Weekly Reflection--October 30

Semper Reformandum or Always Reforming is one of the vestiges of the Reformation, which we will observe this Sunday.  (Actually, one may more appropriately refer to the theological and ecclesialogical changes of the 16th century in the plural--reformations--than as a monolithic Reformation.  Indeed, there were many types of reforms and reformers.)  The dictum Semper Reformandum was adopted by a group of Lutheran clergy regarding, in part, their relationship to the Roman Catholic Church.  While many reformers--Martin Luther himself included--saw the end of the Reformations as a reunion with a reformed Roman church, the Semper Reformandum group, at a critical point, saw the movement as making a break with Rome, and they would never look back.    The very nature of the Church, in their mind, was to always reflect upon what we do and constantly reform ourselves so that we remain faithful to the Gospel.

The Gospel, interestingly, was the cause for the Reformations.  Well, actually, it was all the abuses in the name of the Gospel that led to the Reformations.  Yet, the heart of the Gospel is what spurred this movement on.  That is:  Sola Gratia.  We are save by grace.  And while there were a few other Solas (Fide--Faith, Scriptura--Scripture) that followed, this understanding that the Godhead reconciles us with God's self and calls us into new life freely and without our effort--by grace-- is quite radical.  

There would be--and continue to be--all sorts of individuals who would want to qualify this grace.  The grace, they argue, comes through faith.  Faith involves a certain assent to various truths and can quickly become yet another "work" that we do to gain God's favor.  So much for enjoying the gift!   

Luther and other reformers would have nothing to do with this system of "works".  Grace--God's unconditional love, particularly and fully expressed in the person of Jesus Christ--is the beginning, middle, end, height, depth, and breadth of everything.  We have not done anything to earn it, and we are invited to participate in the divine life freely and fully aware that we are considered the beloved of God.  (I often wonder what the world would look like if we truly believed and were able to internalize this profound promise.)    

Of course, with all the political posturing and upheaval at the time of the Reformations, the idea that grace extended also to those who didn't quite believe in the same way as we might led to the slaughter of thousands during the religious wars of the 16th century.  Seemingly, we have an endless ability to corrupt even the most grace-filled concepts of the tradition.

Yet, grace and its promise have endured, and we, as Lutherans and Episcopalians, are the inheritors of this wonderful assurance.  (The great Anglican Thomas Cranmer studied with Luther and other European reformers and brought incorporated these ideas into the Anglican tradition.)  However, I suspect that this concept remains foreign to many and baffling to most.  The posture of grace certainly is not what we experience in the world at large.  In the world, we must produce.  We must be active and proactive.  We need to be able to point to all that we have accomplished so as to hold onto our job if not also justify our existence.  At a point, this is unavoidable.  At another point, it is sad if it is the only way we understand our life and our being.

A story of Luther that I love, perhaps, gets at the serendipity and reality of grace.  Many psychologists have interpreted Luther's conflict with the Roman Catholic Church as a byproduct of his terrible relationship with his father.  Luther was Hector Projector!  The Roman Church became the father figure against which he rebelled.  

  

However, some work has been done on the letters that Luther and his father were exchanging prior to Luther nailing the 95 theses on the Castle Church door at Wittenberg, ostensibly beginning the Reformations.  What these scholars have found is that Luther and his father had reconciled.  Far from a rebellion against an ecclesiastical father figure, Luther's actions were empowered because of the confidence and love that he realized from his own father.  Some might even say this was grace in action!

And, perhaps, that is how it is with us as well.  The very real relationships that we experience are the ones that either express or reject the grace that God showers upon us unconditionally.  When we encounter love that is unconditional and freely given from those closest and most important to us, it is transformative.  When we encounter such love, we often want to replicate it, share it, give it away. . .freely!  When we encounter such love, we are glimpsing--or better yet, we are glimpsed by--God.

Happy Reformation.

Blessings.

Mark

Weekly Reflection--October 23

We are in the midst of the pledging season within the church.  The monies that are pledged for the ongoing ministry of the parish help the vestry develop a budget for us to live by in the coming year.  Oftentimes, this activity is referred to as stewardship.  Too often, unfortunately, it is only pledging that is associated with the word stewardship.   

Of course, the term stewardship rightly underscores the use of our gifts for the ongoing ministry of God at St. Francis.  This certainly is stewardship.  However, if that is all we associate with stewardship, then we are, as the apostle Paul said, most to be pitied.  Stewardship is not synonymous with fundraising.  Stewardship is all about care.  Care for what we have been given.  Care for the facilities and programs in our charge.  Care for those with whom we worship.  Care for the larger creation.  Care is stewardship rightly understood.  Thus, it is not a "fall pledge drive", rather it is a daily and lifelong activity in which we are all engaged.  At times we may be more aware of how we are caring, but the call to care never ceases, and the care that we provide--to self, to family, to friends, to parishioners, to the other, and to the larger world--expresses the fullness to which we have incorporated the hospitality and grace teachings of Jesus and the radical love of God.

Another term that usually gets short shrift or is avoided by many in the mainline churches is evangelism.  Too often we associate this word with door-to-door proselytizing or in-your-face EVANGELICAL preachers who we would rather turn off than listen to.   

However, many years ago a wonderful liturgist in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America--Paul Nelson--offered a wonderful reflection on, of all things, the connection between worship and evangelism that I have never forgotten.  Basically, he said they are the same thing.

What he meant was that evangelism comes from the Greek root euangelion, which means to bring good news.  Hence, the street corner preachers and door-to-door proselytizers don't have it completely wrong.  They truly believe, regardless of how tone deaf and/or over-the-top they are, that they are bringing good news to people.  The message of Jesus Christ saves.  Kind of hard to argue with that.

