A Prayer for the Seventh Sunday of Easter

Here is the closing prayer from the Ancient Christian Devotional for the Seventh Sunday of Easter.  It is taken from The Gelasian Sacramentary.

"O God of unchangeable power and eternal light, look favorably on thy whole church, that wonderful and sacred mystery, and by the tranquil operation of thy perpetual providence, carry out the work of human salvation, let the whole world feel and see that things which were cast down are being raised up, that those which had grown old are being made new and that all things are returning to perfection; through him from whom they took their origin, even Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord.  Amen."  (136)

The Third Sunday of Easter

Today's readings are Acts 9:1-6; Psalm 30; John 21:1-19 and Rev. 5:11-14. 

On this third Sunday of Easter I want to continue with some quotes from Robert Webber’s book Ancient-Future Time. Webber notes two “quagmires” that the church frequently finds herself in: “worship that is constantly explained and worship that encourages a romantic relationship with God.”

Worship which constantly explains itself is a result of the Enlightenment. “The only aspect of humanity that is capable of perception, it is argued, is the mind. So everything done in worship is verbalized. “‘We are going to do such and such. Now that we have done that, we are going to do this. Do you see and understand the connection?’ We verbalize confessions, explain hymns, and, worst of all, beat the Lord’s Supper to death with explanation on top of explanation. No wonder people are bored. We need to learn the biblical action of worship and trust the symbols we do to be performative.”

Then comes the romanticizing of worship. Webber traces this to the romantic movement of the nineteenth century. “Here a relationship with God is expressed in emotional and sentimental terms often using romantic images. Some contemporary songs are overly romantic. I attended a new church recently in which God was romanticized in the music. A couple in front of me acted out the entire scenario. . . Worship is not a romantic experience with God even though it may be very moving and touch the heart deeply.”

“A favorite reading for the third Sunday of Easter is the powerful account of Cleopas and his companion on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24). This story is vital for the renewal of our worship because it is all about how to structure worship out of the death and resurrection and how to experience resurrection spirituality in worship.”

Webber notes that Liturgical scholarship finds a pattern in the Cleopas story which is based on the event. Cleopas is on the road with his friends, Jesus comes and walks with them and proclaims the meaning of his death and resurrection. They are then at the table with Jesus after which they run back to Jerusalem to witness to the disciples in the upper room. The patter for worship looks like this:

We gather
To hear the good news
To break bread together
To go forth and tell others

This worship is God’s doing. “The Bible is clear: It is always God who initiates a relationship. What is true generally is also true in worship. Worship is God’s work.” Webber says our work is to “do the work of remembrance and hope. In worship we remember God’s acts of salvation in history, especially God’s work in the death and resurrection of Jesus to be a sacrifice for our sins and to be a victor over the powers of evil.” But through this act of worship we are transformed people. “Cleopas and his companion were dislocated as they walked the road to Emmaus. Jesus met them in their point of need, proclaimed the meaning for them of his death and resurrection, and encountered them through a transforming experience at the table. They were changed people when they ran back to Jerusalem to proclaim the resurrection.”

“This is the message of the third Sunday of Easter.” (151-153)

The Second Sunday of Easter

Welcome to the second Sunday of Easter. Our readings for today are Acts 4:27-32; John 20:19-31; Psalm 150 and Rev. 1:4-8.

In the Liturgical Year I’ve discovered there are seven Sundays of Easter. For most of America Easter has come and gone. The Easter egg hunts are done and we are back to the routine of the daily grind. But the Liturgical Year won’t let us leave this event with such a cavalier observance. As Robert Webber says the “essential theme of Easter cannot be communicated in a day. It takes a season. And this season in the pattern of the Christian year is repeated yearly.” (148) I want to quote more from Webber’s book Ancient-Future Time on the significance of the second Sunday of Easter. He starts by recounting a call from a friend who was frustrated with the church which “follows a pattern of worship that borrows from TV talk shows and entertainment.” He says, “If you feel this way, then the second Sunday of the Easter season is a good time to address this problem and call the church to be the community of the resurrected people.” (150)

“Easter is a time to call the church back to its roots, back to its original identity. Obviously we are aware that the original church was not perfect. The church has always struggled with its human dimension. Perhaps this is why the story of doubting Thomas is read on this Sunday. He wanted proof because his faith was based on evidence. The Enlightenment taught that only that which could be proven could be believed. We evangelicals have been greatly influenced by the modern demand for proof. It is as though faith is born of evidence. Yet the writer of Hebrews taught, ‘Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see’ (Heb. 11:1 NIV).

The proof of the resurrection is not in rational argument but in the community of the resurrected people. The church is called to be a sign, a witness to the Easter message that Christ has overcome the powers of evil (Eph. 3:10). The church is called to be the embodied reality of a resurrected people who live out the reality of the resurrection. We gain an insight into this kind of community in Acts 2:42-47.

The point to take into account is what the life of the church signifies. It speaks; it communicates. Today many feel that the current church signifies the culture. We have dumbed down the church, making it so palatable that it has no edge. We need to take the church back to its origins, to its roots in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and once again become the community of the resurrection.

This ancient Jerusalem church was a church that signified resurrection spirituality. They lived the resurrected life. Today the real key to church renewal is not strategy, as we have been told by church growth movements, but like the early church, we are to embody the resurrection. Those communities that become corporate expressions of resurrection spirituality are communities that will attract and keep the unsaved and unchurched. People are not held in the church through gimmicks, entertainment, or even so-called relevance. What will renew the church today is the communal experience of the resurrection. The church is the context in which that resurrection experience is named and known.” (150-151)

I end today with a prayer from Augustine as found in my other companion for this year Ancient Christian Devotional.

