and Order, to discountenance schism, to heal the wounds of the Body of Christ, and to promote the charity which is the chief of Christian graces and the visibile manifestation of Christ to the world.
As inherent parts of this sacred deposit, and therefore as essential to the restoration of unity among the divided branches of Christendom, we account the following, to wit:
1. The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the revealed Word of God.
2. The Nicene Creed as the sufficient statement of the Christian Faith.
3. The two Sacraments,--Baptism and the Supper of the Lord,--ministered with unfailing use of Christ's words of institution and of the elements ordained by Him.
4. The Historic Episcopate, locally adapted in the methods of its administration to the varying needs of the nations and peoples called of God into the unity of His Church.
Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral 1186, BCP 876
and lastly:
WE BELIEVE in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come.
Amen.
Nicene Creed, old (really old, this is just the latest English version in the Book of Common Prayer) BCP 358
In all of the Windsor Doublespeak passing itself off as resolution material, nowhere do we simply state that we don't have the authority to answer Windsor as it stands. There is not top down architecture with which to accomplish such a thing, we don't tell parishes or diocese what to do, and an apology for freaking people out with our crazed democracy is perhaps the best we will ever do at the national level. All we can promise is that we will not be the ones to walk away from the table, and the table is the only place it matters. There is another Article of Religion (XXVL Of the Unworthiness of the Ministers, which hinders not the effect of the Sacraments-BCP 873) which ought to cover all of our dis-ease, on both sides of the theological argument.
And, as far as I can tell, the only theology we insist on is that found in the Creed.
Is there some really good reason that our Tradition and Orthodoxy are not a good enough answer to Windsor?
To quote my favorite apologist, although you can hardly call him that, GK Chesterton, from Orthodoxy-
“Can he hate it enough to change it, and yet love it enough to think it worth changing?”
I suspect that may be a good sum up of what is going on in TEC right about now, from both points of view.
Let us pray for the Church and for the world.
Thursday, June 8, 2006
Pentecost
There is an alternate reading of the gospel for this morning, and i would like to start by reading it, because while it also tells us of the pentecost moment when the apostles received the holy spirit, it is the foretelling, and it is just more human and believable.
John 14:8-17
I like Phillip. This is the kind of apostle I can relate to.
All this time, and he still doesn't get it. We often fail to understand all of the theological mumbo-jumbo that Jesus speaks as well. When is he speaking literally? When is he speaking in metaphor? Or is it a simile?
Phillip responds to literally to the idea that the Father is in the Son is in the Father. If he can see Jesus, surely he can see the Father as well. We do the same thing. Because someone can paint a picture of Jesus, or someone who may have looked like him, then surely we should be able to paint another portrait and it can be the Father, or something close.
It is in Jesus' reply that you can see that he finally figured out he was talking in riddles, and that he is running out of time. Suddenly, we get a clear picture of what to make of all this theology.
Look, don't worry about the theology, Jesus tell Phillip, it sorts itself out. Look at the works. Look at what I have been doing. That is the answer. That you can believe because of what you have seen. DO THAT STUFF. And keep doing it, and do it better, because I am leaving. You can do what you have been shown, and as long as you do it in my name, said Jesus, I will keep it right with God and it will happen.
This is such practical advice. Jesus had been going on about being in the Father and preparing a path. He had been using all sorts of metaphorical and theological language. And John has worked that language over into a poetry of rhythm and rhyme. But the truth is, we can only go so far with the high-falutin' language. And some point we need to find what I like to call the place where the rubber hits the road.
So Phillip is right to ask him to see God. Phillip is right to call him back down out of the atmosphere and say, “Show me the money.”
All this of course encourages us to ponder what it was that Jesus did. What exactly is it that he is telling Phillip to do. After all, Jesus did a lot of things.
He fed a lot of people without worrying about how to pay for it.
He brought dead people back to life because he liked them.
He wandered around and spoke to people who were running low on hope.
He told religious leaders they were too wrapped up in the details and were missing the point.
He told people they could speak to God without mediation.
He told people that God is the only divine king, implying that the Roman ruler was not divine.
See, he did a lot of things, but the one thing he didn't do- was start a church. Because what Jesus started was a path. Truthfully, he hacked down the one really big tree in the way, but then he left us with a jungle to clear. We started the church, as a means to keep the path clear, to make it easier for those who follow along behind.
This is the great joy I have found in the Episcopal Church, I am not required to start with the Bible and discover independently what it means to be a follower and keeper of the path. Over the course of time, Christians have discovered wonderfully creative and meaningful ways to keep the path from us to God via Jesus Christ open and alive.
Another fabulous thing the church has going for it is the knowledge that the people are the church, it is our relationship to God and to each other that make us a church. Today we celebrate the birthday of the church. Let's not forget that the church is the people not the building or the hardware that fills it. It's our birthday, collectively as pathmakers, and individually as members of the living body. And for a few of us here, its our first birthday in this church, for Shannon and for Claudia and for myself.
If there is any danger in the institution of church, in the keeping of the knowledge, it is that we sometimes confuse the fruits of that knowledge with the knowledge itself. Christianity invites us, as do all the enduring religions, to keep always in mind that the things of this world are not the permanent things. Not buildings, not appliances, not plants, and not even our own bodies. What endures, what matters, is not the matter, but the relationship, the people involved, and their feelings and their sense of well-being.
Jesus invite us to follow his lead, he invites us to continue his work, which is the work of God. And when we are doing his work, for his reasons, he will make sure that we can always see the path. His work was not maintaining the temple. His work was not even ending starvation. Jesus fed the hungry so they could pay attention.
