More than Animals: Francis of Assisi

When was the last time you stripped in front a gathering of your hometown, with the local bishop and your own father in attendance? When was the last time you kissed a leper? When was the last time you walked unarmed into the camp of your civilization’s enemy, to preach Christ? These colorful events are a few of many in the life of the saint. On another occasion, Francis preached to the birds. I preached to a parrot once, but he said he’d only accept the Gospel if I gave him a cracker (I apologize to members of Polly’s family for this joke).

Francis was born in Assisi, Italy, in 1182. His father was a wealthy cloth merchant. Francis showed more interest in parties and poetry, friends and fanfare, than he did in God. As a teenager he wasn’t particularly interested in his father’s business or his academic studies. He was enjoying the good life. At twenty, he joined the local army in a battle against a rival city state. Perhaps Francis saw this as an opportunity to become a romantic hero and win renown for himself through valor on the battlefield. Instead, he was captured and imprisoned. 

After his release, he began to encounter the poor and they began to affect him in a new way. In one encounter, he exchanged his expensive attire, for that of a poor man’s clothing. During this period, he began to reflect upon his life and to pray over his sins. These and other incidents culminated in his renouncing his wealth and position in order to live simply among the poor. This move was directly inspired by the words of Jesus, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me" (Luke 9:23 NRSV). He preached simple sermons. He cared for the sick and the outcast. He begged for his food. 

I know what you’re thinking: "Wow! That sounds like an exciting life, with comfortable accommodations and interesting people with glittering Instagram accounts. Sign me up." In fact, that is exactly what happened! (Minus the Instagram accounts, Francis’ handle @Liveswith Lepers never went viral). Women and men, from many walks of life began to follow Francis as he followed Christ through the path of poverty. Francis was not sullen. Francis radiated joy. He passionately loved God, people, and of all of creation. (Oh yeah, his feast day is October 4).

Very quickly, men joined Francis in being “little brothers” or friars minor. Thanks to Clare of Assisi, women soon followed.  Over 800 years later, people continue to be inspired by the life and witness of this poor man from Assisi. In popular devotion, Francis is near the top of the heavenly all-star list. Did he love animals? Yes, from the birds to the wolves. Did he love creation? Yes, from brother sun to sister moon. Did he love people? Yes, from the prince to the peasant. But most of all, inspiring all his other loves, was Francis’ love for God.

In the World, Not of the World

This is a reflection and place for dialogue on my sermon (click here to listen) and related themes from the seventh Sunday of Easter, on the Gospel text from St. John 17:6-19. 

The relationship between Christians and the wider world has been a complicated one. Should Christians separate themselves from the world to maintain a purer form of Christian life and practice? Or should Christians throw themselves into the world to maintain a Christian life and practice that transforms the world? Within the history of Christianity and even on the contemporary scene both answers have found significant hearing and emulation. Often, not always, Christian congregations, traditions, and individual who lean one way on this spectrum find themselves in tension with those on the other end. This could be understood as another manifestation of the perennial clash of Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-42). Martha is helping to prepare the meal and busy meeting practical needs. Mary is sitting as a disciple, listening to her teacher.  

The problem with pitting contemplation/prayer/separation from the world against activity/practical help/engagement with the world is that conflict finds no justification in the life of Jesus Himself. Jesus’ life was a continual flow from quiet time withdrawal with His Father to active life and ministry among people. One could say that Jesus’ model of “being in the world but not of the world” was to abide in His loving relationship with God while abounding in loving acts with people. This basic pattern should be the paradigm for the Church and for Christians more generally. Further, there are dangers to emphasizing one pattern to the exclusion of the other. The contemplative path runs the danger of isolation or quietism. The active path runs the dangers of burn out, rootlessness, and activity for the sake of activity. In the history of the Church there have been individuals who have given themselves exclusively to these paths.

Those individuals and communities (e.g. monastic) that have committed themselves largely to the contemplative path have been a source of great blessing to the Church and the world. In the same way, those individuals and communities that have committed themselves to the active path have been a source of great blessing to the Church and the world. Historically, there has also been something called the “mixed life” which seeks to embrace both elements, much as our Lord did. It might be argued that most individuals are called to the active path (which requires Sabbath, prayer, and rest for it endure) with the mixed path and contemplative path compromising smaller groups. If this is true, that means the Church will need to give attention to supporting the active life, while also lifting the importance of the contemplative life in a frantic world that might otherwise be unaware of it. 

What did you hear in the sermon, in the text, or this reflection? What would you challenge, what would you add? What are you still wondering about?  

The Fool's Easter

This year has featured two unusual alignments between the Christian calendar and the secular calendar. The first was the coming together of Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday on February 14 (click here for a reflection). The second is the coming together of April Fool’s Day and Easter Sunday on April 1. This will, no doubt, be great fodder for critics of faith in general and Christianity in particular. “April Fool’s, this stuff isn’t for real!” Of course, the Christian can easily retort to the atheist, “April’s Fool’s, this stuff is for real!” These sorts of jokes and jabs aside, what insight can be gleaned by bringing together a whimsical, secular, holiday, with the most important feast day of the Christian year? Let’s first touch base on the meaning of each observance on its own merits.

April Fool’s Day is an annual invitation to joke, prank, and pull one over on someone. Unusual newspaper articles, frightening friends with shocking, but old-fashioned fake news, and so on, often characterize the largely innocent quality of this holiday. Of course, it’s not really a holiday. No one gets April Fool’s Day off. Wait! I just received notice that as of 2018 April Fool’s Day will be a federal holiday in the United States and Canada. Yeah. Long weekend! Party time. Celebration. Oh wait…April Fools! This observance, while seemingly silly and light-hearted, has not gone without its controversies. Critics of April’s Fools, and specifically of the sometime elaborate hoaxes that individuals or organizations put on, decry the waste of resources and the confusion that ensues from such pranks.

