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Real But Imperfect Communion

October 21, 2007

Sometimes Anglicans and Roman Catholics are described as experiencing a “real but imperfect communion” in their relationship because of the many things we share…and yet the many differences which have developed during the 400-plus years of our separation. That kind of communion is never more evident for me than when the Anglican – Roman Catholic dialogue in the United States (ARC-USA) gathers for its twice a year meetings.

We just completed the final meeting of this round in the Washington DC area. We began on Thursday October 18 with a public lecture at Georgetown University in which two longtime participants shared their perspectives on the contributions of the dialogue over some four decades. Dr. Ellen Wondra, Professor of Theology at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, and Fr. Frank Sullivan, SJ, former Professor at the Gregorian Institute in Rome and later Boston College brought fascinating perspectives and hopefully those remarks will be published in the not-too-distant future.

The evening continued with a poignant Liturgy of the Hours and Office of the Dead offered in memory of Fr. George H. Tavard, A.A. — another longtime member of ARC-USA who died unexpectedly this year in a Paris airport. Bishop Ted Gulick of the Episcopal Diocese of Kentucky preached the homily and co-officiated with Bishop Edward Clark, Auxiliary Bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles. We were all then hosted by Georgetown University with a lovely reception in the Hall of Cardinals (surrounded by — usually austere! — portraits of Jesuit cardinals staring down at us from the walls.)

Our meeting then shifted to the Virginia Theological Seminary where two days of hard work allowed us to complete a brief educational piece for Spanish-speaking Episcopal and Roman Catholic congregations, setting out the similarities and differences between our two churches and the fruits of our many years of ecumenical dialogue. Once translation is completed this brochure will receive wide distribution in both churches.

We were also able to complete a joint response to the relatively new text “Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ” crafted by the Anglican – Roman Catholic International Comission (ARCIC), our colleagues on the international level. Once again, this response along with MGHC itself and two fine commentaries (one Anglican, one Roman Catholic) will be available soon.

As always we participated morning and evening in the Daily Office of our two churches and celebrated the Eucharist together each day, alternating the Episcopal and Roman Catholic rites and respecting the disciplines of our two churches with respect to sharing the Sacrament. (We serve as lectors and intercessors at the other’s Mass and come forward for a blessing at the time of Communion; the Roman Catholics do the same for us). Painful…but honest as to where we are right now on the journey.

There were many tears this time as the new round of talks beginning in 2008 will bring on new participants and take on a fresh topic. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that we could each join in this prayer for each other — a prayer that was the primary reading at George Tavard’s service:

“We always give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, in our prayers for you because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love you bear toward all the saints — moved as you are by the hope held in store for you in heaven. You heard of this hope through the message of truth, the gospel, which has come to your, has borne fruit, and has continued to grow in your midst, as it has everywhere in the world.” (Colossians 1:3-6a)

Posted in Blogroll, Church Life, Ecumenical, Emergent Church, Religion, Scripture, The Episcopal Church, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

A Spotless Offering

October 17, 2007

We celebrate the Feast of St. Ignatius of Antioch today. He is really one of the genuine heroes of the early Church. The second bishop of Antioch in Syria, he was martyred in the year 115 and yet his primary teaching comes down to us in the form of seven letters he wrote while under arrest and journeying toward his own death. I think he wrote six of them to churches and a seventh to Polycarp, another martyr-bishop.

Ignatius fulfilled quite literally both our Lessons from Scripture today: St. Paul’s powerful words in Romans about nothing being able to separate us from the love of Christ – even “death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers…nor anything else.” And Jesus’ image of the grain of wheat falling into the ground and dying…only later to bear much fruit. Surely Ignatius’ life and death are testimonies to that!

Some of his words sound a bit over the top to modern ears, even though we would still embrace the underlying theology: “You should all follow the bishop as Jesus Christ did the Father,” he says, “Follow, too, the presbyters as you would the apostles; and respect the deacons as you would God’s law.” We would probably want to add something about the laity in all that richness….something about the community of the baptized and the Body of Christ being made up of many members with a diversity of gifts but the same Spirit.

Yet some of Ignatius’ other comments have a strikingly contemporary ring. In speaking against a kind of mindless fundamentalism he writes: “When I hear some people say, if I don’t find it in the ancient documents, I don’t believe it…To my mind, it is Jesus Christ who is the ancient documents.” An early way of saying that, while the Bible is the Word of God derivatively, Jesus Christ is the Word of God incarnate – the Word made Flesh!

