Theological and other musings from Fr. Neo. You might call it ‘Mere Christianity with an edge.’ Vade retro Satana! Nunquam suade mihi vana! Sunt mala quae libas. Ipse venena bibas!
Posted on February 7th, 2008 by fatherneo.
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Here’s what I said yesterday to my parish…
You have come today perhaps by some instinct that Lent is a good thing. We know that last night (despite Super Tuesday) Mardi Gras was celebrated throughout the world by many who have never even heard of Shrove Tuesday and who have no desire to even think about Lent. We live in a world of pleasure and entertainment, not a world of repentance and fasting. We live in a world where pleasure is a right and difficulty is an inconvenience.
Maybe now, more than ever, we need Lent.
Prior to the 4th century, the early Christians had a strict, three year training period for baptism. It was serious business to be a Christian because it was a life or death decision. At the beginning of the 4th century, with the emperor Constantine putting an end to the persecution of Christians, the training period for baptism was changed from three years to the 7 weeks before Easter. This became also a time for those who had renounced Christ during the age of persecution to come back to the church, undergoing a time of prayer and fasting.
Many have reduced Lent to a time when we give up candy or chocolate and that’s not a bad thing. We certainly to not need more candy or chocolate in our lives. However, what brings us to the heart of Lenten discipline are Jesus’ words: ‘For wherever your treasure is, there your heart will be also.’
How do you know where your heart is? Easy. How do you spend your time? How do you know where your treasure is? Easy. How do you spend your time?
TV time. Work time. Family time. Tinker time. Fun time. Me time. God time?
Jesus says, ‘when you fast, when you pray, when you give alms.’ He says ‘when’ and not ‘if.’ The greatest thing you can give the Lord is your time. Time in doing what is right. Time in giving money and skills, time in prayer and fasting, and studying the Scriptures.
I have to say that if Jesus were to preach to us today, his emphasis would not be on our self-righteousness, but our lack of desire for righteousness.
Maybe to us he would say, ‘When you get that smudge on your head, leave it on, maybe then you’ll have to talk about your faith!’ ‘When you fast and pray, hey, when’s the last time you fasted and prayed?’ ‘When you give alms, hey, when’s the last time you helped someone in need?’
What Jesus describes as prayer, fasting and almsgiving are meant to help us gain an eternal perspective. We pray because we believe there is someone on the other end listening. We believe there is someone on the other end who is not controlled by our space and time.
We fast so we can take ourselves away from the American consumer and food addiction. The bread of heaven and the cup of salvation become our food. The nourishment of the Word of God becomes our staple.
We give alms so we won’t store up treasures on earth, but in heaven. We give alms so we can invest in eternity. As C. S. Lewis said, “All that is not eternal is eternally useless.” More than ever we need to be aware of the suffering of our world and do our part to bring Jesus into it and alleviate it. This Lent, perhaps read some books that will shake you out of our cultural selfishness. There is a book called Left To Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust by Immaculee Ilibagiza or God Grew Tired of Us by Jon Dau which tells the story of the Lost Boys of Sudan.
Prayer. Fasting. Almsgiving.
Why Lent? Augustine said, ‘Love God and do as you please.’ In other words, when you love God and draw near to him, there is no question about what will please you–his word and his will. Lent is a chance for us to draw near to him and a chance to evaluate our relationship with Christ. It is a time for perspective of the fleetingness of our lives. For we are dust, and to dust we shall return.
Posted on February 1st, 2008 by fatherneo.
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I am in a Dmin program at the local Seminary. Last week I took a course on ‘Leadership in Spiritual Formation.’ I was shocked (and delighted) that the prof, an executive pastor in a mega-church, has found himself on a journey to the church fathers and the ancient practices of ascesis as described by the Desert Fathers.
Recently, Willow Creek Church has put out a study based on a collection of surveys called Reveal, which ‘revealed’ that much of what Willow has done (mega, super size, seeker everything) has not formed disciples. In fact, they found that those involved most in church activities were the least ‘formed’ of the ranges of people that pass through their ‘big barn.’