Easter Sunday is the most important day of the Christian calendar. It is sometimes also referred to as Resurrection Sunday. Both names are proper, the first by long custom (ancient connotations aside) and the second being the event the holiday celebrates. Easter Sunday is a national holiday in many countries with a Christian cultural heritage. For many, Easter is more about family and candy that it is about the resurrection of a 1^st century Jewish Messiah. For the Christian, Easter is the high point of the Christian story and speaks of Christ’s victory over the difficulties and mysterious of sin and death. Christ’s resurrection validates His status as the long expected one and validates His teachings as worthy of reception. Christ is the example of what will take place to all who put their trust in Him. 

What happens when you put these together? You get the dangerous invitation to Easter as merely a sentimental occasion with pretty flowers, fine hats, and in a few places, fuller churches. Pretty flowers, fine hats, and fuller church are all fine and well. But, if Christians merely gather to smile and nod at a story they believe to be some sweet sentimental yarn of a nice man overcoming bad things so that we can be non-dangerously nice to each other, then we will have missed the message of Easter (for more on that click here) and settled for foolishness. The joke will be on us. We will have pranked ourselves. Because Easter rolls away the stone and shows us that the worst of misguided humanity, in its doing the worst, to a singular shinning life, does not have the last word. This is not foolishness. This is astonishing and for over twenty centuries has turned the wisdom of the worldly wise into spiritual tomfoolery. Don’t be fooled. Christ is Risen! 

Mountaintop Experience

This is a reflection and place for dialogue on my sermon and related themes from the last Sunday of Epiphany, on the Gospel text from Saint Mark 9:2-9.   

What exactly is happening here? Are Peter, James, and John experiencing a vision? Is the veil between our everyday reality and the fuller reality of life being pushed aside revealing Jesus in all his splendor? No one can say with certainty save that this incident became so significant to the early Christian community that it was included in the Gospels. Certainly, this event, qualifies as a mountaintop experience! 

What are we to make of these sorts of experiences? Should we desire them? Should we seek them out? The importance of this event in the Gospel is once again affirming Jesus’ unique identity as the Son of God, while no doubt, encouraging the inner circle of apostles along the way. I have met many people, some active in their faith, many not particularly, who have experienced some sort of supernatural or unusual experience. For many, these events whether visions, angelic visitations, miraculous healings, and the like usually seem to have strengthened the faith of these individuals.  

On the other hand, I know many who have begged and battered the doors of heaven for some sort of transfiguration in their own lives or the life of somebody they care about. A different path are those seeking spiritual experiences and spiritual powers. Some find more than they bargained for. Some get involved in things they later wish they had not. Some discover nothing and toss their hands up at the whole enterprise of faith. All of the great teachers of the spiritual life have warned against seeking special visions and powers. If such experiences come they are to be gratefully received, but not desperately clung to. They are to be acknowledged but not worshipped. The goal in the spiritual life is learning to listen to the divine voice more clearly and to follow it more nearly. In the Christian tradition, the voice of God always points us to the loving service of our neighbor.  

What did you hear in the sermon, in the text, or this reflection? What would you challenge, what would you add? What are you still wondering about?  

Church Unity: What You Can Do

One factor that has long weakened Christian witness is Christian disunity, as manifested in thousands of denominations, conflicts between churches and within churches. In the last century and into our own, there have been considerable strides toward greater visible unity between the various Christian Churches. Many of these gains have taken place at the official level of commissions, bishops meetings, and the like.

These are all very significant and I encourage you to explore the ecumenical efforts within your particular denomination and between denominations (for example in the work of the World Council of Churches). But what can you do to foster greater Christian unity and greater realization of the true “Lord’s Prayer” as found in John 17:21, that we all be one? Here are some simple steps for individuals, small groups, and local churches.

1.     Pray. Pray regularly for Christian unity. Put some teeth on it by praying for friends, family, and co-workers who are members of other Christian Churches. Pray for the other Christian Churches in your community. Have your local church do this on Sundays (that includes the local churches you don’t like).

2.     Connect with other Christians. Whether among your friends, family, co-workers, or neighbors, or wherever, there are other followers of Jesus all around you. They may be Roman Catholic, you may be Methodist. But make a connection on the basis of your shared Christian faith first and foremost and explore tribal differences on a secondary basis.

3.     Think beyond your tribe. Think of the “Church” in your city, county, or region. So much can be done more effectively on a regional level versus the congregational level. Yes, you need to do certain things rooted in your local congregation’s distinctive identity, but there are plenty of things you can do more faithfully and more effectively by partnering with other Christians. NEWS FLASH: You do not need to agree about every matter to partner together for the common good.

4.     Stop bad mouthing other Christians! This is a cancer within the body of Christ. Progressive Christians make their snide remarks about fundamentalists. Conservative Christians make their jabs at liberals. Having been trained in and ministered across the theological and denominational spectrum, I can assure you that every stripe of Christian sub-culture faces this problem. Sadly, it is often taken for granted. In fact, some churches or individuals have made it a point of personal identity and pride to stress how unlike other Christians they are. Praise everything you can about other believers. Stress all the common points you can. When appropriate, share graciously your points of disagreement.

5.     (This is directed particularly to pastors and other church leaders). Think Kingdom increase, not just your local church’s increase. Your interest in people shouldn’t be merely to rack up attendance numbers for your local church. If in the course of your personal witness or church’s outreach ministry individuals become interested in Christianity, but end up attending another church. That is still a “win” in the Kingdom. Care about people and their spiritual well-being more than you care about increasing your membership rolls.

