Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?
It’s the last question of the baptismal covenant, and frankly, it’s my least favorite. This is nothing to do with the actual meaning and purpose of the question. In content it is a natural result of our discipline of Serving Others. The problem is that the institutional church, in the midst of turmoil over the hot-button issues of our times, has latched on to this question as the defining piece of our covenant. Yet, as we have seen in the past installments of this series, there is a lot of content to work through and understand. In fact, the placement of this question at the end of the covenant is quite appropriate. It is not the substance of the covenant overshadowing the other elements. Rather it is the natural result of all of the prior elements of the covenant when we take them seriously and live them authentically.
The difficulty of this element is in the terms justice and peace. They sound very good – but what do they mean when we try to make this element real?
Justice
On a personal level, justice means fairness. If someone treats us unfairly, we want the situation remedied. Much of the biblical use of that word has the same import. The laments of the prophets frequently touch upon unfair business practices. However, the Bible also adds definitions of justice not often found in the ancient world. Justice included the stranger and alien in the land. In many ancient societies, the sojourner was without protection. The Law of Moses required the people of Israel to treat the stranger with the same respect and fairness given to the members of the Covenant. Within the Covenant community, justice also involved the most vulnerable and powerless in society. Justice meant that no Israelite could stand aside while the poor went without basic necessities, or while the wealthy preyed upon those without protection of family.
There is a great outcry against people who enter our country circumventing our immigration laws and processes. Most modern countries consider border control to be an essential part of national security. Biblical justice has a higher standard. From the Christian (and Jewish) point of view, these people are the “strangers and sojourners” that God bids us to care about and care for. Our Outreach ministry is actually a justice ministry, caring for those in need without reference to their residency status. Remember that it is the Law of God and not the statutes of the nation that will be the standard applied in God’s judgment of us.
Peace
Peace well may be more than just the absence of war. However, while that observation relieves us of a negative definition, it fails to deliver a positive. What does peace look like, if not the absence of conflict? The Hebrew word for peace, shalom, can be translated as peace, completeness or well-being. It is a relational word and that relationship can be seen as the human relationship with God, relationships between one person and another or relationships between groups at all levels from neighborhoods to nations and all groupings in between.
To strive for peace therefore is to strive for the reconciliation of relationships. St. Paul sums this up in his Second Letter to the church in Corinth: “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.” It is this ministry of reconciliation, of “making peace” that Jesus means in the Beatitudes: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”
Dignity
The idea of dignity is ancient and was generally confined to people of significant power, position, authority or influence. The term “dignitary” retains some of that older restriction. One treats a dignitary with honor and respect. The Scriptures influenced western thought by adding a new criterion to dignity, the imago dei. Genesis describes the appearance of human beings on the historic stage, created in God’s image. This new criterion supplanted the more restricted meaning of dignity. All human beings bear the image of God; therefore, all human beings have a dignity that far surpasses such transient characteristics as power, position, authority or influence.
The Baptismal Covenant is hard work. It begins with renouncing the dead end of human self-sufficiency and embracing the new humanity created in Jesus Christ. It requires us to put our whole trust in a Deity who not only created the universe, yet is still engaged in that creation in every detail. It bids us live in committed community, persevere in discipleship, testify to God’s saving work, imitate the life of the Word made flesh and implement that life in all our dealings. How are we to undertake such a covenant when the history of the Christian Church is so often a record of our failures to embrace that covenant?
Only a people who have joined in a common discipline, a discipline that binds us together and builds us up in the image of Christ can meet such a challenge. And we have such have such a discipline: paying attention, showing up, serving others, learning the story, giving as we receive, checking in.
Your fellow apprentice in the Risen Lord,
The Rev’d Jack Stapleton
Rector
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Friday, May 1, 2009
The Questions We Raise (The Making of a Covenant 9)
Will you by word and example proclaim the Good News of God in Christ?
It is not “word or example,” nor is it “word, then example.” The two means of proclamation are simultaneous and interdependent. Of course, for many of us, we’re way ahead of ourselves here.
Talking to people about our faith is still a real problem for many members of mainline churches. The images that come to mind are at best uncomfortable and at worst rudely intrusive. However “proclaiming the Good News” is more than just confronting people with the Christian religion. Indeed, fewer and fewer people in our nation consider Christianity to be anything like “good news.” A two year course in apologetics, Bible, history and rhetoric might seem to be the best preparation. In truth, such preparation will do little to win a hearing in an unbelieving world. Our world receives the message of Christians with indifference, suspicion or even outright hostility. We should not blame them for their response. If Christians seek the cause of such rejection we have only to look at how we’ve presented ourselves in the last few decades.
