Just for giggles

Quote of the Day

To today's successors of the Apostles, I offer the following quote from Thomas Oden's The African Memory of Mark (IVP: 2011, 57)

Subsequent generations of witnesses are perennially pledged and bound to recall accurately the salvation event as received (Gal 1:19-20; 1 Thess 2:3-8)....The disciples at second hand (noneyewitnesses) do not receive a new, separable, improved or different revelation but attest to the original revelation centered on the events of the cross and resurrection, and upon personal meeting with the unique person--Son of Man and Son of God.  The task of apostolic successor is not to improve upon the message or embellish it or add to it one's own spin, but rather simply to remember and attest it accurately, credibly and intelligibly.

This is the test that African theology, from the earliest days, used to test whether a teaching, and its teacher, was consistent with the apostolic testimony.  I might also add that it was the test used at the Council of Nicea as regards Arius' heresy.

I encourage everyone to pick up a copy of Dr. Oden's work.  It is well-written, accessible, and informative.  It challenges the "received" Western wisdom, based in our historical method, to re-access Mark and the earliest recollections of him in the Church in the "heart" of Christianity.

An Open Letter

The Following is an open letter from The Rev. Bosco Peters who runs the Liturgy blog.  For those of you who are interested, it tracks pretty closely with the vision that is in development for our local parish of Worship, Formation, and Sending.

Dear Archbishop of Canterbury and members of the Anglican Consultative Council,

This open letter is a passionate request that you revise the Anglican five-fold mission statement and explicitly include worship/liturgy.

The five-fold mission statement is regularly used as a starting point for the life and mission of the church. It is good, but inadequate. I ardently advocate that our worship, our liturgy, be central, and be seen to be central, to the church’s mission. Its omission from the five-fold mission statement affects our church life and integrity.

The Anglican five-fold mission statement from the Anglican Consultative Council has:

• To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom
• To teach, baptise and nurture new believers
• To respond to human need by loving service
• To seek to transform unjust structures of society
• To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth

(Bonds of Affection-1984 ACC-6 p49, Mission in a Broken World-1990 ACC-8 p101)

I propose that worship, liturgy, is not a means to further the mission of the church. It is not a means to further any or all of the dimensions in the five-fold mission statement. Worship, in and of itself, is an essential dimension of our mission and should find its place in our accepted mission statement.

Worship, liturgy, especially the Eucharist, is understood, by the majority of Christians, to be “the source and summit of the Christian life” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, 11). St Ignatius Loyola understood “The human person is created to praise, reverence, and serve God” (The Principle and Foundation in his Spiritual Exercises).

Although worship is not a means, giving it centrality does lead to desirable effects. On the other hand, I would argue, the loss of the pivotal place of worship and liturgy leads to consequences, such as the loss of the unifying power of common prayer, of common worship.

I would suggest that as Anglicans unity has been a gift to us through common prayer which has been at the heart of Anglicanism. We neglect our shared spiritual disciplines, and our common unity in God through Christ in the Spirit, at a cost to our unity. Lex orandi, lex credendi, (“the law of prayer is the law of belief”); lex vivendi, in fact. Prayer shapes belief which shapes our life.

In this province, as just one example, during the last three decades we have seen the removal of the clergy’s requirement of Daily Prayer and a diminution of study, training, and formation in liturgy, worship, spirituality. Stressing the centrality of worship and liturgy in a revised Anglican mission statement I hope will be part of returning training formation and study of liturgy, worship, spirituality to be foundational to our life as church. I would love to see contemplation, spirituality, prayer, worship, liturgy as being foundational to formation of our clergy and our communities. Placing worship/liturgy as central to a revised, updated, mission statement will, I hope, aid renewal. The contemplative dimension provides a solid foundation in our new often-post-modern, often-post-Christian context, where many are unnecessarily disconcerted by change and also new conclusions in scientific, ethical, and even theological endeavours.

I understand that the Anglican Consultative Council has previously discussed having worship as a dimension of church mission, and this letter advocates that revising our five-fold mission statement, to place worship at the heart of church mission, be once again progressed.

Be assured that my prayers are with you as you gather for your meeting in Auckland

Rev. Bosco Peters
Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand
www.liturgy.co.nz

A Little Fall Goodness

Or teens are not as bad as many think they are.

From the Columbus Post Dispatch (Go Bucks!):

For all 18 years of her life, Megan Ryan has given to others.

Last night, her peers at Bishop Hartley High School returned some of the love. Ryan, who has Down syndrome, was crowned the 2012 homecoming queen during a ceremony at the Roman Catholic school on the East Side.

Her fellow seniors chose their outgoing, ever-smiling classmate from among 10 nominees (with Jacob Smith selected king ).

The rest of the article is here.

This reminds me of last year's homecoming king at Tri-Valley (Go Vikings!), when a similar choice was made.

Human value, it is a beautiful thing!