And while today some biblical scholars may have a tendency to overemphasize the humanity of Jesus at the expense of his divinity, it was the other way around in some parts of the 2^nd century Church. To the Gnostics, who were all about Jesus’ divine nature, Ignatius writes that Jesus was “…of David’s lineage, of Mary; who was really born, ate, and drank; was really persecuted under Pontius Pilate; was really crucified and died in the sight of heaven and earth and the underworld…” He wanted the Gnostics to know that this Jesus was both God and Man!

You and I may not be able to imagine bearing the kind of heroic witness to Christ that this man bore. But at this very moment, we are heeding one of Ignatius’ chief commands. “Try to gather more frequently,” he wrote to his people, “to celebrate God’s Eucharist and to praise him,” And so we do this, Sunday by Sunday, and day by day.

And – in doing so — we pray, in the words of today’s Collect, that God may “…Accept…the willing tribute of our lives and give us a share in the pure and spotless offering of your Son Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns…for ever and ever.” Amen.

Posted in Blogroll, Church Life, Ecumenical, Emergent Church, Religion, The Episcopal Church | 1 Comment »

A Kingdom Divided

October 14, 2007

Two very dark readings from Holy Scripture last Friday. The first, from the prophet Joel, which we usually read on Ash Wednesday, is a call to repentance and prayer, asking God to save his people from the day of destruction (Joel 1:13-15, 2:1-2).

The Gospel reading from Luke is about people accusing Jesus of being an agent of Satan when he casts out demons (Luke 11:14-26)! These two Lessons are about as far removed from the “real world” that we live in as you can imagine! Or are they?

Thousands of Americans participated last Monday in an interfaith “fast for peace and an end to the war in Iraq.” The idea originated, I think, from Arthur Waskow – a progressive rabbi very involved in interfaith dialogue. It was picked up by the National Council of Churches and by Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and people of no faith at all. In some communities the breaking of the fast was observed at Islamic centers with an “iftar” dinner on the “Night of Power,” holiest night in Ramadan.

I had to participate in it rather privately since I was at Kanuga for a small church conference. But then, Jesus says something about doing your prayer and fasting privately so as not to bring attention to yourself, so I felt OK about that. Fasting is an ancient spiritual discipline shared by many of the world’s religions. It seems to add “seriousness” (for lack of a better word) to our prayers and also allows us to experience (if only symbolically) the reality most people in this world live with every day – hunger and thirst.

So, Joel’s announcing of a fast does have contemporary relevance. But what about this strange story of Jesus and the demons? Well, at its core, the story is about a man being so misunderstood and so misinterpreted by people consumed with fear that he is accused of evil when all he’s trying to do is good! These people were so frightened of the evil forces they felt within themselves and others that they could only assume Jesus’ power somehow came from his being in league with the Devil.

He points out the folly of that argument basically by saying that “any kingdom divided against itself cannot stand.” In other words, look at the results of what I’m doing! If the results are positive and you can begin to see glimpses of the Kingdom of God in my life and ministry, how can you say I’m being motivated by the Evil One?

In the final analysis, that’s all any of us can do. Even if people misunderstand you and ascribe motivations that are actually contrary to what you’re trying to do, you have to rely on the eventual outcome. If the fruit ultimately turns out to be good, then the tree is good. If not, then – and only then – can it be judged to be rotten.

While waiting for those fruits to emerge, we can be sustained by the words of the Psalmist: “…you have maintained my right and my cause; you sit upon your throne judging right…as for the enemy, they are finished, in perpetual ruin… But the Lord is enthroned for ever…It is he who rules the world with righteousness; he judges the people with equity.” (Psalm 9)

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Deacons and Evangelists

October 11, 2007

Some of us have just returned from the Kanuga Conference Center in North Carolina where we participated in a gathering entitled “Creative Sacramental Leadership in the Small Congregation.” It was sponsored by our Office of Congregational Development with Suzanne Watson providing the primary leadership. It was well attended and brought together ministry developers and others from all over the country. Keynoters included a bishop from Canada, an area missioner from New England, an Archbishop from New Zealand, and our own Presiding Bishop.

