Agape Sunday – Oct. 21, 2012
Readings here
Listen to the Sermon here
Link to information about the book-banning here
Waiting for the Thursday Boat – Sermon
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For All the Children – Claiming the Promise
Today our opening hymn at worship will be
For All the Children (Music & Text by David Lohman)
Here it is sung in Minneapolis by a group who gathered from many churches to claim the promise of God’s love for LGBT people in the struggle for equal rights under the law.
At Holy Cross we will sing this as a celebration of our commitment to radical inclusivity.
Religionless Christianity – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
When I was just a teenager, I was introduced to the writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer by a wise Lutheran Pastor. I remember devouring Bonhoeffer’s “Life Together” and “Letters and Papers from Prison”. To this day, I credit Bonhoeffer for making me a Lutheran. While a great deal of water has flowed under a good many bridges since I was first enamoured of Lutheran theology, to this day I am grateful to that wise old Lutheran pastor who gave me my first taste of Bonhoeffer. Of late, there has been much ado about a little phrase that has been extracted from Bonhoeffer’s work: “religionless Christianity”.
(click here for full quotations from Letter and Papers from Prison)
“It is not for us to prophecy the day when men will once more ask God that the world be changed and renewed. But when that day arrives there will be a new language, perhaps quite non-religious. But liberating and redeeming as was Jesus language. It’ll shock people. It’ll shock them by its power. It’ll be the language of a new truth proclaiming God’s peace with men.” Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace
Tragically, Bonhoeffer was executed before he had the opportunity to expand on his idea of Christianity beyond religion. The phrase “religionless Christianity” has intrigued agnostics, atheists, humanists, liberal christians and progressive christians. Eric Metaxas, author of “Bonhoeffer” dismisses the idea that Bonhoeffer was anything but a serious, orthodox Lutheran pastor right up to the end.
Despite the historical evidence of Bonhoeffer’s religious orthodoxy, the notion of religionless Christianity will not die. Bishop John Shelby Spong is among those who have tried to build on Bonhoeffer’s phrase and his book “Jesus for the Non Religious” has certainly moved the conversation along among progressive christians.
The dream of religionless christianity has moved well beyond Bonhoeffer as twenty-first century christians wrestle with archaic images of God and move beyond the religious trappings of traditional christianity. The notion of moving beyond religion has always intrigued me. Years ago, while studying Hinduism my professor offered a definition of God from one of the Vedas: “God is beyond the beyond, and beyond that also”. As I continue to explore the life and teachings of the man none as Jesus of Nazareth it becomes more and more evident that such a definition is compatible with his portrait of God. Jesus of Nazareth attempted to move his co-religionists beyond their religious images of God. What might our images of God become if we move beyond the idols offered to us by the religion of Christianity? Might we move toward images of God that more closely resemble the teachings of Jesus by moving toward a religionless christianity?
Sometimes we can better reflect upon our own tradition from the perspective of another tradition. In the video below, twentieth century philosopher and theologian Alan Watts explores the concept of the Religion of No Religion.
“Beyond the Beyond and Beyond that also.” Letting go of our images is the gift of faith that moves us beyond religion. I can hear Jesus call us to let go!
Waking Up to the Wealth of Wisdom Beyond our Idols
All too often we allow our images of God to become idols that we worship. Sometimes these idols prevent us from challenging our images of reality. Stepping outside our comfort-zones to explore images of reality that are envisioned by those who do not worship our idols sometimes allows us to see beyond the idols that have limited our vision. I remember reading Alan Watts when I was in my twenties. I’d forgotten how his visions of reality helped me to see farther than I’d ever dared. Recently, a friend shared the video below and all at once I remembered Matthew Fox’s quoting Thomas Aquinas who insisted that each of us is “capable of the universe”. Waking up the wealth of wisdom that exists beyond the idols we worship is just the beginning of a new day. We ought not to be afraid to open our eyes. “As capable as God are we.”
