To follow after Jesus - To be brought to JesusThroughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ reproduces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches. These are the suggested readings for March 22nd: Psalm 146; Isaiah 60:17-22; and Matthew 9:27-34. I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.
This evening is another of our Lenten Discussions. This is the 26th year that we have held these gatherings. Various local congregations come together to try and deepen the Lenten experience. The general theme of this year’s Discussion Series is “On the Outside Looking In.” I have my chance to lead one of these discussions tonight at 7:00pm at the Shelburne Congregational Church. It will be in person and a Zoom link is also available. I invite you to come and join us tonight. In person if you choose, or online by sending me an email (randyc1897@gmail.com) so that I can send you the Zoom link. In today’s Gospel, we hear that two blind men are following after Jesus. When Jesus reached the house where He was staying, they even entered, still following after Jesus. To be blind and to follow after Jesus must have presented unique difficulties, but they were determined. Jesus makes this clear when in the house He asks them, “‘Do you believe that I am able to do this?’” They answer in the affirmative and are healed. The two blind men made a conscious and concerted effort to follow after Jesus. The other miracle story today is different. There is no “follow after.” The blindness of the two men was a physical hindrance to following after Jesus, but it doesn’t prevent them from doing so. The inability to speak in the second miracle story does not present such a hurdle. However, the one who is mute does not follow after Jesus. Rather, he was brought to Jesus. And if you noticed, in this second miracle of healing, there is included the notion of demonic possession. This is not only a physical ailment. This is a spiritual ailment. In the first miracle, Jesus asks if the men believe, they answer in the affirmative, and Jesus replies, “‘According to your faith let it be done to you.’” Their belief is at the heart of the miracle. In the second miracle, the one who is mute is brought, can we read compelled, to Jesus. There is no belief evident here in the afflicted one. Jesus does not cure the muteness per se. Instead, Jesus exorcises the demon, and with that the man is able to speak. In the first story, to believe makes wonders possible in Jesus. To not believe is what needs to be healed in the second story. I think the language of demons is bound to that ancient time, but behind the imagery lies an important message. Faith in Jesus opens doors to many things otherwise impossible so it is just as powerful to grant a physical cure such as sight returned as it is to expel disbelief. During Lent, we follow after Jesus, and amazing things can happen. During Lent we also have the chance to bring others to Jesus as did those who brought the one who was mute to Jesus, not to dispel demons, but to offer the chance of discovering faith. This was the original hope of our Lenten Discussion Series. Rev. George Cory, Rev. Dr. Richard Killough and I thought it would be a beneficial Lenten practice to offer discussions rather than another mid-week worship. We hoped that we would be able to deepen the faith of those who already were following after Jesus, and we wanted to create a space for those who were not following after Jesus, who were not active church members, who were seeking to ask questions, who were not comfortable with formal church worship but could sit in the informality of a discussion group. Those hopes are expressed in today’s Gospel of two of Jesus’ miracle stories. In this same spirit, I again invite you to join us this evening for our Lenten Discussion. If you’d like, here is the link to the Southern New England Conference’s daily reading schedule: www.sneucc.org/lectionary.
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Faith's gift of thinking past the immediateThroughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ reproduces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches. These are the suggested readings for March 21st: Psalm 146; Isaiah 42:14-21; and Colossians 1:9-14. I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.
