In the Beginning

The Gospel reading for this Sunday is from John 1:1-18 and it is chock full of  theology, 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory of the father’s only son, full of grace and truth. (John testified to him and cried out, ‘This was he of whom I said, “He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” ’) From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known. 

Without unbundling it, let me just say that Jesus coming to Earth was the most remarkable event mankind has ever witnessed, and John's explanation testifies to that.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Reverend Fun - Stable Win

Magnificat

This Sunday's Gospel lesson contains the "Song of Mary" or the "Magnificat". I have often wondered how long this hymn has been chanted or sung by Christians. I suspect it was in common use during Luke's era and that this was not of his composition. Listen and enjoy.

Luke 1:39-56
In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leapt for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.’
And Mary said,
‘My soul magnifies the Lord,
   and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
 for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.
   Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
 for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
   and holy is his name.
 His mercy is for those who fear him
   from generation to generation.
 He has shown strength with his arm;
   he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
   and lifted up the lowly;
 he has filled the hungry with good things,
   and sent the rich away empty.
 He has helped his servant Israel,
   in remembrance of his mercy,
 according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
   to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’

 And Mary remained with her for about three months and then returned to her home.

Gender Transition Liturgies

The Church of England (CofE) has agreed to celebrate gender transition by conducting an affirmation of Baptism for these persons. Their  "Pastoral Guidance for use in conjunction with the Affirmation of Baptismal Faith in the context of gender transition" can be found at the link. I would like to highlight just a few of their points.

1. The Church of England welcomes and encourages the unconditional affirmation of trans people, equally with all people, within the body of Christ, and rejoices in the diversity of that body into which all Christians have been baptized by one Spirit.

Note the key words: "unconditional affirmation". No need for repentance here.

2. If a transgender person is not already baptized, then baptism itself would be the natural liturgical context for recognizing and celebrating their identity in Christ and God’s love for them. Where such a person has already been baptized, the House of Bishops commends the rite of Affirmation of Baptismal Faith as the central feature of any service to recognize liturgically a person’s gender transition.1 Where rubrics within that Rite allow, the House encourages ministers to respond to such requests in a creative and sensitive way. The Rite of Affirmation includes the opportunity for the candidate to renew the commitments made in baptism and for the congregation to respond. The emphasis is placed not on the past or future of the candidate alone, but on their faith in Jesus Christ. The Affirmation therefore gives priority to the original and authentic baptism of the individual as the sacramental beginning of the Christian life, allowing someone who has undergone a serious and lasting change to re-dedicate their life and identity to Christ. The image of God, in which we are all made, transcends gender, race, and any other characteristic.Our shared identity as followers of Jesus is the unity which makes all one in Christ (Galatians 3.27–28).

Affirmation for "someone who has undergone a serious and lasting change" should mean a spiritual change from a life ruled by sin to a life ruled by Christ. It does not mean a surgical or hormonal change in appearance or a change in self identification. Genital mutilation is not something that a real Church can ever "affirm".

Finally, my biggest concern is the blatant revisionism on display in the "other appropriate readings" chosen by the bishops. Revisionist preachers will love to go off the reservation with some of these. See if you can pick them out.

6. The choice of readings should be governed by the rules in Common Worship (Main Volume, pp.539 ff). When it is permitted to depart from the lectionary provision, other appropriate readings, such as those listed below, may be used. A celebration of the Eucharist must always include a Gospel reading.  

• Genesis 17.1–7, 15–17: God changes the name of Sarai to Sarah  
• Genesis 32.22–31: Jacob wrestles at Peniel and is named Israel 
• Exodus 3.1–15: Moses is called to serve the God named I AM 
• Isaiah 42.1–9: God’s promise concerning God’s servant 
• Isaiah 43.1–7: God’s restoration and protection is promised 
• Isaiah 56.1–8: The maintenance of God’s justice and welcome of all to the house of God 
• Psalm 8: God’s divine majesty and human dignity 
• Psalm 23: The Lord is my Shepherd 
• Psalm 96: Sing to the Lord a new song 
• Psalm 139: O Lord you have searched me out and known me 
• Matthew 5.1–11: The Beatitudes 
• Matthew 7.7–11: Ask and it shall be given 
• Matthew 16.13–19: Peter’s declaration about Jesus and upon Peter God will build God’s church 
• Matthew 22.37–40: Jesus’ Summary of the Law 
• Luke 15.11–32: The Prodigal Son 
• John 20.11–18: The risen Lord calls Mary by name 
• John 20.19–29: Blessed are those who have not seen but believe 
• John 12.27–36: When Jesus is lifted up, he will draw all people to himself 
• Romans 8.12–22: All who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God 
• 2 Corinthians 5.14–21: In Christ, there is a new creation 
• Galatians 3.27–4.7: In baptism into Christ there is no longer male and female 
• Galatians 4.1–7: God sent God’s Son that we might receive adoption as children 
• Philippians 3.4a–end: Our citizenship is in heaven 
• 1 John 3.1–3: What we will be has not yet been revealed 
• 1 John 3.18–23: Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action 
• 1 John 4.18–5.6: There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear 
• Revelation 21.1–6: The new heaven and the new earth 

It is time that Anglicans unhitch themselves from the CofE. Maybe we need to drop the word "Anglican" because of its association with the CofE.