6.     Observe the week for Christian Unity which happens every year from January 18 through January 25.

What else would you suggest? What are you doing? What have you seen done that is faithful and effective in developing visible church unity and witness? (Speaking of denominations are they bad? Click here. Or maybe being non-denominational is the answer? Click here. Finally, know the difference between religion and denomination. Click here.) 

Spirituality and Race

In Christianity, discipleship is intimately tied to spirituality. Spirituality is notorious difficult to define, to the point that many people dismiss it as an unhelpful term. Some say that religion is the official teachings, doctrines and structures; whereas, spirituality is the actual living out of the teachings, doctrines, and structures of a given religion in one’s daily life. There are some problems with trying to tease these two apart, but regardless, Christian discipleship involves integrating every aspect of one’s life with one’s faith. We might call this integrated faith, integrated spirituality or integrated discipleship. Then we have to deal with the controversies surrounding the definition of race.

I’m going to side step the controversies for the most part, by simply accepting that sociologically people identify themselves and others by racial, ethnic, and national markers. Often these markers are blurred together and it is, like with religion and spirituality, difficult to tease them apart without problems. However, for women and men seeking to be faithful to Christ and seeking to integrate their faith into every aspect of their lives, what should they do about race? This can be a strange question for white people, who can ignore issues of race because of their privilege; others, do not have this option.

The Biblical tradition embraces a tension between highlighting a particular race and affirming the universal nature of Christian faith. Jesus was a Jew. Understanding Jesus and thus understanding Christianity requires at least an elementary understanding of what it meant to be Jewish in first century Israel. Furthermore, to understand the rest of the New Testament, with its controversies surrounding the inclusion of non-Jews into the faith (Gentiles) requires at least an elementary understanding of what it meant to be a Greek or Roman in the first century Mediterranean world.

This may point toward how Christians should approach the topic of race. They need to be self-reflective about who they are and faithfully engaging the challenges and joys related to who they are, while not becoming so racially oriented that they miss the reality that their confession of faith in Christ makes them one with Christians of many tribes, nations, and languages. This will involve painful listening and partnering by white Christians with their oppressed sisters and brothers. This will involve persistent truth telling and partnering by non-white Christians with their white sisters and brothers.

This is all to abstract, discipleship deals with concrete realities, the messiness of individual lives, and the complexities of societal problems. Racism is a sin. Christianity’s earliest proclamation pointed toward a radical inclusion of people across racial and socio-economic divides: “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). Despite this early call for radical inclusion and despite the great heritage of Christian movements laboring for racial equality, race remains a problem in our societies and churches.

Your thoughts on race and discipleship?

Politician for Christ: William Wilberforce

A politician for Christ? Surely, I must be joking. Such is the collective state of our culture that even believers, much less our good-willed friends of other faiths and none, roll their eyes at the very idea. The idea in question, a politician who takes her or his faith seriously, usually stirs images of suit and tie prayer breakfasts and perhaps most of all: of specific voting records on a handful of controversial topics (and maybe, also, some hypocrisy). 

The slave trade in the 1780s was becoming a controversial issue. For a large majority of the population is was part of the status quo of society. It was accepted as a fact of life. This “fact” was being challenged. William Wilberforce at this time was a young man of independent wealth and growing power. He was elected to his first seat in the British Parliament at the age of twenty one when he was still a student at St. John’s, Cambridge. 

Wilberforce was the son, nephew, and grandson of prosperous freemen, who had made their fortunes in business. As a boy he had been influenced by his aunt who was a committed Anglican Christian of the evangelical sort. However, this influence faded and he grew to be a popular boy: partying, drinking, and gambling in high society. He was known for his wit, his cheerful manner, and his singing voice. 

He was also known as a man endowed with impressive gifts of persuasion and oratory. Wilberforce was a slight man, not physically impressive, and plagued by a variety of health problems for his entire life. Yet, one contemporary, observing him in the House of Commons said, “I saw what seemed a mere shrimp mount upon the table; but as I listened, he grew, and grew, until the shrimp became a whale."

Near the beginning of his political career he had a conversion experience. He seriously considered dropping out of politics all together in order to dedicate himself to a life of prayer and reflection. His former pastor, John Newton, and his friend, William Pitt, urged him to remain in politics. Newton in particular urged him to bring his faith to his work. For the next forty years that is what Wilberforce did.

This striving is most famously known and celebrated in his tireless work to end the slave trade in the British Empire as portrayed in the inspiring 2006 movie, Amazing Grace. However, Wilberforce’s reforming interests were many. He manifested the daily challenge of every Christian who works in the world: discernment. Whether politician, farmer, scientist, plumber, actress, or accountant, every Christian has to practice and exercise discernment.

How can I with my particular gifts, resources, and limitations best live out Jesus’ Great Command to “Love God and neighbor?” What can I generously allow? What must I speak out against? What can I say or do that will make a difference? What can I refuse to say or do that will make a difference? If I feel called to make a stand or challenge the status quo am I doing it out of love or out of self-righteousness? Is this about me or the common good?

William Wilberforce’s life, celebrated on July 29 in the Episcopal Church, powerfully illustrates that to be a Christian is not a Sunday only activity and that real Christian impact is not limited to Church circles. Christian witness is not only about inviting the world to Christ, but about bringing Christ to the world’s problems, global and local. What are you doing with your influence? Who are you helping? Start with something small. In small things faithfulness is grown and shown. 

Poet-Priest With 12 Kids: John Donne

John Donne is remembered as many things: lawyer, priest, and poet. The last designation is probably the one he is most well-known by. In his earlier days, he wrote erotic poetry, and then and later, religious, and is perhaps most famous for penning the phrases, “no man is an island” and “any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.” Among students of literature he is hailed among the metaphysical poets for his wit, depth, and vernacular use of language in poetry. 

