My Blog

Category: Theological e-piphanies

  • Dearly Anointed Ones

    For many centuries, Easter was the principal date for Baptisms.  The season of Lent was the time of preparation for baptismal candidates and a time for the faithful who are already baptized to remember their own formation as followers of the Risen Christ.

    Following the the Sacrament of Holy Baptism with water and in the name of the Holy Trinity, the Bishop Anointing at Baptism or Priest places a hand on the person's head and makes the sign of the cross with Chrism, a fragrant oil that has been blessed by the Bishop as Apostle and chief missionary of a diocese.  During this action, the following words are said: "N., you are sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ's own for ever." And the people respond, "Amen."

    We usually have plenty to say about the significance of water in Holy Baptism, but we seldom mention the significance of Chrism.  Our English word Chrism is derived from the Greek word χρίσμα, meaning ointment or anointment.  The same Greek word is the root for "Christ" and means "anointed one" – Jesus is the Anointed One.

    Blessing chrism The Episcopal Church liturgy for consecration of this oil provides a brief but helpful explanation.  However, since the consecration of Chrism is reserved to the Bishop, the liturgy usually happens only once a year at a time when few people are present to witness it.  Yesterday, at Grace Cathedral in Topeka, Bishop Wolfe presided over a service that included consecration of Chrism.  We heard the Bishop give this introduction:

    Dear Friends in Christ: In the beginning, the Spirit of God hovered over the creation; and, throughout history, God, by the gift of the Holy Spirit, he empowered his people to serve him.  As a sign of that gift, the priests and kings of Israel were anointed with oil; and our Lord Jesus was himself anointed with the Holy Spirit at his Baptism as the Christ, God's own Messiah.  At Baptism, Christians are likewise anointed by that same Spirit to empower them for God's service.  Let us now set apart this oil to be the sign of that anointing.

    The Bishop then placed a hand on the vessel of oil and prayed

    Eternal Father, whose blessed Son was anointed by the
    Holy Spirit to  be the Savior and servant of all, we pray you to
    consecrate this oil, that those who are sealed with it may
    share in the royal priesthood of Jesus Christ; who lives and
    reigns with you and the  Holy Spirit, for ever and ever.  Amen.

    So, in Holy Baptism our sins are washed away.  We are included in God's covenant, joined with the Risen Christ, and given the seal (guarantee) of the Holy Spirit, who will continue to work in us.  When we rise from the waters of Bapitsm, we receive an outward anointing that assures us of our inward Chrism anointing.  This act establishes our true identity.  We are royalty, the adopted sons and daughters of the Sovereign of the Universe!  We are "marked as Christ's own for ever."

    Living into that identity is an opportunity for daily epiphanies, dearly anointed ones.

    Ron

  • When Prayer Seems Like a One-Way Conversation…

    Have you ever felt like prayer is a one-way conversation?  I have. 

    It occurs to me that it must seem like that to God quite often, with me doing all of the talking and none of the listening.

    For that reason, I'm going to devote myself to listening prayer during Holy Week.

    Ron 

    "My sheep hear my voice, and they know me, and they follow me." – Jesus (John 10:27)

  • March 25 ~ The Annunciation

    The Annunciation
    Luke 1:26-38    Annunciation

    So much of our conversation regarding faith is centered on what each of us is doing about it. We are preoccupied with human liberty, some notion of “the individual,” and overly concerned with the subjective experience of God. We tend to want to play the leading role in the story, which we are writing, and we offer God a supporting role in a cast of thousands. We like to be in control of our universe.

    The Annunciation is a reminder to me that what I'm doing about my faith is always in response to what God is first doing in my life, even when I'm not thinking of it in that way. God sent Gabriel to make an announcement to Mary about the role she would play in God's story, not to ask her to "volunteer." 
    Like Mary, we are often perplexed when God enters our lives uninvited and calls us to do what seems humanly impossible.

    Reflect with me on that thought today in pursuit of a more God-centered and objective life of faith.

    St. Augustine was aware of the divine initiative when he wrote, “Thou didst strike on my heart with Thy word and I loved Thee.” – from Confessions (397-398 A.D.)  If you know anything about Augustine's life, you know he started out as a very self-absorbed and strong-willed individual.  It would take a major epiphany to get his attention. God's undeserved grace knocked on Augustine's heart and by God's grace he was able to love God in response.

