What's Next?

Christmas is done. It's a new year. So what's next?

Well, maybe. Depending on when you are reading this, Christmas may not be done. Officially the Twelve Days of Christmas end on January 5th with the 12th Night (of Shakespeare fame). In the liturgical calendar, the New Year started in December with Advent. We've been answering "what's next" since then! So what is next? Glad you asked. January 6th marks the Feast of the Epiphany and the season that follows.

The Season after Epiphany (although I prefer 'Season OF Epiphany') marks a time of realization. Who is Jesus? What is his significance? What does he have to do with me? From the Magi, celebrated on January 6th, we learn that Christ call all nations. On the Sundays afterwards we are told of Jesus' Baptism where the Triune God is revealed simultaneously as a voice from Heaven, the Son of God being baptized and the dove/Holy spirit. We read also of the Wedding at Cana where Jesus performs his first miracle and Mary gives us a hint about following Jesus, "Do whatever he tells you." And on February 2nd is Candlemass, the celebration of Jesus Presentation in the Temple which celebrates the Light of God in the midst of the Temple and the worshiping community.

The Epiphanal season challenges us with water and light and invitation. Water awakens us to the wonder of God's activity around us. Light at the new possibilities of what a life bathed in salvation may look like. Invitation that causes us to realize, we are invited; there is no part of us that has been excluded from God's call for transformation; and there is no person that God does not want within God's own family.  
 
What's next? It's time to awake to the reality of new life in God. Is this a New Year's resolution? No. It's a New Life resolution.

Christmas: Christ for the Prepared and Unprepared

[The 2012 Parish Christmas letter dated...]

The Feast of John of the Cross

December 14, 2012

Merry Christmas, Dear Parish Family!

It is time. Christmas is arriving. Perhaps you are all prepared – your gifts made or purchased, your home decorated and ready for guests. Perhaps you are completely unprepared. Or perhaps you have no desire to prepare at all and wish this time would just pass by. The Christmas Holy Days can be wonderful or hard or both.

I think it helpful to know the birth of Christ so long ago was both - wonderful but hard and hard but wonderful. Also helpful is knowing that no matter how we have prepared for the Christ event, God consistently delivers and surprises. In spite of centuries of prophecy and prophets, Israel wasn’t ready. Mary and Joseph had nine months to prepare, and yet Joseph apparently forgot make hotel reservations ahead of time! You can imagine the words Mary must have had for her husband. And the shepherds, on the other hand, had no time to prepare and like true Jonny-come-lately’s, they left their herds at a dead run in order not to miss out. In all the chaos and preparations, still Christ came and still a surprise.

Oh, preparation is important. Yet God’s grace is greater still. In spite of all that was done and left undone on that Holy Night, Christ arrives. And there is no greater thing to be done than to receive - to open the eyes, open the heart, open the mind, open one’s life to this Little One. The Almighty enters our reality swaddled in frailty so that we, imprisoned in our own frailty of spiritual blindness, hard hardheartedness and preoccupation might receive him in unsuspecting meekness and tenderness.

In order that we may no longer be estranged, God comes. Not begrudging or ill-tempered, God comes in gentle sweetness and vulnerability. God comes first to be held, nursed, loved, known; to be looked upon eye to eye, to be wondered at, and even to be cuddled. Injustice, denial, immorality, sin, death, and evil – all that will be dealt with, but it will wait.

First we must know God to be this precious child. So then we may know ourselves to be, first and foremost, the precious children of God. And how great our joy!     

Joy and Hope and Peace to you and all your dear ones. God loves you so very much.

Merry Christmas,

Fr. James+

Christmas Services at St. Peter's Episcopal, Seattle ( www.stpeterseattle.org )

Sunday, Dec. 23rd - Fourth Sunday of Advent, 10am Eucharist

Monday, Dec. 24th - The Candlelight Vigil of Christmas Eve, 4pm. 

Tuesday, Dec. 25th - The Christ Mass, 11am. 

Christmas continues for 12 whole days! So don't miss out on...

Sunday, Dec. 30th - A Christmas Festival of Lessons and Carols, 10am 

Spirituality during the Busy Holidays

They're here. The Holidays.