“O God, our true life, to know you is life, to serve you is freedom, to enjoy you is a kingdom, to praise you is the joy and happiness of the soul. I praise and bless and adore you. I worship you, I glorify you. I give thanks to you for your glory. I humbly beg you to live with me, to reign in me, to make this heart of mine a holy temple, a fit habitation for your divine majesty.”

Palm Sunday Begins Holy Week

Today is Palm Sunday which begins Holy Week (All links are to the Catholic Encyclopedia).  One week from today is Easter.  It is the pinnacle of the Christian Liturgical Year.  Let's take a quick look at what comprises Holy Week:

Palm Sunday - This day celebrates the Lord's Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.  Those who greeted him laid palm branches down as he rode in on a donkey. 

Maundy Thursday - This day was always hard for me to remember.  Maundy comes from the Latin mandatum which means commandment.  This is the day Jesus gave a new commandment to his disciples that they should love one another and the day he washed their feet.  Holy Thursday also begins the time period known as the Triduum.  It ends on the evening of Easter Sunday. 

Good Friday - This is the day our Lord was betrayed, crucified and buried.  Catholics will observe the Stations of the Cross often during this time though it can be observed throughout the year. 

Holy Saturday - The day before Easter and the day our Lord rested in the tomb.

Easter - The day our Lord rose from the dead!

For an Orthodox view of Holy Week see The Historical Development of Holy Week Services in the Orthodox/Byzantine Rite. 

Whatever your tradition I hope you maximize the significance of this week. 

A Prayer for the Fourth Sunday of Lent

This is the opening prayer for today from the devotional I'm following.  It comes from Jerome. 

"Show me, O Lord, your mercy, and delight my heart with it.  Let me find you whom I longingly seek.  See, here is the man whom the robbers seized, mishandled and left half dead on the road to Jericho.  O kind-hearted Samaritan, come to my aid!  I am the sheep who wandered into the wilderness--seek after me, and bring me home again to your fold.  Do with me what you will, that I may stay by you all the days of my life and praise you with all those who are with you in heaven for all eternity."

Jerome in his study. 

Ephrem the Syrian and Heretics: Does it Include McLaren?

Our readings today are Joel 2:1-2, 12-17; Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16; Luke 4:1-13 and Rom. 10:8b-13. It is the first Sunday of Lent.  My primary reading has been from the Ancient Christian Devotional. Each chapter provides a selection from the church fathers on the passages for that day. This week I was struck by an entry from Ephrem the Syrian on the Luke passage. It reads:

“Satan studied only those passages from Scriptures that were convenient to him and omitted those which were harmful to him. The heretics are like this too. They appropriate from Scripture those passages that suit their erroneous teaching and omit those that refute their errors, thereby demonstrative that they are disciples of their master. Commentary on Tatian’s Diatessaron 4. 8B-C.”

As I begin to read McLaren’s book, A New Kind of Christianity, I’m amazed by the selectivity he has with Scripture. For example, in a footnote he writes:

“My friend Don Golden, coauthor with Rob Bell of Jesus Wants to Save Christians (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2008), puts it like this, reflecting on the story of Hosea: “When God encounters evil, God doesn’t destroy it—God marries it” (personal conversation). By uniting with a people gone astray—loving, entering, incarnating, and remaining faithful to them in spite of their unfaithfulness—God absorbs their evil in God’s greater good, and evil is thus overcome.” (268 n. 10)

Now I’m sure McLaren would respond that we all play this selective game. And it’s true everyone with a theological position has passages which are difficult to deal with. But this kind of thought which takes one incident from one book of the Bible and baptizes it as the sole manner in which God deals with evil when he encounters evil is problematic. Of course if the reviews I’ve read have been correct I know McLaren sees much of the Old Testament has an improper representation of God so he safely dismisses those passages that would upset the Hosea applecart. But I would be curious to know what we are to make of the bulk of chapter two in Hosea which has some awfully harsh language that doesn’t quite mesh with Golden’s description. Speaking of Israel, God says he will “strip her naked,” “kill her with thirst,” have “no mercy” upon her children who are “children of whoredom,” he will “take back my grain” and he will “take away my wool and my flax which were to cover her nakedness” and “no one shall rescue her out of my hand.” It is true that God also speaks of “alluring her” and he will “speak tenderly to her.” It seems, however, that the quote from Golden only focuses on one aspect of God as presented in Hosea. The harsher language is simply ignored or, presumably, explained away as somehow not truly representing the loving character of God.

So, am I calling Golden and McLaren Satan or heretics because of my use of the quote from Ephrem the Syrian? They certainly are not Satan. Are they heretics? That’s another issue. I don’t think I have a firm enough grasp on what constitutes a heretic before I start throwing that label around. It does seem that Ephrem was not afraid to use it and I don’t think we should be either. We should just be clear about what we mean by it before we use it to label people. Clearly for Ephrem it included the selective and limited use of Scripture for the purpose of formulating teaching which was contrary to Scripture and the teaching of the apostles. That much I do see McLaren doing in just the short amount that I’ve read already.

Today is Ash Wednesday and the Beginning of Lent

Today is Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. For those in the Eastern tradition Great Lent started this past Monday with what is called “Clean Monday.” See the post from the Voice of Stefan for more. I thought I would provide a couple of selections from two books I’ve been reading through in my journey with the liturgical year: The Liturgical Year: The Spiraling Adventure of the Spiritual Life by Joan Chittister and Ancient-Future Time: Forming Spirituality Through the Christian Year by Robert E. Webber.