Mrs. of Nazareth

I am not going to wade deeply into the newest media releases on a Fourth Century Coptic text fragment, that may or may not be authentic, and is reputed to state that Jesus was married.  Others have done so already, and I will not repeat their work.  Hey, why reinvent the wheel on a regular basis?  If you are interested, I would recommend this article from catholicity and covenant.

What intrigues me is the subtext of articles that assumes Christianity is a religion rooted in history.  It is almost as if there are some waiting expectantly for the one thing that will prove the real historical Jesus was nothing like the Jesus of the Scriptures, and thus will pull down the edifice of Christianity as we know it.  Of course, if that happened many would celebrate, others mourn, and yet others continue to redefine the argument.

It is interesting that those in the camp waiting, dare I say hoping, for the “one thing” understand that it must come out of history.  They are undeniably correct.  Christianity is not rooted in philosophy.  It is not a mere ethical system.  Christianity is rooted in an historical, and historic, claim, the resurrection of Jesus.   This is the central claim, Jesus is alive, and the tomb is empty. The question that must be answered by each one of us is, “What happened on that Sunday morning in Jerusalem?”   Everything else in Christianity derives from this central event.

Therefore, I am not that worked up, either way, by a late text, most likely Gnostic, which states Jesus had a wife. 

If you wish to read a concise study of the “Quest for the Historical Jesus”, I recommend N.T. Wright’s, Who was Jesus?

Cyprian of Carthage (Bishop and Martyr, 258)

A short reading from his treatise on The Lord's Prayer (chapter VIII):

Before all things, the Teacher of peace and the Master of unity would not have prayer to be made singly and individually, as for one who prays to pray for himself alone.  For we say not “My Father, which art in heaven,” nor “Give me this day my daily bread;” nor does  each one ask that only his own debt should be forgiven him; nor does he request for himself alone that he may not be led into temptation, and delivered from evil. Our prayer is public and common; and when we pray, we pray not for one, bur for the whole people, because we the whole people are one. The God of peace and the Teacher of concord, who taught unity, willed that one should thus pray for all, even as He Himself bore us all in one.  This law of prayer the three children observed when they were shut up in the fiery furnace, speaking together in prayer, and being of one heart in the agreement of the spirit; and this the faith of sacred Scripture assures us, and in telling us how such as these prayed, gives an example which we ought to follow in our prayers, in order that we may be such as they were: “Then these three,” it says, “as if from one mouth sang an hymn, and blessed the Lord.” (Song of the Three Children, v. 28) They spoke as if from one mouth, although Christ had not yet taught them how to pray.  And therefore, as they prayed, their speech was availing and effectual, because a peaceful, and sincere, and spiritual prayer deserved well of the Lord.  Thus also we find that the apostles, with the disciples, prayed after the Lord’s ascension: “They all,” says the Scripture (Acts 1:4), “continued with one accord in prayer, with the women, and Mary who was the mother of Jesus, and with His brethren.”  They continued with one accord in prayer, declaring both by the urgency and by the agreement of their praying, that God, “who maketh men to dwell of one mind in a house (Psalm 68:6),” only admits into the divine and eternal home those among whom prayer is unanimous.

The Collect

Almighty God, who gave to your servant Cyprian boldness to confess the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ before the rulers of this world, and courage to die for this faith: Grant that we may always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in us, and to suffer gladly for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Blessed Cyprian pray for us.

Aidan (651) & Cuthbert (684) Bishops of Lindisfarne

From the The Ecclesiastical History of England by The Venerable St. Bede available at CCEL.

On the life of St. Aidan.

FROM this island, then, and the fraternity of these monks, Aidan was sent to instruct the English nation in Christ, having received the dignity of a bishop. At that time Segeni, abbot and priest, presided over that monastery. Among other lessons in holy living, Aidan left the clergy a most salutary example of abstinence and continence; it was the highest commendation of his doctrine with all men, that he taught nothing that he did not practice in his life among his brethren; for he neither sought nor loved anything of this world, but delighted in distributing immediately among the poor whom he met whatsoever was given him by the kings or rich men of the world. He was wont to traverse both town and country on foot, never on horseback, unless compelled by some urgent necessity; to the end that, as he went, he might turn aside to any whomsoever he saw, whether rich or poor, and call upon them, if infidels, to receive the mystery of the faith, or, if they were believers, strengthen them in the faith, and stir them up by words and actions to giving of alms and the performance of good works.

His course of life was so different from the slothfulness of our times, that all those who bore him company, whether they were tonsured or laymen, had to study either reading the Scriptures, or learning psalms. This was the daily employment of himself and all that were with him, wheresoever they went; and if it happened, which was but seldom, that he was invited to the king’s table, he went with one or two clerks, and having taken a little food, made haste to be gone, either to read with his brethren or to pray. At that time, many religious men and women, led by his example, adopted the custom of prolonging their fast on Wednesdays and Fridays, till the ninth hour, throughout the year, except during the fifty days after Easter. Never, through fear or respect of persons, did he keep silence with regard to the sins of the rich; but was wont to correct them with a severe rebuke. He never gave money to the powerful men of the world, but only food, if he happened to entertain them; and, on the contrary, whatsoever gifts of money he received from the rich, he either distributed, as has been said, for the use of the poor, or bestowed in ransoming such as had been wrongfully sold for slaves. Moreover, he afterwards made many of those he had ransomed his disciples, and after having taught and instructed them, advanced them to priest’s orders.