All Hallow's Eve commonly known as "Hallow E'en",  and All Saints Day on November 1st. Thanksgiving. The Feast of St. Nicholas (That's the 6th of December, not the 25th!). Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and the following 12 Days of Christmas. New Years Eve, also known as the Feast of the Holy Name. And Epiphany on January 6th.

So maybe you don't celebrate all of these, but something tells me you probably have enough on your plate with what you do celebrate. And if these holidays are really to be Holy Days how do we keep them from merely becoming Busy-days? Here are some thoughts..

1) Turn off the TV or radio and read instead. There are a number of books out there about Advent or Christmas or giving thanks. Sit by the hearth or next to your favorite window with a hot drink. Put on some soothing music. Read a devotional book or read the daily readings for the seasons found in your prayerbook (we're starting year 1 this Advent). Take a minute. Breath. Read. Reflect.

2) Find some sacred music. Don't have time to sit? Put on some music in your kitchen or living room or car. Buy a CD of music that draws you into God even while you are doing dishes or writing Christmas cards.

3) Pray the Collects (prayers) of the season found in your the Book of Common Prayer. It takes 60 seconds or less and simply acknowledge that there's another reality, a spiritual one, that is present even when we're busy. It's like looking up from your work and realizing there's a whole other world around you!

4) Look for opportunities to serve and love others. The value of a gift is determined by the person who receives it. A smile, a card, a hug, a cup of coffee or prayer may not cost you much, but it can be worth immensely more than you think to the one who receives it. Watch. God will show who is in need, what to give, and when to give it.

5) Talk with others. Ask questions. What are other people giving thanks for? How are they preparing their hearts for Christmas? What do they thing or hope God might do in their lives this coming year? What did God do in their life in the last year?

Don't set you aim too high. Many of us want perfection, especially during the Holidays - perfect gifts, meals, parties, decorations, etc. This year, aim for grace and love instead. Take just a little time for the Holy. You will find that what you gain is far greater than what you have invested.

May these and all your days be Holy in Christ Jesus,

Fr. James+
  

The Bible and Episcopalians

Have you ever noticed that Episcopalians often speak differently about Scripture? (There. I've already done it. I said, "Scripture" and not "Bible." Why is it we say "Scripture" as often as we say "Bible"?) In chance encounters in coffee shops or on the street, I've encountered people who are confused at the ways Episcopalians use the Bible.

How come we don't memorize more of the Bible?
                        Why don't we have more expository preaching?
                                       How can you believe such&such when it clearly says this&that right here!

Sometimes the confusion leads to good, open conversation. Sometimes I've been verbally slapped around and condemned because I'm not in agreement. So let's take a look at ways in which Episcopalians might be just a bit different from some others.

Holy Scripture vs. Holy Bible - One reason we use the term "Scripture" so often (we say "Bible" also) is because the Bible itself never refers to itself as "Bible". The term Bible came from the Greek ta biblia, meaning "the books". And Scripture means "writings". Today, many Christians perceive the Bible as one book with one single author, namely God. However, the sense in both terms, Bible and Scripture, is plural. That is to say, early Christians recognized that the Holy Scriptures were not a single work, but a collection, a literary body with many parts and voices written during differing time periods in different cultural contexts with varying values and priories.    

A Choir vs. A Single Author - The diversity contained in the Books of the Bible doesn't typically trouble Episcopalians. Why? For one it reflects our experience of reality. The world is diverse and God made it that way. Second, we don't believe God authored Scripture. No. Seriously. God didn't sit down and pick up a pen and write this stuff down for us. Instead we believe that God inspired human authors to write it. Now, whatever "inspired" means, it's not the same as "dictated to". The Scriptures tell us that God seems to desire human partnership, not automatons. God + Adam = Eve. God + Moses = Ten Commandments. God + Mary = the Messiah is born. Take a look. God isn't afraid to partner with us. 

As a result, we don't expect the Bible to read as though it had only one author. It's not a solo performance; it's more like a choir. And if you have ever listened to jazz or modern classical you know that unison, harmony, and dissonance all have there proper place. And that in their proper place, they make for a wonderful, very expressive whole. The Bible is enriched as much by it's apparent dissonances as by it's moments of harmony and unison.  