First this thought from Chittister on Ash Wednesday:

“Ash Wednesday, an echo of the Hebrew Testament’s ancient call to sackcloth and ashes, is a continuing cry across the centuries that life is transient, that change is urgent. We don’t have enough time to waste time of nothingness. We need to repent our dillydallying on the road to God. We need to regret the time we’ve spent playing with dangerous distractions and empty diversions along the way. We need to repent of our senseless excesses and our excursions into sin, our breeches of justice, our failures of honesty, our estrangement from God, our savoring of excess, our absorbing self-gratifications, one infantile addiction, one creature craving another. . . We hear now, as Jesus proclaimed in Galilee, ‘Turn away from sin and believe the good news.’ (Mark 1:15)”

And on the subject of Lent we have this from Webber:

“A specific example of a Lenten discipline for us to adopt and practice is found in St. Ephrem the Syrian, a fourth-century spiritual writer. A Lenten prayer he wrote is to this day prayed in the Eastern Orthodox Church every evening from Monday through Friday during Lent. Here is the text:

O Lord and Master of my life!Take from me the spirit of sloth, faint-heartedness, lust of power and idle talk.But give me rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love to my servant.Yea, O Lord and King!  Grant me to see my own errors and not to judge my brother; for thou are blessed unto ages of ages. Amen.”

Webber notes four negative concerns:

“Sloth—a laziness that prevents us from choosing a spiritual pilgrimage aimed at overcoming the powers of evil working against us. Faintheartedness—despondency, a negative and pessimistic attitude toward life. Lust of power—the assertion of self as lord of life expressed in the desire to subordinate other people under our power. Idle talk—a negative power of speech that puts others down and uses words in a destructive rather than constructive way.”

There are four positive characteristics:

“Chastity/wholeness—the word is most often used regarding sexuality. But its real meaning is the opposite of sloth and refers to wholeness. Broadly speaking it refers to the recovery of true values in every area of life. Humility—the fruit of wholeness is humility, the victory of God’s truth taking hold in our entire life. The humble person lives by the truth of God and sees life as God has made it and intended it to be. Patience—patience sees the depth of life in all is complexity and does not demand instant changes now, in this moment. Love—the opposite of pride. When wholeness, humility, and patience are worked in us, the result is a person characterized by love. This kind of person is one who can sincerely pray, ‘Grant me to see my own errors and not to judge my brother.’”

He concludes:

“I suggest you memorize this prayer and repeat it frequently during the days of Lent. In the morning meditate on the four powers from which you seek to be delivered—sloth, faintheartedness, lust of power, and idle talk. At noon mediate on the four virtues you desire to experience in your life—chastity/wholeness, humility, patience, and love. During each day determine to find a specific situation in which you can exercise one or more of both the negative and positive disciplines. Then in the evening when you pray the prayer again, review the events of the day and identify the way in which you have fulfilled one or another of these spiritual goals. To be most effective this prayer and the form it takes in your life should be coupled with fasting from food (ascetical fast) and the giving of alms (preferably to the poor).” (116)

The Liturgical Year and Spiritual Formation

Don’t you love it when you read something that describes perfectly what you’ve been thinking or feeling? I’m reading through The Brazos Introduction to Spirituality and the second chapter is on “Exploring Christian Spirituality.” The chapter looks at Christian spirituality as an interdisciplinary exploration. That is to say it looks at “six realms of experience which provide us information about what relationship with God is like.” (39) One of those is personal experience. The author, Evan Howard, is careful to note the strengths and weaknesses of each of these realms. But the following paragraph seemed to express exactly what I’ve been hoping for (and fearful of) in my exploration of the liturgical year.

"Second, don’t be afraid of imitating others, yet be yourself. This may sound like a contradiction, but it’s not. We begin to become ourselves through imitation. This is true of virtually every kind of learning. Apprentice painters often go through seasons of learning to paint ‘like’ Pierre-Auguste Renoir, ‘like’ Rembrandt van Rijn, ‘in the style of’ Vincent van Gogh. Similarly, scholarship is learning to think ‘in the style of’ those whom we incorporate. Yet in time, one can discover one’s self—distinct from all the imitations. A stroke of the brush, an independent idea, and we find ourselves, never wholly independent from those we have imitated yet with a unique contribution to offer. It is the same in the spiritual life. In exploring the spiritual life, we travel down roads others have traveled before. ‘I would like to try on the mantle of the desert elder for a while.’ ‘Just for fun, let’s experiment with Methodist class meetings for one year.’ And so on. Of course, with this kind of exploration, one faces the danger of ‘dabbling,’ where personal spirituality begins to look more like a shopping trip than an authentic relationship with God. There is also the danger of turning personal spiritual formation into an attempt to become the next Francis or Clare of Assisi. But at the same time, exploration of relationship with God needs the freedom to find itself through imitation." (45)

I read this and said, “That’s it!” My journey with liturgical year is my imitation of those in various traditions for which this is such a vital part of their spiritual formation. But I didn’t want to simply “dabble” with it as if it were a new toy. Howard continues with some very helpful advice and a warning.

"Finally, pay attention. If your personal experience is going to be a tool in exploring Christian spirituality, you will have to be aware of what goes on in your relationship with God. Keeping a journal, or some system of notes, may be helpful in order to record the goings on of your spiritual life. You can integrate this information with that gained from the other resources for exploring Christian spirituality. Once again, in the practice of paying attention, another danger arises—namely, that personal spirituality will become an exercise in analysis rather than a delightful, spontaneous relationship with God. Watch out for this! It is easy to discuss all manner of spiritual dynamics, complete with personal illustrations, and all the while avoid the real work of authentic relationship with God." (45) 

Fourth Sunday After Epiphany

If you're a novice like me with following the liturgical year it may be wise to stop and get our bearings.  We are currently at the fourth Sunday after Epiphany (or the fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time).  This year there are six Sundays after Epiphany followed by Transfiguration Sunday.  Ash Wednesday (the seventh Sunday before Easter) marks the start of Lent which this year is on February 17th.  In the Roman Catholic church Lent ends on Maundy Thursday.  In other traditions it ends on Holy Saturday (the Saturday before Easter). 

