Trinity Sunday - May 22

Who We Are and Who We Are Not

Today is Trinity Sunday.  One of the seven Principal Feasts of our church calendar.  One of the most important holy days we celebrate together.  And the only one commemorating a doctrine, and a particularly difficult doctrine at that.

This week I came across an interesting discussion of the Trinity.  It wasn’t so much focused on defining the doctrine, as describing the context in which the doctrine evolved.

The commentator wrote:  “The Trinity was the early church’s way of trying to grapple with a monotheistic belief in one God in light of their actual, lived experience of God’s activity powerfully in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus and after an encounter with the power of the Holy Spirit” (HERE).

The Trinity was an attempt to describe the 4^th century church’s experience of God.  It did that by emphasizing both who the early church was not and who they were.  The church was very clear that its belief was monotheistic, not like those pagans, Greeks, with their smorgasbord of many gods.  But the church also wanted to say that they were people who experienced God in relationships and those relationships were multifaceted, especially across time.

The Trinity was the church’s attempt to describe its belief and its identity by saying:  This who we are not and this is who we are.

That was not the only time the church sought to define itself by outlining both what it was and what it was not.  We see the same thing in the 39 Articles, written in the 16^th century.  The 39 Articles are in the fine print in the back of the Book of Common Prayer, amid the historical documents.  They come from the Church of England, our denominational forebear at the time of the Reformation.  Some of the Articles say who we are; some say who we are not.

For example, we are people who affirm the doctrine of the Trinity as a description of God.  We affirm the Incarnation, that the Son of God took on human flesh and lived among us.  We affirm Christ’s death and Resurrection as the means by which we receive eternal life with God.  These are some of the more important Articles stating who we are.

Then there are these articles, that clearly articulate who we are not:

“The Romish Doctrine concerning Purgatory, Pardons, Worshipping and Adoration, as well of Images as of Relics and also Invocation of Saints, is a fond thing, vainly invented, and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture, but rather repugnant to the Word of God.”

The early Church of England was very clear that it was not Roman Catholic.  Or this one:

“The Riches and Goods of Christians are not common, as touching the right, title, and possession of the same; as certain Anabaptists do falsely boast.  Notwithstanding, every man ought, of such things as he possesseth, liberally to give alms to the poor, according to his ability.”

The 16^th century Church of England was also very clear that it was not like those Anabaptists, extreme Protestants that arose at the time of the Reformation.

These days, we do not need to differentiate ourselves from the Greeks and their pantheon of gods like Christians did in the 4^th century.  Nor do we need to separate ourselves in the same way that the Protestant Reformers did in the 16^th century from the Catholics and Anabaptists.

If we were to describe ourselves as not something today, what would it be?  The first reaction for some of you might be to say: we are not like those Christian fundamentalists of today.  Others might say: we are not like those Unitarians who believe everything and therefore nothing.  We might learn from those conversations if they were done faithfully and respectfully. 

But it seems to me that what we most need to affirm that we are NOT these days is secular.  We are not like the secular world that surrounds us.  We are not like those people who see nothing in the world as holy or sacred.  We are not like those people who do not view other people as bearing the image of God; therefore other people are expendable.  We are not like those people who confuse busyness with purpose.  We are not like those people who measure their life’s work by the comfort they have achieved in their own lives.  We are not secular.

At all points in history affirming what we ARE is probably more important than stressing what we are not.  And that’s important for us, too, today.

We are people who experience God in relationship.  And that relationship is multifaceted.  We do not encounter God in just one place or in just one way.  We encounter God, we come into relationship with God:  in creation, in one another, in the Scriptures, in the sacraments, in prayer.  We also meet God as we do God’s work in the world.

And there’s a wondrous positive feedback loop about being a Christian.  The more we think of ourselves as non-secular… the more we decide to see the world and other people as sacred…  and the more we choose intentionally do God’s work…  the richer and deeper our relationship with God will grow.

Pentecost - May 15

Prologue to Pentecost
Acts 2:1-21

Today is Pentecost.  One of the great days of celebration in the church calendar.

You know the main story of Pentecost, I hope.  We heard it in today’s first reading from Acts.  It’s about the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus’ disciples were gathered together inside.  They heard a sound like that of a mighty wind.  Tongues that looked like fire rested on each one of them.  And they were transformed.

Pentecost was a Jewish holy day in Jesus’ time and continues to be celebrated today.  In Hebrew, it is called Shavuot.  It falls 50 days after Passover, and Greek speaking Jews in Jesus’ time called it Pentecost (Pente = “five”).  It was and is a festival of first fruits.  In the spring, the earth is just beginning to offer fruitfulness.  It also commemorates the God’s giving of the Torah to God’s people.

But for Christians on Pentecost we remember the promised giving of the Holy Spirit. It’s worth noting that it was a physical event, heard and seen by the disciples and even the people outside.  It happened in the physical world; it was not an interior, “spiritual” event.  And the effect was amazing.  It brought the disciples together into community.  They were no longer a group of individual followers of Jesus.  They became a community, bound together by the Spirit.  And that community was given a mission, and the courage and means to pursue it.   They were empowered for proclamation.  Given the strength and skill to spread God’s Good News with others.