St. Paul says... vs. First Corinthians says... - Episcopalians will often say St. Paul says this or St. John says that instead of quoting the book, chapter and verse. Why? First because the authors of Scripture were real people and because those people aren't strangers to us. We remember them in the Tradition of the Church and we know them by their presence within the Body of Christ.

Second, its because we often group the books of the Bible by their authors, recognizing common themes within those bodies and contrasts between works of different authors. This helps us understand some of the unity of Scripture in the midst of its diversity.   

Stories vs. Conclusions -  Finally, Episcopalians are more likely to talk about one of the stories from Acts or the Gospels, or speak of a metaphor like Paul's "Armor of God" or the "Body of Christ", or refer to visual images like those contained in Revelation. This we tend to do more often than referring to verses of exhortation like, "For all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God" (Rom. 2:23) and "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31). Instead, we tend to use Scripture to open us up to what God has to say to us rather than to arrive at a formulaic conclusions and pat answers. We like to open doors and search for Holy Spirit's leading and are dubious about short quotations that don't convey the full context. And besides... stories are easier to memorize!    

A Conclusion

St. John depicted writing on the Isle of Patmos

All this isn't to say that other ways of quoting or reading or using the Holy Scriptures are bad or wrong. It isn't to say every Episcopalian does any or all of these things. It's just to say we frequently have a distinct way of encountering God in the Holy Bible. Sometimes that makes us seem different.  Sometimes that difference feels threatening to others. Hold your ground. Know your stuff. Seek to learn and create openness. Don't attempt to win a debate. Most of all, engage the Holy Scriptures. They are a "sure and certain means" of encountering God and uncovering "all things necessary for salvation."

A Response to NYT "Can Liberal Christianity Be Saved?"

An op-ed entitled "Can Liberal Christianity Be Saved?"  by Ross Douthat in the  New York Times offers a poignant critique of liberal Christianity and holds, in my opinion, some worthy points of consideration for many Episcopalians. 

To begin let me offer a note about conservative and liberal forms of Christianity here. In my opinion, conservative Christianity is more likely to pull away from the the societal trends surrounding it and 'conserve' the methods, ideas, arguments, and paradigms of the past. Liberal Christianity has the tendency to adapt to to the culture and society surrounding it, and be more "free" in its acceptance of contemporary trends and innovations. When we are honest with ourselves, none of us are fully 'liberal' (i.e. accepting everything freely) or fully 'conservative' (i.e. refusing everything new or innovative). Christianity has been, as Jesus was, both conservative and liberal.  

Why the discussion about conservative and liberal? Because I believe that Mr. Douthat is correct. The Divinity of Christ, personal conversion, societal transformation, and the mission of the Church are quite necessary elements of Liberal Christianity - elements, that some liberal Christians may have indeed forgotten or lost. In some, perhaps even many, places, Episcopalians have adopted the culture around them, rather than adapted to it. The critique of conservatives, which is outside the scope of aforementioned article, is to question whether conservatives are resisting not the innovations of human culture, but the call of God for change, growth, and sanctification. I would argue here that when conservative Christianity fails this question, it too has lost sight of the Divinity of Christ, personal conversion, societal transformation and the mission of the Church. 

It doesn't matter - conservative or liberal. Christianity asserts that Christ is Sovereign. Jesus is Lord. When, by grace, we accept God's supremacy in our lives, we will and must be changed by this faith (Eph. 2:8). As our lives change and conform to the Gospel, we will also work to transform our societies, because we love the people, our neighbors, that constitute them. And the mission of the Church is salvation in Christ, both temporal (now) and eternal (forever), physical (body) and spiritual (soul), individual (me) and corporate (us). 

Can Liberal Christianity be saved? I think only if the focus shifts from "Liberal" and returns to "Christ(ianity)". But beware: when that shift is made, worrying about "liberals" or "conservatives" will be among the least of any Christian's concerns.    

Christianity: "Is this stuff real?"