The Chaplain for the conference – The Rev. Susan Snook – used our “saint for today” (St. Philip, Deacon and Evangelist) as a kind of guiding light for the daily meditations and reflections in our worship. And she focused on the various Scriptural references to Philip – from his calling as one of “the Seven” chosen to assist the Apostles in feeding the neglected Greek-speaking widows of Jerusalem… all the way through his ministry to the Ethiopian eunuch recounted in our first reading from Acts today and beyond.

The Presiding Bishop preached on that text at the closing Eucharist for our conference and pointed out that deacons in the early Church were not simply “servants” as we sometimes want to define them today. Beginning with the “proto deacons” in Acts – people like Philip and Stephen – they preached, they baptized, they reached out to the poor, and they became administrators in the early church, working closely with the bishops.

And she pointed out the role of deacons is to be leaders in such “diaconal ministry” for all of us! Their primary work is not “in the Church” but in the world.” My wife, who is a deacon, often points out that the deacons’ ordination vows do not say that they are called to “interpret the needs of the world to the church and the church to the world” as is often claimed. The vows are a one-way street: “You are to interpret to the Church the needs, concerns, and hopes of the world!” That’s why deacons – at their best – are often “irritants” to the institutional Church. They’re supposed to be! They’re always tugging at our sleeve saying, “What about them? Where are all the voices? Who’s not at the Table?”

Katharine pointed out that Philip didn’t wait around for the Ethiopian to find his way to church! He followed the Spirit’s leading and climbed into the chariot of this man who – while a God-fearing man – could never become fully accepted as a Jewish convert because he was considered a sexual deviant and as “less than whole” as a human being, really outside the Covenant.

Philip was able to say, “Well, I follow One who offers you a ‘new’ covenant — one of inclusion and grace.” And he “proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus” (Acts 8:35). Well, it must have sounded like good news to this Ethiopian because he asks for baptism immediately and Philip responds! The text goes on to say that “When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more!”

So, I guess we have to hope that someone else followed up on that baptism, that someone was able to provide some “post-baptismal” catechesis. But it wasn’t to be Philip! That’s not the deacon’s role. He was probably off to find some other outcast to baptize. And that, Katharine concluded, is why the Church needs more deacons!

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Church Dividing Issues

October 5, 2007

I write this from the Maritime Center in the Baltimore-Washington Corridor where I am participating in a Coordinating Council meeting of Churches Uniting in Christ (CUIC). This group is the successor to the old Consultation on Church Union (COCU) and is made up of ten denominations representing some 20 million Christians:

The African Methodist Episcopal Church; the African American Episcopal Zion Church; The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ); the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church; The Episcopal Church; the International Council of Community Churches; the Moravian Church; the United Methodist Church; the Presbyterian Church (USA); and the United Church of Christ. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is a partner in mission and dialogue and the Roman Catholic Church are observers.

This conversation and relationship has been going on for more than 40 years — its twin goals being to forge a full communion relationship for joint mission including interchangeability of ministers and ministries and to stand together for racial justice in this country. Whenever The Episcopal Church would come close to pulling out of this difficult ecclesial arrangement, the argument would be that it was the only place we are able to dialogue, interact and cooperate with the Historically Black Methodist Churches — and this was seen as so important for us!

Now, even that is in jeopardy. Two of these Black churches — the AME and the AMEZ — have suspended their participation in CUIC. There are a variety of reasons too complex to go into here. But a core reason is that they have become frustrated that so much energy has gone into the “ministry task force” dealing with ecclesiological issues like ordination and sacraments and the historic episcopate and so little has gone into combatting racism — in the world, in the Church, and even within the CUIC family.

So, the Coordinating Council is working with two anti-racism consultants, taking a hard look at our common life, seeing whether or not this relationship is able to be salvaged, and if so how we might proceed. All this in preparation for a CUIC Plenary meeting to be held in January and attended by the ten Heads of Communion and seven delegates from each communion.

This is very hard work. And one of the great learnings (or reminders) in all this is that there are many “church dividing” issues out there today. We all know the ecclesial ones — like views of the papacy and bishops in historic succession, approaches to worship and especially the sacraments, interpretation and use of scripture, etc. Anglicans have learned that, whether it “should” be so or not, different understandings of human sexuality (and especially homosexuality) can be a church dividing issue.

