"The Protestant Reformation has contributed notably to the constitution of Europe, and it is generally accepted that this action has entailed a surrender of what one might call the Benedictine spirit. Let us concede as much. Nevertheless, notwithstanding harsh and draconian critiques of monasticism, the priorities established by Luther - God, conscience, and the communion of saints - were also those of Saint Benedict. Martin Luther went to the Diet of Worms impelled by the same motive that led Benedict to Subiaco: he was bound in conscience by the Word of God. With God's help he stood fast, for he could not do otherwise.
And the emblem of the Protestant Reformation has always remained a monk struggling in prayer, hunched over his Bible, his unconscious teeming with the images and the words of Scripture, above all those of the Psalter."
(Gordon Rupp, as quoted in "In the School of Contemplation" by Andre Louf, OCSO).
Showing posts with label Lutheranism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lutheranism. Show all posts
Thursday, March 15, 2018
Sunday, November 26, 2017
A Sacramental Perspective on Matthew 25:31-46
So as not to go 0 for 2017 in blog posts, I thought I would interrupt the silence and post this morning's sermon, since it is a good barometer of where I am theologically and spiritually these days.
Christ the King Sunday Year A Matthew 25:31-46
You’re going to figure this out soon enough, but the word of the day for this sermon is "perspective", meaning the where and the how we view things, our point of view, or our vantage point. We just heard Jesus talk about sheep and goats, but let me use cats and dogs to illustrate a point about the importance of recognizing the perspective from which we view the world around us.
Dogs, like the ones on our family farm I visited over the Thanksgiving holiday, look up at you with those big brown eyes, wagging their tail, as if they are thinking to themself: “You love me, you feed me, you care for me, you take me for walks... you must be God”. Cats, on the other hand, like our dear Mellow whom we adopted from the shelter last year, look at you with those piercing eyes, thinking to themself: “You love me, you feed me, you care for me, you pet me ... I must be God”. (Joke adapted from a sermon by Steven Sizer: www.stevensizer.com) Recognizing our perspective – the vantage point from which we look at the things around us - matters.
Today is Christ the King Sunday – the last day of the church year, before we begin a new church year with the season of Advent next week. A day that we can take a step back and look at the world from a new perspective. A perspective which reveals to us how Christ the King is a very, very different kind of king. A perspective which shows us how Christ is a king whose crown is thorns, not jewels, A perspective which shows us that his king’s throne is a cross, not made of gold.
A perspective revealed to us through today’s Gospel from Matthew. A perspective which reveals how Christ is with us today. A perspective that shows us how Christ the King comes to us today - not through all kinds of royal pageantry, but through those whom Jesus calls the least of these who are members of my family. The hungry. The thirsty. The stranger. The naked. The sick. The imprisoned.
This parable, sometimes called the judgment of the nations, or perhaps more simply, the parable of the sheep at the goats, is found at the end of the 25th chapter of Matthew, the chapter we’ve been going through these past few weeks where Jesus has told a series of parables about being prepared for the day when he would return. In the very next chapter, chapter 26, Jesus had the last supper with the disciples. He was betrayed and arrested. He was put on trial before the high priest, then in the 27th chapter, brought before Pilate, and taken to the cross.
Today’s parable of the judgment of the nations, using the sheep and the goats as metaphors for the righteous and unrighteous, was the last parable he told before those events we remember during Holy Week.
There are probably several different perspectives from which we can look at this parable of the sheep and the goats, but I’m going to talk about three.
One possible perspective would be to look at this parable from what I’ll call the “legal perspective” the perspective that Jesus is offering us a contract for our salvation, with a list of conditions. What kind of list? Well, because the Christmas shopping season has begun, pardon me for bringing up Santa, but a list of things we can do to be put on the nice list, the sheep list - and not the naughty list, the goat list. Let’s see – feed a hungry person? Check. Give a drink to a thirsty person? Check. Give clothing to a naked person? Check. Welcome the stranger? Check. Took care of someone who is sick? Check. Visit someone in prison? Check. Okay Jesus, I’ve done all of those things – now fulfill your end of the deal and tell me I’m a sheep.
Another possible perspective is what I’ll call the “save the world” perspective. What I mean by that is that from this perspective, we think that Jesus is telling us how to go out there and make his kingdom a reality here on earth in our time, and we do that by doing all kinds of great and noble and just things for other people.
Things like feeding the hungry, giving a drink to the thirsty, etc. – I won’t mention the whole list again. Jesus told us about the kingdom of heaven, so let’s get going on bringing it to earth by doing all these things - time’s a wasting.
The problem with those perspectives is that they are from the vantage point of what we are doing. We need to feed the hungry, welcome the stranger, and take care of the sick to fulfill our end of the legal bargain, or we need to do these things to save the world and make the kingdom of heaven a reality here on earth by doing them.
I’m going to propose to you a different perspective – what I am going to call a sacramental perspective. As Episcopalians/Lutherans, along with other Christian traditions which believe that God’s grace comes to us through the sacraments like baptism or communion, believe that ordinary things or objects can bring the holy to us. They can bring Christ himself to us. The water of baptism bring Christ to us and unite us with him in his death and resurrection. The bread and wine bring Christ to us as they carry his body and blood for forgiveness of sin and nourishment of our souls.
In other words, the sacramental perspective reveals to us that the material world – what we can see, taste, touch, is not all there is that is material to us for our salvation – our unity with God. Through this parable, Jesus is reminding us that each encounter with the people that we meet has the potential to be an encounter with himself. What may seem like an ordinary event, can be a Christ event.
The week before last, I stayed several days at New Melleray Abbey, the monastery over Dubuque that I go to periodically. The monks there follow the ancient Rule of St. Benedict as the guide for their lives, and the Rule of St. Benedict recognizes how Christ comes to us through others. One part of the Rule specifically quotes Matthew 25, when it states that “All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ, for he himself will say: ‘I was a stranger, and you welcomed me”.
In other words, an act of hospitality, welcoming a stranger, is a sacramental event – an encounter with Jesus. A means by which Jesus Christ - the King of this very different kind of kingdom - comes to us.
A sacramental perspective reminds us that Christ’s presence in the world is not merely a past event, or a future event on the day when Christ returns. Christ’s presence is a current event. The face of Christ is reflected to us through the face of the hungry, the thirsty, the sick, the stranger, the imprisoned. We are all pilgrims on the journey, and Christ visits us through the journey of others. (Adapted from a writing by Fr. Prior Joel Macul on the 20th anniversary of Christ the King Priory. www.christthekingpriory.com).
A sacramental perspective affects our mindset when we go about doing the things that Jesus spoke of, like feeding the hungry. These aren’t just acts of charity from someone who has something, to someone who does not have something. We aren’t the kings of our little kingdoms being benevolent and merciful to those whom we provide assistance.
We are receiving far more than what we are giving because the presence of Christ the King himself is with them, whether we recognize it or not. One of the beautiful things about this parable is how the people who were sheep and not goats did all of these things without even realizing it was the Son of Man who was with the hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, stranger, and imprisoned.
So, a sacramental perspective is not required to be a sheep and not a goat, but it does open our eyes to a new way of looking at why we do the acts of love that we do as Christians. It is a perspective that comes when, as Ephesians so beautifully puts it, the eyes of your heart are enlightened.
The eyes of your heart. Not the eyes in your head. The eyes in the core of your being – the core where the Holy Spirit dwells in you because of the sacrament of baptism, the core which is nourished and fed because of the sacrament of communion.
A sacramental perspective opens the eyes of our heart to see God’s grace incarnate in water, in bread and wine. It allows us to see the presence of Christ in the least of these. It allows us to see that the presence of the resurrected and living Christ is not merely a thing of the past or future, but a living presence right here, right now, with us. Immanuel.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Christ the King Sunday Year A Matthew 25:31-46
You’re going to figure this out soon enough, but the word of the day for this sermon is "perspective", meaning the where and the how we view things, our point of view, or our vantage point. We just heard Jesus talk about sheep and goats, but let me use cats and dogs to illustrate a point about the importance of recognizing the perspective from which we view the world around us.
Dogs, like the ones on our family farm I visited over the Thanksgiving holiday, look up at you with those big brown eyes, wagging their tail, as if they are thinking to themself: “You love me, you feed me, you care for me, you take me for walks... you must be God”. Cats, on the other hand, like our dear Mellow whom we adopted from the shelter last year, look at you with those piercing eyes, thinking to themself: “You love me, you feed me, you care for me, you pet me ... I must be God”. (Joke adapted from a sermon by Steven Sizer: www.stevensizer.com) Recognizing our perspective – the vantage point from which we look at the things around us - matters.
Today is Christ the King Sunday – the last day of the church year, before we begin a new church year with the season of Advent next week. A day that we can take a step back and look at the world from a new perspective. A perspective which reveals to us how Christ the King is a very, very different kind of king. A perspective which shows us how Christ is a king whose crown is thorns, not jewels, A perspective which shows us that his king’s throne is a cross, not made of gold.
A perspective revealed to us through today’s Gospel from Matthew. A perspective which reveals how Christ is with us today. A perspective that shows us how Christ the King comes to us today - not through all kinds of royal pageantry, but through those whom Jesus calls the least of these who are members of my family. The hungry. The thirsty. The stranger. The naked. The sick. The imprisoned.
This parable, sometimes called the judgment of the nations, or perhaps more simply, the parable of the sheep at the goats, is found at the end of the 25th chapter of Matthew, the chapter we’ve been going through these past few weeks where Jesus has told a series of parables about being prepared for the day when he would return. In the very next chapter, chapter 26, Jesus had the last supper with the disciples. He was betrayed and arrested. He was put on trial before the high priest, then in the 27th chapter, brought before Pilate, and taken to the cross.
Today’s parable of the judgment of the nations, using the sheep and the goats as metaphors for the righteous and unrighteous, was the last parable he told before those events we remember during Holy Week.
There are probably several different perspectives from which we can look at this parable of the sheep and the goats, but I’m going to talk about three.
One possible perspective would be to look at this parable from what I’ll call the “legal perspective” the perspective that Jesus is offering us a contract for our salvation, with a list of conditions. What kind of list? Well, because the Christmas shopping season has begun, pardon me for bringing up Santa, but a list of things we can do to be put on the nice list, the sheep list - and not the naughty list, the goat list. Let’s see – feed a hungry person? Check. Give a drink to a thirsty person? Check. Give clothing to a naked person? Check. Welcome the stranger? Check. Took care of someone who is sick? Check. Visit someone in prison? Check. Okay Jesus, I’ve done all of those things – now fulfill your end of the deal and tell me I’m a sheep.
Another possible perspective is what I’ll call the “save the world” perspective. What I mean by that is that from this perspective, we think that Jesus is telling us how to go out there and make his kingdom a reality here on earth in our time, and we do that by doing all kinds of great and noble and just things for other people.
Things like feeding the hungry, giving a drink to the thirsty, etc. – I won’t mention the whole list again. Jesus told us about the kingdom of heaven, so let’s get going on bringing it to earth by doing all these things - time’s a wasting.