"This stuff is for real." It was both statement and question. We were talking about God, about Christ and Christianity, about salvation, about religion - we never specified exactly what. "This stuff is for real, isn't it, Jim?" And with deep earnestness, in this profound moment when words failed us both, all I could say was, "Yeah. It is." "I feel it.... I really do," he hurried on. "I mean I'm not going to cry or anything..." He laughed uneasily. I smiled. He paused and then said, "...or maybe I will... It's real though, ain't it."

There is a temptation, in our walk of faith in Christ, to make things easy to believe. It is easier to believe that the Virgin Birth didn't really mean a literal virgin. It is easier to believe that the afterlife doesn't entail receiving new flesh and blood bodies - that we will just float about in spirit or will be absorbed as life energy back into the cosmos. It's easier to believe Heaven (or Hell) isn't a real place, just metaphors. It's easier to believe that Baptism or the Eucharist are just symbols, ceremony, and ritual, not the Real Presence of Christ in bread and wine or the Waters of Regeneration that birth us into a new eternal reality. It's easy to believe Jesus is never coming back. After all, it's preposterous to believe, otherwise, right?

The irony here is that in our troubled lives we want God to give us something real and true but something greater and more expansive than our problems or our reality or our circumstances. And when we receive it, we are immediately tempted to disbelieve it because it is exactly what we asked for - something beyond our reality! God, what you give us - miracles, mysticism, sacraments, theology, spiritual guidance - it's just too unrealistic! It doesn't fit inside my experience!
 
That's the problem with an easily accepted faith: it lacks reality beyond our own definitions. An easy faith has to obey our rules. We define those boundaries, what is and isn't possible. And so an easy faith has no power to release us from what we can't figure out ourselves. It may be a faith that is readily acceptable. It certainly makes more reasonable sense! It sounds more realistic and plausible. But when our reality needs a miracle because that's all that could possibly see us through the mess we're in, an easy "realistic" faith has nothing to offer but impossibilities. "Miracles don't happen," it tells us. "Prayer is about changing you; (God isn't really listening to or answering your prayers)." "Religion is all about teaching morals, ethics, and a healthy perspective - living a good life. (If you're in trouble, you deserve it because you broke the rules.)" Easy faith offers us ease, but it takes away all hope of any significant salvation.     

"This stuff is for real, isn't it, Jim?" Yeah. It's real. It's more real than we've ever experienced 'real' to be.


- Fr. James+ 

Too much prayerbook and not enough Bible?

"Why do we emphasize the Book of Common Prayer so much and not the Bible?" It was a question raised in a recent Bible study, and a good one. What is the importance of the Book of Common Prayer and shouldn't we just focus on the Bible?

Scripture, Tradition, and Reason
The Bible is one of three traditional sources of authority in the Anglican (ie Episcopal) tradition. The other two are (Holy) Tradition and Reason (including Experience). According to Anglicanism, Christianity is best understood by using all three - Scripture, Reason, and Tradition. So perhaps one answer to this question is that we sometimes differ from other Christian traditions in that we hold the Bible in one hand (Scripture), the Prayerbook in another (Tradition), and bring also our experiences and intellect to the dialogue (Reason).



The Bible at St. Peter's
I also think we are remiss if we say we do not emphasize the Bible at St. Peter's. And here's why...

• Free Bibles - Bibles are made available for free to keep or give away to others. (See Fr. James if you would like one!)
• Biblical Worship - We offer worship that is very similar to what is described in the Bible, including reading a significant portion of the Scriptures aloud together every time we gather (and Old Testament reading, New Testament reading, a Psalm, and a Gospel Reading.)
• Reading the Bible daily - The Book of Common Prayer sets forth the pattern that Scripture is to be read daily in the morning and evening AND it gives a two year plan that covers most of the Bible in that period. For the last two years we have also been publicizing this in our weekly bulletins on the back page.
• Read the Bible in a Year - This past Lent, St. Peter's was encouraged to join the Diocese and the entire Episcopal Church in reading the Bible through in a year. It's not to late to start this marvelous spiritual practice, either! You can find the schedule of reading in the church entryway (i.e.narthex) or at http://thecenterforbiblicalstudies.org/ .    