He lived in the 17^th century which was known for its terrible religious debates and persecutions (of Roman Catholic Christians in England and of Protestant Christians in France). He was destined for a career as an ambassador, but because his family was Roman Catholic and he was initially unwilling to join the Anglican Church (which was required in England at the time to be a diplomat) he and his wife Anne lived in a constant state of poverty and destitution. Anne gave birth to 12 children (as was common place then, not all of them survived). 

Eventually, he was persuaded by the King to seek Anglican ordination and eventually was appointed Dean of St. Paul’s, Cathedral, London, which was and is (click here) a church of considerable influence. His eloquent preaching drew many to St. Paul’s and resulted in his wielding a considerable influence near and far. Donne had experienced an array of life’s experience from being a courtier on the rise, a romantic lover and traveler, a father trying to provide for a large family, and a devoted husband who deeply grieved his wife’s death.

Donne is not the poster-boy for the stereotypes that people often have of priests and more generally speaking, Christians. His life reflected very human interests and very human troubles. These served him well in the task of preaching the Gospel which he did ably in the pulpit but also ably with the pen. It is a shame that poetry is not cultivated, shared, and published more widely in our local churches. Both the poetry of the greats, Christian and otherwise, and the poetry of the people of our congregations and local communities. 

John Donne’s commemoration in the Episcopal Church, falls on March 31, which makes for a nice prelude to April’s National Poetry month in the United States and Canada. Regardless of where we live, the remembrance of John Donne the priest-poet should stir us to remember that words can express the heart of the human experience and that God Himself choose to become The Word and live among us (John 1). In this way, not only are preachers and priests kin to poets in their sacred speech, so are all Christians when they speak a word of faith.

Failed Hermit becomes Best Seller: Walter Hilton

March 24 (in the Church of England) and September 28 (The Episcopal Church) is the feast of Walter Hilton. He lived in 14^th century England. He ended his life as an Augustinian priest in the priory at Thurgarton, which today remains an active parish church. Hilton had studied canon law before exploring his spirituality more dramatically. At the time, a number of individuals had embraced a solitary form of Christian living as a means of attaining holiness and union with Christ. The most famous of these solitaries today is Hilton’s near contemporary, Julian of Norwich. 

After a time, Hilton abandoned the solitary life of a hermit and joined the community life of the Priory in Thurgarton. We aren’t told why he choose community life over solitary life, but one can speculate: loneliness, the blessings of common prayer and Eucharist, opportunities to serve Christ through love of neighbor, better Wi-Fi, and so on. The fact is, we cannot be certain. What we can be certain about, is that Hilton, went on to write about the spiritual life in a way that captured the imagination of the people of his time: clergy, religious (monks, nuns, etc.), and laity alike.

His two most popular and well known works, “The Scale of Perfection” and “The Mixed Life” were best sellers in the 14^th and 15^th centuries. These works drew upon earlier sources from the deep wells of the Christian Spiritual Tradition, but also reflected his own experience of seeking God and in providing direction to others. They reflect theological rigor, but also a gentle and Christ-like common sense, sensitive to the weakness of the human condition even under the restoring and reforming effects of the Holy Spirit. 

On one occasion, a man of some importance, with considerable worldly responsibilities, wrote to Hilton asking whether he should abandon his duties (and presumably his family) in order to enter a monastery. Hilton encouraged him to seek God where he was in the midst of his busy demands and responsibilities. In other words, Hilton acknowledged that a spiritual life of weight, depth, and profundity could be graced to a man in the world; that while desirable for some, entrance into a monastery was not necessary to achieve the way of Jesus. 

This message hit a chord with women and men, priests and monks, the married and the unmarried in Hilton’s time. Hilton’s writings point to a deep immersion in the truth, presence, and love of God, which requires climbing a spiritual ladder from height to height. This tells us that there are higher hills in the Christian faith that we have yet to climb. With Christ’s grace and the advice of good spiritual trail guides, like Walter Hilton, may we carefully hike out from the easy flats to the rugged heights of God’s love.

A Slave before a Saint: Patrick of Ireland

March 17th is Saint Patrick’s Day. A day when people wear green, drink beer (Guinness, please) and engage in some good old fashion mischief (there are also others who use it as an excuse for some old fashion not so good mischief!). Even those with Irish ancestry and/or Christian faith (here I am) often know little about the man whose day inspires celebration; save a story or two, like Patrick using the Shamrock to teach about the Trinity or Patrick running the snakes out of Ireland (in fact, there never were rolling reptiles in the emerald isle). 

There are endless legends about St. Patrick. On one occasion he and his companions were being hunted down by a local ruler. When the ruler with his warriors hustled to where Patrick and his disciples had run off, all he saw was a herd of deer. Of course, they were Patrick and his followers transformed by God’s miraculous intervention. Unfortunately, God never changed them back and they had to hoof about from that day forward (just kidding). There are spiritual lessons in these sorts of stories, but the actual events of his life, inspire tremendously more. 

Patrick was born sometime in late 4^th Century England. He came from a well to do family with a strong Christian heritage; his grandfather was a priest, and his dad was a deacon and a minor official in the declining Roman Empire. For most people in the 4th Century life was rough, but Patrick enjoyed a much easier life because of his family’s reputation and wealth. This all ended for Patrick around the age of sixteen when he was captured by Irish raiders. Upon arrival in Ireland he was sold as a slave, made to tend sheep and live among people he did not know. 