One of the hopes of Lent is that it broadens our perspective, that it helps us to realize that we are not bound by the temporal, that we are bound for the eternal. However, it’s not easy to plan for eternity when we seem reluctant to plan for tomorrow. It’s not easy to look beyond immediate needs if a lot of individuals and families barely survive paycheck to paycheck, and many others can’t even manage that. They don’t have the luxury of thinking beyond the immediate. Or I watch the unnecessary banking crisis start to rear its head again. These corporations want to make a profit, the bigger the better, and the sooner the better. Something as predictable as rising interest rates being used to tamp down inflation has threatened not only their immediate goals of profit, but their very long-term survival, not to mention the world economy. They had the luxury of thinking beyond the immediate, but they chose not to do so, which is a management scandal if not a crime. Yesterday the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a report that found the world is likely to miss its most ambitious climate target and that humans have caused irreversible damage to communities and ecosystems. The report synthesizes years of studies on the causes and consequences of rising temperatures, leading the U.N. secretary general to demand that developed countries eliminate carbon emissions by 2040 — a decade earlier than the rest of the world. The facts reveal that we have caused “irreversible” damage and yet we can’t seem to put ourselves into the shoes of our older selves, our children and grandchildren, not to mention the flora and fauna we are threatening or eliminating. In this case we simply refuse to think beyond the immediate. Faith tries to push back against this myopia that is forced upon us, chosen or denied. In today’s Psalm, we read, “Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help. … Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry.” These are words from the liturgy of the Jerusalem Temple some 3,000 years ago, and they remain meaningful today. They call upon us to look beyond the immediate and think about the forever. This forever does not begin when we enter into the eternal; it begins when we realize we are already part of, preparing for, the eternal. The Psalmist writes that “our hope is in the Lord.” Faith extends our worldview and our personal view while we are still firmly within the here and now. Faith is our hope for the future that acts in the present. And in this way, it not only makes us aware that what we do now plays a part in our eternity, it also helps us to think beyond the immediate in how we lead our lives. Faith broadens our scope so that we can think beyond immediate satisfaction and concentrate instead on long-term goals, which protect us from the dangers of forgetting that what we do today bears on the world we inherit or pass on to our descendants tomorrow. Faith’s long-term outlook is not only a vision of eternity. It is a vision of tomorrow and that we have a responsibility today to think about those who come after us. May Lent’s emphasis upon selflessness help us to better appreciate the long-term blessings of thinking beyond all that we can grab for ourselves in the present at the expense of what we or others will have to pay in the future. If you’d like, here is the link to the Southern New England Conference’s daily reading schedule: www.sneucc.org/lectionary. "I'm not going to him. He's crazy."Throughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ reproduces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches. These are the suggested readings for March 20th: Psalm 146; Isaiah 59:9-19; and Acts 9:1-20. I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.
This story is from a number of years ago and I cannot remember all the details. It was a listing of the most influential people in history. On that list, Saul of Tarsus, who will assume the name Paul, was listed above Jesus of Nazareth. This seems strange in the context of a Lenten Blog, but in a data driven survey Saul of Tarsus had a much larger footprint than Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus’ ministry concentrated on Galilee, Samaria and Judah. He did gain followers, but He dies alone as a crucified insurrectionist. Saul of Tarsus, on the other hand, takes the life and message of Jesus and spreads it throughout the Roman Empire, and lays the groundwork for an organized church that continues to share Jesus worldwide. It is hard to imagine Christianity without Paul. The twelve disciples are not nearly as active in missionary work as Saul of Tarsus. It is even rather difficult to explain their ministry. They may have remained as some sort of the whole in Jerusalem. This was the earliest center of Jesus’ followers, but the Twelve were not the leader of the Jerusalem community. The Jerusalem community was rather traditional. As such, authority was thought to be best expressed through heredity. Remember that the Gospels go to great length to arrange for Jesus to be born within the lineage of David so that Jesus could assume the mantle of Messiah, an hereditary title based on the tradition of the Messiah as the Son of David. The leader of the Jerusalem church, and an authority for the