The problem with those perspectives is that they are from the vantage point of what we are doing. We need to feed the hungry, welcome the stranger, and take care of the sick to fulfill our end of the legal bargain, or we need to do these things to save the world and make the kingdom of heaven a reality here on earth by doing them.
I’m going to propose to you a different perspective – what I am going to call a sacramental perspective. As Episcopalians/Lutherans, along with other Christian traditions which believe that God’s grace comes to us through the sacraments like baptism or communion, believe that ordinary things or objects can bring the holy to us. They can bring Christ himself to us. The water of baptism bring Christ to us and unite us with him in his death and resurrection. The bread and wine bring Christ to us as they carry his body and blood for forgiveness of sin and nourishment of our souls.
In other words, the sacramental perspective reveals to us that the material world – what we can see, taste, touch, is not all there is that is material to us for our salvation – our unity with God. Through this parable, Jesus is reminding us that each encounter with the people that we meet has the potential to be an encounter with himself. What may seem like an ordinary event, can be a Christ event.
The week before last, I stayed several days at New Melleray Abbey, the monastery over Dubuque that I go to periodically. The monks there follow the ancient Rule of St. Benedict as the guide for their lives, and the Rule of St. Benedict recognizes how Christ comes to us through others. One part of the Rule specifically quotes Matthew 25, when it states that “All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ, for he himself will say: ‘I was a stranger, and you welcomed me”.
In other words, an act of hospitality, welcoming a stranger, is a sacramental event – an encounter with Jesus. A means by which Jesus Christ - the King of this very different kind of kingdom - comes to us.
A sacramental perspective reminds us that Christ’s presence in the world is not merely a past event, or a future event on the day when Christ returns. Christ’s presence is a current event. The face of Christ is reflected to us through the face of the hungry, the thirsty, the sick, the stranger, the imprisoned. We are all pilgrims on the journey, and Christ visits us through the journey of others. (Adapted from a writing by Fr. Prior Joel Macul on the 20th anniversary of Christ the King Priory. www.christthekingpriory.com).
A sacramental perspective affects our mindset when we go about doing the things that Jesus spoke of, like feeding the hungry. These aren’t just acts of charity from someone who has something, to someone who does not have something. We aren’t the kings of our little kingdoms being benevolent and merciful to those whom we provide assistance.
We are receiving far more than what we are giving because the presence of Christ the King himself is with them, whether we recognize it or not. One of the beautiful things about this parable is how the people who were sheep and not goats did all of these things without even realizing it was the Son of Man who was with the hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, stranger, and imprisoned.
So, a sacramental perspective is not required to be a sheep and not a goat, but it does open our eyes to a new way of looking at why we do the acts of love that we do as Christians. It is a perspective that comes when, as Ephesians so beautifully puts it, the eyes of your heart are enlightened.
The eyes of your heart. Not the eyes in your head. The eyes in the core of your being – the core where the Holy Spirit dwells in you because of the sacrament of baptism, the core which is nourished and fed because of the sacrament of communion.
A sacramental perspective opens the eyes of our heart to see God’s grace incarnate in water, in bread and wine. It allows us to see the presence of Christ in the least of these. It allows us to see that the presence of the resurrected and living Christ is not merely a thing of the past or future, but a living presence right here, right now, with us. Immanuel.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Monday, May 9, 2016
Why I'm Sticking with the Revised Common Lectionary, Part 2
Unbeknownst to me at the time, on the same day that I posted my first article about the Revised Common Lectionary (http://benedictinelutheran.blogspot.com/2016/05/why-im-sticking-with-revised-common.html), a group called "Clergy Stuff" posted a video on Facebook about the Narrative Lectionary. The video features Professor Rolf Jacobson of Luther Seminary, who has been one of the primary developers and proponents of the Narrative Lectionary. The video can be seen here (http://clergystuff.com/news/2016/5/2/what-is-the-narrative-lectionary-anyway), and it features two comments on why the Narrative Lectionary is allegedly superior to the Revised Common Lectionary which I want to address. I've really enjoyed some of Professor Jacobson's work in the past, particularly "Crazy Book: A Not-So-Stuffy Dictionary of Biblical Terms", as well as his other books published by Augsburg Fortress. However, I have a profound disagreement with his assessment of the RCL, and his belief that his Narrative Lectionary rectifies the alleged problems with it.
The first comment made by Professor Jacobson is as follows:
"We actually think that we do a better job of aligning the Biblical story with the major festivals of the Church year. In the Revised Common Lectionary, you get the adult John the Baptist in Advent saying 'Jesus is coming', but that's not the Christmas story - its not the adult John the Baptist saying the adult Jesus is coming. So, what we have is the prophetic texts - the prophets longing with hope for the fulfillment of God's kingdom and the coming of the Holy One, and then the Holy One is born at Christmas, and we tell, then, the Biblical story in order...."
Is Advent merely a season where we prepare for the birth of the baby Jesus at Christmas? If so, his claim might have merit. However, Advent is not just about recalling the story of the baby Jesus coming into the world. If it were, I'm not sure why we would even have a separate Advent season - we would just have one six week Christmas season. Instead, Advent is also a season where we prepare for the return of Christ at the eschaton (a word which essentially means, to borrow a phrase from the rock group REM: 'the end of the world as we know it'). Therefore, contrary to Professor Jacobson's opinion, the readings where "the adult John Baptist is saying the adult Jesus is coming" make sense given the historical purpose and meaning behind the season of Advent:
"The eschataological orientation that is found in some of these early sources continues to be a significant element in the proclamation of the season of Advent. Indeed, the very name Adventus, 'coming,' 'approach,' suggests not only the coming of God into the world in Jesus but the approaching return of the risen Lord in all his heavenly splendor. Indeed, the Advent season and its hope should not be regarded purely or even primarily in terms of Christmas. It should not even be seen as an introduction to the Incarnation but rather as the completion of the work of redemption.
****
The season gives voice to the impatience God's people feel at least from time to time but which they may be hesitant to express to God. The purpose of Advent is to rouse once again in the people of the Church the anticipation of the End and of the great Day of the Lord, and to bid them to be prepared for it.
****
[T]he Church gives voice not only to the expectant joy of a bride or of a mother at the impending birth of her child. Mother Church expresses her deep longing for the coming of Christ in glory at the end of the ages. It is not a fearful dread that the Church wishes to instill in her members when through the psalms and hymns and readings and prayers she calls on us to think about the Parousia, the final coming, but rather she points us to the goal of our efforts to keep awake and to watch: unending union with Jesus Christ. All our work and study and prayer and living has one purpose and meaning: to bring us and all humanity into the kingdom of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. So the central prayer of Advent is the one word, the concluding prayer of the Bible, Maranatha, Come, Lord Jesus."
(From pp. 27-29 of "Journey Into the Heart of God: Living the Liturgical Year" by Philip Pfatteicher, a noted Lutheran liturgical theologian - these are just brief snippets of a extensive discussion about the Advent season found in the book, including a discussion about the RCL readings).
Therefore, instead of enhancing the Church's understanding of the liturgical year, the Narrative Lectionary diminishes it.
The second comment from the video that I want to address is this remark from Professor Jacobson: "The problem with the Revised Common Lectionary is that somebody in 1973 or 1972 decided what Scriptures you need in your church in 2016, 2018, 2020..."
"Somebody in 1973 or 1972"? The Revised Common Lectionary is not based on the fruits of one person's work in the early 1970s. As noted in my earlier article, the roots of the RCL are based on the three year lectionary developed in the Roman Catholic Church during the years following Vatican II. Following the conclusion of Vatican II, Biblical scholars came together to work on the three year lectionary, which resulted in the publication of Ordo Lectionum Missae in 1969. After over a decade of work by scholars from numerous Christian traditions, the Common Lectionary was published in 1983. Finally, after a trial period of the Common Lectionary, and revisions made by even more scholars, the Revised Common Lectionary was published in 1992. (For more information, go to this website: http://www.commontexts.org/).
So, the RCL is the fruit of the labor of multiple scholars from multiple Christian traditions over the course of several decades. It is not a perfect lectionary. But, it is a truly "catholic" (universal, not just Roman) lectionary. This was a sentiment expressed by ELCA Bishop Guy Erwin, who shared my earlier post on his Facebook page, and offered these words:
"This is lovely. Reading and reflecting on the RCL texts each week is for me a powerful witness to our unity as Christians. Not only the mainline churches but also the global Roman Catholic Church uses essentially the same Sunday texts, which means most of the world's Christians are focusing their hearts on the same scriptural truths each week.
No lectionary can ever be a substitute for the broader study of scripture--there simply aren't enough Sundays for that. What we hear ...on Sunday is an invitation to go deeper--to use more scripture to learn more--not an end point.
And though I believe every part of scripture is useful, I think the lectionary helps draw us away from the sense that the Bible was somehow put together and delivered to us in canonical order (and in English) by God, in order to tell us a smooth, consistent and complete story of everything God wants us to know. It is instead a wild and varied witness, and each part deserves to be considered on its own without being forced into a frame. Even the dissonances in the RCL help us be modest in the face of this sometimes mystifying collection of holy writings, and point us always back to Christ as the only unifier."
The first comment made by Professor Jacobson is as follows:
"We actually think that we do a better job of aligning the Biblical story with the major festivals of the Church year. In the Revised Common Lectionary, you get the adult John the Baptist in Advent saying 'Jesus is coming', but that's not the Christmas story - its not the adult John the Baptist saying the adult Jesus is coming. So, what we have is the prophetic texts - the prophets longing with hope for the fulfillment of God's kingdom and the coming of the Holy One, and then the Holy One is born at Christmas, and we tell, then, the Biblical story in order...."
Is Advent merely a season where we prepare for the birth of the baby Jesus at Christmas? If so, his claim might have merit. However, Advent is not just about recalling the story of the baby Jesus coming into the world. If it were, I'm not sure why we would even have a separate Advent season - we would just have one six week Christmas season. Instead, Advent is also a season where we prepare for the return of Christ at the eschaton (a word which essentially means, to borrow a phrase from the rock group REM: 'the end of the world as we know it'). Therefore, contrary to Professor Jacobson's opinion, the readings where "the adult John Baptist is saying the adult Jesus is coming" make sense given the historical purpose and meaning behind the season of Advent:
"The eschataological orientation that is found in some of these early sources continues to be a significant element in the proclamation of the season of Advent. Indeed, the very name Adventus, 'coming,' 'approach,' suggests not only the coming of God into the world in Jesus but the approaching return of the risen Lord in all his heavenly splendor. Indeed, the Advent season and its hope should not be regarded purely or even primarily in terms of Christmas. It should not even be seen as an introduction to the Incarnation but rather as the completion of the work of redemption.
****
The season gives voice to the impatience God's people feel at least from time to time but which they may be hesitant to express to God. The purpose of Advent is to rouse once again in the people of the Church the anticipation of the End and of the great Day of the Lord, and to bid them to be prepared for it.
****
[T]he Church gives voice not only to the expectant joy of a bride or of a mother at the impending birth of her child. Mother Church expresses her deep longing for the coming of Christ in glory at the end of the ages. It is not a fearful dread that the Church wishes to instill in her members when through the psalms and hymns and readings and prayers she calls on us to think about the Parousia, the final coming, but rather she points us to the goal of our efforts to keep awake and to watch: unending union with Jesus Christ. All our work and study and prayer and living has one purpose and meaning: to bring us and all humanity into the kingdom of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. So the central prayer of Advent is the one word, the concluding prayer of the Bible, Maranatha, Come, Lord Jesus."