So is this an element of the Baptismal Covenant we can discard as no longer possible? Not at all. Instead we will find a new opportunity in the conjunction “and” in this element. We’ll also find a real challenge there.
We often misunderstand the example part of the equation. It’s not simply the example of a generous and upright life that is at stake. The most remarkable example we can offer to the world is the example of a community of disciples doing what Jesus taught in the power of the Holy Spirit – and doing it together.
When we consider just what Jesus asks of his disciples, we’re forced to admit that would be a remarkable sight. Such a sight inevitably provokes questions from the world:
WHY do you live this way?
HOW do you live this way?
How can I live this way?
In answering these questions we find ourselves telling the story behind our lifestyle. But again, we’re way ahead of ourselves here. We’re farther along the path to this life than many congregations I’ve known. Compared to others, we’re not even out of the starting gate. One thing for sure: this won’t happen by accident.
Not as isolated individuals but as a connected community we’re going to have to PAY ATTENTION to God’s moment by moment Presence in our midst.
Not as isolated individuals but as a connected community we’re going to have to SHOW UP and spend real time together and learn how to share our lives with one another.
Not as isolated individuals but as a connected community we’re going to have to SERVE OTHERS in our actions and our attitudes.
Not as isolated individuals but as a connected community we’re going to have to LEARN THE STORY because we cannot share what we do not know.
Not as isolated individuals but as a connected community we’re going to have to GIVE AS WE RECEIVE because this ties us in to God as the source of every aspect of our lives.
Oh yes, and to keep us honest and on task we’ll need a new discipline, the Sixth Discipline:
Not as isolated individuals but as a connected community we’re going to have to CHECK IN with each other rergularly.
How do we then “proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?” To paraphrase the late Canon David Watson:
Trinity evangelizes in response to the questions raised by its way of life.
In the Holy Three in One,
The Rev’d Jack Stapleton
Rector
Monday, March 2, 2009
Resistance is (not) useless! (The Making of a Covenant 8)
The next step on our exploration of our common covenant in baptism seems a bit redundant. In our affirmations and renunciations that are the prerequisite for baptism we renounce evil in three forms. The old shorthand for this was renouncing “the world, the flesh and the devil.” The update version is like me, a bit long-winded. We renounce Satan and all the spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God, the evil powers of this world which corrupt and destroy the creatures of God and all sinful desires that draw you from the love of God.
The rite of confirmation in our Prayer Book requires us to reaffirm that renunciation of evil before confirmation is administered.
So why does our oft-repeated baptismal covenant call us to resist that we’ve twice renounced?
Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?
Our renunciation doesn’t mean that evil has no power in our lives. In order to understand the significance and the method of our resistance we must have a better understanding of what evil actually is.
Evil is not the breaking of rules – that is only the symptom of evil. Evil is the renunciation of the Creator and the Creation. It rejects God’s triumphant shout of “Good!” over each element of the created order. The goodness of creation is the reflection of the character of the Creator, just as the character of a great work of art shows us something of the character of the artist.
The creation in which we live is not simply a static thing, a dead stage on which we act out whatever play suits us. It is not that the Creator did his work eons ago and settled into a semi-retirement. The universe and particularly this planet is an ongoing drama where each human being has an essential part. The problem with the drama is that each actor on the planet, throughout human history, has tried to seize the play for his or her own. Some of these efforts have been obvious and obviously disastrous as the 20th century demonstrated with two world wars and unspeakable atrocities across the globe.
Some of the efforts to wrest control of the divine play from the intent of the Creator are carried out in a smaller set of acts. From the person who murdered a ski resort manager in the name of Christ to the person who abuses a child or a spouse, the same principle is at work. This principle of usurping the role of Author of the drama of creation is the definition of evil.
So far my depiction of evil may raise only a small chorus of objections. Comparing the person who killed 30 students at an eastern college to the architects of the holocaust may seem to trivialize so great an evil as the slaughter of six million Jews. The real difference is a matter of scale. The person who assaults or murders another because of race, religion, or any other reason is committing his or her own holocaust. They just lack the resources and personnel to do this on a larger scale.
The real problem of understanding evil is when the usurping of the Author’s role is apparently benign. It can be expressed in simple self-centered behavior. We become quick to judge the motives and hearts of others. We demand first place in the attention of others. We lie or cheat to get what we want. These are common enough behaviors, but their root is that same principle which, if unchecked, can lead to acts of more startling and repulsive evil. In most of us, the remnant of God’s image still moves us towards goodness and kindness and generosity. But it is never entirely free from some small thread of self-centeredness.