most traditional faction of the earliest church, was James, the brother of Jesus. The eponymous New Testament Epistle is credited to James’ hand. The Twelve almost seem to have assumed an otherworldly authority. They were the living connection with the historical Jesus. Their presence was valued. However, as a group they never approach the energy or success of Saul of Tarsus – which is amazing. In today’s reading from Acts, we have the story of how Saul meets Jesus. They never cross paths during Jesus’ lifetime. Saul, trained as a Pharisee, is actually opposing the followers of Jesus. In his enthusiasm for destroying the church, he is traveling from Jerusalem to Damascus on a mule when the heavenly Jesus knocks him off his ass and onto his … well, you know. This is a personal, spiritual encounter. As such, it is beyond verification. Saul of Tarsus claims that the heavenly Jesus has chosen him for a ministry to the Gentiles. His proof is his word. Imagine how this must have gone over with the Jerusalem church authorities and the Twelve. They know Saul only as an enemy. They know that Saul has no connection with the historical Jesus as they did. This, and understandably so, has forged their faith as tradition bound, conservative. Jesus is understood in the Jewish context of Jesus of Nazareth, and again as understandably so. Now Saul comes along as a stranger and a known enemy, and he begins talking about breaking away from tradition, about reaching out to the Gentiles, about redefining the ministry of Jesus. Who is this man? Throughout his ministry, and you can read it for yourselves in his Epistles, Saul of Tarsus was opposed by a very conservative faction of the church that insisted on maintaining a Jewish tradition within Christianity. Paul answered with a gospel that focused on salvation through belief in Jesus as the only essential. And it all started on the Road to Damascus. One of the first titles for the church was “the Way.” We hear it in today’s reading. The Way expresses the belief that we are followers of Jesus. Jesus leads and His path is the Way. It is nomenclature that embodies the vitality and movement of our faith. The Way is the antithesis of any notion of stagnation. We are not called to protect where we are in the faith; we are called to follow the Way. Ours is a faith constantly expecting change. We arrive at a faith that fulfills us, but it is an oasis not a destination. In the oasis, we are refreshed and recharged. We are readied to move forward again, to our next oasis. This is what the Way implies, and in the New Testament we encounter it for the first time when we meet Saul on the way to Damascus to confront the people of the Way. Saul of Tarsus was an extraordinary evangelist, more successful than any other New Testament person, and he came out of nowhere. The unexpected is always a part of our faith. Don’t be surprised by it. Be surprised if surprises disappear. Let Lent surprise you. Be honest enough to challenge your suppositions. Be like Ananias: “I’m not going to Saul. He’s an enemy.” But Ananias listens to the heavenly Jesus, goes to Saul, and greets him as “Brother.” What an unexpected turn of events this must have been for Ananias, but look at its results. Again, may Lent surprise us as we continue to follow the Way, a path laid out for us by a crucified Saviour. If you’d like, here is the link to the Southern New England Conference’s daily reading schedule: www.sneucc.org/lectionary. A time of seasonal change, a time for Lenten changeThroughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ reproduces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches. These are the suggested readings for March 18th: 1 Samuel 15:32-34; Psalm 23; and John 1:1-9. I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.
This is the last weekend of Winter, but I think most of us are in Spring-mode already. The technical definition of the seasons can’t keep up with the emotional ones. It’s not just now. By the time summer arrives on June 21st, most everyone is way past Spring anyway. Sharon and I visited the Bulb Show at Smith College on Thursday. We were talking to an old acquaintance who works there. She told us that the turn-out this year has been more than they have ever seen. People are Winter-weary it seems, and if you can’t run off to someplace warmer outside, then someplace warmer inside like the Bulb Show is a nice alternative. Back on Thursday, I talked about the challenge to find the nugget of revelation and inspiration in the story of Saul’s genocide and Samuel’s religious fanaticism. The lectionary won’t let the story go. I don’t know why they ask us to spend so much time on it. It’s time to move on already. I get enough of religious extremism in the news. I don’t need three days of it from the Bible too. I’m offended by images melding the cross with guns now and I’m offended by today’s reading of “Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.” It’s time to move on. I’m fanaticism-weary. And since we’re talking of moving on, this is exactly what John is doing today in the introduction to his Gospel. John stands alone. The other three Gospels are called the Synoptic Gospels. They share a great deal of common material and even format, but John takes his own course. In the