Yet, while the form of the presentation has a lot to be desired on the part of rabid evangelicals, the call to spread the good news is one that extends to all of us.  And we all have our unique ways of spreading that good news, which is:  God loves you unconditionally in Christ.  End of sentence.  Period.  No more.  And no qualifications!   

God.  Loves.  You.  Unconditionally.  In.  Christ.

What Paul Nelson realized (and what so many people realize) is that worship, at its core, is all about sharing that message with whomever is present.  In prayers, scripture readings, hymns, anthems, sermons, the creeds, more prayers, the peace, and the Eucharistic liturgy, the fundamental and critical message is that God loves you unconditionally in Christ.  So, worship is intimately connected to evangelism.   

Of course, those who are familiar with St. Francis understand that the "sell" is pretty soft--no in-your-face altar calls--and the atmosphere is appropriately western, modern, and respectably normed to the gatherings of many mainline churches and organizations in southern Fairfield County.  What we should not forget, however, is that even though the message comes in ways that we may find easily digestible, the message, nonetheless, is quite radical.

God loves you unconditionally in Christ.   

Who says that?  In a world that demands conditions and people to pull themselves up by their boot straps, the message of Christianity is that it's already been done for you.  There is nothing that we do that saves us.  Even the ability to assent to this grace of God is, itself, something that has been done for us.  Think of it.   

God's love.  Unconditionally given.  For you.

Thus, the extension of worship as a form of evangelism is to lead to further evangelism in the many and various ways that we, in all our diversity and uniqueness, can express, offer, and embody it to the world.  We all are evangelicals.  Though we need not be tone deaf and in-your-face.  We are evangelicals in that we are called to share the good news--God loves you unconditionally in Christ--in the many ways that we can.  Sometimes we say it.  More often than not we live it.  We extend a helping hand to someone in need.  We mourn with those who mourn or rejoice with those who rejoice.  We bring communion to or visit a shut-in.  We work for justice for those in our community or in the world who have been denied justice. We work for peace.  And on an on.   

Thus, we recognize that not only are worship and evangelism related.  Indeed, all of life may be considered an opportunity for worship and, thus, evangelism.

Blessings, 

  

Mark

Weekly Reflection--October 9

Just yesterday Cathy Ostuw, Jim Quinn, and I participated in a meeting put on by the Diocese of Connecticut regarding the upcoming Diocesan Convention (October 21 & 22) and certain resolutions coming before the convention.  The meeting had a "town hall" quality to it, with presentations from various members of the Program and Budget committee and the bishops, and then an opportunity for questions from those gathered for the evening.

The information disseminated was rather stark.  Like many other religious organizations, the Diocese has experienced reduced support from the 178 or so congregations in Connecticut.  Given this scenario, the budget is being cut substantially this year, and a renewed effort to invite all the parishes to participate fully and equally in the life of God's mission in the church is a part of one of the resolutions for the convention.   

Clearly, these kinds of discussions--amidst an uncertain economy and local communities seeking to support ministries in their own locale--can be quite unsettling.  And there was an expected amount of hand wringing.   

However, what struck me throughout the evening was the honest and open engagement with the issues facing the Diocese from a perspective of abundance and not scarcity; from an acute awareness of the gifts of life and not the capriciousness of life; from an eye to the opportunities that lie ahead and not a fixation upon the barriers.  It was, from my perspective, refreshing.   

Specifically, there was an historical perspective that Bishop Douglas gave regarding our current context that I found extremely helpful.

Bishop Douglas began by noting that the church throughout time has mirrored the culture around it.  Some might say, "Duh!" but it is a reality that we often forget.  Furthermore, to understand that the church follows various structures and movements of the culture is to recognize the intrinsic change that is a part of our life and life together in society and in the church.  (This, of course, does not mean that all change is good nor does it mean that all change is bad.  Simply put:  Change is.  And we are invited to evaluate that change time and again.)

What this has meant for the 20th century is that while big government--the New Deal-- and big business were prominent elements of the first part of this century, so too was the rise of big Church.  Dioceses became more centralized and grounded in one location.  The national church began to grow and develop programming for the Church as a whole.  The face of the organized institution at this time would not have been recognized by those in the 19th century.  With the rise of the bigger church, there also was a corresponding mirroring of the cultural regulatory milieu that marked the latter decades of the 20th century.   

Again, it is not that these traits are necessarily good or bad.  They simply are.

With the changes coming at the Diocesan level, Bishop Douglas underscored that we are in a different time in the first part of the 21st century.  A time that he noted was marked by the need to network.  A wonderful example that he gave was the structural similarity between the Tea Party and the Occupy Wall Street groups.  They may not necessarily co-exist on the same end of the political spectrum, but they are related in the loose networks that have arisen and created the movements themselves.  They are not top down.  They are organic.  They are not centralized.  They are diffused.  They are not a labrynthine bureaucracy.  They are a loose affiliation of individuals gathered around particular commitments.

While this analysis is largely descriptive  and not prescriptive, it does help frame the context and landscape that we find ourselves in as 21st century believers.  Indeed, Bishop Douglas noted that he does not know how everything will play out and how the Church and is missional efforts will look in the near and far future.  That the Church will not look the same is a pretty safe bet.   

I, for one, hope that the beautiful sanctuary spaces that we are privileged to worship in remain and a vibrant community continues to live into God's future in this place.  I also know that the changes that come are inevitable, and it is not so much my--or our--ability to control the change that is important.  I prefer to believe that the way that we engage the questions that arise from the changes--with grace, with humility, with understanding, with transparency, and with love--are more important.  For, as in the meeting last night, these elements were clearly on display among those who spoke and acted recognizing God's abundance, gifts, and opportunities amidst the very realness of life.  It was and is nothing less than refreshing.   

Blessings, 

  

Mark