The readings for today are Psalm 71:1-6; Jer. 1:4-10; 1 Cor. 13:1-13 and Luke 4:21-30. 

On 1 Corinthians 13 I like what David Garland writes in his commentary from the Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. For readability I have omitted the references of his quotations. He writes:

“Second, this is not a hymn to love. It is an integral part of Paul’s exhortation to the Corinthians, and the list of things that love does and does not do is ‘aimed at the special faults of the Corinthians.’ Hurd suggests that omitting the negatives in each clause leaves us with a good description of the Corinthian’s behavior. They are impatient and unkind, filled with jealousy, vainglorious, and puffed up. They insist on their own way, are cantankerous and resentful, and rejoice in the wrong rather than right. Sigountos writes, ‘Such specific repetition of catchwords and phrases cannot be accidental: Paul intends to praise love by choosing acts that blame the Corinthians.’ This section becomes quite ironic. While praising love, Paul is blaming the Corinthians at the same time. The upshot is that although the gifts of the Spirit are conspicuous in their assembly, their lack of love is even more conspicuous. Rather than being a hymn glorifying how wonderful love is, this text becomes a subtle commentary on what is rotten in Corinth. ‘The stark message here is that while love stands the test of life, the Corinthian Christians have failed it miserably.’” (p. 616)

The application is clear: how does my own life compare?  I leave you with these words from a hymn by Thomas Pollock. 

We have not known Thee as we ought,
Nor learned Thy wisdom, grace and power;
The things of earth have filled our thought,
And trifles of the passing hour.
Lord, give us light Thy truth to see,
And make us wise in knowing Thee.

We have not feared Thee as we ought,
Nor bowed beneath Thine awful eye,
Nor guarded deed and word and thought,
Remembering that God was nigh.
Lord, give us faith to know Thee near,
And grant the grace of holy fear.

We have not loved Thee as we ought,
Nor cared that we are loved by Thee;
Thy presence we have coldly sought,
And feebly longed Thy face to see.
Lord, give a pure and loving heart
To feel and know the love Thou art.

We have not served Thee as we ought,
Alas, the duties left undone,
The work with little fervor wrought,
The battles lost or scarcely won!
Lord, give the zeal, and give the might,
For Thee to toil, for Thee to fight.

When shall we know Thee as we ought,
And fear and love and serve aright?
When shall we, out of trial brought,
Be perfect in the land of light?
Lord, may we day by day prepare
To see Thy face and serve Thee there.

Psalm 19:12-13a: A Plea for Forgiveness or Strength?

Today’s readings are Neh. 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10; Psalm 19; Luke 4:14-21 and 1 Cor. 12:12-31a.

It’s been a while since I’ve read Psalm 19 and reading it again was like seeing an old friend. That may sound corny but it’s how I felt. I read through it a couple of times and decided to look at a few commentaries. It was while reading John Goldingay that I discovered a different interpretation of vv. 12-13a. Here’s how the passage reads in the ESV:

Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me!

Every other translation I consulted had the same thought. It was a plea for forgiveness and a request not to be dominated by sin. Here’s the commentary from Goldingay with his translation first:

Who can understand wanderings?—free me from secret acts,
Yes, withhold your servant from the willful.

“EVV [abbreviation for {many} translations] add a pronoun to suggest that v. 12 asks who can understand one’s own individual wrongdoing, but this is not the psalm’s point. It rather begins from a more general sense of puzzlement at the human inclination to go off the rails. The mystery of human sin is the fact that we all go astray even though we can see that God’s expectations make sense, in the way vv. 7-11 have described.

LXX and Jerome assume that v. 12 then asks God to cleanse the suppliant from hidden or secret wrongdoings, but this obscures an issue in the Hebrew. The verb is not one meaning ‘cleanse’ but naqa (piel), ‘acquit.’ The OT makes a number of references to acquitting the guilty, but always in order to affirm that God does not do so and that human beings should not (Exod. 34:7; Job 9:28; 10:14). One person can certainly forgive another, and kings can pardon wrongdoers, and God can both forgive and pardon, but the OT does not use the law-court image in this connection because acquitting the guilty is an immoral act and one destructive of the community’s foundations. It is therefore unlikely that the psalm is asking for cleansing in the sense of acquitting existing wrongdoing, even (or especially) secret or hidden wrongdoing.

But naqa (niphal) can denote being free or empty, and the piel verb here seems to have an equivalent meaning. The cleansing for which the psalm is asking is not forgiveness but the removing of the inclination to wrongdoing. That makes for a good link with the verse’s opening question and a good lead-in to the parallel colon. Further, without the plea for acquittal for past sin, vv. 12-14 have more coherence. Their concern throughout is with a life of obedience that issues from the right attitude to God’s expectations that vv. 7-11 have lauded. They are asking for strength, not forgiveness.”

In explaining “secret acts” Goldingay says there may be two things in mind. It could be the “secret plots that precede actual wrong deeds; hiding is involved when people are planning acts of deception or malice (cf. the cognate nouns in 10:8-9; 101:5).” But it can also involve people who are “seeking help from other deities”. He mentions the secret rites in Ezek. 8 where people are bowing down to the sun. This would tie in nicely with vv. 1-6. “The challenge of vv. 7-11 then concerns a religious life lived by Yhwh’s word rather than one that follows the religious practices of other peoples.”

The “willful” are not sins but rather the “kind of people who are involved in secret plans to do wrong to someone or who secretly worship other deities” and “who do not feel any obligation to take any notice of Yhwh’s instructions. . . The plea constitutes another recognition that the person who sees the wisdom in Yhwh’s teaching (vv. 7-11) is not thereby immune from the pressure to join people who walk another way. The masculine ‘willful’ complements the feminine ‘hidden,’ the ‘hidden things’ being the deeds and the ‘willful people’ those who do them. In another context ‘sparing me from the willful’ could imply protecting me from their attacks (cf. LXX?), but in this context it will signify a plea that I not be sucked into their willfulness (cf. Ps. 1). Yet these two needs may overlap. The willful lean on people to join them—or else.”