For more information about the life and work of Alan Watts click on the graphic below:
Griefwalker – a powerful documentary
Whoever you are, at whatever stage of life you find yourself, Griefwaker is a powerful documentary that speaks to what matters in life. Appreciating endings so that we can appreciate now is not a skill that is often taught. It is a skill that enhances life. Enjoy this beautiful NFB documentary. Just click on the title below to link to the video:
Today We Celebrate the Life and Witness of St. Teresa of Avila
An excerpt from “Love Poems From God” by Daniel Ladinsky,
(Penguin Compass, London: 2002)
(1515-1582) “Teresa was born in Avila, a beautiful high mountain village of Spain. She was one of thirteen children, three girls and ten boys, in a wealthy family. The Spain in which Teresa grew up was permeated with 700 years of Arabian culture; the eradication of Arab power was followed by one of Spain’s darkest periods, the insanity of the Inquisitions, which, in the fourteenth century, along with other grievous deeds, forced mass conversions of Jews to Christianity.”
“Teresa was her father’s favourite child, and the most spirited. Her mother died during childbirth when Teresa was thirteen, after which she had little supervision. It is believed she had a lover at the age of fifteen, which caused her father to send her to a convent boarding school, only to see her return home two years later because of poor health. When she was twenty-one, Teresa ran away from home to join a convent. At that time many convents were more like hotels for women, allowing them a great deal more independence than they would be allowed at home, though after two years at the convent Teresa had a near-death experience that changed her life. A spiritual awakening began in which she cultivated a system of meditation that sought quieting the mind to such an extent that God could then be heard speaking. Over the next twenty years she experienced many mystical states but not until she was fifty did she begin the most far-reaching aspects of her life’s work.”
St. Teresa of Avila “had a great desire for learning and when the Inquisition, in 1559, forbade women to read, Teresa turned to God and asked God to teach her soul about divine love. She then began to write completely out of her own experience. Many of her poems are, in fact, intimate accounts of her communion with God.
The Church’s persecution of Teresa had not waned when she passed away and was buried in Alba de Tormes in 1582. A year after her death some of her disciples, feeling that she might have wished to be buried in Avila, had her body exhumed. When her body was found to be perfectly intact and emitting a wonderful fragrance, her sainthood was formally decreed, allowing the publication and preservation of some of her works.
Most of what we see today of Teresa’s work is probably reined way back, for her writings fell into the hands and under the control of the very forces that had so opposed her throughout her life.”
“Teresa of Avila is undoubtedly the most influential saint in the Western world, and she has made great contributions to spiritual literature and poetry. She was a woman of tremendous courage who is rightfully credited with the remarkable political and religious reform achieved against the strongest—and most insidious—chauvinistic forces.”
“A realistic picture of Teresa’s life did not even reach the English-reading general public until the 1960s. She was known to have had a remarkable quick wit and a stunning, even provocative, sense of humour, as well as a great physical beauty. Her complete works include seven books, four hundred and fifty letters, and assorted poetry. Her writings are considered masterpieces of mystical prose and verse. She personally founded seventeen Carmelite convents and two monasteries, despite enormous opposition from the Church and other men in power.”
Transformed Living – Sermon
A Church for the Future – Matthew Fox
“We are here to grow a soul. Not just to sit on one and cash it in at the end of our life.” Matthew Fox explores the undiscovered territories that lie within us. Developing a sense of the sacred that lives in all of us is vital as we engage in the expansion of our consciousness. But has the church, like humanity itself, forgotten the sense of the sacred? Matthew Fox explores a vision of the church that is the place, the space, the happening, where mystics and prophets are birthed, nurtured, championed, supported, and challenged. Fox encourages the church to embrace her prophetic calling to interfere with education, economics, and the environment.