    C.S. Lewis offers this perspective:

    Christianity “does not tell of a human search for God at all, but of something done by God for, to, and about Man. And the way in which it is done is selective, undemocratic, to the highest degree. After the knowledge of God had been universally lost or obscured, one man from the whole earth (Abraham) is picked out. He is separated (miserably enough, we may suppose) from his natural surroundings, sent into a strange country, and made the ancestor of a nation who are to carry the knowledge of the true God. Within this nation there is further selection: some die in the desert, some remain behind in Babylon. There is further selection still. The process grows narrower and narrower, sharpens at last into one small bright point like the head of a spear. It is a Jewish girl at her prayers. All humanity (so far as concerns its redemption) has narrowed to that” (Chapter 14, Miracles:A Preliminary Study, Harper Collins, 2001).

    And, because I love the poetry and music of our faith so much, this 19th Century hymn comes to mind:

    I sought the Lord, and afterward I knew
    he moved my soul to seek him, seeking me;
    it was not I that found, O Savior true;
    no, I was found of thee.

    Thou didst reach forth thy hand and mine enfold;
    I walked and sank not on the storm-vexed sea;
    'twas not so much that I on thee took hold,
    as thou, dear Lord, on me.

    I find, I walk, I love, but oh, the whole
    of love is but my answer, Lord, to thee;
    for thou wert long beforehand with my soul,
    always thou lovedst me.

    Maybe today would be a good day to say with Mary, “Let it be with me according to your word.”

    Ron

  • The Prodigal God

    This year's Fourth Sunday in Lent readings from Joshua 5 and Luke 15 echo the words of Psalm 32: "Happy are those whose transgressions are forgiven" (Ps. 32:1).

    Both Joshua 5 and Luke 15 deal with wandering. The nation wanders in the wilderness due to disobedience. The youngest son wanders in a different kind of wilderness, lost in disgrace. In both stories, the wanderers make their way back home out of the wilderness, but neither the nation nor the youngest son finds relief from the disgrace that has resulted from disobedience and wandering. It is only the absolution by the "other" (God in Joshua 5; the father in Luke 15) that redeems their past. "Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt." "This son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!" Each absolution is followed by a feast. In both cases, the feast symbolizes that the shame of wandering has been replaced with the promise of a new life.

    This is the story of God's love affair with us, isn't it?  God gives us the world / we'd rather have another one / it turns out to be a pathetic substitute / we find ourselves lost, alone, ashamed / we try to find our way back into God's embrace / God finds us groping around in the darkness, welcomes us home, and throws a banquet.

    Notice that the story of our redemption is not simply that we are saved, forgiven, absolved from something.  We are saved, forgiven, absolved for something.  Our liturgy conveys that message in many ways, but none so well as in the words of Absolution, "Almighty God have mercy on you, forgive you all your sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen you in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep you in eternal life."

    After we receive the assurance of God's pardon, we are promised that God will also strengthen us in goodness and keep us in eternal life.  Our life has a purpose and that purpose is clarified for us when we are in communion with God.  That's because, as the collect for last Sunday puts it, "we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves."

    To be "kept in eternal life" is to live in the kingdom of God, the realm where God is in charge and where a life giving feast is always waiting.

    Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
    Prone to leave the God I love;
    Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
    Seal it for Thy courts above.

    The word "prodigal" means "spendthrift."  In both stories of wandering
    from Joshua and from Luke, it is God who is the true prodigal.

    Ron

  • Fasting and Feasting During Lent

    Here's a wonderful way to keep a Holy Lent, by William Arthur Ward:

        •    Fast from judging others; Feast on the Christ dwelling in them.
        •    Fast from emphasis on differences; Feast on the unity of life.
        •    Fast from apparent darkness; Feast on the reality of light.
        •    Fast from thoughts of illness; Feast on the healing power of God.
        •    Fast from words that pollute; Feast on phrases that purify.
        •    Fast from discontent; Feast on gratitude.
        •    Fast from anger; Feast on patience.
        •    Fast from pessimism; Feast on optimism.
        •    Fast from worry; Feast on divine order.
        •    Fast from complaining; Feast on appreciation.
        •    Fast from negatives; Feast on affirmatives.
        •    Fast from unrelenting pressures; Feast on unceasing prayer.
        •    Fast from hostility; Feast on non-resistance.
        •    Fast from bitterness; Feast on forgiveness.
        •    Fast from self-concern; Feast on compassion for others.
        •    Fast from personal anxiety; Feast on eternal truth.
        •    Fast from discouragements; Feast on hope.
        •    Fast from facts that depress; Feast on verities that uplift.
        •    Fast from lethargy; Feast on enthusiasm.
        •    Fast from thoughts that weaken; Feast on promises that inspire.
        •    Fast from shadows of sorrow; Feast on the sunlight of serenity.
        •    Fast from idle gossip; Feast on purposeful silence.
        •    Fast from problems that overwhelm; Feast on prayer that [strengthens].

