Wednesday, October 24, 2007

circle of prayer 26: ordination:the ember days

as many people, christian and otherwise, have moved to the cities and adopted their commercian calendars, and as even those who live in "rural" areas have come to get their holy times from the television, ember days have mostly fallen to the wayside. this should not surprise us.

"the ember days constitute a very interesting feature of the christian year, possessing one characteristic which is entirely unique. they are the only component of our annual observances in the church whose ultimate origins lay only in the 'natural' or solar year, which gave form to most primitive religions. . . . 'the ember days of the four seasons' began by being exactly what that name implies. they were in latin the quattuor tempora, a term fused into the teutonic quatember and curtailed into the english ember. they were derived from pagan agricultural observances which originally were three in number, devoted to the winter sowing in december,the summer reaping in june, and the autumn vintage in september. it was leo the great who added the lenten days to bring the number up to the four annual fasts of the jews." so wrote the standing liturgical commission of the episcopal church in prayer book studies xii: the propers for the minor holy days (new york: church pension fund, 1958)(, pp. 84-85.)

in the church year the ember days have been times of fasting and prayer before ordinations, and time for the priesthood, both ordained priests and the royal priesthood that is the whole body of christ, to reflect on how well we are carrying out our commission.

so it is as a complaint that the standing liturgical commission wrote, "the agricultural origin of the days is still discernible in some of the lections . . . prescribed in the roman missal. it also accounts for the fact that not one single lection therein has the slightest bearing upon the holy ministry." (p. )

their complaint misses the understanding that is the basis of this whole essay, which is that the holy one uses time, and the events specific to particular times, as a prophetic self-revelation, even though, "in our own time, the last days, he has spoken to us through his son." (hebrews 1:2)

no parable is more central to the gospels that the parable of the sower. one might even argue that in the relative parable-poor gospel according to mark, it and the discussion around it has a role similar to mattthew's sermon on the mount or luke's sermon on the plain:

""listen! imagine a sower going out to sow. now it happened that, as he sowed, some of the seed fell on the edge of the path, and the birds came and ate it up. some seed fell on rocky ground where it found little soil and sprang up straightaway, because it had no depth of earth; and when the sun came up it was scorched and, not having any roots, it withered away. some seed fell into thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it produced no crop. and some seeds fell into rich soil and, growing tall and strong, produced rich crop; and yielded thirty, sixty, even a hundred fold.' and he said, 'listen, anyone who has ears to hear.'" (mark 4:3-9)

add to this parable john's description of the harvest, and an agricultural typology for ministry is quite fully evoked:

"have you not a saying:
four months and then the harvest?
well, i tell you:
look around you, look at the fields;
already they are white, ready for harvest." (john 4:35)

Thursday, October 18, 2007

the feast of st. luke: thoughts about healing and listening

the feast of luke, the dear and glorious physician,comes at a time when here in the ozarks at least the whole world is hard to ignore. the trees are just beginning to blaze, and the fall and winter winds are fighting for control. two thoughts have dominated my reflections about this day, healing and listening.

it is on this wonderful day that this reading, a reading about healing, comes in morning prayer:

Ezekiel 47
Water Flowing from the Temple47Then he brought me back to the entrance of the temple; there, water was flowing from below the threshold of the temple towards the east (for the temple faced east); and the water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar. 2Then he brought me out by way of the north gate, and led me round on the outside to the outer gate that faces towards the east;* and the water was coming out on the south side.
3 Going on eastwards with a cord in his hand, the man measured one thousand cubits, and then led me through the water; and it was ankle-deep. 4Again he measured one thousand, and led me through the water; and it was knee-deep. Again he measured one thousand, and led me through the water; and it was up to the waist. 5Again he measured one thousand, and it was a river that I could not cross, for the water had risen; it was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be crossed. 6He said to me, ‘Mortal, have you seen this?’
Then he led me back along the bank of the river. 7As I came back, I saw on the bank of the river a great many trees on one side and on the other. 8He said to me, ‘This water flows towards the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah; and when it enters the sea, the sea of stagnant waters, the water will become fresh. 9Wherever the river goes,* every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish, once these waters reach there. It will become fresh; and everything will live where the river goes. 10People will stand fishing beside the sea from En-gedi to En-eglaim; it will be a place for the spreading of nets; its fish will be of a great many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea. 11But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they are to be left for salt. 12On the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.’

the good news that luke proclaims, of healing, is for all creation.

then there are the wonderful canticles that luke includes at the beginning of his gospel,
  • the magnificat
  • and
  • the benedictus
  • and
  • the nunc dimmittis
  • , which are used every day in daily prayer. but there is also that most important statement of mary, which allows the incarnation: ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ is this not an even better response to hearing scripture than "the word of the lord" or even "hear what the spirit is saying to the churches?" i am going to try using it for a while in my prayer, at least.