Gratitude Alleluias becoming Reckless Generosity – Sermon
An Uncommon Search for the Common Good – Joan Chittister
Teilhard de Chardin
Speaking at the University of Noter Dame’s Centre for Social Concerns, on the 50 Anniversary of Pope John XXIII’s encyclical Pacem in Terris issued in 1963 as a call to “Universal Peace in Truth, Justice and Liberty” Sister Joan describes the “Common Good” as the Holy Grail of politics. She divines the common good as “a vision of public virtue which engages the individual citizen, energizes the government, shapes the public system, and points the public direction in all its policies, all its institutions, and all its legislative intents.”
Fear of diversity has relegated the notion of the common good to the status of an endangered species. Str. Joan points to Pacem in Terris’ insistence that nationality is trumped by one’s global citizenship and responsibilities and warns that pathological individualism threatens our ability to articulate a vision of the common good. She reminds us of the core of our Abrahamic traditions to discover what we hold in common as a seedbed for the reemergence of our desire for the common good in what Chittister describes as a Constitution of the Good Community”.
Sister Joan’s lecture begins at about the 12 minute mark.
The Big Bang, Darwin and God – Sermon
Peering into the Heavens – Sermon
Early Followers of Jesus Believed He Had a Wife
Today, Harvard Divinity scholar Karen L. King went public with new evidence that indicates that the early followers of Jesus believed that he had a wife. King insists that the idea that Jesus did not have a wife does not arise until about 150 years after Jesus’ crucifixion.
King points to a newly rediscovered papyrus fragment from the second century coptic manuscript in which Jesus refers to “my wife.” That pundits commenting on today’s news should call the notion that Jesus had a wife “shocking” is in and of itself shocking to those of us who take the bible seriously. If Jesus was not married, now that would be shocking for a first century, Jewish peasant!
Link to the New York Time article here
You can download a copy of Karen L. Kings paper: “”Jesus said to them, ‘My wife…’ New Coptic Gospel Papyrus” here
Scholars will continue to be sceptical of King’s find. For the Smithsonian’s take on the find and details of an upcoming documentary click here.
Hildegard von Bingen – Woman of Vision
Herald of the Divine Feminine, reformer of the church and green prophet! Today is the feast day of the Christian mystic Hildegard von Bingen, a woman of great vision, a woman centuries ahead of her time. During her 81 years Hildegard’s talents as an artist, musician, poet, healer and theologian ought not to be ignored. And yet the Roman Catholic Church only got around to officially canonizing this giant of the church this past May. Rumour has it the Mr. Ratzinger plans to elevate St. Hildegard to the status of Doctor of the Church next month.
In 2009, German filmmaker Margarethe von Trotta wrote and directed the movie “Vision”. The DVD version is available from Amazon and I highly recommend it!!!
Matthew Fox’s new book “Hildegard of Bingen a Saint for Our Times, Unleashing Her Power in the 21st Century” will be released next month and I am eagerly awaiting my copy. You can listen to an interview of Matthew Fox on the subject of his new book here. Fox describes Hildegard as a Trojan horse whose teachings he hopes will shake up the vatican.
At Holy Cross we have developed an Evening Prayer Service inspired by the work of Hildegard. The worship bulletin and an audio recording of the service are linked below. Enjoy the video of contralto Karen Clark who preforms Hildegard’s antiphon “O Virtus Sapientie”
Evening Prayer Service Bulletin which is to be printed double-sided
Evening Prayer Audio – the silences are intentional. Enjoy!
Who Do You Say that I AM? – Sermon
What If? – Remembering September 11, 2001
As our thoughts and prayers turn to that horrendous day, I can’t help wondering about all that has transpired since and wondering “What if…..?” In the days following the terrorist attacks the following email message was circulated the world over, I’ve kept it all these years.
“Bomb them with butter . . . .”
A military response, particularly an attack on Afghanistan, is exactly what the terrorists want. It will strengthen and swell their small but fanatical ranks.
Instead, bomb Afghanistan with butter, with rice, bread, clothing and medicine. It will cost less than conventional arms, poses no threat of US casualties and just might get the populace thinking that maybe the Taliban don’t have the answers. After three years of drought and with starvation looming, let’s offer the Afghani people the vision of a new future. One that includes full stomachs.