    —William Arthur Ward (American author, teacher and pastor, 1921-1994.)

  • Righteousness and Rewards

    The Gospel for The Third Sunday in Lent this year is Luke 13:1-9.  Jesus seems to give a non-answer to a very serious question about suffering.

    Rabbi Harold Kushner's book, When Bad Things Happen to Good People, was a best seller.  In the book, the rabbi addresses the haunting question about the correlation between sin and suffering, about righteousness and rewards.  Rabbi Kushner says it all has to do with luck.  There is good luck and there is bad luck – neither of which is dependent upon a person's goodness or badness.  There is a kind of randomness to life.

    Jesus dealt with the question in an entirely different way.  Some people came to him with serious questions about some Galileans whom Pilate's soldiers murdered while they were trying to offer their sacrifices at the Temple and some Jerusalemites who were minding their own business when there was an earthquake and the tower at Siloam fell on them.  Why did they deserve such a fate?

    And, Jesus wasn't very easy on them.  He didn't take Rabbi Kushner's approach.  He just said, "Do you think those Galileans or those Jerusalemites were any better or any worse than others?  I tell you unless you repent you will all likewise perish."  In today's climate, Jesus wouldn't win any awards in the pastoral care department.  Today, we want explanations, answers that make sense to us and reassure us that we are o.k.  Thousands perish of AIDS and famine in Africa, people are crushed in an earthquake in Haiti or Chile, floodwaters destroy people's homes, terrorists gun down innocent people in the streets.  How can God be good and still allow bad things like these to inflict good people like us?

    Jesus' own disciples asked him questions like that.  "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"  Jesus didn't deal with that question to my satisfaction either.  He said, "neither.  This man was born blind so that the glory of God might be revealed."  Consistently, Jesus denies any direct correlation between the kind of person you are and what happens to you.  God sends the sunshine and the rain on both the good and the bad.

    Why did this happen to me?  Probably, for no good reason.  Bad things happen to the good and the bad all the time.  The notion that only good things happen to good people was put to rest when they crucified Jesus.  Now, this same Jesus takes our question and makes it cruciform:  can you trust God – in joy or in pain – to be your God?  Can you love God without linking your love to the cards life deals you?

    God's love carries no promises about good or bad save the promise that God will not allow anything worse to happen to you than happened to his own Son.

    Saint Augustine mused over the great suffering that occurred when the barbarians sacked Rome.  He noted in his City of God that when the barbarians raped and pillaged, Christians suffered just as much as non-Christians.  Faith in Christ did not make them immune to pain and tragedy.  Augustine wrote, "Christians differ from Pagans, not in the ills which befall them but in what they do with the ills that befall them."  The Christian faith does not give us a way around tragedy.  It gives us a way through it!

    What do we do with our neat little distinctions in a church where we think being nice is the way to salvation? God's sunshine and rain keep blurring them!  And there is Jesus, standing before us with his non-answer to our question:  "I tell you, unless you repent you will all likewise perish."  So, on Sunday we come to the Lord's Table, and you are given, not answers, but bread and wine, which are for us nothing less than his broken body and spilled blood.  This is the way God responds to our questions – not with answers that flatter us, or make the world simpler than it really is, but with his life given for us, that we might more fully give our lives to him.  Are you holding out on God?

    Ron

  • What do Christians mean when we use the word faith?

    What do Christians mean when we use the word faith?  Often, we are speaking of a set of beliefs or doctrines.  But there is a more important meaning without which all our doctrines and words are empty.

    That more important meaning has to do with hearing and responding to God when God reaches out to us, offering us a promise, wooing us, calling us into a living redemptive relationship.  Scriptures for the Second Sunday in Lent this year reveal a pattern having to do with God's invitation into a covenant relationship and our response to it.  It is a pattern duplicated in dozens of similar stories throughout the Bible.  And, it is a pattern we can recognize in our own lives today.  It goes like this:

    • God calls, promising to use our lives for God's high purposes.
    • The recipient of the call expresses fear, doubt, or anxiety.
    • Then comes divine reassurance.
    • Finally, there is a faithful response to the promise of God.