And that, by a circuitous route, is the meaning of this baptismal promise. The principle of evil permeates human life. It is the rut into which we slide when we’re not paying attention. The constant vigilance against the draw towards evil is the work of the spiritual disciplines I’m inviting us to undertake.
One final note: This element of our baptismal covenant has more to it than resisting evil. It concludes: whenever you sin, repent and return to the Lord. This final phrase is a warning against discouragement. Living our baptismal covenant does not mean that we will not fail from time to time. It does mean that no failure is final. God does expect us to acknowledge the truth about ourselves: “I did fail.” But that acknowledgement is not met with condemnation, but with open arms and a ready will to give greater grace on the journey.
In the Holy Three in One,
The Rev’d Jack Stapleton
Rector
The rite of confirmation in our Prayer Book requires us to reaffirm that renunciation of evil before confirmation is administered.
So why does our oft-repeated baptismal covenant call us to resist that we’ve twice renounced?
Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?
Our renunciation doesn’t mean that evil has no power in our lives. In order to understand the significance and the method of our resistance we must have a better understanding of what evil actually is.
Evil is not the breaking of rules – that is only the symptom of evil. Evil is the renunciation of the Creator and the Creation. It rejects God’s triumphant shout of “Good!” over each element of the created order. The goodness of creation is the reflection of the character of the Creator, just as the character of a great work of art shows us something of the character of the artist.
The creation in which we live is not simply a static thing, a dead stage on which we act out whatever play suits us. It is not that the Creator did his work eons ago and settled into a semi-retirement. The universe and particularly this planet is an ongoing drama where each human being has an essential part. The problem with the drama is that each actor on the planet, throughout human history, has tried to seize the play for his or her own. Some of these efforts have been obvious and obviously disastrous as the 20th century demonstrated with two world wars and unspeakable atrocities across the globe.
Some of the efforts to wrest control of the divine play from the intent of the Creator are carried out in a smaller set of acts. From the person who murdered a ski resort manager in the name of Christ to the person who abuses a child or a spouse, the same principle is at work. This principle of usurping the role of Author of the drama of creation is the definition of evil.
So far my depiction of evil may raise only a small chorus of objections. Comparing the person who killed 30 students at an eastern college to the architects of the holocaust may seem to trivialize so great an evil as the slaughter of six million Jews. The real difference is a matter of scale. The person who assaults or murders another because of race, religion, or any other reason is committing his or her own holocaust. They just lack the resources and personnel to do this on a larger scale.
The real problem of understanding evil is when the usurping of the Author’s role is apparently benign. It can be expressed in simple self-centered behavior. We become quick to judge the motives and hearts of others. We demand first place in the attention of others. We lie or cheat to get what we want. These are common enough behaviors, but their root is that same principle which, if unchecked, can lead to acts of more startling and repulsive evil. In most of us, the remnant of God’s image still moves us towards goodness and kindness and generosity. But it is never entirely free from some small thread of self-centeredness.
And that, by a circuitous route, is the meaning of this baptismal promise. The principle of evil permeates human life. It is the rut into which we slide when we’re not paying attention. The constant vigilance against the draw towards evil is the work of the spiritual disciplines I’m inviting us to undertake.
One final note: This element of our baptismal covenant has more to it than resisting evil. It concludes: whenever you sin, repent and return to the Lord. This final phrase is a warning against discouragement. Living our baptismal covenant does not mean that we will not fail from time to time. It does mean that no failure is final. God does expect us to acknowledge the truth about ourselves: “I did fail.” But that acknowledgement is not met with condemnation, but with open arms and a ready will to give greater grace on the journey.
In the Holy Three in One,
The Rev’d Jack Stapleton
Rector
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Continuing – or Just Beginning (The Making of a Covenant 7)
This part in the series has two characteristics of note. First of all, it’s being written after completing a sermon series on a five-point Rule of Life for the Community of the Holy Trinity (more on that later – much later!). Without any detail those points are as follows:
Pay Attention Show Up Serve Others Learn the Story Give As You Receive
The second notable characteristic is that in covering the Baptismal Covenant we’ve come to a change in content. Following the Baptismal promises, the community’s responding promise and the articles of the Apostles’ Creed, there are a series of five questions and answers. This article deals with the first of the five.
Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers?
People: I will with God’s help.
The phrasing is taken from the book of the Acts of the Apostles and describes how the earliest Christians lived after the day of Pentecost. It has served for centuries as the model of how the Christian community should connect and relate. The sad fact that the Christian church has rarely looked anything like this description is a testament to how difficult such life really is. Of course, the terms seem rather vague in the midst of the more concrete realities of our lives. A brief look at what these terms mean and how they might look in this first decade of the 21st century can help.