But, particularly in the US context — where race relations have been so difficult over the centuries, complicated as it is by the horrifying history of slavery — personal and institutional racism is also a church dividing issue. If we cannot acknowledge and pay attention to that — perhaps by some kind of “truth and reconcilation commission” approach — not only will Churches Uniting in Christ prove to be a noble but failed experiement, but the entire ecumenical movement will be hampered.

May we find a way to reclaim our original vision which states, among other things, that “…we commit ourselves to the task of becoming a Beloved Community…(and to)…engage in a process of overcoming racism as we seek to demolish the institutional barriers which keep us from being a united Christian community that is truly catholic, truly reformed, and truly evangelical.”

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Never Look Back

October 3, 2007

I’m not sure there is any way to soften the shocking impact of Jesus’ challenge to his would-be followers in today’s Gospel! He was such a charismatic figure that, I suppose, he often heard rash promises like the one with which our passage begins: “I will follow you wherever you go,” (Luke 9:57) gushes perhaps a young person, filled with zeal and excitement!

“Be careful what you say,” Jesus seems to caution, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but I have no where to lay my head!” And “neither will you” seems to be the implication. That seems like a pastoral approach to this would-be disciple. No sense taking advantage of his zeal without first making clear the consequences!

But then Jesus actually extends an invitation to the next person! “Follow me,” he says. “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” Seems like a reasonable request. To which Jesus makes a harsh reply, “Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God!”

And a similar scenario follows as another seeker says, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” “No one who puts hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” Tough stuff.

N.T. scholar Tom Wright puts it this way: “…the summons was shocking: Jesus’ call overrode normal family obligations of the kind usually regarded as sacrosanct. ‘Leave the dead to bury their dead’; only someone conscious of an all-important task could have issued such a summons, and only someone who believed him could have obeyed it.”

“This definite call offered nothing except a wandering life: foxes have holes, birds have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. But the promised long-term reward, as one might expect from a leadership prophet, let alone one who was more than a prophet, was that one would share in the blessings of the great coming new age, the age of redemption.” (N.T. Wright, “Jesus and the Victory of God”, page 299)

I don’t know about you, but that kind of commitment, that kind of total self-offering makes my discipleship look pretty tepid. I guess I’ve made a few sacrifices in my life to follow Jesus. But they do not compare in the slightest to the sacrifices made by those original 12…or by the early Church saints…or by the martyrs down through the centuries…or by women seeking to find their place in the leadership of the Church…or by gay and lesbian Christians wondering how long “full inclusion” really will take…or by African bishops and primates who take their lives in their hands every time they speak out for religious freedom and tolerance in some Islamic republic. Yes, my discipleship is pretty tepid!

I guess I could spend my time feeling guilty about all that. Surely, I am guilty in lots of this. Or, I can spend my time being grateful. Grateful to my fellow Christians who have no where to lay their heads…who are actually willing to let the dead bury the dead…and who – having put their hand to the plow – never look back!

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These Also Were Born There

October 2, 2007

One of our Eucharistic prayers begins like this: “We give thanks to you, O God, for the goodness and love which you have made known to us in creation; in the calling of Israel to be your people; in your Word spoken through the prophets; and above all in the Word made flesh, Jesus, your Son.”

In those few words we have a recounting of our whole salvation history – the beauty of the Creation itself, the irrevocable Covenant with Israel, the challenging voice of Israel’s Prophets, and – finally – the incarnation of all of that in Jesus of Nazareth! Today’s Lessons describe the centrality of the people of Israel in all of this – their self-confidence and trust in their relationship with God which they have always had, at their best.

The prophet Zechariah says, “Peoples shall yet come, the inhabitants of many cities; the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, ‘Come, let us go to entreat the favor of the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts…In those days ten men from nations of every language shall take hold of a Jew, grasping his garment and saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’” (Zechariah 8:20, 23)

The Psalmist rejoices in this historic role of his people: “…the Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of our God…Of Zion it shall be said, ‘Everyone was born in her…The Lord will record as he enrolls the peoples, These also were born there!’” (Psalm 87) And here we have a hint of the universal role of Israel – this covenantal relationship with God is not only for the Jews, but through the Jews (potentially) to everyone!

Jesus understood that clearly. In fact, it was central to his entire message about the kingdom of God. In today’s Gospel, he was once again prepared to visit the hated Samaritans and to spend time with them, but they would not “receive him because” the text says,“his face was set toward Jerusalem.” (Luke 9:53-54). Now, he was not actually “on the way” to Jerusalem physically at this point, so this text must mean something else.