During this time Patrick’s faith came alive. In his Confession, he writes, “And there the Lord opened the consciousness of my unbelief so that…I might turn with a whole heart to the Lord my God, Who turned His gaze round on my lowliness and took pity on my adolescence and ignorance and kept watch over me before I knew Him.” Somehow, many years later, Patrick escaped his enslavement and made his way back to England. He sensed a calling to the priesthood, and while he struggled with the academics, he was eventually ordained. 

This story alone would be a wondrous one, but the power of St. Patrick’s life is that he could not put the Irish people out of his mind. He had a vision where an Irish youth bid him return and preach the Gospel. If you had been kidnapped from your people, enslaved away to a foreign country across the sea and somehow managed to escape, what are the odds you would return at great personal sacrifice to preach a Gospel of love? That is what Patrick did! He convinced the authorities in England to send him as a missionary bishop to the Irish.

Much more could be said about the most well-known of Ireland’s three patron saints (the two others being Saint Columba and Saint Brigid), from his openness to Irish culture and spirituality, which in many cases was woven into the new faith, to his missionary zeal and humility. Patrick’s story is a reminder that whatever your circumstance or mine, God can find us and God can use the blackest moments of our lives to bring light and salvation to others. That by itself, parades and shamrocks aside, is worth celebrating. 

Another Mary: Saint Brigid of Kildare

Today is the feast of Saint Brigid of Kildare, one of the three patron saints of Ireland (the other two being Saint Patrick and Saint Columba). Her day also falls on the ancient (and still observed, especially by neo-pagans and some Celtic leaning Christians) feast of Imbolc, which is one of the four festivals that fall between the four major seasonal feasts (spring and autumn equinoxes and summer and winter solstices). It has many associations, but is seen as the half-way point of winter in the northern hemisphere, a time to anticipate the coming of Spring, even in the midst of dark nights, cold days, and snowy landscapes (Canada, eh?).

Brigid, in the great Tradition of Celtic saints, is reputed to have been a nun, a miracle worker and healer, a teacher to many other male and female saints, as well as an abbess and keeper of the flame at the important monastery in Kildare (which has been re-established, click here.) Many charming and insightful tales surround her life. For example, one Easter Sunday a leper came to Brigid looking for assistance. After some conversation, she offered to heal him but he stated that he received more from people in his leprous condition than he would in a healthy one. The abbess convinced him otherwise and through a blessed mug of water healed him.

There is some controversy and uncertainty about all of the historical details of Saint Brigid’s life. It is often pointed out that Brigid was the name of an important goddess in pre-Christian Ireland and that many of the goddess’ attributes can be found in the saint of the same name. Some see this as clever infiltration by the pre-missionary pagan tradition in Ireland continuing under Christian disguise; others insist on historical argument that Brigid was a real person and in her person embodies the unique elements of what some call: Celtic Christianity; others say her life and or legend was a sign of the failure of the Church to purge itself of a pagan past.

Others still, see her veneration as an example of the Church at her best, taking the God given best of a particular culture and its spirituality and bringing it into conversation and relationship with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Saint Brigid embodies a historical tradition of wise female teachers and healers of the faith, who exercised extraordinary spiritual influence over men and women, sometimes surpassing the influence of their male counterparts. We know such communities of nuns existed in Ireland and still do today. We can thank Saint Brigid, in part for this reality, for her life and legend continue to inspire people to follow Mary’s Son, Jesus Christ.

Speaking of Mary, the mother of Jesus, Brigid herself, is often referred to as the Mary of the Gaels. This makes her a sort of second Mary in traditional Irish spirituality. Whether referring to the Blessed Mother or St. Brigid, it must be said that while Christianity has a rich history of saintly, feisty, and dynamic women of faith, they often receive less of a hearing than their male counterparts. This impoverishes our individual spiritual lives, our congregations and ultimately our witness to the wider world. May the observance of St. Brigid’s day inspire us to change this dynamic, as together, we look and labor for the Spring, which will shortly be, now and forever.

The Comedian-Scholar: Saint Thomas Aquinas

Saint Thomas Aquinas, whose feast day is January 28, is not often thought of as a funny man. After all, his work is dense, lucid, brilliant, and plunges the depths of theology and philosophy, making him one of the most regarded theologians of all time. Whether or not you agree with all aspects of Aquinas’ theology, there is no doubt that this medieval Dominican friar is a testament to the unity of faith and reason in the Christian life. Christianity has a rigorous intellectual tradition, which anchors faith not in some slim, not likely, spaghetti monster hope, but in deep reflection, reasoned faith and a recognition that all disciplines of knowledge, including what we call today the natural sciences, are worthy of Christian commitment and engagement. All truth is God’s truth, whether revealed under the lenses of a microscope, in the drama of the Divine Liturgy or in the embrace of lovers.

            Checking off the scholar box with Aquinas is easy considering the output of his theological writings during his lifetime (1225-1274), which included Biblical commentaries, theological treatises, devotional writings, and most famously, his Summa Theologica. Checking off the comedian box is a bit more difficult. Depictions of Aquinas are usually somewhat severe, owing in part, perhaps, to that old nickname he has born for centuries, “The Dumb Ox.” (While writing this post, I received a letter from the Association of Intelligent Oxen, protesting the Aquinas moniker, because of its derogatory assumptions regarding the mentality of their species.) However, Aquinas is on the record making this statement: “"It is requisite for the relaxation of the mind that we make use, from time to time, of playful deeds and jokes” (Question 168, Summa).