    Tuesday, October 16, 2007

    circle of prayer 24. rebirth: baptism & confirmation::the pascha: easter & pentecost

    one can be born anytime, but statistically one is most likely to be born very early in the morning on a new moon, the second most popular time being very early in the morning on a full moon.

    likewise one may be reborn--that is, baptized and chrismated-at any time, but the church has long--1800 years long--considered the great fifty days of easter the best time, particularly during the easter vigil. the image of our baptism's partaking of the passover of the lord is even older. to the romans paul wrote, in a passage used as the epistle in the easter vigil,

    "you have been taught that when we were baptised in christ jesus we were baptized in his death; in other words, when we were baptized we went into the tomb with him and joined him in death, so that as christ was raised from the dead by the father's glory, we too might live a new life.

    "if in union with christ we have imitated his death, we shall imitate him in his resurrection." (romans 6:3-5)

    that "we too might live a new life," that we might have the power to "imitate him in his resurrectin," christ jesus gave us the gift of "another comforter, the holy spirit." (john 14:26) this gift is in the new testament an inseparable part of the paschal event, either as happening on one day, as in john's gospel (john 20:19-22), or as the climactic event of the fifty days, as in the writings of luke (acts 2:1-4).

    unfortunately the church in the west for the most part lost or abandoned, but by the grace of god is recovering and reclaiming, the power of the great fifty days, and the interconnectedness of the resurrectin of christ and the gift of the holy spirit. i believe the intimate relationship between christian initiation and christian understanding of the mighty acts of god in restoring jesus to life and sending the holy spirit is proven by the parallel ways we have separated and reunited them. rather than go into a detailed history of that understanding, let me refer the reader to the works of daniel stevnick in the bibliography, and remind one that the eastern church has never separated baptism--the immersion of the penitent in water three times as he or she confesses her belief in the father and the son and the holy spirit--from chrismation--the anointing of the newly baptised christian with oil--nor has she ever abandoned the keeping of the great gifty days.

    the church in the west is recovering the understanding of that unity, if in bits and pieces. both united methodists and episcopalians, for instance, have restored to the baptismal liturgy the laying-on-of-hands that had been understood as part of confirmation, the west's development of chrismation. the episcopal church has restored at least the option of chrismation. the church of south india, that remarkable reunion of many fragments of the great church, has restored the putting on of a white garment, the ancient action referring to the description of the church in the revelation to john that gave pentecost sunday the name whitsunday in england when people waited as late in the fifty days as possible for baptism so the rivers would be less cold. no one, so far as i know, has returned to the ancient practice of requiring the baptismal candidate to put aside all garments, even jewelry, as a sign of renouncing the old life. but all of the church which acknowledges even the slightest importance of apostolic tradition is recovering easter, the pascha, as fifty days, the great week of weeks, the time to celebrate the mighty acts of god in which we are graced to participate through baptism in water and in fire.

    Monday, October 08, 2007

    circle of prayer 23. day:week:month:year::life

    the song of simeon provides the step on which to move from the rhythm of time as it plays in the cycles of earth and moon, sun and stars, to the beat of each life:

    "lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace,
    according to thy promise,
    for mine eyes have seen thy salvation."

    nunc dimmitis, book of common prayer translation

    each of us is born, each of us dies. whether this happens in peace depends not on the occurances of our lives, but on our understanding, our comprehension, of them. we depart in peace if we have seen the lord's salvation.

    the wonder, the mystery, is that the lord's salvation is always bigger than our understanding or comprehension. the church has over her long history founds ways of understanding the mighty acts of christ jesus, which is the fullness, the pleroma, of that salvation, not only through scriptures and tradition, but through our experience of time in the natural world. this has been the topic of this extended essay so far.

    insofar as we are made in the image of god, so is christ the image of what our lives are to become, and the natural year becomes a revelation of our lives as well.

    because our units of time, from a day to a year, repeat themselves in cycles, we can start our journey of understanding at any point on the wheel, trusting the returning to give us deeper faith and comprehension. what does not make sense today, this year, may be understood tomorrow, next year. but because there is always more, tomorrow and next year will bring new questions.

    even though we can enter the cycle at any time, the entry most often occurs with what john wesley called the ordinary means of grace, the sacraments, which are related often to particular times of the year. the next few chapters consider those particular relationships.

    Tuesday, October 02, 2007

    circle of prayer 22. second thoughts: what child is this?

    the twelve days of christmas have passed. you have celebrated the nativity of our lord until the epiphany, rather than letting the department stores control your holiday, and it still feels bleak midwinter. earth still stands hard as iron, water is still like a stone. what was it that christmas was all about?