With Good News Like That, Who Needs Bad News?

This Sunday's Gospel reading is from Luke 3:7-18 continuing from last week the story of John the Baptist's ministry

John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our ancestor”; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.’
And the crowds asked him, ‘What then should we do?’ In reply he said to them, ‘Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.’ Even tax-collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, ‘Teacher, what should we do?’ He said to them, ‘Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.’ Soldiers also asked him, ‘And we, what should we do?’ He said to them, ‘Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.’
As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, ‘I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’
So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.

Good news like, "but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

Hmm...

With good news like that, who needs bad news?

I read recently about the bad news of Christmas from Pastor Paul David Tripp over at Crossway. In his piece I see a connection with the scary parts of John the Baptist's preaching,

"I’m going to ask you to humbly open your heart to this second part, the bad news part of the Christmas story. God has to invade our world in the person of Jesus because there was simply no other way. And why was there no other way? Prepare for the bad news. 

There was no other way because our big problem in life is not familial or historical or societal or political or relational or ecclesiastical or financial. The biggest, darkest thing that all of us have to face, and that somehow, someway influences everything we think, say, and do, isn’t outside us; it’s inside. If you had none of the above problems in your life, you would still be in grave danger, because of the danger you are to yourself. If the only thing human beings needed were a little external tweaking of their life circumstances, then the coming of Jesus to earth wouldn’t make any sense. But if the greatest danger to all of us lives inside us and not outside us, then the radical intervention of the incarnation of Jesus is our only hope. 

Sure, you can run from a bad relationship, you can quit a bad job, you can move from a dangerous neighborhood, and you can leave a dysfunctional church, but you have no ability whatsoever to escape yourself. You and I simply have no ability to rescue ourselves from the greatest danger in our lives. This means that without the birth of Jesus, we are doomed to be destroyed by the danger that lurks inside us from the moment of our first breath.

You don’t need to look far in the Bible to know what this danger is. Its stain is on every page of Scripture. Romans 3:23 exposes this danger with a few simple words: 'all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.' Sin is the bad news of the Christmas story. Jesus didn’t come to earth to do a preaching tour or to hang out with us for a while; he came on a radical mission of moral rescue. 

He came to rescue us because he knew that we couldn’t rescue ourselves. He knew that sin separates us from God and leaves us guilty before him. He knew that sin makes us active enemies against God, and what he says is good, right, and true. He knew that sin blinds us to the gravity of our condition and our dire need for help. He knew that sin causes us to replace worship of God with an unending catalog of created things that capture the deepest allegiances of our hearts. He knew that sin renders all of us unable to live as we were designed to live. And he knew that sin was the final terminal disease that, without help, would kill us all."

We are the ones who need the bad news because without it, we are lost sheep who don't care to be found.

Greenville South Carolina Episcopalians to conduct a "MeToo-charist", but what about Mary?

St. Peter’s Episcopal in Greenville SC boasts that it has a mix of theologically conservative and progressive parishioners. Its rector is one of the latter. They recently came out with a theological innovation, a "MeToo-charist".

This is the invitation I received,

on Sunday, December16, 2018 at 4:00 p.m. You are invited to come and welcome others for who this might be a helpful experience of support and grace. A little more than a year ago #MeToo became an expression of solidarity among the victims of sexual assault and violence. The speaking out by a small and growing number of victims of sexual trespass by celebrities began to embolden others who live with the pain and—often—shame of having been violated in intimate ways. What started with a few voices grew into a chorus of people who said, “Me too.” The highly respected Centers for Disease Control—the U.S. federal government agency responsible for public health—estimates that one in three women has suffered contact sexual violence at some point in their lives (and one in six men). If this were an infectious disease, it would be described not just as an epidemic, but as a pandemic—because of its widespread effects.In the midst of such a widespread, debilitating, and preventable dis-ease; the Church has an important role to stand up and speak out with those who have suffered or are suffering now.Following in the way of Jesus, the Church is called to align with the vulnerable and to firmly reject behaviors that are evil.Please join us as we listen to what God’s Spirit is saying to us through the ancient Scriptures and contemporary voices. Include your voice in our prayers for healing, justice, and peace. And gather with us around the Lord’s Table to receive solace and strength from the Holy Communion. 

I don't know if they will be using an approved liturgy for this "MeToo-charist" or if the Bishop has given his blessing, but this appears to me to be an attempt to politicize the Eucharist by connecting it to a movement that had its most prominent rallies immediately following the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States, rallies like the "Women's March" which were in large part protests against him. This loose movement has led to societal confusion as to what is or is not appropriate in male-female interaction. Witness the recent condemnation of old songs like "Baby It's Cold Outside" while rap singers retain their celebrity status.