            Maybe this statement doesn’t check the comedian box for Aquinas, but it does open the door to the reality that serious, faithful scholarship and a serious committed Christian life is not at odds with “playful deeds and jokes.” G.K. Chesteron (1874-1936), known for his wit, penetrating essays and a biography on Aquinas wrote, “the test of a good religion is whether or not it can laugh at itself.” Often we are pretty good at laughing at other people’s religions, politics, and foibles while we take ourselves so seriously we dare not utter a chip monk chuckle considering our own mess ups and failures. St. Thomas Aquinas, like many other faithful Christians over the centuries, did not back away from argument, public debate, and controversy, but it seems there was a place in their spirituality to engage with the most serious issues of life while still recognizing the need for a laugh, perhaps, not least, at themselves.

            The need for this sort of ability to take God, issues of justice and society seriously while also being able to enjoy “playful deeds and jokes,” which necessarily involves some ability to take ourselves less seriously and thus perhaps to take others more seriously, I hope, is obvious. If it isn’t, you might want to read Aquinas’ all-time best joke whose punch line is, “all is straw.” Jokes can bite and humor can be used as a weapon. There is no doubt about that. Some jokes are made in bad taste or lack true funny power (listen to my sermons for examples of these). Aquinas is probably endorsing the role of joy and playfulness in life more than the role of stand-up comics; though no doubt, he laughed out loud at the antics of some court jester. It’s to our shame, that in some circles, the idea of Christian people laughing and enjoying life is seen as oxymoronic. So laugh, otherwise, the joke’s on you, so says Saint Thomas.   

Imagine Christmas without Carols

Imagine Christmas without carols. Imagine Christmas without packages wrapped with care (and torn open with glee). Imagine Christmas without commercialization. Imagine December was merely a count down from one calendar year to the next. No Advent. No holiday parties and no sugar cookies (I know…sugar cookies are yum). No “Wonderful Life” reruns and no ghosts of Christmas past for Scrooge or anyone else. No shepherds sporting bathrobes or angels cardboard wings. No hustle and bustle and running crazy to get the latest card sent off.

Instead, imagine a country occupied by a foreign power. Instead, imagine a local scandal involving a teenage girl who isn’t old enough to drive (a camel maybe, but not a car) and her respectable, righteous even, fiancée. Imagine, the shame. Imagine the surprise when she is not dismissed quietly, but aforementioned boyfriend stays the course, solid as the timber he plies for a trade. Imagine the panic as labor pains increase along with doors slammed shut, refusing welcome. Imagine the relief at entry, barn animals or not. Imagine the water breaking.

Imagine the mystery of all things, the creator of all that is, nurtured, nestled, in that young womb for nine months, submitting to the same story of every human come before. Imagine the emergence of beautiful new life: blood, fluid, and labored breaths; the young mother exercising a form of workmanship ancient and fresh, producing art which lives and loves. Imagine the impossibility made possible, of the creature caressing the creator to her breast. Imagine the cry of Life itself, Divinity itself, joining with baby’s breathe, hastening the redemption of all.

Imagine this tiny breath expanding from that straw stable to enveloping all that was and will be. A breath that we inhale by faith. A breath we inhale by virtue of having lungs and breathing air. A life we partake in by virtue of every cell in our body and every spiritual molecule in our soul. Imagine this and you will have come close to the Kingdom. Imagine this and you will tremble with the audacity of it all. You will slam your Christmas dinner table with fists of epiphany. You will have seen through the mirror dim, the true message of Christmas, given in a single name:

Emmanuel.

He is Risen!

Easter is unusually early this year. Lent started in the darkness of the winter and while in in the global north Easter has long been tied to spring, it’s still early enough that physical days of shadow and snow may linger. Yet, after 2000 years what more is there to say? Sermons galore, songs abounding, poems piling high, and liturgies around the world resounding with the cry, “Alleluia the Lord is Risen. The Lord is risen indeed, alleluia!”

There alone may be enough to be said. The proclamation of the Resurrection message has continued over twenty centuries through hell and high water, through towers falling, through economies booming, through endless paperwork, through endless controversial elections of the moment, and through the whispers of lovers and the laughter of children. In Saint John’s account of Easter morning Mary Magdalene is asked by Jesus (who she thinks is the gardener), “why are you weeping?” (John 20:15).  

It’s a good question. Not only for Mary, but for us. Mary weeps because she has lost her Lord, because the great movement of hope that was rising in her time had been nailed to a cross, robbed of all breath and taken lifeless to the tomb. All this calls for tears, but to add insult to injury, it seems the body has been stolen. Many of us too have lost our Lord, or had our hopes nailed to a cross of cruelty or terrible circumstance. Many of us have felt robbed of all breath, walked lifeless through life’s thousand little cuts and sat tomb-like contemplating our future.

Easter is easily mistaken as an occasion for smiles, cute bunnies, and new dresses. These have their place, but as happy little trinkets alongside the vast red canvas of the world’s history and our personal histories of blood and sorrow. Easter is a time to weep. To weep over the losses of life for ourselves, those we love, and the world. But it is also a time to tune our spiritual ear to the lyrical delight of hearing our names uttered by the risen Lord. When Jesus said, “Mary” she recognized him instantly and then -- I suggest -- she did not stop weeping but her tears of sorrow turned to tears of joy (John 16:20). This Easter, may yours and mine do the same.

Learning from other religions?

 

Historically, the Christian Church has taken two major approaches when it comes to other religions. Just to be clear, when we’re talking about religions, we’re talking about Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Wicca, Christianity, etc. We’re not talking about Methodists, Roman Catholics, Baptists, and Lutherans and so on. These groups are all members of the same religion (Christianity), albeit different denominations of that same religion. Hopefully, it is clear to most Christians today that we immensely benefit in learning from one another how to follow Jesus more faithfully.