As fabulous and important as the event of Pentecost is, this year I’ve been thinking about a different piece of it.  I’ve been thinking about the importance of the prologue.

As the author of Luke/Acts tells it, Jesus appeared to his disciples several times after his resurrection and before his ascension.  Just before his ascension he said to them: ‘This is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now” (Acts 1:4b -5).

Then he was gone.  Gone from their sight.  Gone from their presence.  Ascended to heaven.  They just stood there, staring upward until the two “men in white robes” prodded them to move, to return to Jerusalem.

They went to the upper room and “constantly devoted themselves to prayer.”

I have tended to think of the disciples at this point as fearful, uncertain, and passive.  John’s Gospel says that after Jesus crucifixion, the disciples huddled in the upper room, afraid of what was outside.  Passive.  Afraid.

This week I read reflections by William Willimon on this portion of Acts (Interpretation Commentary).

The community, rather than taking matters into its own hands, getting organized and venturing forth with banners unfurled, has withdrawn to wait and to pray.  The next move is up to God.  It is up to the risen Christ to make good on his promise to bestow the Spirit and to restore the kingdom to Israel.  In a sense this is what prayer is—the bold, even arrogant effort on the part of the community to hold God to his promises.  In praying, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,” we pray that God will be true to himself and give us what has been promised.  Prayer is thus boldness born out of confidence in the faithfulness of God to the promises he makes, confidence that God will be true to himself.

So the disciples gathering in the upper room for prayers wasn’t an act of fear and uncertainty, but one of boldness and confidence.  And the prologue that set Pentecost in motion.

The prologue to Pentecost is prayer.  Corporate prayer. 

“Prayer is boldness born out of confidence in the faithfulness of God to the promises he makes.”

And on Pentecost God did fulfill God’s promise to send the Spirit.  And the Spirit empowered and enabled the disciples to undertake God’s mission.  Our collect today describes it as “shedding abroad” the fullness of eternal life found in God to the ends of the earth.

“Prayer is thus boldness born out of confidence in the faithfulness of God to the promises he makes.”  Our prayers, our corporate prayers, are acts of boldness.

Have you noticed that every Sunday when we celebrate the Eucharist, the invitation to the Lord’s prayer mentions boldness?  “And now, as our Savior Christ has taught us, we are BOLD to pray…”

It is a bold prayer.  I remember being taught once how bold it is of us to address God as Father.  Our Father.  But Jesus has promised us that God takes on that roll.  So in boldness born out of confidence in God’s faithfulness, we pray: Our Father.

We boldly pray:  That God’s kingdom will come.  That we will receive the Holy Spirit as promised in Baptism.  That God will fulfill God’s purposes through us. 

The disciples’ prayers in the upper room were the prologue to Pentecost…  the giving of the Holy Spirit and empowering the church for mission.  God knows what our prayers today are prologue to.

The Seventh Sunday of Easter - May 8

Hospitality
Acts 16:16-34

Hospitality seems to be the result of conversion.  Sharing hospitality is an inevitable consequence of becoming a Christian.

At least that is what happens in the stories from Acts which we had as readings last week and this week.

You remember in last week’s reading Paul received a vision to go to Macedonia, to take the Gospel to Philippi.  Picking up the story as it is recounted in Acts:

On the sabbath day we [Paul and his companions] went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home." And she prevailed upon us (Acts 16:13-15).

This week’s reading follows immediately after last week’s.  Still in Philippi, Paul and his companions have been jailed.  That’s an interesting story in and of itself, but not my focus today.  They are praying and singing hymns when an earthquake breaks their bonds and opens the doors of the prison offering them freedom.   Continuing from Acts:

The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them outside and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" They answered, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay. He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God (Acts 16:29-34).

It’s too bad he doesn’t have a name, and surprisingly, tradition hasn’t given him one. 

Regardless, the first thing the unnamed jailer and his family do after they are baptized is to offer Paul and his companions hospitality.  And the first thing Lydia and her household do after they are baptized is offer hospitality.

The very first thing they do as Christians is share the Christian life with others.  There is never a moment, as baptized Christians, that they are alone.

The Christian life is shared with others.  Always. 

Offering hospitality is one way to think of that shared life.  But I think maybe that word limits our perspective on what Christian hospitality can be.  For us “hospitality” tends to mean dinner parties or having the in-laws stay for a week.

Hopefully, those are acts of Christian hospitality.  But the hospitality of sharing the Christian life is much broader.

Last Sunday in the adult education class we explored what Spirit-filled hospitality might look like.

It involves offering and inviting.  Offering something of ourselves to others.  And inviting them to share something of themselves with us.

It means noticing other people around us and offering what we have to them and inviting them to share what they have.  Things like:  Stories.  Needs.  Hopes.  Prayers.  Time.

Christian hospitality might sound something like this:  Tell me a story about your mother.  It may be joyous or sad, happy or difficult.  Or:  Can I pray for you?  Let’s get a cup of coffee.  Let’s walk together.  Here, take my coat; Keep it.