Psalms, Volume 1: Psalms 1-41, 294-296.

Ordinary Time - Reflections

As a newcomer to the liturgical year the concept of “ordinary time” seemed peculiar. The Pocket Dictionary of Liturgy and Worship defines it this way:

“In the RC [Roman Catholic Church] those parts of the liturgical year not part of Advent, the Christmas season, Lent or Eastertide; in other words, usually between Epiphany (or the Baptism of Our Lord) and Ash Wednesday, and the long period from the day after Pentecost Sunday to the beginning of Advent. The name derives from the ordinal numbering of the Sundays and their respective weeks. Many other denominations also recognize this time, the Sundays often termed, for example, ‘the n Sunday after Pentecost’ or ‘Proper n.’” Color: green. (p. 95)

Joan Chittister in her book The Liturgical Year devotes two chapters to Ordinary Time: one on the “Wisdom of Enoughness” and the second on the “Wisdom of Routine.” These times are far from ordinary as we usually understand what ordinary signifies. The liturgical year focuses on two major events: the birth of Jesus and his resurrection. Chittister says that Ordinary time affords us the opportunity to “rest in contemplation of those centers of the faith that are the lodestones of our souls. . . In this period that is between the two poles of the life of Jesus, we get to pause awhile. To take it all in. To make the connection between that life, that reality, and our own. They give us time to contemplate the intersection between the life of Jesus and our own.” (96-97) Later she says “It is the time when the implications of Easter and Christmas become most clear to us all. It is decision time: will we take Easter and Christmas seriously or not?” (184) Furthermore, “The Sundays of Ordinary Time are also an education in the faith. The readings of every liturgy for weeks take us piece by piece through the reading of Scripture. They root us in the lives of the chosen people in the Hebrew Testament and, at the same time, they steep us in the unfolding of the Christian Testament.” (185)

She concludes, “There is nothing ordinary about Ordinary Time at all. It makes daliness, stability, fidelity, and constancy the marks of what it takes for Christians to be ‘Christian’ the rest of the year.” (188)

I like this because I think it provides a net for us to fall in after the season of Christmas. We can’t just walk away from Christmas as if it has no bearing on the rest of our lives other than to consider how to pay off the credit card debt. The Liturgical year won’t permit that. We may pack up (or throw away) the tree and the wreath and toss the torn Christmas wrap but the Liturgical Year won’t allow us to pack Jesus away till next year.

I leave you with this prayer as found in the Ancient Christian Devotional from the Leonine Sacramentary:

"Be present, O Lord, to our prayers, and protect us day by day as well as by night, that in all successive changes of time we may ever be strengthened by Thine unchangeableness; through Jesus Christ our Lord." (p. 41)

Christmas - Laid in a Manger Wrapped in Swaddling Clothes

Advent is over and Christmas is here! The colors have changed from purple (or blue) to white. The readings for today are as follows:

Isaiah 9:2-7; Psalm 96; Luke 2:1-20 and Titus 2:11-14. This is as they are found in my Ancient Christian Devotional. However, the readings for today, The First Sunday after Christmas, as found in the Revised Common Lectionary are these: 1 Sam. 2:18-20, 26; Psalm 148; Col. 3:12-17 and Luke 2:41-52. I used the ones in the devotional.

As I was reading through Luke I was struck by how much of the passage is so controversial. Was Jesus really born in Bethlehem? Is Luke accurate in his account of the census? What’s the significance of Jesus being the first born? Why was there no room at the inn? What does the “inn” refer to? Why are the shepherds watching their sheep at night if it was winter? Was it winter? The questions go on and on. I decided to review some of the treatment of the passage in Raymond Brown’s The Birth of the Messiah. Many of Brown’s conclusions are more liberal than my own but that doesn’t mean I don't learn from him. I enjoyed the short segment he had on the significance of Jesus being in a manger and in swaddling clothes. Here is part of what he wrote:

“Curiously, Luke seems more interested in telling his audience where Mary laid the newborn baby! He is careful to report that Jesus was swaddled and laid in a manger because of the lack of space at the lodgings. . . Most of the popular reflection on vs. 7, however misses Luke’s purpose. Certainly irrelevant are speculations about why there was no room at the lodgings (influx of people for the census; presence of soldiers who took the census inscriptions; etc), especially when these speculations lead to homilies about the supposed heartlessness of the unmentioned innkeeper and the hardship of the situation for the impoverished parents. As the Lucan account now stands, the manger does not signify poverty but a peculiarity of location caused by circumstances.

Since the manger appears in all three subdivision of Luke 2:1-20 (vss. 7, 12, 16) and Luke himself refers to it as a sign (12), what is its symbolism? [After offering one unlikely possibility Brown suggests a better one.] A better suggestion relates the symbolism of the Lucan manger to God’s complaint in the LXX of Isa 1:3: ‘The ox knows it owner; and the donkey knows the manger [phante] of its lord; but Israel has not known me; my people has not understood me.’ Luke would be proclaiming that the Isaian dictum is repealed. The shepherds have been sent to the manger to find the Lord who is the source of joy for all people of Israel; they go and, finding the baby in the manger, begin to praise God. In other words, God’s people have begun to know the manger of their Lord. . . The swaddling, far from being a sign of poverty, may be a sign that Israel’s Messiah is not an outcast among his people but is properly received and cared for. In Wisdom 7:4-5 Solomon, the wealthiest of Judah’s kings, affirms: ‘I was carefully swaddled and nursed, for no king has any other way to begin.’ Giblin has phrased the total picture well: Jesus is born in the city of David, not in lodgings like an alien, but in a manger where God sustains His people. His swaddling does not belie his royal role.” (pp. 418-420)