The question about learning from other religions is more complicated. As mentioned, the Church has tended to take two major approaches to other religions throughout history. The first (and older) is to take what is good in that religion, what is compatible with Christianity, (and much in other religions is not!) and incorporate it into the faith (e.g. Celtic Christianity). The second (and newer view) is to reject wholesale anything associated with another religion.  

These twin approaches are rooted in specific theologies of revelation and truth. Behind the first view is an understanding that while the full truth and power of God are found only in Christ, this does not mean that there is not some truth about God and some truth about human living to be found in the other great religions of the world. The second view is that there is no truth – whatsoever- to be found in all these other religions; they are nothing more than idol worship.

If you hold the second view, the only learning you can glean from other religions is how not to do things, how to rebel against God and so on. If you hold the first view, it is quite possible to learn from other religions. However, learning from other religions can be dangerous, because on some fundamental points they disagree with what God has revealed in Jesus Christ. This could potentially lead one away from God as He truly is (which is by the way a definition of heresy). However, a mature Christian, who is well connected to the Christian community, could certainly learn from other religions.  Some things to keep in mind while doing this:

1)      Does what you’re reading/listening to/doing lead you away from God in Christ? If so, this is a red flag and something you likely need to stop. Learning from other religions shouldn’t involve non-Christian forms of worship or prayer (in which you are not worshipping the Triune God but something else), because as Christians we worship one God through Christ (Matthew 22:36-40, John 14:6).

2)      Does what you’re reading/listening to/doing encourage you to center your spiritual life in anyone or anything but Jesus? If so, this is a red flag and something you likely need to stop.  

3)      When you find something interesting in another religion you should search the rich treasures of Christian history and spirituality to see if there is a Christian counter-part. For example, part of my own spiritual journey included experimentation with various forms of Eastern mysticism. My choice to become a committed Christian and to distance myself from these other religions was the discovery of the Christian mystics, who anchored their experiences in the person of Jesus.  

A whole lot more could be said about this, but in short, with careful discernment, and careful guarding of our hearts and minds, I think it is possible for Christians to learn from other religions.

What am I missing here? What have you found helpful or dangerous?

Becoming Fully Alive

     

        

The goal of Christian living might aptly be thought of as the process of becoming more fully alive, more fully human. So often we think of holy people or saints as being super-human or rather un-human in their pursuit of God. However, Biblically speaking, and throughout the centuries of the Church, Christians have understood the opposite to be true. It is the human being fully connected to God that is most fully alive, most fully human, and capable of seeing, feeling, and experiencing things that most of us are not.  This concept is not a new one. Saint Irenaeus, a third century church father, is often quoted for his memorable statement, “The glory of God is man fully alive.”  

  

Instead of thinking of Christian growth (read “sanctification” if your more Protestant minded or “holiness” if your more Catholic minded) as the pursuit of a set of strange behaviors and an even stranger set of mental beliefs, think of Christian growth as the process of you becoming more fully you. Christianity has always said if you want to see what it means to be truly human look at Jesus Christ for “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation” (Colossians 1:15). Since we we’re created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), we look at Jesus (Hebrews 12:2) to see what that image should look like in a flesh and blood human being.  

 

This doesn’t mean that we’re all supposed to grow long beards and wear sandals. Becoming more fully alive, more human, is not about becoming Christ Himself (impossible, sorry would-be-Messiahs!), but about becoming a unique reflection of the Triune God. You do that by taking all the elements of who you are and by grace developing them into their God given best. Fully alive persons (often referred to as saints in Church history) come in all sorts of packages, with differing personalities, are women and men, lay and ordained, single and married. In other words, when we run from sainthood, holiness, Christian growth, discipleship (whatever you want to call it), we are actually running away from our true selves. We are actually heading in a direction that will make us less human and less alive – sounds like a dead end to me?

Faith and Relationships

Valentine's Day ( it's Thursday) brings a mixture of sentiments: obligation (“if I don’t do something she’ll get mad.”), hope (“Maybe this year he’ll do something romantic”), and pain (“Are things always going to be like this?” or “I miss him/her so much”).

The day itself, while perhaps more fun and flirty than substantial, is an occasion for us to reflect on the meaning of relationships and Christian faith. I fear we don’t spend enough (any?) time pondering what it means to be a Christian and dating, divorced, widowed, married, celibate, or whatever. We simply take our cues about relationships from those around us and the wider society at large.

I invite you to spend some time reflecting on how your faith does (or does not) give direction to your relational life. From a discipleship perspective, our faith should saturate and color all that we do. Lent, which just begin yesterday (I’ll resist making joke about a Valentine’s Day being a penitential observance), is a good time to ponder how all your relationships relate to God.

To help you begin this process I’ve included some resources below.

Feel free to share your own thoughts and resources in the comment section.

A Prayer for Married Couples

A Dating Prayer  
A Prayer for Broken Hearts
A Prayer for Those Who Live Alone
Sex: Creation and Fall
Sex and Marriage
Sex and Singleness
Chastity is for Everybody
More on Chastity (masturbation, co-habitation, fantasy, etc.)
Homosexuality
Combining Faith and Love
Sexual Ethics
Healing from BrokenRelationships
Faith and Friendship
Faith and Marriage
Faith and Dating 

The Sacrament of Love

The Holy Eucharist is the central act of worship in the majority of Christian churches around the world. There are many reasons for this. One of them is that the Lord’s Supper has traditionally been understood as a means of grace. That is to say, that through the celebration of the Eucharist and through the reception of the Eucharist (Holy Communion) you and I receive forgiveness, strength, and spiritual power from God.