On the life of St. Cuthbert.

 AFTER this, Cuthbert, as he grew in goodness and intensity of devotion, attained also to a hermit’s life of contemplation in silence and solitude, as we have mentioned. But forasmuch as many years ago we wrote enough concerning his life and virtues, both in heroic verse and prose, it may suffice at present only to mention this, that when he was about to go to the island, he declared to the brothers, "If by the grace of God it shall be granted to me, that I may live in that place by the labour of my hands, I will willingly abide there; but if not, God willing, I will very soon return to you." The place was quite destitute of water, corn, and trees; and being infested by evil spirits, was very ill suited for human habitation; but it became in all respects habitable, at the desire of the man of God; for at his coming the wicked spirits departed. When, after expelling the enemy, he had, with the help of the brethren, built himself a narrow dwelling, with a mound about it, and the necessary cells in it, to wit, an oratory and a common living room, he ordered the brothers to dig a pit in the floor of the room, although the ground was hard and stony, and no hopes appeared of any spring. When they had done this relying upon the faith and prayers of the servant of God, the next day it was found to be full of water, and to this day affords abundance of its heavenly bounty to all that resort thither. He also desired that instruments for husbandry might be brought him, and some wheat; but having prepared the ground and sown the wheat at the proper season, no sign of a blade, not to speak of ears, had sprouted from it by the summer. Hereupon, when the brethren visited him according to custom, he ordered barley to be brought him, if haply it were either the nature of the soil, or the will of God, the Giver of all things, that such grain rather should grow there. He sowed it in the same field, when it was brought him, after the proper time of sowing, and therefore without any likelihood of its bearing fruit; but a plentiful crop immediately sprang up, and afforded the man of God the means which he had desired of supporting himself by his own labour.

When he had here served God in solitude many years, the mound which encompassed his dwelling being so high, that he could see nothing from it but heaven, which he thirsted to enter, it happened that a great synod was assembled in the presence of King Egfrid, near the river Alne, at a place called Adtuifyrdi, which signifies "at the two fords," in which Archbishop Theodore, of blessed memory, presided, and there Cuthbert was, with one mind and consent of all, chosen bishop of the church of Lindisfarne. They could not, however, draw him from his hermitage, though many messengers and letters were sent to him. At last the aforesaid king himself, with the most holy Bishop and other religious and powerful men, sailed to the island; many also of the brothers from the isle of Lindisfarne itself, assembled together for the same purpose: they all knelt, and conjured him by the Lord, with tears and entreaties, till they drew him, also in tears, from his beloved retreat, and forced him to go to the synod. When he arrived there, he was very reluctantly overcome by the unanimous resolution of all present, and compelled to take upon himself the duties of the episcopate; being chiefly prevailed upon by the words of Boisil, the servant of God, who, when he had prophetically foretold all things that were to befall him, had also predicted that he should be a bishop. Nevertheless, the consecration was not appointed immediately; but when the winter, which was then at hand, was over, it was carried out at Easter, in the city of York, and in the presence of the aforesaid King Egfrid; seven bishops coming together for his consecration, among whom, Theodore, of blessed memory, was Primate. He was first elected bishop of the church of Hagustald, in the place of Tunbert, who had been deposed from the episcopate; but because he chose rather to be placed over the church of Lindisfarne, in which he had lived, it was thought fit that Eata should return to the see of the church of Hagustald, to which he had been first ordained, and that Cuthbert should take upon him the government of the church of Lindisfarne.

Following the example of the blessed Apostles, he adorned the episcopal dignity by his virtuous deeds; for he both protected the people committed to his charge by constant prayer, and roused them, by wholesome admonitions, to thoughts of Heaven. He first showed in his own life what he taught others to do, a practice which greatly strengthens all teaching; for he was above all things inflamed with the fire of Divine charity, of sober mind and patient, most diligently intent on devout prayers, and kindly to all that came to him for comfort. He thought it stood in the stead of prayer to afford the weak brethren the help of his exhortation, knowing that he who said "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God," said likewise, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour." He was noted for penitential abstinence, and was always through the grace of compunction, intent upon heavenly things. And when he offered up to God the Sacrifice of the saving Victim, he commended his prayer to the Lord, not with uplifted voice, but with tears drawn from the bottom of his heart.

The Collect:

 Everliving God, you called your servants Aidan and Cuthbert to proclaim the Gospel in northern England and gave them loving hearts and gentle spirits: Grant us grace to live as they did, in simplicity, humility and love for the poor; through Jesus Christ, who came among us as one who serves, and who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.