    "what child is this, who laid to rest,
    on mary's lap is sleeping?
    . . .
    why lies he in such mean estate . . . ?"
    (w.c. dix)

    what really is this child of mary? what, really, is this child of god? candlemass (the celtic imbolc) and the transfiguration (celtic lughnasadh), falling on the cross-quarter days in early february and august, respond to those questions, in ways that are at the same time glorious and disturbing.

    here is the story of the presentation:

    "and when the day came for them to be purified as laid down by the law of moses, they took him up to jerusalem to present him to the lord--observing what stands written in the law of the lord: every firt-born male must be consecrated to the lord--and also to offer in sacrifice, in accordance with what is said in the law of the lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. now in jerusalem there was a man named simeon. he was an upright and devout man; he looked forward to israel's comforting and the holy spirit rested on him. it had been revealed to him by the holy spirit that he would not see death until he had set eyes on the christ of the lord. prompted by the spirit he came to the temple; and when the parents brought in the child jesus to do for him what the law required, he took him into his arms and blessed god; and he said:

    'now master, you can let your servant go in peace,
    just as you promised;
    because my eyes have seen the salvation
    which you have prepared for all the nations to see,
    a light to enlighten the pagans
    and the glory of your people israel."

    as the child's father and mother stood there wondering at the things that were being said about him, simeon blessed them and said to mary his mother, 'you see this child: he is destined for the fall and for the rising of many in israel, destined to be a sign that is rejected--and a sword will pierce your own soul too--so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare.'"

    (luke 2:22-35)

    it starts innocently enough. mary and joseph take the child to jerusalem "to present him to the lord." their poverty, if there had even been any doubt of it, is announced by their sacrifice: "a pair of turtle doves or two young pidgeons." nevertheless simeon, "an upright and devout man," reminds them of and confirms the message of the angels and dreams and shepherds. but to the joyful message that has come before, after proclaiming jesus "a light to enlighten the pagans and the glory . . . of israel," he introduces a shadow. to mary he says "and a sword will pierce your own soul, too." as john's gospel reports, "the light . . . shines in the dark," (john 1:5) and the dark would do everything it could to overpower the light.

    so far one can see this light that is jesus as ordinary light, metaphorical light, domesticated light, as we do when the church blesses candles on this day, candlemass. the light is growing as winter moves into spring, and the light of the world is jesus, even if the light does come with a sword.

    but there is more. and there is more. let us continue to hear luke's account:

    "now about eight days after this had been said [--this being peter's profession that jesus is the messiah--] he took with him peter and john and james and went up the mountain to pray. as he prayed, the aspect of his face was changed and his clothing became brilliant as lightning. suddenly there were two men there talking to him; they were moses and elijah appearing in glory, and they were speaking of his passing which he was to accomplish in jerusalem. peter and his companions were heavy with sleep, but they kept awake and saw his glory and the two men standing with him. as they were leaving him, peter said to jesus, 'master, it is wonderful for us to be here; so let us make three tents, one for you, one for moses and one for elijah.'--he did not know what he was saying. as he spoke, a cloud came and covered them with shadow; and when they went into the cloud the disciples were afraid. and a voice came from the cloud saying, 'this is my son, the chosen one. listen to him.' and after the voice had spoken, jesus was found alone. the disciples kept silence and, at that time, told no one what they had seen.

    . . .

    "at a time when everyone was full of admiration for all he did, he said to his disciples, 'for your part, you must have these words constantly in your mind: the son of man is going to be handed over into the power of men.' but they did not understand him when he said this; it was hidden from them so that they should not see the meaning of it, and they were afraid to ask him about what he had just said."

    (luke 9: 28-36, 44-45)

    this time the light's true nature is seen, light the church would come to call "uncreated light," "light from light," as she would call peter's "christ of god" (luke 9:20) "true god of true god." but the nature of the heart-piercing sword begins to be revealed as well. "you must keep these words constantly in your mind: the son of man is going to be handed over to the power of men." (luke 9:44)

    this statement, difficult as it was and is for jesus' disciples to accept, is the very heart of our redemption. it is the corrective to original sin. remember the circumstances that are called the fall:

    ". . . YHWH god gave man this admonition, 'you may eat of all the trees in the garden. nevertheless of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you are not to eat, for on the day you eat of it you shall surely die.' . . . then the serpent said to the woman, 'no! you will not die! god knows in fact that on the day you eat it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like gods.'" (genesis 2:16-17; 3:4-5)

    what we often forget reading this passage is that the serpent is the deceiver. (revelation 20:10) adam does die, but spiritually. nor do he and eve know the difference between good and evil. we fear the one who can kill the body, and have no fear of the one who can kill the soul. (matthew 10:28) we ignore the revelation of each sunrise, of each new moon, of each springtime:

    "a light . . . shines in the dark,
    a light that darkness could not overpower." (john 1:51)