    We see it in the life of Abraham and Sarah.  We see it in the life of Moses.  We see it in the life of Jeremiah.  We see it in the life of Mary and Joseph.  We see it in the Apostle Paul.

    And, of course, we see it in the life of Jesus. In his baptism and on the mount of Transfiguration there is the call.  In the wilderness there is the question and the divine reassurance that comes to him.  Then, there is the faithful response.

    When we meet Jesus in this Sunday's Gospel reading (Luke 13:31-35), he is ministering to people up in the Galilean territory.  Some friendly Pharisees have come to warn him that the tetrarch of that region, Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great, is out to get him.  They urge him to leave the area.  He gives them a response that is to Herod but also to God.  "I will finish what I need to do here but then I am going on my way to Jerusalem where my work will be fulfilled."  He does not let either the warning of his friends or the threat of his foe deter him from what God has called him to do and the promise which lies before him. 

    In his book, Living Faith While Holding Doubts, Martin B. Copenhaver writes, "There are times when we must make a 100% commitment to something about which we are only 51% certain" (Pilgrim Press: Cleveland, OH, 1989).

    But let's be clear about something.  Faith, in this sense, is not a momentary phenomenon, an act at one point in time.  Faith is a long-term trust, a committed, continuous response to the promises of God.  Out of real doubts and deep questions, Abram ventures forth with God.  The venturing forth does not erase those doubts and questions.  Rather, he gathers up his doubts and stumbles on behind God into a future on the basis of nothing but the promise.  This is what we Christians mean when we say, "faith."

    John Dillenberger says that in Christianity, the term faith refers to the "dynamic and vital stance of the believer's dependence on God…faith is a living confidence and trust in God in the experience of knowing God's gracious presence as manifest in Christ…a reality that one would not have unearthed by oneself but that has come to be present as a sort of miracle, a happening that encompasses but does not seem to be dependent either on one's seeking or on fleeing the divine (A New Handbook of Christian Theology, Nashville: Abingdon, 1992, p.182).

    God promised Abraham that he would be a blessing to all the people of the earth and that the promise would be extended to his descendants forever.  The old Rabbis used to teach that when God promised Abraham that his descendants would be like the dust, he was referring not only to numbers but to the fact that they would outlast those who trampled upon them.  St. Paul tells us that all who trust God the way Abraham did are his descendants, not just those who have his genes.  Jesus shows us that the way of the cross is the way of faith.  God's promise of a relationship, a peace surpassing understanding, a permanent place at the banquet table of our heavenly Father, is absolutely dependable.

    When God calls to you, how do you answer?  With doubts, anxieties, fears?  You are not alone!  But can you listen beyond them to God's reassuring voice, calling you to trust God to lead you through them, perhaps even to use those obstacles to faith as bridges into the future where he is trying to get you to go with him?  Can you say, I'm 51% sure, Lord, but I'll trust you with the other 49%?  If you can, you are not far from the kingdom of God.
    Ron

  • In this day and age, is gluttony still a sin?

    Sarah Henning, the Features Editor for the Lawrence Journal-World, asked me to respond to a question for "Faith Forum," which is a weekly Saturday column in which two local religious figures share their views on a topic.  The topic for this week is "In this day and age, is gluttony still a sin?"  I suppose the question is related to the season of Lent.  Here is my response:


    If sin is seeking our own will instead of God’s will, thereby distorting our relationship with God, others, and creation itself, and gluttony is overconsumption of the gifts God provides, then in light of what we now know about the impacts of overconsumption, there is more reason than ever to consider gluttony a sin.

    The biblical revelation makes us conscious that we were intended to have a dynamic relationship with our Creator.  The privilege of stewardship is a vocation given to no other creature.  Caring for creation involves consideration for the needs of others.  When my overconsumption (gluttony) results in a shortage of the necessities of life for others whom God also created and loves, my relationship with God, other people, and creation is distorted.

    As much as 64% of the adult U.S. population is overweight.  One-third are obese. The chief causes are simple: eating more food than the body needs, drinking too much alcohol, and getting too little exercise.  The impact on healthcare alone is startling. Studies indicate that increases in the prevalence of obesity in the U.S. accounts for 12% of the growth in health spending.