David Pao and Eckhard Schnabel in the Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament have this observation: "In light of the emphasis on the Davidic dynasty in Luke 1-2, it is tempting to follow J. W. Oiley (1992) in seeing an allusion to 2 Sam. 7:6 LXX, 'I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a lodge [katalyma] and a tent' (cf. 1 Chron. 17:5), in the use of the word katalyma ('inn'). This would fit quite well in 'the city of David' and 'the house and family of David' (Luke 2:4). Nevertheless, this word alone is insufficient to establish this connection, since it also appears in the LXX in various contexts unrelated to the Davidic promises (cf. Exod. 4:24; 15:13; 1 Sam. 1:18; 9:22; Jer 14:8; 40:12 [33:12 MT; Ezek. 23:21)." (p. 266. The reference to Oiley is to Expository Times 103: 300-301, "God on the Move--A Further Look at Kataluma in Luke.")

In Store Now - Pocket Dictionary of Liturgy and Worship

Well, this one slipped by me since I noticed we received it in the store back in October. For those of you who are like me who don't come from a liturgical background there is a lot of unfamiliar language. IVP has a series of Pocket Dictionaries which are excellent resources for laymen and especially small group leaders who need a handy reference work that will provide definitions on any number of topics. The latest in the series is this one: the Pocket Dictionary of Liturgy and Worship. Since I've decided to follow the liturgical year this year I thought this would be a great resource. I'll give you one example.

The other day I was looking through the Book of Common Prayer and I noticed something called "The Collects". There was a prayer that followed it but I didn't know why it was called a Collect. This was a perfect opportunity for me to use my newly acquired dictionary. I looked it up and sure enough it was there. Here's what it said:

collect. A fixed liturgical *prayer for a particular occasion (i.e., the prayer of the day), so called because it was the comprehensive prayer of the *minister that collected the prayers of others present. As some are quite ancient, collects encapsulate a tradition's theological reflection (see lex orandi, lex credendi). Many liturgical books provide the texts of numerous collects.

This was very helpful. You'll notice some words are preceded by an asterisk. This is to indicate that that word is defined elsewhere in the dictionary.

With that I thumbed through looking for words I was never quite sure of the meaning: vespers, matins, introit, daily office and more. They were all there and most were very helpful. I say most because I would have liked a couple of them to give a little longer definition but it is, after all, a pocket dictionary. Over 600 terms are included. Topics include:

- Practices, such as altar call and benediction
- Rites, such as baptism and Eucharist
- Symbols, such as incense and dove
- Texts, such as Apostolic Constitutions and Book of Common Prayer
- Gestures, such as kneeling and sign of the cross
- Vestments, such as alb and robe
- Musical terms, such as a cappella and Agnus Dei
- Observances, such as All Saints' Day and Easter
- Architectural features, such as apse and sacristy

It also has three pages of bibliography for those who want to dig deeper. It is a paperback with 136 pages and sells for only $8.00. I look forward to using mine all year long.

4th Sunday of Advent - Reflections

Our readings today are as follows:

Micah 5:2-5a
Psalm 80:1-7
Hebrews 10:5-10
Luke 1:39-55

I spent most of my time on the Magnificat in Luke. For those who don’t know this refers to Mary’s song as found in Luke 1:46-54. It is called the “Magnificat” because the first words of the passage in Latin are “Magnificat anima mea, Dominum.”

It is a beautiful hymn (poem?) where Mary is captured by God’s mercy, holiness, power and his mindfulness of her. The God who works wonders is working in this young girl’s life for reasons she can’t begin to imagine. She sees herself as blessed. Do we? Talk about Mary too much in some Protestant circles and you’ll be thought of as a closet Catholic. Isn’t it funny how we can’t mention Mary very much but we can talk about David, Abraham, Ruth, or Esther as much as we like. We craft entire sermons and study guides around their lives and glean from them lessons to grow on. But talk about Mary and someone is sure to say, “Why are you so obsessed with Mary? Shouldn’t we focus on Jesus?” At some level this reaction is understandable. Protestants watch the veneration (often confused as worship) offered to Mary in the Catholic and Orthodox churches and feel very uncomfortable with the amount of attention she receives. My experience has been that rather than try to understand what lies behind this veneration we would rather assume there can be no good reason for it and so we swing the pendulum in the other direction. Not only will we not call Mary “blessed” we won’t talk about her at all. (Although see the work by Tim Perry from IVP Academic: Mary For Evangelicals: Toward an Understanding of the Mother of Our Lord and from Scot McKnight we have The Real Mary: Why Evangelical Christians Can Embrace the Mother of Jesus.)

What do I learn from Mary here? Without too much thought two things come to mind. Whatever shame she may have experienced from friends or family here she is lost in praise to God and reflective of his works and his character. Secondly, she is still carrying the baby. At this point we are still waiting for the birth. While we wait for Jesus we can and should reflect on what God has done and what wonders await us. Advent bids us to wait, to expect, to prepare. As we do that we can ponder, as Mary did (Luke 2:19), the works of God and what will come when this baby is born. We find ourselves waiting again. This time for Jesus’ second coming. As we wait, remember what God has done in our lives and in the lives of others. The fact that God is working does not mean life does not have painful moments. It doesn’t mean all our questions will be answered. Our confidence and hope lie in the character of God. Mary reminds us that God’s mercy “extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.” That generation includes us. With Mary, then, let us magnify the Lord and rejoice in God our Savior!