The work we are left to do is to change the level of importance of the things of this earth. To deal with the bothersome, even the deadly worries of the flesh, so that we could all partake in the actual love of the Lord and each other.
When we get that right, we are no longer living on our time, by our rules, trapped by our bodies and buildings, but we are engaged in God's time, which is forever, and God's rules, which are loving-kindness, and then we do not feel trapped by our bodies and buildings, but blessed by the gifts they give and accepting of their limitations and finitude.
I try to keep to the path. I really do. But I am often distracted by my desires, by my needs and wants. When I do this, I am not living by the commandments, and so it can be no surprise that my requests go unheeded. When I am more concerned with my own power, it comes as no shock that I cannot hear the Holy Spirit.
But, thankfully, gratefully, I always have the church, I have all of you, and all of the wisdom of the institution of church, to lead me along the path of the Lord. On this day, on the birthday of the church, and the anniversary of my confirmation, my wish is that we may all be one, in intention, in spirit, and in truth.
John 14:8-17
I like Phillip. This is the kind of apostle I can relate to.
All this time, and he still doesn't get it. We often fail to understand all of the theological mumbo-jumbo that Jesus speaks as well. When is he speaking literally? When is he speaking in metaphor? Or is it a simile?
Phillip responds to literally to the idea that the Father is in the Son is in the Father. If he can see Jesus, surely he can see the Father as well. We do the same thing. Because someone can paint a picture of Jesus, or someone who may have looked like him, then surely we should be able to paint another portrait and it can be the Father, or something close.
It is in Jesus' reply that you can see that he finally figured out he was talking in riddles, and that he is running out of time. Suddenly, we get a clear picture of what to make of all this theology.
Look, don't worry about the theology, Jesus tell Phillip, it sorts itself out. Look at the works. Look at what I have been doing. That is the answer. That you can believe because of what you have seen. DO THAT STUFF. And keep doing it, and do it better, because I am leaving. You can do what you have been shown, and as long as you do it in my name, said Jesus, I will keep it right with God and it will happen.
This is such practical advice. Jesus had been going on about being in the Father and preparing a path. He had been using all sorts of metaphorical and theological language. And John has worked that language over into a poetry of rhythm and rhyme. But the truth is, we can only go so far with the high-falutin' language. And some point we need to find what I like to call the place where the rubber hits the road.
So Phillip is right to ask him to see God. Phillip is right to call him back down out of the atmosphere and say, “Show me the money.”
All this of course encourages us to ponder what it was that Jesus did. What exactly is it that he is telling Phillip to do. After all, Jesus did a lot of things.
He fed a lot of people without worrying about how to pay for it.
He brought dead people back to life because he liked them.
He wandered around and spoke to people who were running low on hope.
He told religious leaders they were too wrapped up in the details and were missing the point.
He told people they could speak to God without mediation.
He told people that God is the only divine king, implying that the Roman ruler was not divine.
See, he did a lot of things, but the one thing he didn't do- was start a church. Because what Jesus started was a path. Truthfully, he hacked down the one really big tree in the way, but then he left us with a jungle to clear. We started the church, as a means to keep the path clear, to make it easier for those who follow along behind.
This is the great joy I have found in the Episcopal Church, I am not required to start with the Bible and discover independently what it means to be a follower and keeper of the path. Over the course of time, Christians have discovered wonderfully creative and meaningful ways to keep the path from us to God via Jesus Christ open and alive.
Another fabulous thing the church has going for it is the knowledge that the people are the church, it is our relationship to God and to each other that make us a church. Today we celebrate the birthday of the church. Let's not forget that the church is the people not the building or the hardware that fills it. It's our birthday, collectively as pathmakers, and individually as members of the living body. And for a few of us here, its our first birthday in this church, for Shannon and for Claudia and for myself.
If there is any danger in the institution of church, in the keeping of the knowledge, it is that we sometimes confuse the fruits of that knowledge with the knowledge itself. Christianity invites us, as do all the enduring religions, to keep always in mind that the things of this world are not the permanent things. Not buildings, not appliances, not plants, and not even our own bodies. What endures, what matters, is not the matter, but the relationship, the people involved, and their feelings and their sense of well-being.
Jesus invite us to follow his lead, he invites us to continue his work, which is the work of God. And when we are doing his work, for his reasons, he will make sure that we can always see the path. His work was not maintaining the temple. His work was not even ending starvation. Jesus fed the hungry so they could pay attention.
The work we are left to do is to change the level of importance of the things of this earth. To deal with the bothersome, even the deadly worries of the flesh, so that we could all partake in the actual love of the Lord and each other.
When we get that right, we are no longer living on our time, by our rules, trapped by our bodies and buildings, but we are engaged in God's time, which is forever, and God's rules, which are loving-kindness, and then we do not feel trapped by our bodies and buildings, but blessed by the gifts they give and accepting of their limitations and finitude.
I try to keep to the path. I really do. But I am often distracted by my desires, by my needs and wants. When I do this, I am not living by the commandments, and so it can be no surprise that my requests go unheeded. When I am more concerned with my own power, it comes as no shock that I cannot hear the Holy Spirit.
But, thankfully, gratefully, I always have the church, I have all of you, and all of the wisdom of the institution of church, to lead me along the path of the Lord. On this day, on the birthday of the church, and the anniversary of my confirmation, my wish is that we may all be one, in intention, in spirit, and in truth.
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