(From pp. 27-29 of "Journey Into the Heart of God: Living the Liturgical Year" by Philip Pfatteicher, a noted Lutheran liturgical theologian - these are just brief snippets of a extensive discussion about the Advent season found in the book, including a discussion about the RCL readings).
Therefore, instead of enhancing the Church's understanding of the liturgical year, the Narrative Lectionary diminishes it.
The second comment from the video that I want to address is this remark from Professor Jacobson: "The problem with the Revised Common Lectionary is that somebody in 1973 or 1972 decided what Scriptures you need in your church in 2016, 2018, 2020..."
"Somebody in 1973 or 1972"? The Revised Common Lectionary is not based on the fruits of one person's work in the early 1970s. As noted in my earlier article, the roots of the RCL are based on the three year lectionary developed in the Roman Catholic Church during the years following Vatican II. Following the conclusion of Vatican II, Biblical scholars came together to work on the three year lectionary, which resulted in the publication of Ordo Lectionum Missae in 1969. After over a decade of work by scholars from numerous Christian traditions, the Common Lectionary was published in 1983. Finally, after a trial period of the Common Lectionary, and revisions made by even more scholars, the Revised Common Lectionary was published in 1992. (For more information, go to this website: http://www.commontexts.org/).
So, the RCL is the fruit of the labor of multiple scholars from multiple Christian traditions over the course of several decades. It is not a perfect lectionary. But, it is a truly "catholic" (universal, not just Roman) lectionary. This was a sentiment expressed by ELCA Bishop Guy Erwin, who shared my earlier post on his Facebook page, and offered these words:
"This is lovely. Reading and reflecting on the RCL texts each week is for me a powerful witness to our unity as Christians. Not only the mainline churches but also the global Roman Catholic Church uses essentially the same Sunday texts, which means most of the world's Christians are focusing their hearts on the same scriptural truths each week.
No lectionary can ever be a substitute for the broader study of scripture--there simply aren't enough Sundays for that. What we hear ...on Sunday is an invitation to go deeper--to use more scripture to learn more--not an end point.
And though I believe every part of scripture is useful, I think the lectionary helps draw us away from the sense that the Bible was somehow put together and delivered to us in canonical order (and in English) by God, in order to tell us a smooth, consistent and complete story of everything God wants us to know. It is instead a wild and varied witness, and each part deserves to be considered on its own without being forced into a frame. Even the dissonances in the RCL help us be modest in the face of this sometimes mystifying collection of holy writings, and point us always back to Christ as the only unifier."
Monday, May 2, 2016
Why I'm Sticking With the Revised Common Lectionary
Now and again, I reconnect with colleagues and look at the latest trends in the church via the sometimes controversial ELCA Clergy group on Facebook. One subject that comes up periodically within that group is the lectionary - specifically, the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL), which is the series of readings used by churches during Sunday worship services. The RCL has been an ecumenical success, as it is used widely by Lutherans, Episcopalians, Methodists, Presbyterians, and churches from other denominations. Even more importantly, from my perspective, it is largely in sync with the Catholic lectionary - therefore, even though we are not yet at the point where the Eucharist is shared, we at least share in the same readings from Sacred Scripture most weeks.
As I noted in my last post (back in March, sorry- I'll try to do better!), I am now 1/2 time at an Episcopal congregation, in addition to my 1/2 time call at a Lutheran church. Since the Episcopal Church values a common liturgy (hence, the Book of Common Prayer), it is a given that congregations use the RCL.
Based on what I read on the ELCA Clergy Facebook page, however, it appears that in the ELCA we are far from unity in our Scripture readings at worship. Some pastors feel free to change the readings at will, or develop their own sermon series, based on their own choice of readings. As a Lutheran with Benedictine tendencies, you can probably guess that I'm not a big fan of that practice.
Furthermore, a whole new lectionary has been developed by Luther Seminary, the Narrative Lectionary, and a sizable contingent of congregations appear to be using it based on what I am reading on the Facebook page. Why was a new lectionary developed when we already have one that has been widely used in the ELCA and in our ecumenical partner churches? This is the reason given:
"Though the Revised Common Lectionary has united the church in its reading of scripture and has given much-needed structure, it doesn’t present scripture -- especially the Old Testament -- in a way that helps people to become fluent in the first language of faith. The Narrative Lectionary is an attempt to take nine months to do just that."
When I read this statement, it made me wonder - what is the primary purpose of Scripture reading during worship? Are Scripture readings and sermons supposed to be like Bible studies?
No. The purpose of Scripture reading during worship is to proclaim the mystery of the faith and the presence of Christ in our midst.
Through the magic of Google, I found an article called "Explaining the lectionary for readers", which contains a beautiful explanation of how and why the Catholic (and therefore, RCL) lectionary readings are put together. Although it is from a Catholic website, this language strikes me as being very much Lutheran as well, with its primary focus being on the proclamation of Christ:
"[W]e can think of the readings at the Eucharist as a series of concentric circles:
• at the centre is the gospel which is a recollection and celebration of the mystery of Jesus, the Anointed One;
• this recollection is given added dimensions by readings from the Old Testament: the Law (such as Genesis or Exodus), the prophets (such as Amos or Joel), the Psalms, and the Writings (such as the Book of Wisdom or the Books of the Maccabees);
• then there are the readings of the great early Christian teachers’ letters to churches, such as those of Paul.
• this recollection is given added dimensions by readings from the Old Testament: the Law (such as Genesis or Exodus), the prophets (such as Amos or Joel), the Psalms, and the Writings (such as the Book of Wisdom or the Books of the Maccabees);
• then there are the readings of the great early Christian teachers’ letters to churches, such as those of Paul.
The purpose of the readings is that, in the words of the General Instruction on the Lectionary, in accordance with ancient practice there should be a ‘re-establishing [of] the use of Scripture in every celebration of the liturgy’ and that this should be seen as ‘the unfolding mystery of Christ’ being ‘recalled during the course of the liturgical year’
*****
If the readings at the Eucharist are there to help unfold the mystery of Jesus Christ, then several important consequences flow from this:
• We are not reading the Scriptures simply to get a knowledge of the Bible.
• We are not reading these passages because many Christians consider reading the Bible a valuable activity in itself.
• This action is not part of a Bible Study, nor should it resemble the classroom atmosphere of a study group.
•The focus of all our reading is not an abstract understanding of the scriptural text – such as would be carried out by a biblical exegete in a theology course – but to see what each portion of text (whether from the gospel, the Old Testament, the psalm, or the epistle) reveals to us about the Paschal Mystery.
• Our reading is not book-focused; it is not text-focused; it is focused on Jesus as the Christ.
• The gospel is the primary focus on the mystery of the Christ in each celebration; the Old Testament and Psalm relate to it as background, example, context, or elaboration; the epistle is a separate attempt to focus on the mystery of the Christ through the help of early Christian teachers.
• The readings are to help us encounter the person of Jesus Christ in whose presence and name we have gathered.
• We are not reading these passages because many Christians consider reading the Bible a valuable activity in itself.
• This action is not part of a Bible Study, nor should it resemble the classroom atmosphere of a study group.
•The focus of all our reading is not an abstract understanding of the scriptural text – such as would be carried out by a biblical exegete in a theology course – but to see what each portion of text (whether from the gospel, the Old Testament, the psalm, or the epistle) reveals to us about the Paschal Mystery.
• Our reading is not book-focused; it is not text-focused; it is focused on Jesus as the Christ.
• The gospel is the primary focus on the mystery of the Christ in each celebration; the Old Testament and Psalm relate to it as background, example, context, or elaboration; the epistle is a separate attempt to focus on the mystery of the Christ through the help of early Christian teachers.
• The readings are to help us encounter the person of Jesus Christ in whose presence and name we have gathered.
‘The word of God unceasingly calls to mind and extends the plan of salvation, which achieves its fullest expression in the liturgy. The liturgical celebration becomes therefore the continuing, complete, and effective presentation of God’s word’."
During worship, Christ is truly present in our midst. Therefore, don't we want our readings to be aimed at proclaiming that mystery in union with the Body of Christ around the world?
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
Life Changes, Daily Prayer, and Inner Spiritual Renewal
As you've noticed, it has been awhile since I've posted here. Lots of things have been going on in life - the primary one being my recent vocational changes. After 20 years of practicing law full-time, I've reduced my practice to part-time. I'm still the 1/2 time pastor of St. Luke Lutheran in Sioux City, Iowa (where I have been since 2012), and in addition that role, I am now the part-time Priest-In-Charge of St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Sioux City, which is located in a beautiful building built in the 1800s, just north of downtown.
For those of you not familiar with ELCA Lutheran church polity, about 15 years ago, a full communion agreement was approved by the ELCA and Episcopal Churches to allow for this sort of thing. So, at 8:30 a.m. on Sundays, I'm Father Jay, leading services according to the Book of Common Prayer, and at 10:00 a.m., I'm back to being Pastor Jay at St. Luke. An article in our local paper used my story as an example of how churches are dealing with reduced clergy numbers: http://siouxcityjournal.com/lifestyles/faith-and-values/religion/many-churches-face-challenge-of-declining-clergy-numbers/article_62358c5d-4fb9-52e5-b576-5dfb64cf6cdb.html
In the meanwhile, I'm still trying to follow the Benedictine path of daily prayer. Admittedly, with my vocations and family, it is still a struggle. But, it is a worthwhile struggle, and a journey I am committed to continuing. Why? Well, I suspect the Holy Spirit has something to do with that, but if you're looking for a rationale, here is a great article I just saw about why daily prayer is so important. It is written from a Catholic perspective, but the reasoning is essentially applicable to anyone who feels led by the Spirit to a deeper prayer life: http://www.philipkosloski.com/5-reasons-to-pray-the-divine-office-daily/
Finally, I'm nearing the end of my two year course in spiritual direction offered by the Benedictine sisters in Yankton, South Dakota. Last year in the course, we read "The Cloud of Unknowing", which is an anonymous medieval text on the renewal of the interior spiritual life through contemplative prayer. This Lent, I've been re-reading the book, along with a contemporary devotional book based on The Cloud, "The Loving Search for God" by William Meninger, a Trappist monk. Today, I came across a passage written by Meninger which says a lot in just a few sentences about our daily walk with God:
"A real Christian, as opposed to a cultural Christian, is not one who never sins. He or she is one who, having sinned, is willing to reach out and find his or her sufficiency in Christ and start over again - today!" (p. 31).