The Apostles’ Teaching
In the rule of life, this comes under the heading of “Learn the Story.” The Apostles’ teaching was in fact, stories. They were the stories that Jesus told and the stories about who Jesus was, what his coming meant and how to live what he taught. If this is truly part of our covenant life together it means that we each need to know the stories. We can’t rely on the bits and pieces we hear read on Sundays, nor should we rely on one voice (mine in this case) as the sole custodian of the stories.
The Apostle’s Fellowship
The word “fellowship” has a much deeper meaning than it’s normal usage. In the culture of churches fellowship most often refers to socializing among Christians. Sometimes there’s a deeper understanding where we refer to a shared experience of worship, or sharing spiritual growth as in a small group or Bible study. The word fellowship is the attempt to render the Greek word koinonia into English. The root of koinonia is koine, “common.” Luke tells us that the first disciples held all things in common. No, this doesn’t mean they used communal toothbrushes or toiletries. What it does mean is that each disciple’s personal resources were available to the whole community. As used in the Acts koinonia means common gatherings or common experience but most of all common, or shared, life. There is a theme of true fellowship that often exists in congregations without direct acknowledgement. When a member of our congregation is in financial straits, I’ve often had other members come and hand me money to be passed on for their needs. To continue in the Apostles’ fellowship means first that what we do in private needs to become the open standard of our community. I look forward to the day when members of the Community of the Holy Trinity can share their need without shame and their fellows can share their resources without embarrassment.
The Breaking of the Bread
There’s a lot of debate among Bible scholars about the meaning of this phrase in the Acts. “Breaking bread” together is most often used as a descriptor of sharing a meal. However, the phrase was also used in Scripture (and in post-scriptural Christian writings it was used almost exclusively) to refer to the faith meal of the Body of Christ, Holy Communion.. This discipline, and that of the Apostles’ Fellowship, relates to the meaning of the second element of our rule of life: “Show up.” We break bread together each Sunday as a community to commemorate and celebrate what Jesus Christ has done for us and for the world by his death and resurrection. Showing up begins with getting together physically, getting our bodies to one of our gatherings to be part of a community. Showing up also means being present with our intelligence to engage the story and being present emotionally to engage one another.
The Prayers
This is the most difficult phrase for us, because in one way we certainly “continue” in this pattern, and in another we don’t do it at all. There is no doubt that we are a praying congregation. Individually we pray for one another, for our families, for our community and nation and, as I can well attest, for your rector. Corporately we offer prayers at each Eucharist. We have groups such as our intercessory prayer group and the Daughters of the King who are devoted to prayer. Luke’s describes the early disciples as a community that gathered for prayer. They prayed in the Temple and in the synagogues, but even beyond the gathering for Eucharist, they gathered as a community to pray for the church and the world. As we launch into a new year during which our world struggles through economic, political and environmental challenges, this is something we will need to recover.
In the Holy Three in One,
Jack+
The Rev’d Jack Stapleton
Rector
Pay Attention Show Up Serve Others Learn the Story Give As You Receive
The second notable characteristic is that in covering the Baptismal Covenant we’ve come to a change in content. Following the Baptismal promises, the community’s responding promise and the articles of the Apostles’ Creed, there are a series of five questions and answers. This article deals with the first of the five.
Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers?
People: I will with God’s help.
The phrasing is taken from the book of the Acts of the Apostles and describes how the earliest Christians lived after the day of Pentecost. It has served for centuries as the model of how the Christian community should connect and relate. The sad fact that the Christian church has rarely looked anything like this description is a testament to how difficult such life really is. Of course, the terms seem rather vague in the midst of the more concrete realities of our lives. A brief look at what these terms mean and how they might look in this first decade of the 21st century can help.
The Apostles’ Teaching
In the rule of life, this comes under the heading of “Learn the Story.” The Apostles’ teaching was in fact, stories. They were the stories that Jesus told and the stories about who Jesus was, what his coming meant and how to live what he taught. If this is truly part of our covenant life together it means that we each need to know the stories. We can’t rely on the bits and pieces we hear read on Sundays, nor should we rely on one voice (mine in this case) as the sole custodian of the stories.