Of course, there’s another aspect of hospitality.  It’s not just about the things we initiate, whether that’s offering or inviting.  It’s also about accepting the hospitality of others.  Accepting the offerings and invitations of others.  For some of us, I think that’s often harder.  Yes, let’s walk together.  Thank you for your offering in my time of need.  I am grateful for your prayers.

So think about it as you encounter people as today unfolds.  People you know well, people you know a little, or people you don’t know at all.  Look for opportunities to offer and accept Christian hospitality.

Let us pray that the spirit will inspire us, as it did the Philippian jailer and Lydia, to share our life in Christ with others.

The Sixth Sunday of Easter - May 1

Tourist or Traveler on the Way?
Acts 16:9-15

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Ever since I was in seminary, I’ve subscribed to the Christian Century.  It’s actually published here in Chicago.  It’s a great source for religious news, faithful analysis and thoughtful reflections.  Its subtitle is “Thinking Critically. Living Faithfully.”  I want to share with you a commentary that appeared in the most recent issue.  It is related to today’s readings, especially the reading from Acts.

I found it very thought provoking.  And I hope it will provoke thought for you.  Or provoke conversation.  Or provoke soul searching.  It’s meant to be provocative, I think.  And if you find yourself reacting, maybe that’s a place to look prayerfully at your own life.  It’s by the relatively new publisher, Peter Marty.   He also serves as Senior Pastor of a large Lutheran church in Iowa.

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Tourist and Traveler

Early Christians used the Greek word hodos, or "the way," to describe the literal and figurative paths their lives followed. The wise men returned to their home country "by another road." Jesus' disciples spoke of what happened to them "along the way” to Emmaus.

Hodos could also refer to a way of life. Jesus points to John the Baptist as one who came “in the way (hodos) of righteousness.” By the end of the book of Acts, we find Christians referring to their whole communal life in Christ as “the Way."

According to John's Gospel, Jesus told his followers, "l am the way." This expression contrasts sharply with "I am the answer," something many Christians assume he must have said but didn’t. The difference between the two self-descriptions is huge.  The former invites grand adventure and openness to all of the ambiguities and doubts that go with a journey along uncertain paths. The latter suggests a packaged arrangement-a relationship involving little risk.

In his book Hidden History: Exploring Our Secret Past, Daniel J. Boorstin explains the historical difference between a traveler and a tourist. In previous centuries, travelers were those interested in unfamiliar settings and wild encounters that enlarged perspective. "The traveler was active; he went strenuously in search of people, of adventure, of experience," writes Boorstin. In contrast, "The tourist is passive; he expects interesting things to happen to him. He goes sightseeing." Tourism, in this historian's assessment, is a spectator sport full of contrived, prefabricated experiences.

The root words for travel and tourist informed Boorstin's study. Travel comes from the same word as travail, meaning trouble, work, or even torment. A traveler takes risks, plunges into diverse cultures, and seeks to learn local customs.  Unplanned experiences are the traveler's norm, sometimes involving challenging exploits. Travelers eat whatever food is placed before them. They aim to learn as much of the language as possible. Shopping for souvenirs plays no role in their ventures.

A tourist sacrifices less. The word tour from the Latin tornus— tool for making circles—literally means "one who goes in circles." A tourist is a pleasure seeker who passes through different exotic experiences only to return to a comfortable bed at night. Insulated from the noise, the smells, and the local people, a tourist's circle is complete once back home unpacking mementos and sharing photos.

I wonder if congregations are full of travelers and tourists. Travelers would be those who come to immerse their lives and refocus their values. They want to breathe the language of faith and know the way of Christ, even if travail may be part of the bargain. The tourists show up for a more passive experience, happy to drop in when they are in the mood. They spectate and consume, glad that the donuts taste fresh.

I suppose we all have to choose the spiritual road or path that works for us. Will ours be a journey rich in wild mystery, full of unknowables and incomprehensibles? Or will it be a safer path where we pick up a word here and a phrase there, making a few social connections along the way?

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Paul was clearly a traveler.  In today’s passage from Acts he receives a vision calling him to take the Gospel to Macedonia.  So he leaves where he is, gets in a small boat, and sets out across the Aegean for a foreign land.

This reflection really challenges us to ask just one question:  What way, what path is Jesus calling us to follow?  For each of us, as individuals, there is an answer to that question.  What path is each of us to follow as a disciple of Christ?

At first I thought the challenge was just to take the road “less traveled.”  But all we know about that way is that it is unpopular, not necessarily that it is the Christian way.

Or maybe, when we face a decision point, we are to take the more challenging road.  Maybe, maybe not.  Just because it is challenging does not mean Jesus leads us there.

The question is:  Where is Jesus leading you?  What path are you called to take as a follower of Christ?  And, yes, it may be an unpopular or challenging way.  But it will also be full of grace, rich in mystery, abounding in wonder and accompanied by Christ.

So let us pray that, as we follow the way of Christ today, we may be travelers, not tourists.