For those of you not familiar with ELCA Lutheran church polity, about 15 years ago, a full communion agreement was approved by the ELCA and Episcopal Churches to allow for this sort of thing. So, at 8:30 a.m. on Sundays, I'm Father Jay, leading services according to the Book of Common Prayer, and at 10:00 a.m., I'm back to being Pastor Jay at St. Luke. An article in our local paper used my story as an example of how churches are dealing with reduced clergy numbers: http://siouxcityjournal.com/lifestyles/faith-and-values/religion/many-churches-face-challenge-of-declining-clergy-numbers/article_62358c5d-4fb9-52e5-b576-5dfb64cf6cdb.html
In the meanwhile, I'm still trying to follow the Benedictine path of daily prayer. Admittedly, with my vocations and family, it is still a struggle. But, it is a worthwhile struggle, and a journey I am committed to continuing. Why? Well, I suspect the Holy Spirit has something to do with that, but if you're looking for a rationale, here is a great article I just saw about why daily prayer is so important. It is written from a Catholic perspective, but the reasoning is essentially applicable to anyone who feels led by the Spirit to a deeper prayer life: http://www.philipkosloski.com/5-reasons-to-pray-the-divine-office-daily/
Finally, I'm nearing the end of my two year course in spiritual direction offered by the Benedictine sisters in Yankton, South Dakota. Last year in the course, we read "The Cloud of Unknowing", which is an anonymous medieval text on the renewal of the interior spiritual life through contemplative prayer. This Lent, I've been re-reading the book, along with a contemporary devotional book based on The Cloud, "The Loving Search for God" by William Meninger, a Trappist monk. Today, I came across a passage written by Meninger which says a lot in just a few sentences about our daily walk with God:
"A real Christian, as opposed to a cultural Christian, is not one who never sins. He or she is one who, having sinned, is willing to reach out and find his or her sufficiency in Christ and start over again - today!" (p. 31).
Saturday, October 17, 2015
A Prayer for Fall
The colors of the fall season this year have been particularly beautiful at times here in Western Iowa, as can be seen from a couple of pictures I took this past week at my congregation, St. Luke, this past week.
In my daily prayer book ("For All the Saints", published by the American Lutheran Publicity Bureau - probably the closest thing Lutherans have to a monastic breviary), there was a beautiful prayer yesterday for the fall season from Wilhelm Loehe, a 19th century German Lutheran pastor and theologian who was instrumental in establishing churches in America, as well as restoring elements of our Catholic heritage to our Lutheran tradition:
"Blessed be the Lord! He hath done wonderful things, and blessed is His Holy Name, Who, now, that the summer is past, has brought me in joy to behold the blessed autumn days. Lord, I am not worthy of all Thy goodness and mercy which Thou hast again showered upon me. Most humbly and heartily I beseech Thee, O Loving Father, turn away all dangerous storms and infectious diseases, and so bless me in my participation in Thy bounty, that with health of body, peace of mind, and a good conscience, I may thankfully enjoy Thy gifts, and use what Thou hast given me unto Thy glory and the promotion of my fellowman's happiness, and unceasingly bring to Thee acceptable fruits of my life. In these days of the ingathering of the vintage, let me rejoice in Him, Who alone truly treads the wine press, the beloved Redeemer, Jesus Christ, With the fading and falling leaf, cause me to remember my mortality, and to prepare while it is yet time for a blessed end; to leave this inconstant, passing world with joy, whenever it so pleases Three; and to enter Thy glory, there, with angels and all the company of the elect, to evermore laud, praise, and thank Thee for all thy benefits. Amen."
Saturday, December 13, 2014
Santa Lucia
I often lament that Lutherans and members of other churches that arose at the time of the Reformation have forgotten some of the traditions that help us to remember the saints who have gone before us. Among some Lutheran churches, though, today is an exception to that trend, as traditions associated with the feast of Santa Lucia (St. Lucy) remain popular among many Lutherans, particularly in Scandinavia, as well as here in America among churches of Swedish descent.
According to the tradition, Lucia (whose name means "light") was martyred in Sicily around 310 A.D., during one of the last major periods of Christian persecution before Constantine became emperor and legalized Christianity a few years later. Several centuries later, when Christianity spread to Northern Europe, her story and name took on special meaning there, because she represents light during the darkest time of year, around the winter solstice.
To this day in Scandinavia, she is remembered on her feast day through festivals where a person - oftentimes a young girl - will be dressed in a white dress and red sash with a crown or wreath of candles on her head. The person representing Lucia will sometimes also carry rolls and cookies in procession as songs are sung.
As I have written about before, the number of people who still attend worship in Scandinavia has dwindled drastically in recent decades. But, there are still signs of light in the darkness, and the continued celebration of Santa Lucia is one of them. Here is a video of a beautiful rendition of "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" sung at the Lutheran Cathedral in Stockholm, where you can see some of the traditions associated with the Santa Lucia festival.
According to the tradition, Lucia (whose name means "light") was martyred in Sicily around 310 A.D., during one of the last major periods of Christian persecution before Constantine became emperor and legalized Christianity a few years later. Several centuries later, when Christianity spread to Northern Europe, her story and name took on special meaning there, because she represents light during the darkest time of year, around the winter solstice.
To this day in Scandinavia, she is remembered on her feast day through festivals where a person - oftentimes a young girl - will be dressed in a white dress and red sash with a crown or wreath of candles on her head. The person representing Lucia will sometimes also carry rolls and cookies in procession as songs are sung.
As I have written about before, the number of people who still attend worship in Scandinavia has dwindled drastically in recent decades. But, there are still signs of light in the darkness, and the continued celebration of Santa Lucia is one of them. Here is a video of a beautiful rendition of "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" sung at the Lutheran Cathedral in Stockholm, where you can see some of the traditions associated with the Santa Lucia festival.
Friday, November 14, 2014
Luther on Monasticism
Anyone who is familiar with the writings of Martin Luther knows that he did not hide his disdain for the monastic lifestyle from which he came. Many people take that criticism to mean that Luther was advocating for the complete removal of monasticism from Christianity. A careful reading of Luther does not support that conclusion, though. For, in the midst of his vitriolic writings directed against the medieval monastic institutions, you can find quotes like these:
"And so, if you vow to take up the religious life, and if you live with men of like mind, with a clear conscience that in monasticism you seek nothing to your advantage in your relationship with God, but because either your situation has brought you to embrace this kind of life, or it appeared to be the best way of life for you, without your thinking thereby that you are better than he who takes a wife or takes up farming, then in that case you are neither wrong to take vows nor wrong to live in this way, insofar as the propriety of the vow is concerned." (From "Judgment of Martin Luther on Monastic Vows", written in 1521, and found in Luther's Works, Vol. 44, page 304).
In that same writing, Luther had nothing but praise for St. Anthony, the founder of monasticism:
"St. Anthony, the very father of monks and the founder of monastic life, most wisely and in a Christian manner believed and taught that absolutely nothing should be observed which did not have the authority of Scripture. He knew absolutely nothing about monastic vows and ceremonial of this kind, but willingly chose to live as a hermit, and of his own will chose to live unmarried, after the pattern of the gospel. Pursuing human wisdom, his successors made this way of life into a vow, into a matter of obligation and compulsion. This way of life is but a specious copy and a mistaken observance of the rule of Anthony, which is the rule of Christ." (Luther's Works, Vol. 44, p. 253).
These passages make it apparent that Luther did not seek to destroy monasticism, but to reform it, and to have it return to its roots according to the way of the early monastics. His criticisms were not directed at the very existence of monasticism, but at the system of vows that had developed, and at the medieval notion that monasticism was a superior form of life compared to other vocations, such as family life and other forms of labor.
Unfortunately, churches that are the heirs of the Reformation have largely forgotten that the rule of St. Anthony is the rule of Christ. But, as I have noted elsewhere, the seeds are being sown for a new form of monasticism, based on the Gospel and the ancient forms of monasticism. It is my belief that this new/old form of monasticism will play a crucial role in the promulgation of the faith in our increasingly secular, post-Christendom context.
"And so, if you vow to take up the religious life, and if you live with men of like mind, with a clear conscience that in monasticism you seek nothing to your advantage in your relationship with God, but because either your situation has brought you to embrace this kind of life, or it appeared to be the best way of life for you, without your thinking thereby that you are better than he who takes a wife or takes up farming, then in that case you are neither wrong to take vows nor wrong to live in this way, insofar as the propriety of the vow is concerned." (From "Judgment of Martin Luther on Monastic Vows", written in 1521, and found in Luther's Works, Vol. 44, page 304).
In that same writing, Luther had nothing but praise for St. Anthony, the founder of monasticism:
"St. Anthony, the very father of monks and the founder of monastic life, most wisely and in a Christian manner believed and taught that absolutely nothing should be observed which did not have the authority of Scripture. He knew absolutely nothing about monastic vows and ceremonial of this kind, but willingly chose to live as a hermit, and of his own will chose to live unmarried, after the pattern of the gospel. Pursuing human wisdom, his successors made this way of life into a vow, into a matter of obligation and compulsion. This way of life is but a specious copy and a mistaken observance of the rule of Anthony, which is the rule of Christ." (Luther's Works, Vol. 44, p. 253).
These passages make it apparent that Luther did not seek to destroy monasticism, but to reform it, and to have it return to its roots according to the way of the early monastics. His criticisms were not directed at the very existence of monasticism, but at the system of vows that had developed, and at the medieval notion that monasticism was a superior form of life compared to other vocations, such as family life and other forms of labor.
Unfortunately, churches that are the heirs of the Reformation have largely forgotten that the rule of St. Anthony is the rule of Christ. But, as I have noted elsewhere, the seeds are being sown for a new form of monasticism, based on the Gospel and the ancient forms of monasticism. It is my belief that this new/old form of monasticism will play a crucial role in the promulgation of the faith in our increasingly secular, post-Christendom context.
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Lutheran Monastery Virtual Tour - A Return to Germany
Last year, I embarked on what I called a "Lutheran Monastery Virtual Tour", where I wrote about several monasteries and convents in the Lutheran tradition. Judging by what Google statistics tell me, those posts are the most consistently popular posts on this blog, and each week, people arrive here by typing phrases such as "Lutheran nuns" and "Lutheran monks" in their search engine. You can click on the "Lutheran Monastery Virtual Tour" tag at the bottom of
this post to see all the previous stops on the tour.
During the Tour, I made several stops in Germany, where it appears there are more functioning Lutheran monasteries and convents than any other country. A few months ago, the "Lutheran Forum" periodical published an essay by David Zersen, entitled "Lutheran Convents in Germany". Of course, the article piqued my interest, and it offers fascinating insights into the history and current status of Lutheran religious sisters in Germany. (The following image is from the Lutheran Forum website - http://www.lutheranforum.org/extras/lutheran-convents-in-germany/ - you can see more pictures by going to the link):
Zersen's article contains the following summary of the state of German Lutheran convents, which summarizes why I think it is important for Lutheran monasteries and convents to continue their unique witness within our tradition:
"Today's Lutheran convents, challenged by changing social structures and new spiritualities, continue to explore the dimensions of the faith in both interaction and silence. Margot Käßmann, former presiding bishop of the Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland, notes how many people search for faith and meaning in esoteric religions, all the while forgetting that meditation and mysticism are not foreign to Lutheranism. And Dorothea Wendebourg insists that by claiming their baptism and knowing that salvation is complete through faith in Christ, women will in freedom continue to choose forms of discipleship including communal life. The Lutheran churches in German want to nurture this choice that has been so meaningful to women for almost five centuries. Convents still have much to offer. Uda von der Nahmer, abbess at Stift Fischbeck, remarks, 'Tradition involves passing on the fire, not worshiping the ashes.'"