Prescription and Medication
We concluded our discussion about the prayerbook and the Bible by using a metaphor. The Bible can be compared to a medication. It's powerful, useful, helpful, and needed when used well. It can also be damaging when we use it poorly or neglect it. The Book of Common Prayer is very much like a prescription. A prescription helps us know how to use medication well. But a prescription alone, without medication, is just a piece of paper - pretty much useless. Likewise, the prayerbook without the Bible is impotent. When, however, we use the Bible and prayerbook together, as our ancient tradition intends, we find a very trustworthy pathway leading us to experience God in our everyday lives - an experience that is deep, broad, life-giving and healing.


May you find God in new and in old ways, in Scripture and in prayer, and in each and every day.  

The Resurrection ... did it REALLY happen?

Sometime around Holy Week and Easter this question inevitably comes up: "Did Jesus really rise from the dead?" Obviously, today the idea seems rather ludicrous... I mean really!? Any of you seen anyone come back from the dead lately?

I've heard some educated answers ranging from the "memory of Christ remaining so vital after his death that Jesus' followers experienced him as truly living," to books written in an attempt to 'prove' Jesus' bodily resurrection. I have a problem with both of those approaches.

The Resurrection event is made more palatable to contemporary scientific minds if we label it a metaphor, a spiritual, memory, or some other intangible experience. And yet, when we go back to Scripture the various authors go to great lengths to give us their evidence for Jesus actually, bodily, dying and returning to life. We have accounts of Jesus touching people, eating and drinking, conversing, walking, and showing off his scars. In addition the disciples never encounter Jesus' dead body anywhere. All these narratives are offered to us as demonstrations of Christ's final miracle, his Resurrection. And according to these accounts, the Resurrection wasn't about seeing ghosts or hallucinations or a metaphoric, metaphysical experience. For the authors, Jesus Resurrection was a returning to bodily life.

Now it may be true that these are falsified accounts. Perhaps the authors are lying to us. Maybe this is a conspiracy, a hoax, or a con. Those are all valid critiques - ones that many have believed over the centuries. If the character of the Biblical witnesses cannot be trusted, then we can dismiss their accounts and move on.

If, however, their character is not in question, if we trust them to actually tell us as best they can what they have seen and heard themselves and from others, then we have a different problem. If we don't believe what they tell us, then we are assuming they are well-meaning dolts. Perhaps they are unintelligent, but that would appear highly unlikely. The writings they have given us are considered classic world literature. Classic world literature doesn't come from the unintelligent.

So we're left with the problem: we have either unscrupulous, crafty, rascals who are purposefully deceiving us or we have intelligent witnesses authentically describing an event that actually happened. 

Logic reaches a stalemate here. (Which is why it's futile to try to prove the Resurrection beyond any intellectual doubt.) Neither conspiracy nor idiocy appear reasonably acceptable. So we're left with an intellectual leap of faith. So what shall we believe?

            

The Resurrected Life: Living Life a New Way

The celebration of Christ's Resurrection is not simply remembering a miracle that happened to Jesus. In celebrating Easter, we proclaim that existence has fundamentally changed. The cosmos has shifted. Life is no longer limited by death.

For Christians, this understanding informs our whole identity - our thinking, our self-image, our choices, our decisions, and our perspectives. We don't have "all the time in the world." Our time on earth is relatively short. Our time here, in this life is a gift. But it's a gift meant to be given away, especially since we have all eternity afterwards.

From a resurrection point of view, Jesus' teachings make a great deal more sense. Living in fear seems obsolete when we know how our earthly story ends. (It ends in restoration and resurrection.) Living selfishly seems unfathomable when we have such a short time on this earth to share with those who have such great need. (We know all needs will be met in God's perfect time, especially in the hereafter.) Power, fame, and riches are so fleeting, especially when they are based on a corrupt culture that is dying away. (Christ tells us to base our lives on eternal values that will never fade.)

In the next 50 days (Yes, that's right. The Church celebrates Easter for 50 whole days!) we'll be anchoring ourselves in the Resurrected identity. We'll be unlearning the lessons of mortality and learning to think and act as God's immortal children, for that is what we are, in this life and the next.
     