The Apostle’s Fellowship
The word “fellowship” has a much deeper meaning than it’s normal usage. In the culture of churches fellowship most often refers to socializing among Christians. Sometimes there’s a deeper understanding where we refer to a shared experience of worship, or sharing spiritual growth as in a small group or Bible study. The word fellowship is the attempt to render the Greek word koinonia into English. The root of koinonia is koine, “common.” Luke tells us that the first disciples held all things in common. No, this doesn’t mean they used communal toothbrushes or toiletries. What it does mean is that each disciple’s personal resources were available to the whole community. As used in the Acts koinonia means common gatherings or common experience but most of all common, or shared, life. There is a theme of true fellowship that often exists in congregations without direct acknowledgement. When a member of our congregation is in financial straits, I’ve often had other members come and hand me money to be passed on for their needs. To continue in the Apostles’ fellowship means first that what we do in private needs to become the open standard of our community. I look forward to the day when members of the Community of the Holy Trinity can share their need without shame and their fellows can share their resources without embarrassment.
The Breaking of the Bread
There’s a lot of debate among Bible scholars about the meaning of this phrase in the Acts. “Breaking bread” together is most often used as a descriptor of sharing a meal. However, the phrase was also used in Scripture (and in post-scriptural Christian writings it was used almost exclusively) to refer to the faith meal of the Body of Christ, Holy Communion.. This discipline, and that of the Apostles’ Fellowship, relates to the meaning of the second element of our rule of life: “Show up.” We break bread together each Sunday as a community to commemorate and celebrate what Jesus Christ has done for us and for the world by his death and resurrection. Showing up begins with getting together physically, getting our bodies to one of our gatherings to be part of a community. Showing up also means being present with our intelligence to engage the story and being present emotionally to engage one another.
The Prayers
This is the most difficult phrase for us, because in one way we certainly “continue” in this pattern, and in another we don’t do it at all. There is no doubt that we are a praying congregation. Individually we pray for one another, for our families, for our community and nation and, as I can well attest, for your rector. Corporately we offer prayers at each Eucharist. We have groups such as our intercessory prayer group and the Daughters of the King who are devoted to prayer. Luke’s describes the early disciples as a community that gathered for prayer. They prayed in the Temple and in the synagogues, but even beyond the gathering for Eucharist, they gathered as a community to pray for the church and the world. As we launch into a new year during which our world struggles through economic, political and environmental challenges, this is something we will need to recover.
In the Holy Three in One,
Jack+
The Rev’d Jack Stapleton
Rector
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
The Holy Junk Drawer The Making of a Covenant 6)
In my youth I was told that the creeds had three sections, each devoted to a person in the Trinity. I had a problem with that. The opening line about the Father seemed clear enough, and the section about the Son was equally clear. But that last section, supposedly regarding the Holy Spirit, seemed a hodgepodge of Christian beliefs tossed in because the authors of the creed couldn’t find anything much to say about the Holy Spirit.
Even my seminary education didn’t help that much – but probably because I was too embarrassed to ask the questions that were whirling in my mind. We could probably leave it there and move on. It doesn’t seem to have much practical application, only a general salute to things we’re supposed to believe in.
However, “believing” is more than just giving intellectual assent to some religious assertion. Believing is betting our lives on something. Since the Apostles’ Creed is a key element of our baptismal covenant, since the pronoun “I” is used, putting us in the position of a personal commitment, then it really is something at which we should take a deeper look.
Unless you’ve memorized the last section of the Apostles’ Creed, it might be helpful to begin with what it says: “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.”
If the Father is the one who is the source of our existence and the Son is the one who speaks us into existence, then the Holy Spirit is the one who binds us all in our very being. This binding together is expressed in four ways.
The Church. This is not a denomination or a building but the presence of Jesus remaining in the world. It is holy because the Holy Spirit is the life force that creates it and sustains it. It is catholic (universal) because in the Church Christ transcends all times and cultures.
The communion of saints. We need to remind ourselves that the term “saint” does not confine itself to Christian heroes of the past but is the name for all who belong to God. If St. Paul had written an epistle to our congregation he would have addressed us as the “saints who are at Trinity.” The role of the Spirit in this communion and fellowship is that of the divine life that we each have within us and that we share with one another. Here we state that we belong to one another because we share a common supernatural life.
The forgiveness of sin. The level of forgiveness that restores us to relationship with God is the result of Christ’s self-offering on the cross. But the ability of human beings to forgive – to allow mercy to supersede the right demands of human justice in real personal relationships – is a sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit in the forgiver’s life.
The resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. The death of our bodies is not the end – either of life or of physicality. According to the Scriptures – and the creeds – there is something about physical reality that is essential for a human being to be fully human. The presence of the Spirit of God in us is the living connection between our present moment and the eternal Now that awaits after our physical deaths. Because of that connection, eternal life is not something for which we wait, but something we can experience now.
It seems the Holy Junk Drawer has more than a few treasures inside and as part of the ancient, personal baptismal creed and part of our contemporary baptismal covenant, we’re betting our lives that it’s true.