It is easy to pick on the consumerism of mega-churches, but even our best churches (of all traditions) are finding it more and more difficult to make disciples who are mature and passionate about Jesus.
We all know that if we ‘did it like the apostles’ we would be great. The second century catechumanate would be outstanding. But in the land that produces the most Christian materials, that has access to more discipleship ’stuff’ than any other culture in the history of the world, we can’t seem to make disciples. In fact, by population, we are becoming more and more ‘unchurched’ and are in need of missionaries to us!
Posted on January 19th, 2008 by fatherneo.
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I have thought much (and am doing a lot of reading) about what it means to be ‘missional’ in the context of the local church and as Christians in the so-called ‘postmodern’ environment we find ourselves in. This being an election year, a variety of issues are at the forefront: many ‘moral’ in nature. War, sexuality, immigration, etc.
So what is at stake for us, as Christians? Is it important that we ‘win’ in regards to having our agendas met?
We are all citizens and therefore it is our duty to vote, and vote our conscience. However, does the Church have a different aim, goal, mission than the state? I hope so. But to engage in the way we speak as Christians, you would think that Christians expect the state to have the exact same goals as we do. Or, in fact, maybe we’ve forgotten our mission altogether and mistake ‘being right’ or ‘winning’ with spreading the gospel. Therefore, can ‘winning’ be counterproductive? Are we expending energy on the ‘battle’ rather than the ‘war?’ (again figuratively speaking.)
Posted on January 7th, 2008 by fatherneo.
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Epiphanytide Blessings! When we think of an ‘Epiphany,’ we think of an ‘aha’ moment–a moment of clarity or discovery. The Feast of the Epiphany (Theophany in the East), is the feast of manifestation; the manifestation of Jesus as the Theoanthropos to the Magi, and in his baptism, and in his first miracle.
Epiphanytide is a gift to the Church and to the world because it continues the reflection of the Incarnation after the calendar has passed December 25th. We don’t cease contemplating God becoming man because Christmas is over, we continue because our faith is meaningless without the reality that God became man to save us and to make us like himself.
Posted on December 26th, 2007 by fatherneo.
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I was somewhat of an Ebenezer Scrooge this Advent. I guess it was because there really is no such thing as Advent anymore. No asceticism, just a lot of expansion of tummies. No repentance, just a lot of over indulgence. Such is the ‘holiday season’ in America. I felt that it was 30+ days of missing the point.
Then, I got laryngitis the 23rd and am still getting over whatever it is I have had for almost 2 weeks. I had to preach and celebrate sounding like a tiny froglet. Bah humbug baby.
While the Christmas Eve liturgy was beautiful as always (though I tried to sing ‘Silent Night’ and nothing came out), it was not until Christmas Day that my Ebenezer attitude waned.
There are a group of refugees from Sudan and Burundi who attend our church. Since it was snowing and hardly anyone showed up for the Christmas Day low mass, I went to pick up the refugees. I thought that only one or two would even be out to greet me, but the whole 20+ of them were ready for the ‘big’ celebration. They didn’t realize that the big service was the night before. I had to make two trips and was 15 minutes late to my own service. But it was worth it.
The service was fine and I growled my way through the liturgy, but the ‘Christmas moment’ did not come until I was taking them home. They live a short distance away, but the snow made for a longer trip and one woman began to spontaneously sing ‘Angels We Have Heard On High’–in Kurundi.
The tempo was a bit off for my Anglicized ear, and understood not a word, until I heard ‘Glooooriaoooriaoooooria, in excelsis deo…’
Here was a group of people stranded in a refugee camp in Tanzania since 1972; children who were born in miserable conditions, only knowing life as a refugee–and yet they were singing a French Christmas carol with a Latin chorus.
No matter how the Church has failed Africa and other places throughout history, Jesus showed up in Africa and everywhere our fragile feet have tried to take the gospel. I heard it on the lips of precious people whom God has rescued and brought to our doorsteps. The songs of angels, ‘Glory to God in the highest…’ has reached all times and all places. I heard it sung by His missionaries, only now they sing to my land and my people.