(You can read the rest of Zersen's article here: http://www.lutheranforum.org/extras/2014-1_38-41_Zersen_Lutheran-Convents-In-Germany.pdf).
During the Tour, I made several stops in Germany, where it appears there are more functioning Lutheran monasteries and convents than any other country. A few months ago, the "Lutheran Forum" periodical published an essay by David Zersen, entitled "Lutheran Convents in Germany". Of course, the article piqued my interest, and it offers fascinating insights into the history and current status of Lutheran religious sisters in Germany. (The following image is from the Lutheran Forum website - http://www.lutheranforum.org/extras/lutheran-convents-in-germany/ - you can see more pictures by going to the link):
Zersen's article contains the following summary of the state of German Lutheran convents, which summarizes why I think it is important for Lutheran monasteries and convents to continue their unique witness within our tradition:
"Today's Lutheran convents, challenged by changing social structures and new spiritualities, continue to explore the dimensions of the faith in both interaction and silence. Margot Käßmann, former presiding bishop of the Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland, notes how many people search for faith and meaning in esoteric religions, all the while forgetting that meditation and mysticism are not foreign to Lutheranism. And Dorothea Wendebourg insists that by claiming their baptism and knowing that salvation is complete through faith in Christ, women will in freedom continue to choose forms of discipleship including communal life. The Lutheran churches in German want to nurture this choice that has been so meaningful to women for almost five centuries. Convents still have much to offer. Uda von der Nahmer, abbess at Stift Fischbeck, remarks, 'Tradition involves passing on the fire, not worshiping the ashes.'"
(You can read the rest of Zersen's article here: http://www.lutheranforum.org/extras/2014-1_38-41_Zersen_Lutheran-Convents-In-Germany.pdf).
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Religious Life and the Revival of the Church
I came across an excellent blog post today from an Episcopal priest (Fr. Robert Hendrickson) which says what I have been trying to say from the inception of this blog, albeit from a Lutheran perspective. Here are some of the key statements, relating to the renewal of the Church via a reinvigorated diaconate and neo-monastic movement:
First, he explains the issue and the goal: "[T]here are many, many people looking to have their faith be not something apart from the rest of their life or a distraction amidst a panoply of distractions. They are seeking a way for their faith to form their life and for their life to matter in the deepest ways possible..... It seems to me that we might be entering a cultural moment in which we should consider the Religious life (monastic vocations) and the diaconate as the ideal means to form leaders equipped to engage the realities of contemporary society..... I firmly believe that intentional Religious Communities and a robust Diaconate are key to the rejuvenation of a vibrant Christian presence all across the country. The need is for missionary communities of prayer, service, and sacrificial giving."
Next, Fr. Hendrickson sets forth why a robust religious life is needed for the renewal of the Church: "This work begins with daily prayer and the Sacraments – but the churches that serve as the heart of this kind of disciplined approach to engaging the Holy would not be the final destination but the launching point for those trained and equipped to be the presence of Christ for those they meet and serve. I imagine local Churches serving as a sort of mother ship where people are fed and trained for missionary service...... These deacons would serve at the heart of local communities of those taking religious vows. Whether full-time, professed monastics or part of neo-monastic communities we should also be looking for those in our communities who are yearning for a deeper connection to other faithful people and are longing for their faith to ground their approach to work, relationship, and service. These kinds of communities could then become the heart of congregations longing for connection to the communities around them but fearful or unsure of taking the next step."
And then, he states his conclusion: "Ultimately, it will be these servant-leaders who are creatively making Christ known in the communities around us who will re-center the Church and draw others to come and see."
(The rest of the article can be read here - http://thesubdeansstall.org/2014/07/16/the-diaconate-and-lay-religious-orders-the-shape-of-future-ministry/)
I agree 100% with Fr. Hendrickson's recommendations. The perplexing thing for me, as a part of the ELCA, is that I am not quite sure how we can fit those recommendations into our existing paradigm for ministry. As for the diaconate, our existing diaconal ministries are somewhat jumbled between three different lay orders (Diaconal Ministers, Associates in Ministry, and Deaconesses - I understand that there is a movement afoot to reform this, but I am not sure when this might take place, or what the result will be). But, at least we have an existing diaconal ministry which can be reformed and used to further the revival of the Church.
As to the religious life, though, as I have long lamented, Lutherans have a long way to go. Yes, there are some Lutheran religious communities around the world, which I have tried to promote (http://benedictinelutheran.blogspot.com/search/label/Lutheran%20Monastery%20Virtual%20Tour). There are also other movements which offer intriguing possibilities for the restoration of the religious life in American Lutheranism, such as the Order of Lutheran Franciscans (http://www.lutheranfranciscans.org/), but as of yet, these movements are not widely known among rank-and-file Lutherans.
Those of us in Lutheranism who believe that a renewal of the religious life will be an important part of proclaiming the Gospel in a post-Christendom world are swimming against the tide of nearly 500 years of sentiment which is wary of (if not outright antagonistic to) the religious life. Unlike Catholics, Orthodox, and Anglicans (at least since the 19th Century Oxford Movement), intentional communities of daily prayer are outside of the framework of reference of what institutional Lutheranism thinks "church" should look like.
I am often reminded of how many Lutherans are unfamiliar with daily corporate prayer and the religious life when I am on Twitter, where I try to promote those things through my personal account (@PastorJayDenne) and through praying some of the daily offices via @Virtual_Abbey. While some fellow Lutherans (both clergy and laity) follow and interact with those accounts, sometimes it seems as if I interact more with Catholics, Orthodox, and Anglicans than with Lutherans. I saw a glaring example of this the other day, when I noticed that at the Virtual Abbey, Archbishop Kurtz (of the Archdiocese of Louisville, and the President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) "retweeted" my morning prayers, but I have yet to see any Lutheran bishops follow or respond. (A caveat - my own Synod Bishop has been highly supportive, but I don't see him much on Twitter).
Does this mean that I am tilting at proverbial windmills a la Don Quixote? Only time (and the Holy Spirit, of course) will tell. But, I will keep trying, as I firmly believe in what Fr. Hendrickson said:
"We need passionate and powerful advocates for Christ in the communities around us – we need deacons and lay religious equipped for holy living. They can be, in our communities, the kinds of Christians that people never knew existed whose concern is not institutional maintenance or Church membership but is a faith lived so eloquently and authentically that their very being is evangelical.....They could be an inspiration for the congregation’s deepening sense of their own vocation as evangelists and servants."
First, he explains the issue and the goal: "[T]here are many, many people looking to have their faith be not something apart from the rest of their life or a distraction amidst a panoply of distractions. They are seeking a way for their faith to form their life and for their life to matter in the deepest ways possible..... It seems to me that we might be entering a cultural moment in which we should consider the Religious life (monastic vocations) and the diaconate as the ideal means to form leaders equipped to engage the realities of contemporary society..... I firmly believe that intentional Religious Communities and a robust Diaconate are key to the rejuvenation of a vibrant Christian presence all across the country. The need is for missionary communities of prayer, service, and sacrificial giving."
Next, Fr. Hendrickson sets forth why a robust religious life is needed for the renewal of the Church: "This work begins with daily prayer and the Sacraments – but the churches that serve as the heart of this kind of disciplined approach to engaging the Holy would not be the final destination but the launching point for those trained and equipped to be the presence of Christ for those they meet and serve. I imagine local Churches serving as a sort of mother ship where people are fed and trained for missionary service...... These deacons would serve at the heart of local communities of those taking religious vows. Whether full-time, professed monastics or part of neo-monastic communities we should also be looking for those in our communities who are yearning for a deeper connection to other faithful people and are longing for their faith to ground their approach to work, relationship, and service. These kinds of communities could then become the heart of congregations longing for connection to the communities around them but fearful or unsure of taking the next step."
And then, he states his conclusion: "Ultimately, it will be these servant-leaders who are creatively making Christ known in the communities around us who will re-center the Church and draw others to come and see."
(The rest of the article can be read here - http://thesubdeansstall.org/2014/07/16/the-diaconate-and-lay-religious-orders-the-shape-of-future-ministry/)
I agree 100% with Fr. Hendrickson's recommendations. The perplexing thing for me, as a part of the ELCA, is that I am not quite sure how we can fit those recommendations into our existing paradigm for ministry. As for the diaconate, our existing diaconal ministries are somewhat jumbled between three different lay orders (Diaconal Ministers, Associates in Ministry, and Deaconesses - I understand that there is a movement afoot to reform this, but I am not sure when this might take place, or what the result will be). But, at least we have an existing diaconal ministry which can be reformed and used to further the revival of the Church.
As to the religious life, though, as I have long lamented, Lutherans have a long way to go. Yes, there are some Lutheran religious communities around the world, which I have tried to promote (http://benedictinelutheran.blogspot.com/search/label/Lutheran%20Monastery%20Virtual%20Tour). There are also other movements which offer intriguing possibilities for the restoration of the religious life in American Lutheranism, such as the Order of Lutheran Franciscans (http://www.lutheranfranciscans.org/), but as of yet, these movements are not widely known among rank-and-file Lutherans.
Those of us in Lutheranism who believe that a renewal of the religious life will be an important part of proclaiming the Gospel in a post-Christendom world are swimming against the tide of nearly 500 years of sentiment which is wary of (if not outright antagonistic to) the religious life. Unlike Catholics, Orthodox, and Anglicans (at least since the 19th Century Oxford Movement), intentional communities of daily prayer are outside of the framework of reference of what institutional Lutheranism thinks "church" should look like.
I am often reminded of how many Lutherans are unfamiliar with daily corporate prayer and the religious life when I am on Twitter, where I try to promote those things through my personal account (@PastorJayDenne) and through praying some of the daily offices via @Virtual_Abbey. While some fellow Lutherans (both clergy and laity) follow and interact with those accounts, sometimes it seems as if I interact more with Catholics, Orthodox, and Anglicans than with Lutherans. I saw a glaring example of this the other day, when I noticed that at the Virtual Abbey, Archbishop Kurtz (of the Archdiocese of Louisville, and the President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) "retweeted" my morning prayers, but I have yet to see any Lutheran bishops follow or respond. (A caveat - my own Synod Bishop has been highly supportive, but I don't see him much on Twitter).
Does this mean that I am tilting at proverbial windmills a la Don Quixote? Only time (and the Holy Spirit, of course) will tell. But, I will keep trying, as I firmly believe in what Fr. Hendrickson said:
"We need passionate and powerful advocates for Christ in the communities around us – we need deacons and lay religious equipped for holy living. They can be, in our communities, the kinds of Christians that people never knew existed whose concern is not institutional maintenance or Church membership but is a faith lived so eloquently and authentically that their very being is evangelical.....They could be an inspiration for the congregation’s deepening sense of their own vocation as evangelists and servants."
Monday, April 28, 2014
Love Alone (Monday Morning in the Desert)
Churches that are descended from the Reformation like to use the word "alone" a lot - "faith alone", "grace alone", "Scripture alone", "Christ alone", and "glory to God alone". During online discussions about the Reformation, I've seen these five "solas" (Latin word for "alone") critiqued in a sarcastic, yet perceptive fashion: If these things are supposed to be "alone", why are there five of them?