In the Fellowship of the Holy Three in One,
Jack+
(The Rev’d) Jack Stapleton
Rector
Even my seminary education didn’t help that much – but probably because I was too embarrassed to ask the questions that were whirling in my mind. We could probably leave it there and move on. It doesn’t seem to have much practical application, only a general salute to things we’re supposed to believe in.
However, “believing” is more than just giving intellectual assent to some religious assertion. Believing is betting our lives on something. Since the Apostles’ Creed is a key element of our baptismal covenant, since the pronoun “I” is used, putting us in the position of a personal commitment, then it really is something at which we should take a deeper look.
Unless you’ve memorized the last section of the Apostles’ Creed, it might be helpful to begin with what it says: “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.”
If the Father is the one who is the source of our existence and the Son is the one who speaks us into existence, then the Holy Spirit is the one who binds us all in our very being. This binding together is expressed in four ways.
The Church. This is not a denomination or a building but the presence of Jesus remaining in the world. It is holy because the Holy Spirit is the life force that creates it and sustains it. It is catholic (universal) because in the Church Christ transcends all times and cultures.
The communion of saints. We need to remind ourselves that the term “saint” does not confine itself to Christian heroes of the past but is the name for all who belong to God. If St. Paul had written an epistle to our congregation he would have addressed us as the “saints who are at Trinity.” The role of the Spirit in this communion and fellowship is that of the divine life that we each have within us and that we share with one another. Here we state that we belong to one another because we share a common supernatural life.
The forgiveness of sin. The level of forgiveness that restores us to relationship with God is the result of Christ’s self-offering on the cross. But the ability of human beings to forgive – to allow mercy to supersede the right demands of human justice in real personal relationships – is a sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit in the forgiver’s life.
The resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. The death of our bodies is not the end – either of life or of physicality. According to the Scriptures – and the creeds – there is something about physical reality that is essential for a human being to be fully human. The presence of the Spirit of God in us is the living connection between our present moment and the eternal Now that awaits after our physical deaths. Because of that connection, eternal life is not something for which we wait, but something we can experience now.
It seems the Holy Junk Drawer has more than a few treasures inside and as part of the ancient, personal baptismal creed and part of our contemporary baptismal covenant, we’re betting our lives that it’s true.
In the Fellowship of the Holy Three in One,
Jack+
(The Rev’d) Jack Stapleton
Rector
Friday, January 2, 2009
And in Jesus… (The Making of A Covenant 5)
Who is this person whose title (Christ) labels our religion, whose life is supposed to be our model, in whose Name we pray to our Father in Heaven? There are millions of opinions about Jesus. The most ancient statements of faith give a clearer picture, a picture consistent with what we know of Jesus in the Bible and consistent with the experiences of Christians over the last 2,000 years. And yet, even with this consistent historic/contemporary identification, what does it really matter in such times of economic and political turmoil? What can a first century rabbi know about our world of market disintegration, falling home values, family stress or international conflict?
It all comes down to the statement made in the creeds about Jesus. If the statements are merely products of a credulous and intolerant age, then Jesus may well be fundamentally irrelevant to our daily actuality. If these statements accurately describe both ultimate and present reality, then Jesus is far more relevant to our times than any action or policy that government can invoke to restore order, peace and prosperity.
We need to remind ourselves that the “I believe/We believe” beginning of the creeds is far more than giving intellectual assent to religious assertions (though it is certainly not less than that). The belief is of the nature of deep trust – “I’m betting my life and happiness that this is true, because I know He is true in character as well as fact.”
If Jesus is true, and if what we confess about Jesus is true, then we really do need to take a moment and think about what this might mean for the decisions we have to make today and tomorrow and the days that follow. I won’t go into a detailed examination of the various statements in either the Apostles or Nicene creeds. Better minds and more prayerful souls than I have done that before, and done it well. On the other hand, there are a few things that do leap out.
Both creeds insist that Jesus is the incarnate Creator who has entered fully into creation (through him all things were made). The Bible asserts that the incarnate Word set aside the attributes of godhood, which includes omniscience. But though God set aside a way of knowing, we cannot assume God set aside the attribute of intelligence. As Dr. Dallas Willard puts it: “If he were divine, would he be dumb?” Jesus of Nazareth, if the assertions are true, might well have been the most intelligent human being who has ever lived.
Now that the full humanity of Jesus has been taken up into the being of the Divine Oneness, there is no problem known to humankind that is beyond his understanding. The Bible is God’s self-revelation to humanity, and the Bible does not address much of the work of modern life, things like physics and chemistry, mechanical or electrical engineering. But these are all areas where the Risen Christ is the expert par excellence. What God does address in the Bible is how we are to live.