Merry Christmas!
Posted on December 12th, 2007 by fatherneo.
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At least according to LiveScience:
The translation of the Bible into English marked the birth of religious fundamentalism in medieval times, as well as the persecution that often comes with radical adherence in any era, according to a new book.
The 16th-century English Reformation, the historic period during which the Scriptures first became widely available in a common tongue, is often hailed by scholars as a moment of liberation for the general public, as it no longer needed to rely solely on the clergy to interpret the verses.
But being able to read the sometimes frightening set of moral codes spelled out in the Bible scared many literate Englishmen into following it to the letter, said James Simpson, a professor of English at Harvard University.
“Reading became a tightrope of terror across an abyss of predestination,” said Simpson, author of “Burning to Read: English Fundamentalism and its Reformation Opponents” (Harvard University Press, 2007).
“It was destructive for [Protestants], because it did not invite freedom but rather fear of misinterpretation and damnation,” Simpson said.
It was Protestant reformer William Tyndale who first translated the Bible into colloquial English in 1525, when the movement away from Catholicism began to sweep through England during the reign of Henry VIII. The first printings of Tyndale’s Bible were considered heretical before England’s official break from the Roman Church, yet still became very popular among commoners interested in the new Protestant faith, Simpson said.
“Very few people could actually read,” said Simpson, who has seen estimates as low as 2 percent, “but the Bible of William Tyndale sold very well—as many as 30,000 copies before 1539 in the plausible estimate of a modern scholar; that’s remarkable, since all were bought illegally.”
When Catholicism slowly became the minority in the 1540s and 50s, many who hadn’t yet accepted Protestantism were berated for not reading the Bible in the same way, Simpson said.
“Scholarly consensus over the last decade or so is that most people did not convert to [Protestantism]. They had it forced upon them,” Simpson told LiveScience.
Persecution and paranoia became the norm, Simpson said, as the new Protestants feared damnation if they didn’t interpret the book properly. Prologues in Tyndale’s Bible warned readers what lay ahead if they did not follow the verses strictly.
“If you fail to read it properly, then you begin your just damnation. If you are unresponsive … God will scourge you, and everything will fail you until you are at utter defiance with your flesh,” the passage reads.
Without the clergy guiding them, and with religion still a very important factor in the average person’s life, their fate rested in their own hands, Simpson said.
The rise of fundamentalist interpretations during the English Reformation can be used to understand the global political situation today and the growth of Islamic extremism, Simpson said as an example.
“Very definitely, we see the same phenomenon: newly literate people claiming that the sacred text speaks for itself, and legitimates violence and repression,” Simpson said, “and the same is also true of Christian fundamentalists.”
I guess the Bible didn’t exist in the vernacular, ever, anywhere, until Reformation England?
Posted on November 29th, 2007 by fatherneo.
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This is what the government of (Northern) Sudan sent to pick up the teacher who named the class teddy bear ‘Muhammed.’ While every prime time in America Christianity is blasphemed, the government in Khartoum can hardly handle something this innocuous.
If you want to know what has happened in Sudan, imagine the whole Southern part of the country being ruled by a government like the one in the North. Kyrie Elieson!
Quddouson Allââh, Quddouson ul-qawee, Quddouson ulladhee la yamout, Irhamna!
Posted on November 17th, 2007 by fatherneo.
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So asks the Orthodox bishop, Kallistos Ware. In his work The Inner Kingdom, he dares to ask the question. Ware is not a squishy theologian. He is thoroughly traditional and Orthodox in all points. But he is expressing a true and I think orthodox hope.
He mentions that St. Gregory of Nyssa also had such hopes. Ware says,
“Gregory [writes], ‘the wickedness which is now mingled and consolidated with our nature has been finally expelled from it, and when all those things that are now sunk down in evil are restored to their original state, there will ascend from the entire creation a united hymn of thanksgiving…All this is contained in the great mystery of the Divine Incarnation.’ This final restoration, Gregory clearly states, will embrace even the devil.”