Well, I'm going to muddy the water further through this morning's quote from a modern day Desert Father, Elder George of Mount Athos, by adding another "alone" - "Love alone". Elder George said:
"Love all your fellow men, even your enemies. This is the most basic thing. Always love not only those who love us, but also those who hate us. Let us forgive them and love them all even if they have done us the greatest evil; then we are truly children of God. Then our own sins are also forgiven.... Always preach love. This is the most basic law of God: love and love alone."
(From p. 189 of "Precious Vessels of the Holy Spirit: The Lives and Counsels of Contemporary Elders of Greece" by Herman Middleton).
Elder George's words are directly related to the words of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount: "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." (Matthew 5:43-44). And, of course, Jesus directly invoked love when he answered the lawyer's question regarding which commandment was the greatest: "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’" (Matthew 22:37-39).
Those words seem so simple, but are so hard to follow. Pray for our enemies? It is much easier to curse them. Love our enemies? It is much easier to retaliate against them. Love our neighbor? It is much easier to love ourselves.
Which message sells better in politics? It is much easier for politicians to stand up in front of a cheering crowd and preach hatred of our enemies rather than love of our enemies. Sometimes, the language and sacraments of Christianity are distorted in order to do so (http://thefederalist.com/2014/04/27/no-sarah-palin-baptism-isnt-a-good-punchline-for-a-terrorist-joke/). In what is perhaps the most famous attack ad in history, the word "love" was distorted through its use in a message implying "vote for me, because the other candidate will start a nuclear war" ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDTBnsqxZ3k).
"Love alone" may not be one of the slogans of the Reformation, and it will probably never be a popular political slogan. But if I were to be given the task of describing the message of Jesus in two words, those might be the two words I would select.
Well, I'm going to muddy the water further through this morning's quote from a modern day Desert Father, Elder George of Mount Athos, by adding another "alone" - "Love alone". Elder George said:
"Love all your fellow men, even your enemies. This is the most basic thing. Always love not only those who love us, but also those who hate us. Let us forgive them and love them all even if they have done us the greatest evil; then we are truly children of God. Then our own sins are also forgiven.... Always preach love. This is the most basic law of God: love and love alone."
(From p. 189 of "Precious Vessels of the Holy Spirit: The Lives and Counsels of Contemporary Elders of Greece" by Herman Middleton).
Elder George's words are directly related to the words of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount: "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." (Matthew 5:43-44). And, of course, Jesus directly invoked love when he answered the lawyer's question regarding which commandment was the greatest: "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’" (Matthew 22:37-39).
Those words seem so simple, but are so hard to follow. Pray for our enemies? It is much easier to curse them. Love our enemies? It is much easier to retaliate against them. Love our neighbor? It is much easier to love ourselves.
Which message sells better in politics? It is much easier for politicians to stand up in front of a cheering crowd and preach hatred of our enemies rather than love of our enemies. Sometimes, the language and sacraments of Christianity are distorted in order to do so (http://thefederalist.com/2014/04/27/no-sarah-palin-baptism-isnt-a-good-punchline-for-a-terrorist-joke/). In what is perhaps the most famous attack ad in history, the word "love" was distorted through its use in a message implying "vote for me, because the other candidate will start a nuclear war" ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDTBnsqxZ3k).
"Love alone" may not be one of the slogans of the Reformation, and it will probably never be a popular political slogan. But if I were to be given the task of describing the message of Jesus in two words, those might be the two words I would select.
Saturday, April 26, 2014
A Mystical Renewal
One year ago this month, I started this blog, not knowing if anyone would read it. While the number of people reading this blog isn't huge, I think there has been enough traffic to this site, and corresponding positive feedback, to verify something that I have suspected for awhile now: There is a desire among Lutherans, and members of similar traditions which arose at the time of the Reformation, to explore spiritual practices that have been minimized in our churches, even though they are a good and helpful part of our Catholic heritage.
In short, I will describe that desire as a hunger for mysticism.
Mysticism has become a dirty word in certain Protestant and Lutheran circles because there are uses of the word which are contrary to our beliefs, including some uses which are contrary to Christianity altogether.
Mysticism can mean spiritual beliefs which blur the lines between the Creator and the created, and spiritual practices which lead to a belief that the best place to find God is by looking into yourself. I'm not talking about that kind of mysticism.
Mysticism can also lead to a mindset which focuses on what we do for God, instead of what God has done for us. I'm not talking about that kind of mysticism, either.
When I am talking about mysticism, I simply mean an awareness, through faith, of God's presence in our lives. I believe that kind of mysticism is fully compatible with Christianity, as well as Lutheranism. In fact, I would say that not only is that kind of mysticism compatible with our faith - it is necessary for our faith to be sustained.
The beliefs and practices I have written about on this blog have been related to that form of mysticism. For example, the Jesus Prayer, lectio divina, and the daily rhythm of prayers and readings (found in the Rule of St. Benedict, and included in the lectionaries and daily prayer services in our Lutheran worship books as well as the Book of Common Prayer) help us to give thanks to God our Father, focus our attention on Christ and him crucified, and enhance our awareness of the presence of the Holy Spirit in and around us.
After all, Martin Luther himself had a profound mystical experience (commonly referred to as the "tower experience") after engaging in a period of meditation on Scripture, akin to lectio divina:
“The words ‘righteous’ and ‘righteousness of God’ struck my conscience like lightning. When I heard them I was exceedingly terrified. If God is righteous [I thought], he must punish. But when by God’s grace I pondered, in the tower and heated room of this building, over the words, ‘He who through faith is righteous shall live’ [Rom. 1:17] and ‘the righteousness of God’ [Rom. 3:21], I soon came to the conclusion that if we, as righteous men, ought to live from faith and if the righteousness of God contribute to the salvation of all who believe, then salvation won’t be our merit but God’s mercy. My spirit was thereby cheered. For it’s by the righteousness of God that we’re justified and saved through Christ. These words [which had before terrified me] now became more pleasing to me. The Holy Spirit unveiled the Scriptures for me in this tower.”
(From Luther's Works Volume 54: Table Talk).
(The tower of the Augustinian monastery in Wittenberg where Luther was a monk).
So, thank you for accompanying me on my journey into blogging this past year. With God's grace and help, I look forward to further exploration of the kind of Christian spiritual practices and beliefs which might help our awareness of God's presence in our lives.
In short, I will describe that desire as a hunger for mysticism.
Mysticism has become a dirty word in certain Protestant and Lutheran circles because there are uses of the word which are contrary to our beliefs, including some uses which are contrary to Christianity altogether.
Mysticism can mean spiritual beliefs which blur the lines between the Creator and the created, and spiritual practices which lead to a belief that the best place to find God is by looking into yourself. I'm not talking about that kind of mysticism.
Mysticism can also lead to a mindset which focuses on what we do for God, instead of what God has done for us. I'm not talking about that kind of mysticism, either.
When I am talking about mysticism, I simply mean an awareness, through faith, of God's presence in our lives. I believe that kind of mysticism is fully compatible with Christianity, as well as Lutheranism. In fact, I would say that not only is that kind of mysticism compatible with our faith - it is necessary for our faith to be sustained.
The beliefs and practices I have written about on this blog have been related to that form of mysticism. For example, the Jesus Prayer, lectio divina, and the daily rhythm of prayers and readings (found in the Rule of St. Benedict, and included in the lectionaries and daily prayer services in our Lutheran worship books as well as the Book of Common Prayer) help us to give thanks to God our Father, focus our attention on Christ and him crucified, and enhance our awareness of the presence of the Holy Spirit in and around us.
After all, Martin Luther himself had a profound mystical experience (commonly referred to as the "tower experience") after engaging in a period of meditation on Scripture, akin to lectio divina:
“The words ‘righteous’ and ‘righteousness of God’ struck my conscience like lightning. When I heard them I was exceedingly terrified. If God is righteous [I thought], he must punish. But when by God’s grace I pondered, in the tower and heated room of this building, over the words, ‘He who through faith is righteous shall live’ [Rom. 1:17] and ‘the righteousness of God’ [Rom. 3:21], I soon came to the conclusion that if we, as righteous men, ought to live from faith and if the righteousness of God contribute to the salvation of all who believe, then salvation won’t be our merit but God’s mercy. My spirit was thereby cheered. For it’s by the righteousness of God that we’re justified and saved through Christ. These words [which had before terrified me] now became more pleasing to me. The Holy Spirit unveiled the Scriptures for me in this tower.”
(From Luther's Works Volume 54: Table Talk).
(The tower of the Augustinian monastery in Wittenberg where Luther was a monk).
So, thank you for accompanying me on my journey into blogging this past year. With God's grace and help, I look forward to further exploration of the kind of Christian spiritual practices and beliefs which might help our awareness of God's presence in our lives.
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
A New Advertising Campaign for the Church
Church advertising campaigns often contain catchy or cute slogans, combined with pictures of smiling families.
Maybe instead of smiling families, the next picture that churches should use in a campaign to attract new worshipers should look something like this:
The person at the center of the picture is St. Benjamin of Petrograd. He was consecrated a bishop in the Russian Orthodox Church in 1910, only a few years before the Russian Revolution. When the communists took over and formed what would become known as the Soviet Union, Russian clergy became prime targets of persecution - in the coming years, nearly all of them were either executed or sent to forced labor camps.
St. Benjamin was arrested in 1922 because of his status as a bishop, and the picture is from his trial. The beliefs of the common people remained strong, and as he entered the courtroom for his trial, people stood up for him while he blessed them. When offered a chance to speak, he told the court that it saddened him to be called an enemy of the people, when he had always loved the people because of his love for God. Nevertheless, he was found guilty and condemned to death. In August, 1922, he was taken out to the firing squad, dressed in rags and clean-shaven, so that those carrying out the execution would not know he was a member of the clergy.
Also, today, April 9, is the 69th anniversary of the death of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, so today is the day that we remember him in the Lutheran church. Bonhoeffer, of course, was the German Lutheran pastor who was executed by the Nazis in the closing days of World War II. A slogan that could accompany the picture in this new marketing campaign would use Bonhoeffer's words: "When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die."
A congregation using this picture and slogan would probably not attract casual worshipers who are looking for a place to make them happy and satisfied. But, the marketing campaign would perhaps send a message - a message that the Church exists to welcome people into the Body of Christ, and to nourish their faith through Word and Sacrament. What kind of faith? A kind of faith that does not expect God to shower us with happiness and contentment, but a faith in God that can survive the trials and ordeals of our lives. A kind of faith that can even be sustained under extreme circumstances, like the circumstances dealt to St. Benjamin and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. A kind of faith, given and strengthened by the Holy Spirit, that allows a person to stand in front of the face of evil and proclaim the Gospel.
Maybe instead of smiling families, the next picture that churches should use in a campaign to attract new worshipers should look something like this:
The person at the center of the picture is St. Benjamin of Petrograd. He was consecrated a bishop in the Russian Orthodox Church in 1910, only a few years before the Russian Revolution. When the communists took over and formed what would become known as the Soviet Union, Russian clergy became prime targets of persecution - in the coming years, nearly all of them were either executed or sent to forced labor camps.