iconography of the Gospels, John is the eagle because he soars high in his depiction of Jesus. It is said that the Johannine Jesus has one foot on earth and one foot in heaven. Mark is unconcerned about the birth narrative of Jesus. Matthew and Luke share Bethlehem stories about Jesus’ birth. John’s Gospel reaches back into eternity blasting past Christmas with, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” The Johannine Jesus shares existence with God in the unfathomable time before time, and it is this Jesus as the Word who is the instrument of universal creation: “All things came into being through him …” The Word, I think, is a melding of the Greek philosophical term Logos and the creative, divine expression of Ruah in Genesis One. John’s Gospel begins with the same phrase that opens the Bible: “In the beginning …” In that Genesis account, God’s Word, Ruah, is spoken and immediately what is spoken takes form. And the first spoken creation of the Word in Genesis is the light that pushes back darkness, and in John’s Prologue the Word, Logos, is the “light [that] shines in the darkness.” This is one of the highest Christological statements in all the New Testament. John is expressing fresh ideas about the nature of Jesus as the Christ, as the Son of God. John is like the change of seasons. He’s moving ahead of the Synoptics. He’s transitioning and he’s taking us along with him, but we’re also not there yet technically. In the history of the church, the idea of the Trinity is not established until late in the fourth century. It took Christians this long to take the seeds planted in the New Testament, seeds such as John’s Prologue, and transition to the full-blown theology of Jesus as the incarnate, eternal, equal Son of God. Similar to the transition feeling that we’re still in Winter but thinking like it’s Spring, John’s Prologue is feeling like Trinity, but we’re not there yet. We as third millennium Christians can hear full blown Trinity in John’s words about The Word, but if we look back at the passage there is the tentativeness of “with God / was God / with God.” The “was God” is essential to later Trinitarian thought, but there is this lingering idea that God is still something separate, and thus the “with God” phrases. Just as we need to move beyond the savagery of an ancient mindset embodied in the actions of Saul and Samuel, we have moved beyond the seeking and wonder of the New Testament struggles to express the nature of Jesus. Jesus is an unfolding mystery that we try our best to express as Trinity. John reached back to his Jewish roots for the creative Ruah/Word and to the contemporary philosophy of his day’s Logos/Word to try and move forward in his expression of Jesus. Transition is played out right in the biblical text itself. We should not be afraid of transition and change. After all, we’re trying to express God. Lent is a time to explore new ways of being with Jesus. It is a time to look down side streets. It’s a time to wonder what’s over that hill. It really is a Lenten journey. I invite you to journey with us tomorrow at our worship Service, to share the journey with other spiritual travelers. If you’d like, here is the link to the Southern New England Conference’s daily reading schedule: www.sneucc.org/lectionary. The Dodge Caravan and all that followedThroughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ reproduces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches. These are the suggested readings for March 17th: 1 Samuel 15:22-31; Psalm 23; and Ephesians 5:1-9. I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.
I bet you have heard the quip “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” If I’m remembering this correctly, the Dodge Caravan introduced us to the infamous minivan. It was such a popular automotive concept that filled so many needs for young families that it was soon imitated by all the other automobile manufacturers. Minivans of all sorts were ubiquitous. I moved from a Ford Mustang as a single adult to a Chrysler minivan as a young father, joining all the other young families traveling here and there in one minivan or another. Bring the kids to a practice of some sort and the parking lot was full of minivans. It’s true “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” Maybe, though, you haven’t heard the rest of the Oscar Wilde quote: “… that mediocrity can pay to greatness.” Here’s something I don’t fully understand. A brilliant artist will create a painting that hopefully in his or her lifetime makes a tidy income for the artist, but maybe not. The same painting may be sold generations later for obscene amounts of money. And maybe the buyer doesn’t even appreciate the painting; it’s purchased as an investment. As an investment, the provenance of the painting is thoroughly vetted. If it is discovered that the painting was created by a master student of the famous artist, it loses its investment value immediately. The student’s imitation of the master is so thorough that only a trained art expert is able to tell them apart. The painting for the sake of the painting is almost indistinguishable from that of the famous artist, but it is an imitation, and as such no where near as valuable as the original. When it comes to the