In short, as a people of the Baptismal Covenant, we’re betting our lives, our families and our fortunes on One who is expert on all that is human. And if we take that seriously, then we know we are in the best hands possible. We have confidence to live courageously, patiently, and boldly – especially in times that try the human soul.
In the Holy Three in One,
Jack+
The Rev’d Jack Stapleton
Rector
It all comes down to the statement made in the creeds about Jesus. If the statements are merely products of a credulous and intolerant age, then Jesus may well be fundamentally irrelevant to our daily actuality. If these statements accurately describe both ultimate and present reality, then Jesus is far more relevant to our times than any action or policy that government can invoke to restore order, peace and prosperity.
We need to remind ourselves that the “I believe/We believe” beginning of the creeds is far more than giving intellectual assent to religious assertions (though it is certainly not less than that). The belief is of the nature of deep trust – “I’m betting my life and happiness that this is true, because I know He is true in character as well as fact.”
If Jesus is true, and if what we confess about Jesus is true, then we really do need to take a moment and think about what this might mean for the decisions we have to make today and tomorrow and the days that follow. I won’t go into a detailed examination of the various statements in either the Apostles or Nicene creeds. Better minds and more prayerful souls than I have done that before, and done it well. On the other hand, there are a few things that do leap out.
Both creeds insist that Jesus is the incarnate Creator who has entered fully into creation (through him all things were made). The Bible asserts that the incarnate Word set aside the attributes of godhood, which includes omniscience. But though God set aside a way of knowing, we cannot assume God set aside the attribute of intelligence. As Dr. Dallas Willard puts it: “If he were divine, would he be dumb?” Jesus of Nazareth, if the assertions are true, might well have been the most intelligent human being who has ever lived.
Now that the full humanity of Jesus has been taken up into the being of the Divine Oneness, there is no problem known to humankind that is beyond his understanding. The Bible is God’s self-revelation to humanity, and the Bible does not address much of the work of modern life, things like physics and chemistry, mechanical or electrical engineering. But these are all areas where the Risen Christ is the expert par excellence. What God does address in the Bible is how we are to live.
In short, as a people of the Baptismal Covenant, we’re betting our lives, our families and our fortunes on One who is expert on all that is human. And if we take that seriously, then we know we are in the best hands possible. We have confidence to live courageously, patiently, and boldly – especially in times that try the human soul.
In the Holy Three in One,
Jack+
The Rev’d Jack Stapleton
Rector
Sunday, December 7, 2008
I believe (The Making of a Covenant 4)
Our baptismal covenant begins with a dialogue version of the Apostle’s creed. This creed is the individual statement of faith that is the confession of the baptized, hence it is always in the first person singular: “I believe” rather than “We believe.” The creed we most commonly recite together, the Nicene Creed, is a “we” statement for it speaks for the whole Christian community.
(For those of you old enough to remember the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, the Nicene Creed was written as “I believe” and there’s still a version like that in the current Prayer Book on page 327. However, the original version of the Nicene Creed was “We believe” for it was written as the statement of the Christian community in response to questions raised in the controversies of the 3rd and 4th centuries.)
Simple enough so far. But most of you reading this renew your baptismal covenant at every baptism we do at Trinity. It might be a good idea to find out what you’ve signed up for. Just what sort of “believing” is this and what is it that you’re supposed to believe?
When we say that we believe, whether as individuals in the Apostle’s Creed or as a community in the Nicene, our statement is less about an assertion of fact as it is a statement of reliance. For instance, I believe that Mars is the fourth planet from the sun. But that belief has no effect whatsoever on how I live or the choices I make.
On the other hand, when I board a plane, I’m also making an assertion about beliefs. I believe that the plane is in proper working condition, that the pilot is competent, that security is sufficient. I’m putting a lot of weight on those beliefs. I’m betting my life on them.
When we state our beliefs in the creeds, it’s not just some set of assertions to which we consent. We state that the contents of the creed are things we can and do “bet our lives” on. They are to determine how we make the choices of our lives, and what sort of choices we’ll make.
So it is important that we understand what kind of belief we’re affirming, and therefore what those beliefs mean for the way we live. They will affect how we treat our parents, spouses, children, neighbors and the people we encounter from day to day. They will affect what jobs we’ll do – and what jobs we won’t do. They will affect how we shop, what we buy, what we wear and what we drive. So with that warning in mind, let’s look at the first affirmation in the covenant and the equivalent statement from the Christian community in the Nicene Creed.
Do you believe in God the Father?
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
Nicene Creed: We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.