St. Benjamin was arrested in 1922 because of his status as a bishop, and the picture is from his trial. The beliefs of the common people remained strong, and as he entered the courtroom for his trial, people stood up for him while he blessed them. When offered a chance to speak, he told the court that it saddened him to be called an enemy of the people, when he had always loved the people because of his love for God. Nevertheless, he was found guilty and condemned to death. In August, 1922, he was taken out to the firing squad, dressed in rags and clean-shaven, so that those carrying out the execution would not know he was a member of the clergy.
Also, today, April 9, is the 69th anniversary of the death of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, so today is the day that we remember him in the Lutheran church. Bonhoeffer, of course, was the German Lutheran pastor who was executed by the Nazis in the closing days of World War II. A slogan that could accompany the picture in this new marketing campaign would use Bonhoeffer's words: "When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die."
A congregation using this picture and slogan would probably not attract casual worshipers who are looking for a place to make them happy and satisfied. But, the marketing campaign would perhaps send a message - a message that the Church exists to welcome people into the Body of Christ, and to nourish their faith through Word and Sacrament. What kind of faith? A kind of faith that does not expect God to shower us with happiness and contentment, but a faith in God that can survive the trials and ordeals of our lives. A kind of faith that can even be sustained under extreme circumstances, like the circumstances dealt to St. Benjamin and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. A kind of faith, given and strengthened by the Holy Spirit, that allows a person to stand in front of the face of evil and proclaim the Gospel.
Monday, March 31, 2014
What is Faith? (Monday Morning in the Desert)
Lutherans sure do make a big deal about faith. After all, wasn't one of the rallying cries of the Reformation known as sola fide, "faith alone"? The problem, is, do we really know how to answer the question of what the word "faith" means?
I'm sure that some Lutheran seminary professors would probably fail me if I gave this answer to the question of "what is faith", but I kind of like it anyway:
"A brother questioned Abba Poemen saying, 'Give me a word.' And he said to him, 'The fathers put compunction as the beginning of every action.' The brother said again, 'Give me another word.' The old man replied, 'As far as you can, do some manual work so as to be able to give alms, for it is written that alms and faith purify from sin.' The brother said, 'What is faith?' The old man said, 'Faith is to live humbly and to give alms.'"
(From p. 115 of "Oasis of Wisdom: The Worlds of the Desert Fathers and Mothers" by David Keller).
A friend of mine who follows this blog likes to remind us Lutherans about the question posed at Luke 10:29 - "Who is my neighbor?" That question, of course, was asked by the lawyer who wanted to justify himself before Jesus (as a I lawyer, I admit that I sometimes resemble that remark). In response to the lawyer's question, Jesus did not give the lawyer a systematic theological analysis - he told him the parable of the Good Samaritan.
So, that is why I like Abba Poemen's answer to the question of "what is faith?" Like Jesus, he didn't give a detailed theological explanation; just a few words which suggest that faith is intertwined with doing what Christ calls us to do - to live humbly and to give alms.
I'm sure that some Lutheran seminary professors would probably fail me if I gave this answer to the question of "what is faith", but I kind of like it anyway:
"A brother questioned Abba Poemen saying, 'Give me a word.' And he said to him, 'The fathers put compunction as the beginning of every action.' The brother said again, 'Give me another word.' The old man replied, 'As far as you can, do some manual work so as to be able to give alms, for it is written that alms and faith purify from sin.' The brother said, 'What is faith?' The old man said, 'Faith is to live humbly and to give alms.'"
(From p. 115 of "Oasis of Wisdom: The Worlds of the Desert Fathers and Mothers" by David Keller).
A friend of mine who follows this blog likes to remind us Lutherans about the question posed at Luke 10:29 - "Who is my neighbor?" That question, of course, was asked by the lawyer who wanted to justify himself before Jesus (as a I lawyer, I admit that I sometimes resemble that remark). In response to the lawyer's question, Jesus did not give the lawyer a systematic theological analysis - he told him the parable of the Good Samaritan.
So, that is why I like Abba Poemen's answer to the question of "what is faith?" Like Jesus, he didn't give a detailed theological explanation; just a few words which suggest that faith is intertwined with doing what Christ calls us to do - to live humbly and to give alms.
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
A Lutheran Presence in Ukraine
Previously, I shared my thoughts on the presence of priests and monks, acting as witnesses for peace in the midst of strife in Ukraine. (See http://benedictinelutheran.blogspot.com/2014/01/a-monastic-witness-for-peace-in-ukraine.html and http://benedictinelutheran.blogspot.com/2014/01/fear-monday-morning-in-desert-series.html). In the latest round of violence, which is proving to be even bloodier than what happened last month, Lutheran clergy are also acting as peacemakers.
This is Andreas Hamburg, Pastor of the Lutheran Church in Odessa, Ukraine. He was assaulted this morning by Titushky (pro-Government hooligans) while trying to protect demonstrators, and was saved by a police officer, who he calls his guardian angel. He asks for prayers for the people of Ukraine.
(From this Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=623095377743546&set=a.267575909962163.80352.100001292685359&type=1&theater)
May the Lord have mercy on the people of Ukraine, and may peace come soon.
This is Andreas Hamburg, Pastor of the Lutheran Church in Odessa, Ukraine. He was assaulted this morning by Titushky (pro-Government hooligans) while trying to protect demonstrators, and was saved by a police officer, who he calls his guardian angel. He asks for prayers for the people of Ukraine.
(From this Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=623095377743546&set=a.267575909962163.80352.100001292685359&type=1&theater)
May the Lord have mercy on the people of Ukraine, and may peace come soon.
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Lutheran Monastery Virtual Tour - A Return to Sweden
One of these days, I'll get back to my series on how the five senses relate to Christian spirituality (http://benedictinelutheran.blogspot.com/search/label/Five%20Senses%20of%20Spirituality). In the meantime, I'm going to revisit the virtual tour of Lutheran monasteries that I embarked upon last summer (earlier entries can be found here: http://benedictinelutheran.blogspot.com/search/label/Lutheran%20Monastery%20Virtual%20Tour).
Why am I revisiting the tour now? I just found a list of several more Lutheran monasteries in this book: "Anglican Religious Life 2014-2015" - available here: http://www.amazon.com/Anglican-Religious-Life-2014-15-communities/dp/1848254644/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389667060&sr=8-1&keywords=anglican+religious+life. As you can guess from the title, 99% of the communities described in the book are found within the Anglican Communion, but there is a brief section in the book devoted to communities found in the Church of Sweden, which is linked to the Anglican Communion through the Porvoo Agreement. As I explained during my stop at the Ostanback Monastery in Sweden (http://benedictinelutheran.blogspot.com/2013/06/lutheran-monastery-virtual-tour-stop-3_22.html), the Church of Sweden retained more of the trappings of Catholicism when compared to most other Lutheran churches. Therefore, the re-occurrence of several monastic communities in that country has been a natural outgrowth of their spiritual identity (or what remains of their spiritual identity, anyway).
Sisters of the Holy Spirit
The Sisters of the Holy Spirit, located in Alsike, founded their community in 1965. They pray the daily offices found in the Rule of St. Benedict, and are working with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Kenya to expand there. Their convent, which includes a retreat facility, is located in an old school house next to the parish church. The community also has a group of oblates and friends known as the "Friends of St. Nicholas."
You can read more about the history of their community at their website (part of which is in English):
http://alsikekloster.org/english/english1.htm
Sisters of Saint Francis
Another community in Sweden is the Sisters of Saint Francis, who have a convent north of Goteborg. Following an adapted version of the Catholic Rule for the Third Order of Saint Francis, the Sisters pray four of the daily offices, and mass is celebrated three times each week.
If you can read Swedish, or are adept at using the Google translator, you can find out more about their community here:
http://www.klaradalskloster.se/
Other Communities
The "Anglican Religious Life 2014-2015" book lists several other Swedish religious communities, but does not have any information about them other than an address and phone number. They are:
Community of the Holy Trinity, located in Rattvik, Sweden
Mary Magdalene Sisters, located in Nacka, Sweden
Mary Daughters of the Evangelical Mariavagen, located in Enkoping, Sweden
Sankt Sigfrid Sisters, located in Ingelstad, Sweden
The Risen Saviour Sisterhood, located in Stallarholmen, Sweden
If anyone reading this blog knows anything about these communities (or any Lutheran monasteries I have missed on my virtual tour), please share what you know in the comments section, or contact me.
Why am I revisiting the tour now? I just found a list of several more Lutheran monasteries in this book: "Anglican Religious Life 2014-2015" - available here: http://www.amazon.com/Anglican-Religious-Life-2014-15-communities/dp/1848254644/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389667060&sr=8-1&keywords=anglican+religious+life. As you can guess from the title, 99% of the communities described in the book are found within the Anglican Communion, but there is a brief section in the book devoted to communities found in the Church of Sweden, which is linked to the Anglican Communion through the Porvoo Agreement. As I explained during my stop at the Ostanback Monastery in Sweden (http://benedictinelutheran.blogspot.com/2013/06/lutheran-monastery-virtual-tour-stop-3_22.html), the Church of Sweden retained more of the trappings of Catholicism when compared to most other Lutheran churches. Therefore, the re-occurrence of several monastic communities in that country has been a natural outgrowth of their spiritual identity (or what remains of their spiritual identity, anyway).
Sisters of the Holy Spirit
The Sisters of the Holy Spirit, located in Alsike, founded their community in 1965. They pray the daily offices found in the Rule of St. Benedict, and are working with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Kenya to expand there. Their convent, which includes a retreat facility, is located in an old school house next to the parish church. The community also has a group of oblates and friends known as the "Friends of St. Nicholas."
http://alsikekloster.org/english/english1.htm
Sisters of Saint Francis
Another community in Sweden is the Sisters of Saint Francis, who have a convent north of Goteborg. Following an adapted version of the Catholic Rule for the Third Order of Saint Francis, the Sisters pray four of the daily offices, and mass is celebrated three times each week.
http://www.klaradalskloster.se/
Other Communities
The "Anglican Religious Life 2014-2015" book lists several other Swedish religious communities, but does not have any information about them other than an address and phone number. They are:
Community of the Holy Trinity, located in Rattvik, Sweden
Mary Magdalene Sisters, located in Nacka, Sweden
Mary Daughters of the Evangelical Mariavagen, located in Enkoping, Sweden
Sankt Sigfrid Sisters, located in Ingelstad, Sweden
The Risen Saviour Sisterhood, located in Stallarholmen, Sweden
If anyone reading this blog knows anything about these communities (or any Lutheran monasteries I have missed on my virtual tour), please share what you know in the comments section, or contact me.
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Kierkegaard on Monasticism
As a Lutheran with Danish ancestry, I suppose I should know a lot more about Soren Kierkegaard than I do. Reading translations of 19th century philosophical works has never been that high on my list of things to do.