minivan, imitations of the Caravan became even more successful than the original. No one thought that if you needed a minivan it had to be the Caravan. No one felt cheated if they bought another model minivan, an imitation minivan in a sense. However, the imitation painting of one of the Masters comes down off the wall of the museum. There’s something about the lack of creativity, not talent but creativity, that makes the student’s imitation less than the original regardless of the technical mastery. The lack of creativity is Wilde’s “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.” In Ephesians today, we are challenged to “be imitators of God.” Well that sure sets the bar awfully high. The first time we hear such a message in the Bible is in the Garden of Eden story. The serpent tempts Eve by saying, “You will be like God.” (Genesis 3:5) This is the temptation behind all sin; it is to replace God. No matter how competent the student artist the Master will not be replaced because all that the student offers is the mediocrity of imitation because the student lacks the creativity that defines a masterpiece. We will never be imitators of God as in replacing God. To be like God, however, can be of moral value when we understand it as trying to follow God’s example, and Ephesians summarizes this as to “live in love.” Hannah Arendt reported on the trial of the Nazi Adolph Eichmann, the depraved, sadistic architect of the Holocaust and referred to the “banality of evil.” What a brilliant statement. To imitate God as to live in love is just the opposite. It is to be creative. Virtue and morality are expressed in myriads of glorious ways as opposed to “the banality of evil.” It’s like the creativity of imitating the Caravan by making it better. We look to the example God sets and we try to imitate it in the limited circumstances provided to us in our lives. We don’t replace God. We strive to be “imitators of God.” On this fourth Lenten Friday, when we remember again how much God in Jesus has sacrificed to give us a perfect revelation of what it means to “live in love,” may we strive to imitate that lived revelation. This is not about repeating the cross or trying to imitate its suffering. It is about being creative in how we will “live in love.” If you’d like, here is the link to the Southern New England Conference’s daily reading schedule: www.sneucc.org/lectionary. Where's the nugget of inspiration?Throughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ reproduces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches. These are the suggested readings for March 16th: 1 Samuel 15:10-21; Psalm 23; and Ephesians 4:25-32. I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.
I once attended a synagogue Service with some friends from South Deerfield. I still remember the rabbi’s words from his sermon. He had a difficult text to work with from the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Hebrew Scripture. He shared with the congregation that in seminary they were tasked with finding and expanding upon some edifying message in any given biblical text. The reason behind this exercise is that since the words of Holy Scripture are inspired, then there must be value in all those words, even those most difficult and unappealing passages. Today’s passage from 1 Samuel is one of those most difficult and unappealing passages. It has been a while since I watched the truly amazing play on television called God on Trial. It is about an argument among Jewish prisoners in a Nazi concentration camp. They have put God on trial. One of the prisoners brings up the tradition that the ancient Jews had practiced genocide and that may be why they were facing the same from the Nazis. It is a powerfully honest and challenging movie. At the end of the film, after the prosecution and defense have finished putting God on trial, all these Jewish prisoners in the Nazi concentration camp prepared for their Sabbath worship of that same God. If you have the chance, I recommend highly this movie. What the 1 Samuel passage is talking about is genocide. The Israelite army under Saul’s leadership is to completely eradicate the Amalekites. There is to be left no trace of them whatsoever. Everything about them is anathema. Even their livestock are to be slaughtered and left to rot. Saul is vicious, but not as vicious as the prophet Samuel, speaking God’s word, wanted him to be. Samuel reveals that God is upset with Saul that the king was not as thoroughly murderous as God had demanded, and because of this God withdraws His support of Saul’s kingship. If we were to read further in the text, we would be told that the Amalekite king was dragged before God’s prophet “[a]nd Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.” This righteous anger satiated Yahweh. This is one of those passages that the local rabbi and God on Trial were both brave enough to confront. I see this passage as driven more by history than anything else. The Davidic monarchy replaced Saul’s. This, however, had to have more than a political justification. It required a theological explanation to it, and as unsavoury as this 1 Samuel passage is, this is it. But now to mine for that possible nugget of gold in all this unpleasantness. I would like to offer that the edifying