Ware does not deny the existence of hell, he only questions the purpose for it. Is it a place of condemnation and judgment, or does it have a restorative or healing element to it? Is the fire of God wrathful or is it remedial? Ware is not trying to presume that God’s purpose will eventually win out to save everyone, he is only expressing a hope and a sincere prayer.
Posted on November 12th, 2007 by fatherneo.
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So many of our Mainline denominations are becoming pathetic shells of irrelevance and heretical teaching. There have been a variety of schisms and people in exodus for at least three decades, my Episcopal Church being a case study in hemorrhaging and splintering. There are basically two choices, Exodus or Exile. To exodus is to leave it all behind, to find solace in Rome, Orthodoxy, or some sort of megalomania church. Or, in the case of orthodox Anglicans, to ‘come under Episcopal oversight’ of a foreign body. The new body then becomes characterized by the bitterness and memories of the old. The new body then tries to create an idealism from a bygone era, whether that be the ’50s or (God forbid) the 60s or 70s, or even the mega-church 80s.
There then the bitterness will extend to the ‘foolish ones’ who chose to stay behind. ‘They just stay because they are afraid for their jobs (or pensions, or whatever).’ The insecurity they feel in their ’safe haven’ is projected upon those who are still in the ‘apostate’ tradition.
But what of those who choose exile in their own traditions? What of those who choose to stay in the Episcopal Church, for example? What of their fate?
There are no easy solutions and tomes have been written in this regard. Can you be apostolic and missional in Babylon? Can you be Catholic in the midst of heresy? Can you have Catholic order amidst ecclesiastical disorder? Can you sing the songs of Zion in a foreign land?
We, who are orthodox must find a different way other than schism and compromise. There are tools in the unopened chests of our tradition that must be employed. The first is repentance. Years of compromise in areas of sexuality have left us where we are today. How can we speak against one form of fornication when we have turned a blind eye to other forms of fornication for years?
We also need to repent for neglecting widows, the fatherless and the sojourners among us. Conservative Episcopalians in the US have been the arrogant elite who have failed to care for the poor among us and our fellow Anglican Africans overseas. While Christians have been dying and abused in this and every land, we conservative Episcopalians have been sipping brandy and talking about the stock market. It is time to repent.
Secondly, we need to pray. We need to create monastic and neo-monastic communities within our churches that call upon the power of God. No structural solution is as strong as the power of God working among his people. Prayer is also an antidote to the venom that characterizes so many of our own ranks. When we have Matthew 5 and Luke 6 hearts, the world will take notice. Only prayer can get us there.
Lastly, we (orthodox) need to work together. We need to rely on the power of the gospel and the koinonia of our mutual work. We need to worship and learn together. We need to be inspired to grow our churches and our own souls. We need to find out why there is revival in our world and ask the Holy Spirit to bring it to us. We need to scan the world for the fire of God and follow its light. We also need to share resources and even workers in the harvest.
There are no easy answers for those of us in Babylon. Only the path of Jesus.
Posted on November 12th, 2007 by fatherneo.
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I was invited to interview with a small but vibrant church outside of town. My wife and I were greeted to at least a hundred folks for a picnic. We thought they were there to see us, but it was really a ‘going away party’ for most of the parish.
They were a parish meeting in a trailer while the church next door was huge with all the great facilities. So, the young rector decided it would be good to leave the fuddy duddies behind and merge with the larger body. He took the picnic as an opportunity to yell at an old guy who had held him back and told him he couldn’t wait to ‘get the hell out’ of the little church.
In the dream, my wife and I were sympathetic to the 10-15 quirky older folks who were staying behind and wondered if God were still calling us there. One guy walked by us in the picnic and asked if I was the new rector. He then said, ‘well, too bad I’m leaving, but that other church has the best library, and a school, and…’
So, who does dream interpretation out there?