However, after reading this quote from Kierkegaard, I may have to break down and actually read his writings some time, as it sums up my feelings on the the future of monasticism, both within Protestantism, and the Church as a whole:
"Of this there is no doubt, our age and Protestantism in general may need the monastery again, or wish it were there. The "monastery" is an essential dialectical element in Christianity. We therefore need it out there like a navigation buoy at sea in order to see where we are, even though I myself would not enter it. But if there really is true Christianity in every generation, there must also be individuals who have this need..."
(Quoted in the preface to "An Infinity of Little Hours" by Nancy Klein Maguire).
However, after reading this quote from Kierkegaard, I may have to break down and actually read his writings some time, as it sums up my feelings on the the future of monasticism, both within Protestantism, and the Church as a whole:
"Of this there is no doubt, our age and Protestantism in general may need the monastery again, or wish it were there. The "monastery" is an essential dialectical element in Christianity. We therefore need it out there like a navigation buoy at sea in order to see where we are, even though I myself would not enter it. But if there really is true Christianity in every generation, there must also be individuals who have this need..."
(Quoted in the preface to "An Infinity of Little Hours" by Nancy Klein Maguire).
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Affirmation of Baptism and Turning to the East
Today, my son Jonathan affirmed his baptism through the rite traditionally known as confirmation.
The Lutheran rite contains the following questions:
Do you renounce the devil and all the forces that defy God?
Do you renounce the powers of this world that rebel against God?
Do you renounce the ways of sin that draw you from God?
The answer my son gave to each one of those questions was "I renounce them".
In doing so, he also turned to the east. Perhaps he did not do so literally from the perspective of geography, but in the minds of the Early Church Fathers, he turned toward the east after he renounced the devil, the powers of this world, and the ways of sin. The following passage written by Gabriel Bunge, O.S.B., connects the baptismal rite with the ancient practice of facing the east when praying:
"In the sacrament (of baptism), what was bestowed upon humanity as a whole in salvation history is bestowed upon me in an utterly personal way.
(Quoting Cyril of Jerusalem) 'When, therefore, you renounce Satan, utterly breaking all covenant with him, that ancient league with hell, there is opened to you the Paradise of God, which he planted toward the east, whence for his transgression our first father was exiled; and symbolic of this was your turning from the west toward the east, the place of light.'
The relation between the 'east' and Christ is so close in the mind of the Fathers that Ambrose in the same context, with regard to the newly baptized turning from the west toward the east, can simply say: 'Whoever renounces the devil turns toward Christ and looks at him directly.'
Whenever a Christian places himself in the presence of his Lord to pray, therefore - even if this is not always said explicitly or consciously adverted to - he renews with this turn toward the east that act of turning away from the evil one and of professing the triune God, which he performed once and for all in baptism."
(From the book, "Earthen Vessels: The Practice of Personal Prayer According to the Patristic Tradition" pp. 66-67).
The Lutheran rite contains the following questions:
Do you renounce the devil and all the forces that defy God?
Do you renounce the powers of this world that rebel against God?
Do you renounce the ways of sin that draw you from God?
The answer my son gave to each one of those questions was "I renounce them".
In doing so, he also turned to the east. Perhaps he did not do so literally from the perspective of geography, but in the minds of the Early Church Fathers, he turned toward the east after he renounced the devil, the powers of this world, and the ways of sin. The following passage written by Gabriel Bunge, O.S.B., connects the baptismal rite with the ancient practice of facing the east when praying:
"In the sacrament (of baptism), what was bestowed upon humanity as a whole in salvation history is bestowed upon me in an utterly personal way.
(Quoting Cyril of Jerusalem) 'When, therefore, you renounce Satan, utterly breaking all covenant with him, that ancient league with hell, there is opened to you the Paradise of God, which he planted toward the east, whence for his transgression our first father was exiled; and symbolic of this was your turning from the west toward the east, the place of light.'
The relation between the 'east' and Christ is so close in the mind of the Fathers that Ambrose in the same context, with regard to the newly baptized turning from the west toward the east, can simply say: 'Whoever renounces the devil turns toward Christ and looks at him directly.'
Whenever a Christian places himself in the presence of his Lord to pray, therefore - even if this is not always said explicitly or consciously adverted to - he renews with this turn toward the east that act of turning away from the evil one and of professing the triune God, which he performed once and for all in baptism."
(From the book, "Earthen Vessels: The Practice of Personal Prayer According to the Patristic Tradition" pp. 66-67).
Monday, October 14, 2013
How to Fight a Zombie Apocalypse
Zombies are all around us!
Halloween is approaching, so signs of the "Zombie Apocalypse" are increasing. The town where I live just had its annual "zombie walk." My son plays in a college marching band, and the theme of their halftime show is the "Zombie Apocalypse." The fourth season of a popular television show ("The Walking Dead" - the story of a post-apocalyptic America overrun by zombies) just began. The DVD of the zombie movie "World War Z" recently topped the sales charts.
The "Zombie Apocalypse" is fictional, of course, but our culture's fascination with a world taken over by the living dead is perhaps another sign that our culture has an unhealthy relationship with the prospect of death, as well as the future of our world. What can we do about this unhealthy relationship?
A simple gesture can help - the sign of the cross.
In my (admittedly limited) experience, I have noticed that Lutherans have recently made the sign of the cross upon themselves much more frequently. Luther wrote that at the beginning of our morning and evening prayers, we should make the sign of the cross, but somewhere along the line, many Lutherans forgot to follow his advice. Increasingly, though, it appears that we are returning to one of the most ancient forms of Christian devotion.
So, how does the sign of the cross help us deal with death and the future of the world? And, just in case there really is a "Zombie Apocalypse", would making the sign of the cross help us against the undead? These words from a Benedictine monk (which would be whole-heartedly endorsed by Luther, I think) help answer those questions:
"This gesture of signing oneself with the cross, like no other gesture, identifies the Christian as a 'Christian', as (one) whose salvation comes solely from Christ's death on the Cross, into which (we have) been drawn in a mysterious manner through the sacrament of baptism. . . .
For this reason the holy sign of the cross, which we make over ourselves or others, is always a profession of faith in the victory that Christ on the Cross won against every hostile power. For the Fathers always made use of this sign, also, whenever they knew that they were confronted with these hostile powers. Indeed, Anthony the Great (one of the Desert Fathers of the early Church) taught his disciples that the demons and phantasms were in reality 'nothing and quickly disappear, especially when a person (is armed) with faith and the sign of the cross.' . . . .
As great as the power of the sign of the cross is, it is not a question of a magical gesture. It is faith that makes it mighty!"
(from pages 181-183 of "Earthen Vessels: The Practice of Personal Prayer According to the Patristic Tradition" by Gabriel Bunge, O.S.B.).
Halloween is approaching, so signs of the "Zombie Apocalypse" are increasing. The town where I live just had its annual "zombie walk." My son plays in a college marching band, and the theme of their halftime show is the "Zombie Apocalypse." The fourth season of a popular television show ("The Walking Dead" - the story of a post-apocalyptic America overrun by zombies) just began. The DVD of the zombie movie "World War Z" recently topped the sales charts.
The "Zombie Apocalypse" is fictional, of course, but our culture's fascination with a world taken over by the living dead is perhaps another sign that our culture has an unhealthy relationship with the prospect of death, as well as the future of our world. What can we do about this unhealthy relationship?
A simple gesture can help - the sign of the cross.
In my (admittedly limited) experience, I have noticed that Lutherans have recently made the sign of the cross upon themselves much more frequently. Luther wrote that at the beginning of our morning and evening prayers, we should make the sign of the cross, but somewhere along the line, many Lutherans forgot to follow his advice. Increasingly, though, it appears that we are returning to one of the most ancient forms of Christian devotion.
So, how does the sign of the cross help us deal with death and the future of the world? And, just in case there really is a "Zombie Apocalypse", would making the sign of the cross help us against the undead? These words from a Benedictine monk (which would be whole-heartedly endorsed by Luther, I think) help answer those questions:
"This gesture of signing oneself with the cross, like no other gesture, identifies the Christian as a 'Christian', as (one) whose salvation comes solely from Christ's death on the Cross, into which (we have) been drawn in a mysterious manner through the sacrament of baptism. . . .
For this reason the holy sign of the cross, which we make over ourselves or others, is always a profession of faith in the victory that Christ on the Cross won against every hostile power. For the Fathers always made use of this sign, also, whenever they knew that they were confronted with these hostile powers. Indeed, Anthony the Great (one of the Desert Fathers of the early Church) taught his disciples that the demons and phantasms were in reality 'nothing and quickly disappear, especially when a person (is armed) with faith and the sign of the cross.' . . . .
As great as the power of the sign of the cross is, it is not a question of a magical gesture. It is faith that makes it mighty!"
(from pages 181-183 of "Earthen Vessels: The Practice of Personal Prayer According to the Patristic Tradition" by Gabriel Bunge, O.S.B.).
Monday, September 23, 2013
St. Michael and All Angels
This upcoming Sunday, September 29th, the Western Church celebrates the feast of St. Michael and All Angels. Assuming they follow the lectionary (don't get me started on that subject), many ELCA pastors will probably use the regular lectionary texts of the day for their Scripture readings. As for me, though, instead of observing the 19th Sunday after Pentecost, I'm going to take this opportunity for a break from the "long green season" (green is the liturgical color used during the season after Pentecost) and grab my white vestments out of the closet to celebrate St. Michael's Day (if I wanted to go old school, I could call it "Michaelmas").
I saw a comment on another online forum that we should stay away from observing St. Michael's Day because angels are allegedly part of a so-called "mythology" from a different time. I find that reasoning suspect, given the large number of references to angels in the Bible (for just a few, see my earlier post here - http://benedictinelutheran.blogspot.com/2013/08/want-to-have-encounter-with-angel.html). Additionally, Luther strongly emphasized the role of the angels - both the good ones and the demonic ones (See Heiko Oberman's classic biography, "Luther: Man Between God and the Devil" http://books.google.ca/books?id=ROjEtAGFm1kC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false). Luther's emphasis on the work of the angels can be found in the Small Catechism's Morning and Evening Prayers:
I saw a comment on another online forum that we should stay away from observing St. Michael's Day because angels are allegedly part of a so-called "mythology" from a different time. I find that reasoning suspect, given the large number of references to angels in the Bible (for just a few, see my earlier post here - http://benedictinelutheran.blogspot.com/2013/08/want-to-have-encounter-with-angel.html). Additionally, Luther strongly emphasized the role of the angels - both the good ones and the demonic ones (See Heiko Oberman's classic biography, "Luther: Man Between God and the Devil" http://books.google.ca/books?id=ROjEtAGFm1kC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false). Luther's emphasis on the work of the angels can be found in the Small Catechism's Morning and Evening Prayers:
(LUTHER'S MORNING PRAYER)
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.
(LUTHER'S EVENING PRAYER)
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Therefore, regardless of whether or not your congregation celebrates St. Michael's Day, and regardless of whether angels play a role in your personal piety, don't ignore them - as St. Clement wrote in a letter at the end of the first century, the whole multitude of angels stand ready to minister to God's will. (Clement's First Epistle to the Corinthians, Chapter 34).I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have graciously kept me this day; and I pray that You would forgive me all my sins where I have done wrong, and graciously keep me this night. For into Your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.
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