    Our appetites are enormous in a world where people are starving. The World Health Organization estimates that one-third of the world is well-fed, one-third is under-fed, and one-third is starving.  During the time you’ve been reading this, at least 200 people have died of starvation. Over 4 million will die this year.

    This condition is a distortion of God’s vision. To live my life in a gluttonous way contributes to the perpetuation of the distortion.  So, yes, gluttony is still a sin.  Since I’m 20 lb. overweight, I’m among the sinners and need to repent. Better stewardship of the body God has given me expresses love for God and for my neighbor.

    Ron


    P.S. The following sources were helpful to me in preparing my response and I commend them to others who are exploring the relationship between gluttony, obesity, and world hunger.

    Obesity in America

    Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

    An End to World Hunger: Hope for the Future

    World Health Organization: Millennium Development Goals

  • Congratulations! Keep moving.

    The official feast day for the Transfiguration of Our Lord is August 6.  Since it is normally not on a Sunday, it doesn't get much attention.  However, the planners of the Sunday lectionary have placed the Transfiguration on the Last Sunday After the Epiphany each year.  You can read Luke's account here.

    Peter, James, and John were with Jesus on the mountaintop when they saw this itinerant rabbi in a whole new light. It was one of the most powerful and numinous of all the manifestations of Jesus as the Messiah.  They heard the voice of God confirming the divine nature and mission of the Only Begotten.

    The appearance of Moses the Lawgiver and Elijah the Prophet assure us that Jesus was the One who had come to fulfill the Law and the Prophets.  It was as if Moses and Elijah were passing their ministries on to Jesus the Messiah for him to complete. 

    Peter's suggestion that they build dwellings and take up residence in the experience reminds us of our tendency to want to stop the procession.  When something wonderful happens, we feel as if it can't get any better than this and we want to preserve everything just the way it is.  But Jesus had to come down from the mountain, respond to human need, and face the cross.  Mountaintop experiences have their place.  But there is always more to be done in the mission to which we are called.

    I once heard about a university commencement in which the president's lapel microphone remained on as he was presenting the diplomas to the graduates, broadcasting his voice as he said to each one of them, "Congratulations!  Keep moving."

    Perhaps that is a message for us when we have an epiphany, a mountaintop experience.  It is an important and wonderful thing, but not an end in itself.  We draw inspiration and derive courage from it and we keep moving toward new opportunities God is preparing for us to walk in.  "Congratulations!  Keep moving."

    Ron

  • Networking

    Next Sunday's gospel is Luke 5:1-11.  It is the story of Jesus' encounter with Simon, James, and John on the shore of Lake Gennesaret (the Sea of Galilee).  You might want to read the story here to refresh your memory of their miraculous catch of fish and how Jesus told them they would be catching people.

    The Greek word zogron, which means "catching," was commonly used of teachers: they "caught" their students and brought them new life. At dinner one evening, my wife, Gay, who is a high school English teacher, was talking about a new data projector she had been issued by her school.  She explained how she can project a movie on an entire classroom wall for the students to watch and she described their response to a movie she wanted them to see.  One of our dinner companions exclaimed, "You caught them!"  That is what Jesus means when he says to Simon, James, and John, "don't be afraid; from now on you will be catching people."

    The sense in which the followers of Jesus are called to "catch" people has to do with inclusion in a redemptive, prophetic, community of faith.  We are woven into a network.  Someone has said, "Christianity is more easily caught than taught." Another person expressed it like this, "We belong before we believe."Enhanced_organ_plus_cross_pipes_etc  Our life and witness as disciples, students, followers of Jesus Christ is not done in isolation either from Jesus or from the community of faith.

    The First Baptist Church of Austin, Texas is remarkable for its progressive faith and its architecture.  It is one of the few Southern Baptist Churches with the pulpit on the side instead of in the center.  A large communion table sits in the center, surrounded by seats.  Rising above the table in a recessed area are about four stories of organ pipes.  And draped in the opening in front of the pipes are two enormous fish nets.  I don't know that I've ever seen a more powerful reminder of the network of disciples Jesus has called to carry on his work in the world.

    As we live and grow in our relationship with him and with one another, we are woven into this amazingly strong and reliable net that the Lover of our souls casts out into the world so that his love manifested among us may catch others, draw them in, and give them life.  This net really works!

    Ron