We cannot love God, others, or ourselves (Matthew 22:37-39) without regularly receiving God’s love. The Eucharist is an opportunity to receive God’s love. The Eucharist brings us to the cross of Christ and there we proclaim to God, “In your infinite love you made us for yourself; and, when we had fallen into sin and become subject to evil and death, you, in your mercy, sent Jesus Christ, your only and eternal son…to live and die as one of us, to reconcile us to you, the God and Father of all” (Book of Common Prayer, 362).

The Eucharist is one way in which God pours His Holy Spirit into our “selves, our souls, and bodies” (BCP, 336). In the Eucharist we encounter in thought, word, and action, in symbol, in prayer, and in Spirit the life of Jesus. Just as Jesus’ life was “taken, broken, and given” for the sins of the world (John 3:16) so the priest takes the bread, breaks it, and gives it to the people. In the same way the life of the Christian is to be taken by God, broken by God (opening our will to God’s will), and given in loving service to our neighbors.  

The Eucharist is the sacrament of love. Love from a Christian perspective is primarily a choice and not a feeling. There will be times when receiving the Eucharist will be a powerful experience, an experience marked by stirring feelings, but there will be other times when it seems all we are doing is going through the motions, feeling nothing at all. This should not trouble us too much. Instead, we should choose with God’s help to receive the bread and wine “in remembrance that Christ died” for us and to “feed on him” in our hearts “by faith and with thanksgiving.” When we say yes to God’s love in the Eucharist Christ pours His love into our lives, regardless of how we feel.

Weekly reception has long been understood not only as the faithful duty of the Christian, but as a necessity as well. Human loves dries up without a regular refill of divine love. Every week we approach the altar of love, and indeed, the person of love Jesus Christ. As we lift our hands to receive the bread and open our mouths to take in the wine, divine love is poured into our hearts. It is not difficult to understand then, the desire in some Christian circles for daily reception of the Eucharist. Regardless of how often we receive the Eucharist we must remind ourselves that it is the sacrament of love, through which we encounter the God of love, and through which we our strengthened to obey Jesus' commandment “to love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12).  

Experiencing Heaven on Earth

The Christian life might properly be described as a progressive entry into heaven. In other words, we don’t only experience heaven after we die. Heaven can be experienced now. The fullness of heaven, where we will be fully connected to God and to those who have loved God awaits us after we die. However, we can begin to experience this connection to God and connection to others who loved God right now.

Love is the pathway to experiencing heaven on earth. Love is the pathway for life, both here on earth, and in the life to come. We know this because God’s Son, Jesus Christ, made love central to His life and teachings. When asked about the greatest of God’s many commandments Jesus famously replied, “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. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40).   

Jesus didn’t only teach about love, he lived a life of love. There are many definitions of love in our culture, but when Christians speak of love they are speaking of the love that Jesus taught and lived. Jesus is the Christian definition of love. In Christ God’s love was made manifest, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life” (John 3:16). Love is a choice we make with God’s grace. Christian love does not stop when feelings of love dry up. Christian love, in other words, God’s love working through us, endures regardless of the circumstances (1 Corinthians 13:1-13).

For centuries Christians have believed that to worship is to enter into the presence of heaven. There is a sense that when we gather to encounter the Word of God in the Scripture and to take the Word of God into our lives through the Eucharist that we are stepping away from earth and into heaven itself. The Eucharist is heavenly food for our earthly pilgrimage. During worship we join “our voices with Angels and Archangels and with all the company of heaven” (Book of Common Prayer, 362) and with “those in every generation” (BCP, 370), both past, present, and future who have loved and worship the Triune God.  

Our earthly worship is a participation and anticipation of the worship of heaven. Having experienced and received love in worship we are then strengthened and commissioned to walk in love for the rest of our week and in the process experience heaven on earth. In some ways, the full experience of heaven after death should not be surprising for the Christian.

This is because the Christian will have spent his or her entire life seeking the country of heaven, taking short visits there, and exploring its outlying territories. Death will simply change the Christian from being a tourist of heaven, visiting occasionally, to being a resident of heaven, living there until the day of Resurrection when God will create a new heaven and a new earth. 

The Resurrection of the Dead

The belief in a general resurrection of the dead at the end of time is one of the oldest beliefs of the Christian faith. It is found throughout the pages of the New Testament and in both of the oldest and most widely used statements of Christian belief, the Apostle’s and Nicene Creeds. However, while this doctrine is ancient and attested to by both Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition it is not well known.

Most Christians believe that after they die they will be separated from their bodies, judged, and then go to be with God in heaven forever. This sort of view, according to traditional Christian faith, is missing part of the story. The story we find in the pages of Scripture and the story that men and women have preached, taught, believed in, and died for during the course of 2000 years. One of the distinctive aspects of Christian faith is its affirmation of the body, both for this life and the life to come.

Bishop N.T. Wright, Anglican bishop, New Testament scholar, and perhaps the leading authority today on this subject of life after heaven, has done much to remind us of the importance of the Resurrection of the dead on the last day. Bishop Wright compares our future selves, after the resurrection of the dead, to our current selves in a helpful way.

He comments that sometimes when we visit a friend or relative in hospital we say that “they were a shadow of their old selves.” Wright tells us that we are currently “a shadow of our future selves,” meaning we will become fully as God intended on that future day (to hear directly from N.T. Wright on this subject click here, to check out his book on this subject, click here).

Our hope for life after death as Christians is life after heaven, the resurrected life.  Christian belief about the final things: death, judgment, heaven and hell, have vast implications for our lives right now. Since Christ will return we must always be prepared for his arrival.

Since Christ will create a new heavens and a new earth at the end of time we must get busy working with God to re-deem our world, because God will create the new world out of the old. All that we do in this life, whether we are saving the environment or saving souls will be included in the new creation. This should be a great encouragement, because this means that all of life has a double-meaning, both for the present, and for the future life to come.