3rd Sunday of Advent - Reflections

This is the third Sunday of Advent and it is called Gaudete Sunday. The theme is one of joy and rejoicing. The Scripture readings are from Zeph. 3:14-20; Isaiah 12:2-6; Phil. 4:4-7 and Luke 3:7-18. The penitential aspect of Advent is lightened but not erased (see the Luke reading). As I did my readings I was moved by the emotion of the Zepheniah passage. Here we read that not only will the people rejoice but God will "rejoice over you with singing." The other passages are brimming with joy and excitement. As we come to the Luke passage, however, the theme of repentance returns. John warns his hearers to "produce fruit in keeping with repentance." In my own mind I tied the two themes together. As beautiful as the joy is that we have because of our God it [our joy] does not come without us having to face our sin and deal with it. The proper preparation of our heart and the fruit that accompanies our repentance will open the channel for joy to take full expression in our lives.

I leave you today with a prayer from Steven James' book A Heart Exposed.

O Creator of Beating Hearts,
and Healer of Broken Ones,
I've let my passion grow cold
since those days
when I first began my journey
with you.

You've become a part of my life
rather than the center of it,
a distraction rather than the direction.
And my prayers have grown stale,
stored so conveniently
in the cupboard of my heart.

So here' what I ask:
give me the eyes of a newborn believer;
introduce yourself to me again.
Amaze me with your presence
and upset the comfortable balance
of my numb and stable life
with your strange brand of
fiery grace.

Crack open my courage and my awareness
so that I can finally speak to you
with all of my will and emotions,
with heartfelt needs and honest fumbling,
instead of holding myself back and
offering up such
hollow little prayers. (15)

2nd Sunday of Advent - Reflections

I've added another book to my Sunday readings. I wasn't looking for anything else to read but stumbled upon this while walking through the store. It's the Ancient Christian Devotional: A Year of Weekly Readings edited by Cindy Crosby. The clincher for me to buy it was that it follows the lectionary cycle C.

I've decided to follow the Revised Common Lectionary for my Scripture readings. I want to allow more time to meditate on the passages I read instead of trying to get too "ecumenical" by following the readings from other traditions (even if they don't vary by much). This week the readings were as follows:

Malachi 3:1-4 or Baruch 5:1-9
Luke 1:68-79
Philippians 1:3-11
Luke 3:1-6

The themes of preparation and repentance are unmistakable. The ESV Study Bible text note on Mal. 3:1 says "From the 'delight' mentioned in this verse, it appears that Israel had repeated the error of their forebears in the days of Amos (Amos 5:18) by supposing that the Lord's appearance would be unmitigated good news. When he comes, it will be not only for blessing, as they assume, but also for judgment--he will come to be a 'witness' (the term in Mal. 3:5 is the same as in 2:14) against all evildoers, including these blasphemous cynics!"

May God prepare our hearts and cleanse them with a refiner's fire as we await his coming. I leave you today with this prayer from Origen as found on the back of The Ancient Christian Devotional.

"Lord, inspire us to read your Scriptures and meditate on them day and night. We beg you to give us real understanding of what we need, that we in turn may put its precepts into practice. Yet we know that understanding and good intentions are worthless, unless rooted in your graceful love. So we ask that the words of Scriptures may also be not just signs on a page but channels of grace into our hearts."

1st Sunday of Advent - Reflections

Today marks the beginning of my observing the Church calendar. I admit it is hard to get into the spirit of Advent when Christmas looms so large everywhere I turn. This is especially true working in retail. Christmas music is on the radio and playing in the store. At least I can turn off the radio or find another station. I have little control about what plays in the store.

I focused my thoughts today on the coming of our Lord. I read through the lectionary readings from both the Catholic church and from the Revised Common Lectionary (they are virtually identical with just a few minor differences). I also did the readings from the Holy Bible Mosaic. Here's how the three compared:

Catholic:

Jer. 33:14-16
Ps. 25:4-5, 8-9, 10, 14
I Thess. 3:12 – 4:2
Luke 21:25-28, 34-36

Revised Common Lectionary:

Jer. 33: 14-16
Ps. 25:1-10
I Thess. 3:9-13
Luke 21:25-36

Holy Bible Mosaic:

Isaiah 2:1-5
Psalm 25
I Cor. 1:4-9
Matt. 24:32-51
(Suggested: Isaiah 11:1-16; 35:1-10)

Because we are in year C the Gospel readings come from the Gospel of Luke. The Holy Bible Mosaic provides a reading from Matthew. Today I'll leave you with a thought from Pope John Paul II as found in the Holy Bible Mosaic and a quote from Edward Hays from his book A Pilgrim's Almanac.

". . . we must understand that our whole life should be an 'advent,' in vigilant expectation of Christ's final coming. To prepare our hearts to welcome the Lord, who, as we say in the Creed, will come one day to judge the living and the dead, we must learn to recognize his presence in the events of our daily life. Advent is then a period of intense training that directs us decisively to the One who has already come, who will come, and who continuously comes." (The Holy Bible Mosaic page 16)

"Advent, like its cousin Lent, is a season for prayer and reformation of our hearts. Since it comes at winter time, fire is a fitting sign to help us celebrate Advent…If Christ is to come more fully into our lives this Christmas, if God is to become really incarnate for us, then fire will have to be present in our prayer. Our worship and devotion will have to stoke the kind of fire in our souls that can truly change our hearts. Ours is a great responsibility not to waste this Advent time." (A Pilgrim's Almanac page 187. The quote is as found here.)

Is Advent Penitential?

I'm returning to a topic that I previously posted about--namely, what kind of season is advent?

I raise the question again for two reasons: 1) In my reading of The Liturgical Year by Joan Chittister she specifically says "Advent is a period of preparation for Christmas but, unlike Lent, it is not a period of penance. It is a period that focuses us on joy." (66) 2) My recent discovery on how the vestments of Pope Benedict XVI for Advent sheds light on the topic.