These seem remote enough statements at first glance. Of course, there’s a lot more than first meets the eye. If God is God, then we’re not. We are betting our lives on a supreme being, an all-powerful one. And that God is named first in relationship: “Father.” God is no impersonal force that cannot be known. Nor is God some remote deity, far removed from our lives. God is Father – one who cares and one whom we can approach. More than that God wants to be approached. God is the ideal Father, the model for all fatherhood. And as Father, God loves his children, which means God is unalterably, unwaveringly committed to our greatest good.
But human beings are not the only focus of God’s concern. God is also creator of all things: “galaxies, suns, the planets in their course, and this fragile earth, our island home.” (BCP p. 370) At the beginning of creation God looked upon the universe he had made and pronounced it to be good. There’s no record about God changing his mind on that, no verse in scripture that indicates God lost interest in the whole of creation. To put it in modern terms: God is green. It really does matter how we treat this planet. Drill for oil if you must, but remember: this is God’s earth – not ours. The land we might poison is God’s land. The beasts that die from our pollution, neglect and abuse are God’s beasts.
So as people of the baptismal covenant we commit to seeking God in relationship directly, and making “lifestyle choices” that preserve, protect and bless the earth.
One last note on those lifestyle choices: if we are to take our covenant seriously as a community of disciples, it’s time for Trinity to go green. It will cost us financially; it will cost us in terms of convenience. But given the beliefs we’re betting our lives on, it’s not an option.
In the Holy Three in One,
Jack+
The Rev’d Jack Stapleton
Rector
(For those of you old enough to remember the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, the Nicene Creed was written as “I believe” and there’s still a version like that in the current Prayer Book on page 327. However, the original version of the Nicene Creed was “We believe” for it was written as the statement of the Christian community in response to questions raised in the controversies of the 3rd and 4th centuries.)
Simple enough so far. But most of you reading this renew your baptismal covenant at every baptism we do at Trinity. It might be a good idea to find out what you’ve signed up for. Just what sort of “believing” is this and what is it that you’re supposed to believe?
When we say that we believe, whether as individuals in the Apostle’s Creed or as a community in the Nicene, our statement is less about an assertion of fact as it is a statement of reliance. For instance, I believe that Mars is the fourth planet from the sun. But that belief has no effect whatsoever on how I live or the choices I make.
On the other hand, when I board a plane, I’m also making an assertion about beliefs. I believe that the plane is in proper working condition, that the pilot is competent, that security is sufficient. I’m putting a lot of weight on those beliefs. I’m betting my life on them.
When we state our beliefs in the creeds, it’s not just some set of assertions to which we consent. We state that the contents of the creed are things we can and do “bet our lives” on. They are to determine how we make the choices of our lives, and what sort of choices we’ll make.
So it is important that we understand what kind of belief we’re affirming, and therefore what those beliefs mean for the way we live. They will affect how we treat our parents, spouses, children, neighbors and the people we encounter from day to day. They will affect what jobs we’ll do – and what jobs we won’t do. They will affect how we shop, what we buy, what we wear and what we drive. So with that warning in mind, let’s look at the first affirmation in the covenant and the equivalent statement from the Christian community in the Nicene Creed.
Do you believe in God the Father?
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
Nicene Creed: We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.
These seem remote enough statements at first glance. Of course, there’s a lot more than first meets the eye. If God is God, then we’re not. We are betting our lives on a supreme being, an all-powerful one. And that God is named first in relationship: “Father.” God is no impersonal force that cannot be known. Nor is God some remote deity, far removed from our lives. God is Father – one who cares and one whom we can approach. More than that God wants to be approached. God is the ideal Father, the model for all fatherhood. And as Father, God loves his children, which means God is unalterably, unwaveringly committed to our greatest good.
But human beings are not the only focus of God’s concern. God is also creator of all things: “galaxies, suns, the planets in their course, and this fragile earth, our island home.” (BCP p. 370) At the beginning of creation God looked upon the universe he had made and pronounced it to be good. There’s no record about God changing his mind on that, no verse in scripture that indicates God lost interest in the whole of creation. To put it in modern terms: God is green. It really does matter how we treat this planet. Drill for oil if you must, but remember: this is God’s earth – not ours. The land we might poison is God’s land. The beasts that die from our pollution, neglect and abuse are God’s beasts.
So as people of the baptismal covenant we commit to seeking God in relationship directly, and making “lifestyle choices” that preserve, protect and bless the earth.
One last note on those lifestyle choices: if we are to take our covenant seriously as a community of disciples, it’s time for Trinity to go green. It will cost us financially; it will cost us in terms of convenience. But given the beliefs we’re betting our lives on, it’s not an option.
In the Holy Three in One,
Jack+
The Rev’d Jack Stapleton
Rector
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