message could be complete faithfulness to God. If we could separate that message out from the religious fanaticism of Samuel’s cutting apart the enemy prisoner and the savagery of genocide, which I understand is a huge “if,” then left behind is that God must be followed whole heartedly. It is unfair to equate the morality of some 1,000 years before Jesus with the writings of the New Testament. And it is unfair to separate the Old Testament books from the New Testament. Both the Old and the New are part of Christianity’s one Bible. Both Old and New are inspired by God. To judge Samuel by the standards of a thousand years later (not to mention 3,000 years later as we read these stories) would be akin to a comparison of the modern world and the last years of the Dark Ages. If we allow ourselves the liberty of concentrating only on the message of complete dedication to the will and work of God, then the writing in Ephesians flows naturally from this. It still holds onto the faithfulness to God message, but look at how it has changed from Samuel’s religious fanaticism: “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.” The primitive, historical savagery once associated with how faithfulness should be expressed has grown into a rejection of the same and its replacement by a tender-hearted kindness and forgiveness. May we be as fiercely devoted to this religious sentiment as Samuel was to his. May Lent help us to grow in our dedication and faithfulness to God in Christ. May faithfulness be expressed no longer through excuses for religion-sanctioned prejudice, intolerance, hatred and even violence, all made possible by belief in an angry God. Instead, may our religious devotion help us turn away from destructive behaviour and toward kindness. The God who is revealed in Jesus, especially Jesus crucified, demands such a faith. If you’d like, here is the link to the Southern New England Conference’s daily reading schedule: www.sneucc.org/lectionary. "'Beware the Ides of March'"Throughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ reproduces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches. These are the suggested readings for March 15th: Psalm 81; Jeremiah 2:4-13; John 7:14-31, 37-39. I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.
Yesterday was Pi-Day and today is the Ides of March. It was on this day in 44 BCE that Julius Caesar was assassinated in Rome. In Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, a soothsayer warns the Roman dictator, “‘Beware the Ides of March.’” Caesar responds saying of the soothsayer, “‘He is a dreamer; let us leave him: pass.’” Now Caesar is no saint. He was assassinated in an attempt to preserve the Republic and its little semblance of democracy from his increasingly dictatorial rule. They succeeded in killing Julius Caesar, but they also succeeded in instigating a civil war that ended the Republic. The civil war concluded with the defeat of the assassins and the ascension of Julius Caesar’s adopted son who would assume the brand-new title of Emperor under the name of Augustus Caesar. This Augustus would take on titles such as a “son of god” and “saviour.” He reigned from 31BCE to 14CE. He was Roman Emperor when Jesus was born as one of his subjects in the defeated lands of Palestine. Near the village of Nazareth where Jesus grew up was a Roman city named Sepphoris. It is quite possible that tradesmen from Nazareth would have been employed by the more affluent citizens of Sepphoris. It is completely conjecture, but it is possible that Jesus the carpenter may have worked for these Romans and been exposed to their worldview of power and subjugation. The murder of Julius Caesar in 44 BCE may well have had an influence on the life of Jesus of Nazareth in unforeseen ways decades later, and also upon the believers in Jesus of Nazareth who so adroitly transferred the titles used to honour Augustus to ones applied to Jesus. Augustus lives in history books. Jesus lives among us. The great Roman Empire and its deified rulers are a memory. Jesus is Son of God and Saviour to over a billion people some 2,000 years later and counting. The Roman Empire must have seemed invincible when Jesus spoke in today’s Gospel from within the Jerusalem Temple. Above its courtyard stood Fortress Antonia and a garrison of Roman soldiers. The Romans watched the activity within the courtyard closely, keeping guard against any disturbance, any potential threat to their rule. And below them in the Temple, Jesus was doing just that. His teachings and His miracles were causing the people to wonder, “‘Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Messiah?’” Messiah is the Jewish Saviour, the one who will free them from their enemies and reestablish the nation of Israel. Messiah is a direct threat to Rome and to those soldiers up above watching from Fortress Antonia. What chance did this Nazareth carpenter of no recognizable learning (cf. John 7:15) and of no ancestral pedigree (cf. John 7:27) have against the rulers of the civilized world? It would have been preposterous to dream that this Saviour and Son of God could replace Augustus as saviour and son of god. People listening to Jesus and doubting His words in the Temple that day may have been 100% practical, but like Julius Caesar