Every year some nutcase comes out with an anti-Christmas accusation, and this year we have one who connects the Virgin Mother with the MeToo movement. The following is from "Campus Reform",

Minnesota State University, Mankato psychology professor and sex therapist Dr. Eric Sprankle critiqued the story of the Virgin Mary in a tweet Monday, suggesting that the Virgin Mary did not consent to being impregnated by God.
“The virgin birth story is about an all-knowing, all-powerful deity impregnating a human teen. There is no definition of consent that would include that scenario. Happy Holidays"    Tweet This
“The virgin birth story is about an all-knowing, all-powerful deity impregnating a human teen. There is no definition of consent that would include that scenario. Happy Holidays,” Sprankle said.
Another Twitter user called the professor’s claim into question, noting that the Bible states that the Virgin Mary did, indeed, agree to God’s plan for her.
“The biblical god regularly punished disobedience,” Sprankle rebutted. “The power difference (deity vs mortal) and the potential for violence for saying ‘no’ negates her ‘yes.’ To put someone in this position is an unethical abuse of power at best and grossly predatory at worst.”

 I wonder if the clergy at St. Peter's Greenville will be wearing pink pussy hats and lifting a statue of Mary similarly adorned as they enter in procession as a show of solidarity with those who fit the ever expanding definition of being a victim of sexual trespass.

Every Valley Shall Not Be Filled, (If the environmentalists have anything to say about it).

This Sunday's Gospel reading is from Luke 3:1-6,

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,

‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:“Prepare the way of the Lord,   make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled,   and every mountain and hill shall be made low,and the crooked shall be made straight,   and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” 

Handel's "Messiah" is drawn from scripture, and this reading made me think of Handel's setting of "Every valley shall be exalted..."

Nowadays, the environmentalists would probably try to keep even the Lord from filling the valleys and leveling the hills. 

Lobsters and the Episcopal sect

In a story that went unnoticed last year, PETA raised a stink when it was revealed that Episcopal parishes were hosting lobster dinners, as reported in the Washington Post,

PETA staff noticed a pattern of lobster dinners as church fundraisers, and decided to look into it. They identified 28 Episcopal congregations advertising lobster fundraisers in more than 10 different states.

The PETA staffers looked into how many lobsters each church cooks at a fundraiser and got answers ranging from 75 to 2,000. In total, PETA said Episcopal churches kill well over 10,000 lobsters a year, a total that could not be verified by The Post.
It’s evident, however, that the number is high — St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in Greenville, N.C., for instance, boasts on its website that its annual fundraiser has sold more than 65,000 lobsters since 1978. “Put in perspective, we’ve sold around 40 tons of lobsters, or the equivalent of a couple of school buses,” the website says, with accompanying jovial clip art of buses. (Lobsters at St. Timothy’s cost $16 each, and children can also enjoy a bouncy house and a hay ride.)...

...At St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church in Springfield, Va., the Rev. Peter Ackerman said that his church would continue its lobster dinner, but “PETA raises a thoughtful point. I have shared this with our church board in the hopes that we can respond in a way that keeps the annual celebratory dinner gathering intact but also brings forth our awareness and sensitivity to how we interact with God’s creatures.” That sort of reflection, he said, would be in line with the church’s social action activities like offering free physicals and school supplies to local children.

I have been waiting to see a response to PETA's request from the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal sect, but I have not found one yet.

This weekend, if weather permits, our local Anglican church is planning on having an oyster roast. This is not a fundraiser, it is a fun raiser. I asked my vegetarian friends if they could eat oysters, and they said that if it could walk, fly, or swim, they would not eat it. I explained that oysters just sit there, attached to an oyster bed. Their larval form swims a little and moves a little with a foot, but the adult that we eat just sits there. My vegetarian friends concluded that they could not eat oysters.

I have not heard about PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) protesting oyster roasts, but they have taken on the more ambulatory lobster as a pet project, "rescuing" these creatures from restaurants and supermarkets and protesting lobster dinners.

I will keep a watchful eye out for the PETA police this weekend to see of they will try tackle the mighty oyster roaster of our local Anglican church.

Good luck with that!

How to Escape the Apocalypse

This Sunday's Gospel reading is from Luke 21:25-36,

‘There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see “the Son of Man coming in a cloud” with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.’Then he told them a parable: ‘Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.‘Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.’

That last sentence drew my attention,

 "...to have the strength to escape all these things... and to stand before the Son of Man."

 If Jesus was talking about a global apocalypse, then I would not expect there to be any chance of a physical escape. The only escape from that kind of event is to pray that Jesus will carry you away.

Whatever the case, the apocalypse will demand great strength, prayer, and an almighty Savior.