After reading the comment by Chittister I went back to do a little more digging on the topic. She doesn't completely remove the idea of penance from Advent for she says that the second week of Advent "calls us with John the Baptist to repent." (67) But clearly she sees the dominant theme of Advent as one of joy more than penance.

Then I ran across an article which, among other comments, made reference to the Pope's wearing what is called the "Penitential Papal Formale. "Traditionally, the Sovereign Pontiff used three kinds of formalia: the precious one, used in the most solemn occasions, studded with gems; the ordinary one, shaped like a golden dove; and the penitential one, with three pinecones placed in a triangular pattern. The penitential one wasn't used since 1969, but the Holy Father has decided to restore its usage right for the first Sunday of Advent." So, if the Pope's vestment's are any indication of his thought's on the season of Advent he gives a strong indication to a time of penance.

The article from The Roman Sacristan is one of the best I've found on the subject and is well worth reading. It shows that originally the penitential idea was not that prevalent but that it developed later. He quotes from a book by Father Josef Jungmann entitled The Early Liturgy which says:

"There is yet one more item of our present Roman Advent which we must trace to the Gallican tradition: its penitential character. According to the liturgical books of the early Middle Ages the Roman Advent was not a penitential season. It was simply a period of preparation for, and a joyful expectation of, Christmas. Therefore only the Sundays had the special characteristics of Advent. It was not until after the tenth century, when the Gallic Advent had exerted its influence on the Roman Advent, that it received its present penitental character. Now, however, the Gloria [is] omitted on the Sundays in Advent, purple vestments are worn just as in Lent, and a restriction is placed on the use of flowers and the organ. However, it never became - except in passing - a period of fasting. These are the influences of the old Gallic liturgy, of the ancient quadragesima S. Martini, on the Roman liturgy; it gave to our Advent and to our preparation for Christmas its more serious character." (emphasis mine)

So where does that leave me? Who becomes the voice of authority on what Advent really means? The Orthodox Church has a 40 day period of fasting prior to Christmas but does not equate this with the Roman Catholic understanding of Advent. If the Catholic Church takes its lead from the Pope then it would seem to take on at least some sense of penance. Personally, (spoken like a true Protestant) I like the idea of joy and expectation but I see the importance of repentance as part of genuine preparation. When I see writers speak of Advent as a time of "preparation" and joy it is the "preparation" that is left undefined. What does this preparation look like? Is repentance limited to only week two or does it have a more prominent theme even amidst our joy and expectation?

As I continue to think on these things I feel very excited about starting Advent. I'm praying that God will open my eyes in new ways and prepare my heart from the coming Messiah. One thing that Chittister wrote I really like was this: "We begin now, in Advent, whether we realize it or not, to prepare for Easter--because Easter is the reason Christmas is important." (68-69)

The Liturgical Year by Joan Chittister

Thanks to my rep at Thomas Nelson (Damon) for providing me with a copy of Joan Chittister's new book The Liturgical Year: The Spiraling Adventure of the Spiritual Life. Joan is a Benedictine nun, author of 40 books and founder of
Benetvision, a resource and research center for contemporary spirituality located in Erie, Pennsylvania. I wanted to read this book as part of my preparation for the coming Liturgical year.


Joan is Catholic and this book is from a Catholic perspective. She explains that "however the Catholic tradition may reveal itself here, it is not this specific template that is important to this book. It is the liturgical poles of the Christian life--Christmas and Easter--that are common to us all that is the real content of the work." (xv-xvi) One of my goals is to learn from mulitple traditions even though I will eventually decide on one "template" as a primary to follow. From the early chapters of this book I found more inspiration than education.

I'll leave you with one quote to ponder for this week:

"The historical development of the liturgical year has been a slow one, of course, tempered by time, dependent on circumstances, variable in small dimensions from age to age but always clear on one point: the purpose of the liturgical year is to bring to life in us and around us, little by little, one layer of insight after another until we grow to full stature in the spiritual life. Intent on living a spiritual life that matters rather than a spiritual fad that fascinates or a spiritual program that anesthetizes the soul to everything but the self, we find out in the liturgy what makes life matter by following Jesus through every element of it." (21)

What Color Should My Advent Candles Be?

I'm very excited about observing the coming Liturgical Year. But it didn't take long before I ran into a snag. What type of season is Advent?

I've discovered that historically (and here) it has been a penitential season but that in more recent times the focus has changed to anticipation and hope. The latter theme was so prominent in my own understanding of Advent that when I first read that Advent was a penitential season I thought for sure the writer didn't know what he was talking about. I was the ignorant one. As a matter of fact Advent is sometimes referred to as "little lent."

Many feel so strongly about preserving the meaning of Advent that they will refrain from singing Christmas songs during Advent. But as we know American commercialism starts "Christmas" as early as September or earlier. Advent gets pulled into the prevailing atmosphere of good tidings and joy so any thoughts of repentance would just be perceived as a bit of a kill joy.

In light of the focus on hope and anticipation many churches have changed the colors of advent from purple to royal or bright blue as a sign of royalty or the night sky in anticipation of the announcement of the newborn king. Now I certainly don't have any credibility to weigh in on this debate but I found it an interesting one. My inclinations are to keep to the more traditional penitential theme since it does not have to exclude the themes of anticipation and hope. I can see how the latter themes could easily eclipse the notion of repentance or marginalize it at best. For now I think I'll stick with three purple and one pink (which, from my understanding, represents joy). Even here there are choices to be made. Do I light the pink candle on the third or fourth Sunday of Advent? I'm not going to lose sleep over any of this but I do want to understand what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. I want to get as much out of it as I can. I want to grow as a result of my participation and not simply chalk it up on my "things I've done" in my life list.

I think I've found a church that I can go to without taking me away from my regular church that has a traditional liturgical service. I'll keep you posted.