discounting the words of the soothsayer, practical does not always define reality. I hope this may inspire us as we are forced to look upon so many powerful forces that are still arrayed against the hope Jesus offers. The fact that in 2023 we continue to search during Lent for a deeper appreciation of this Jesus speaks to the presence of God in our faith. Jesus should be a forgotten name after two millennia. For it to be otherwise, for us to be engaging in our Lenten disciplines, speaks to the power of God that we share in as we call Jesus Saviour and Son of God. We right now are evidence of the Spirit of God at work among us. If you’d like, here is the link to the Southern New England Conference’s daily reading schedule: www.sneucc.org/lectionary. Pi-Day and the domesticated infinityThroughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ reproduces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches. These are the suggested readings for March 14th: Genesis 29:1-14; Psalm 81; and 1 Corinthians 10:1-4. I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.
Today is March 14th, or as it is sometimes rendered 3-14, and because of this rendering March 14th is also known sometimes as Pi Day. Pi is the Greek letter π and it is used as the mathematical symbol for the value of the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. Curved surfaces were a mathematical minefield that calculus finally tamed in the 17th century, but π was discovered some 23 hundred years ago by the Greek mathematician Archimedes. He defined π by the ingenious innovation of breaking down the curvature of a circle into straight line segments. The shorter the lines meant more lines. This gave Archimedes the approximate value of π as 3.14, and thus today’s Π Day. And the word approximate is essential because no matter how small the straight line segments become no amount of straight lines will ever be small enough to define exactly the curve of a circle. The approximation can be extremely precise, but it can never be exact. Computers have calculated the value of π out to 22 trillion digits and counting, and out to the 22 trillionth decimal the sequence of digits never repeats and never betrays any pattern. It goes on forever; it reflects infinity. In this sense, π is the domestication of infinity. You see this image of a circle "0". What could be more ordinary? Children before pre-school draw circles. But that image of a circle is an image of infinity. 22 trillion line segments and counting cannot determine the exact value of π. It could go up to 44 trillion line segments and it will remain an approximation. There are by definition an infinite number of straight lines that can be drawn, but they will always be infinitesimally small but still straight lines. The curve of the circle defies them all. Π is domesticated infinity and yet here it is "0" right in front of us. We often speak of God in the language of the infinite. We define God as eternal, as a timelessness beyond time. We characterize God as all-powerful, all-knowing, everywhere-present, or more formally as omnipotent, omniscient and ubiquitous. And whatever these definitions may mean to you, to anyone, they are by necessity approximations. They are words bound by the finite of our own minds that are trying to capture the infinite of God. They are our linguistic straight-line segments to God’s circle. But we should not forget that those 22 trillion and counting approximations of the value of π are forever unreachable, but here it is "0": the circle a pre-pre-schooler can draw. I think this reminds us that we need not define God; we need to accept God. I cannot imagine in my mind 22 trillion decimals, but I can grasp even more in the "0". I cannot define exactly the circle, but I can relate to it. Our God may be infinite, but more importantly our God is personal, relatable, approachable, and no more so than in Jesus of Nazareth. On Palm Sunday, at the beginning of Holy Week and Jesus’ Passion, we will read the biblical passage that Jesus empties Himself of overt divinity. Jesus becomes us, in other words. Jesus is God incarnate. Jesus is God’s perfect "0". And as Jesus goes to the cross and to His suffering death, Jesus reveals a remarkable divine love for us, an ineffable love, an infinite love, and just as plain as the circle is so is this domesticated infinite of the cross. During Lent we are blessed with the chance to touch the infinite, but will we? In today’s Psalm are the tragic words of Yahweh: “I hear a voice I had not known.” God laments the fact that the people no longer call upon Him. Their voice is unknown. It is a stranger’s voice to God. May we not repeat this most unfortunate occurrence. May the infinite love of Christ made so real on Golgotha draw us into a closer and more personal relationship through Him with God. If you’d like, here is the link to the Southern New England Conference’s daily reading schedule: www.sneucc.org/lectionary. "The truth" and "the deceivers" are both fraughtThroughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ reproduces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches. These are the suggested readings for March 13th: Genesis 24:1-27; Psalm 81; 2 John 1-13. I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.