"Go with God" or "God on the Go"

Recently I've been talking with a number of people about how and when and where they connect with God. A few have recently started new spiritual disciplines such as the Daily Office (Morning & Evening Prayer), Prayer Beads, and regular Bible or devotional reading. These, along with other spiritual disciplines, regularly open us up to listen to what God is saying to us and doing in our lives.

Given that so many of us are busy, slowing down, taking retreats, practicing mindfulness, and learning to live in simplicity are great ways to connect with God in a deeper way. And yet, we also have times where we are 'on the go' and it is wonderful when we find God accompanying us in the midst of our busyness. So how can we connect with God when we're 'on the go'? Here are several practical suggestions...

Listen!
   -  Listen to a favorite Christian author or to the Bible read to you in the car or on your ipod. Here are some excellent suggestions on audio CD or mp3.
               a)  C.S. Lewis - The Chronicles of Narnia, Mere Christianity, Screwtape Letters
               b)  Marcus Borg, Diana Butler-Bass, John Dominic Crossan, N.T. Wright, and Phylis Tickle
               b)  For Kids -  Hall of Faith: 12 Bible Stories...,
               c)  Classics of Christian Literature - Paradise Lost,
               d)  The Bible - Old Testament Selections, The Message Bible

Sing!
   -  Singing is a wonderful way to approach God. Songs stick in our memories and influence our thinking all the time. So build up your favorite collection of songs, hymns, and spiritual songs. Here are some of my own favorites: Fernando Ortega, Robin Mark, Jars of Clay, U2, Handel, Bach, Gregorian Chant, Russian Chant,...
     
Read!
   -  Keep a Bible or a devotional book with you to read at all times. Read it while you wait for your take-out dinner to be prepared, our while waiting to pick up someone or be picked up. A minute here or there is all it takes. Here are some suggestions.
               a) Forward Day by Day, available free to you at St. Peter's
               b) Apps for your iPhone or Android like the Daily Office from Mission St. Clare (Android, iPhone), Glenstal Abbey (Android, iPhone)

Pray!
    -  You don't need anything - a book, or beads, a smart phone, or anything - to pray. Just talk to God. Or listen for God to speak. Even 3 minutes of prayer can make a significant difference.

So whether to listen, sing, read, or pray, take God with you wherever you go. Wait in the lobby with God. Drive down the freeway with God. Eat at your table with God. Whatever it is you're doing, go with God! Life was meant to be spent walking alongside of God.

Fr. James+      

Do Episcopalians not eat meat on Fridays?

Fish and Chips - A Friday Favorite!

Many Roman Catholics abstain from red meat on Fridays, often choosing fish instead. Why is that? And do Episcopalians do that too?

The simple answer is yes and no. The longer answer follows…

The Book of Common Prayer is not just our worship service book. It’s our manual and handbook on devotion, spirituality, theology, and Christian practice. It doesn’t contain everything we might be looking for, but most people find in contains a whole lot more than they suspected. It is, in essence, our guidebook for practicing the Christian faith. (The Bible, of course, is our guidebook on what the Christian faith actually is.)

For instance, did you know that the Book of Common Prayer (BCP) provides us a spiritual schedule? That's right. The BCP has a calendar that gives us a spiritual way of encountering the entirety of Christ’s life, the major themes of Scripture, and a diverse package of spiritual disciplines and practices.

In regards to spiritual disciplines, the Book of Common Prayer provides a  list of “Days of Special Devotion” (p. 17).  In this section it says, “The following days are observed by special acts of discipline and self-denial: … Good Friday and all other Fridays of the years in commemoration of the Lord’s crucifixion, except for Fridays in the Christmas and Easter Seasons…”

Now here’s the trick. We are, according to our manual on keeping the faith, to observe Fridays with special acts of discipline and self-denial. This is not an optional observance. Optional observances are listed in the next section (p. 17-18). Our Friday observances, however, aren’t limited to abstaining from meat of Fridays. It's up to each of us in our personal conversations with God to determine how we will “commemorate” – that is, to commit to our memories together – Christ’s self-sacrificing love for us and his submission to God by his death on the cross, which are cornerstones of our salvation.

So, in this new year, what will your Friday acts of self-denial and spiritual discipline look like?