I think it means that he was bound and determined to speak his message in Jerusalem. He had come to believe that the course of his life and his core message of the kingdom had to be proclaimed in Jerusalem itself, in the heart of the temple, in the symbolic center of Jewish life. Not because he was trying to “convert the Jews” to some new religion. But because, from the heart of their faith, would come salvation for the whole world!

The disciples in this story react in a very human way to their Master’s rejection. They want to punish the Samaritans. “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” (Seems a bit of an overreaction to me, but then it’s basically what the prophet Elijah is said to have done to the prophets of Baal!). Not exactly Jesus’ style though and he simply “turned and rebuked” the disciples for even having such a thought.

After all, why would he want to punish his adversaries when he had just finished preaching, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” (Luke 6:27). Besides…even Samaritans are among those Jesus called “good.” And – even though they (and we) often forget it – We “also were born there” — in Zion…in Jerusalem…for the great One in the midst of us is none other than the Holy One of Israel! (Isaiah 12:6)

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Bad News And Better News For The NCC

September 30, 2007

The National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA remains the premier ecumenical entity in this country, made up as it is of Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican, African American, and historic peace churches…among others. The NCC has struggled for years, however, financially, as member communions deal with their own tight budgets and much of the remaining “ecumenical energy” goes into dialogues, full communion relationships, and even interfaith encounters.

The previous General Secretary came to office with a mandate to turn the institution around financially and, in large part, he did so. The problem was it was done by securing grants for specific programs and not for core support of the Council. So, while fully supported grant programs continue unabated, the Governing Board had to slash the staff last week to about 19 in order to avoid busting the budget for this quadrennium…and the next!

In my opinion, the NCC needs to reclaim its vision as a “council of churches” and the denominations need to recommit to their “ownership” of the Council. That may well mean it will be a leaner organization (because we are limited, as communions, as to how much money we can afford) and we may need to do less, but do it better. Primarily, we must re-focus on the goal of church unity and not continue to function primarily as a social action agency, an NGO with ecclesiastical overtones, or a political action committee!

The NCC has a prophetic role to play in society and, historically, it has been on the “side of the angels” with respect to many pressing social problems. But primarily we are to be a visible expression of our yearning for the unity of the Church, working together from a theological and spiritual base. We do not need to have an opinion on everything, but we can and must speak out when we have broad consensus grounded in our common faith.

So, the bad news is the NCC is in trouble. The better news is that it may be a wake-up call to return to our roots, reclaim our original vision, and focus on what we can do well together.

The selection of a new General Secretary — about whom the Search Committee came to consensus last night — should help in this process.

Stay tuned for the announcement…!

Posted in Blogroll, Church Life, Ecumenical, Emergent Church, Interfaith, Religion, The Episcopal Church | 4 Comments »

Our Desire To Please You Does In Fact Please You

September 28, 2007

Religious communities in our tradition usually have “Bishop Visitors.” These are bishops who agree to be advisors, encouragers, and friends of the Community. I serve in this capacity for the Community of Transfiguration in Cincinnati and am here to chair the Board of Trustees and Society meeting which occur annually.

It’s hardly a retreat since I am in meetings morning, noon and night and there are often major decisions to be made affecting the life and future of the Community. Yet, the regular round of Morning, Noon, Evening, and Night Prayers and the Daily Eucharist provide a framework which is in itself spiritually refreshing.

St. Benedict writes of days balanced between prayer, work and study and — while that is not easy to achieve even in a monastery — even the attempt to do so beats the hectic pace which consumes most of our daily lives. We closed our Chapter meeting tonight with this great prayer adapted from Thomas Merton:

Our Lord God, we have no idea where we are going.

We do not see the road ahead of us.

We cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do we really know ourselves, and the fact that we think we are following your will does not mean that we are actually doing so.

But we believe that our desire to please you does in fact please you.

And we hope that we have that desire in all that we are doing.

We hope that we will never do anything apart from that desire.

And we know that if we do this, you will lead us by the right road though we may know nothing about it.

Therefore will we trust in you always, though we may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.

We will not fear, for you are ever with us,

and you will never leave us to face our perils alone.

(A great prayer for us as individuals…for our communities…and indeed for the Church at large!)

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