What a great way to start off the work week. You have read an entire book of the Bible. Second John in its entirety is 13 verses. Raymond E. Brown, a renowned biblical scholar, revised the way people read the Johannine writings of the Gospel and three Epistles. I draw upon his thinking here. John’s community emphasizes spiritual authority. It is a charismatic community. Paul’s writings lay the groundwork for a hierarchical one, and Paul’s churches have stability and durability. John’s may have faded away with time, and we may catch glimpses of this unfortunate occurrence beginning right in the biblical text itself. In the Epistles, the chief adversaries are the deceivers. “The Elder” writes 2 John to a particular community, “to the elect lady and her children.” In other words, to a church and her members. In this charismatic Johannine community, the Elder has no hierarchical authority to impose his will. What the Elder does have is a charismatic understanding of “the truth” that is respected and accepted by others of the community. This is the grounding of his authority and of the community’s cohesion, and this the Elder emphasizes in his introduction: “… whom I love in the truth, and not only I but also all who know the truth, because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever.” The adversaries, in such a community, are termed deceivers. They subvert the truth. We’re not exactly sure what the truth entails, but it may be what will come to be called Docetism. This word comes from the Greek verb to seem. Some of the earliest believers in Jesus were affronted by the idea of His real suffering. Their motives were to honour Christ, to protect Jesus from the humiliation of the cross. Out of thin air, however, they created the idea that Jesus only seemed to be human and only seemed to actually suffer. There is one line in their writings that the spiritual Jesus laughed above the cross when His crucifiers thought they were doing Him harm. This incipient Docetism can be seen in the words “those who do not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.” These are the deceivers. The deceivers have rejected the truth of the Elder and of the community that accepts that truth, and “[m]any deceivers have gone out into the world.” This means they have rejected and left the charismatic community and returned to the world, which is anything and everything outside of the Elder’s community. This is where it gets scary. This is where faith can turn into a bunker-religion, which is the exact opposite of Jesus’ ministry and message. The Elder describes anyone who thinks differently than the truth, than his teaching of the truth, “any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist!” The antichrist! In other words, “If you do not agree with me, you disagree with Christ, you are opposed to Christ, you are the opposite of Christ, you are the antichrist.” It is distressing to see that the Johannine tradition that gives us such beautiful expressions of Christian love is the same tradition that sinks to the level of condemning all who differ from their profession of the truth as antichrists. We can see here the seeds that lead to religious hatred and violence as all justified by the belief that we are the protectors of the truth and that different means antichrist. The Docetism that may define the deceivers denies the reality of Jesus of Nazareth. It denies Jesus’ human nature, which denies Jesus’ connection with all of us. It breaks the connection, as well, between God and us through Jesus’ combined human and divine natures. It would be comforting to imagine that Jesus’ suffering were all an act, but it was real and it was horrifying. Jesus’ sacrifice is testimony to the unwavering commitment of Jesus to His gospel and it is the absolutely perfect testimony of Jesus’ love for everyone, even the ones who nailed him to the cross. So Docetism is dangerous in that it threatens all of this, but it is just as unfaithful to the example of Christ to ignore his gentleness. May Lent give us the time to ponder what we hold to be the truth and also to look at how we react to those we disagree with, and may we consider both in the shadow of Golgotha’s cross. If you’d like, here is the link to the Southern New England Conference’s daily reading schedule: www.sneucc.org/lectionary. |
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