Bomb them with information. Video players and cassettes of world leaders, particularly Islamic leaders, condemning terrorism. Carpet the country with magazines and newspapers showing the horror of terrorism committed by their “guest”. Blitz them with laptop computers and DVD players filled with a perspective that is denied them by their government. Saturation bombing with hope will mean that some of it gets through. Send so much that the Taliban can’t collect and hide it all. The Taliban are telling their people to prepare for Jihad. Instead, let’s give the Afghani people their first good meal in years. Seeing your family fully fed and the prospect of stability in terms of food and a future is a powerful deterrent to martyrdom. All we ask in return is that they, as a people, agree to enter the civilized world. That includes handing over terrorists in their midst.
In responding to terrorism we need to do something different. Something unexpected. Something that addresses the root of the problem. We need to take away the well of despair, ignorance and brutality from which the Osama bin Laden’s of the world water their gardens of terror.”
This morning as the September sun shines as brightly as it did eleven years ago, I can’t help wondering what might have happened if we had paid attention to our better angels. In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.:
“The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it… Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate…. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
We will never know what might have been. But I wonder if we are ready to learn to forgive. On this bright September morning can we turn our hearts, prayers and minds to the challenge of peace? Can we begin to forgive? Do we have the courage to ask for forgiveness?
As one who strives to follow the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, I am struck by how quickly my own hunger for justice can so quickly devolve into an acceptance of measures that only appease my own desire for security. The challenge for me is to follow Jesus beyond what seems prudent to a place beyond fear. Do I have the courage to forgive? Do I have the courage to ask for forgiveness? I wonder???
We are Stardust, Billion Year Old Carbon – Sermon
We Are Stardust!!! Billion Year Old Carbon!!!
Creation II – Celebrating Humanity
Great to be back in the pulpit following a splendid four month sabbatical!!!
Thank-you to everyone who contributed to the fabulous welcome home!!!
Here’s a little video you’ll want to hum along to after listening to the sermon!
New Beginnings
So many new beginnings: Back to work this week; a new beginning. Team Ministry; a new beginning. As students and teachers head back to school, churches begin a new program year. At Holy Cross we are are using the Alternate Lectionary (scripture readings) for Creation and this Sunday’s readings call for a celebration of Humanity. The first reading is the Hebrew creation myth found in the first chapter of Genesis; the all too familiar story. Churches have been telling this particular story of our beginning for centuries. Standing here at the beginning of a new century makes me wonder why we don’t tell a new story of our beginning.
When I begin to study the Genesis story with Confirmation Students, I ask them to imagine our ancestors sitting around a campfire asking one another, “What’s it all about? Why are we here? Where did we come from? Who are we?” Looking back at how we once approached these questions of meaning is a perfectly fine exercise. But we can’t stop there. It’s time for us to change the scene so that it better reflects who we are here and now. Gone is the campfire. Gone is the three-tired universe. Gone is the belief that Genesis is history.
The time has come for us to imagine a different gathering at which the same questions emerge. Only this time those who have gathered can reach into their pockets and take out their mobile devices to access the wisdom of the ages. This time a new myth emerges to capture our imaginations, a new myth from within which we can begin to imagine who we are, where we came from, why we are here and where we are going???
So this Sunday our first reading will not come to us from the book of Genesis. This Sunday we will begin our celebration of humanity by telling a new creation myth, one that emerges from the wealth of knowledge that science offers us. I can’t wait to begin!
Reinventing Christianity – Matthew Fox
Back in 1989, before I ever began entertaining the idea of returning to school to prepare for a life in ministry, a fortuitous Christmas gift in the guise of a copy of Matthew Fox’s newly published The Coming of the Cosmic Christ sent me on a journey that continues to shape my understanding of what it means to aspire to follow Christ.
Barely two chapters into Fox’s challenging tome and I knew that if I was ever to begin to understand Fox’s visions of reality, I would need to begin nearer the beginning. In those days, searching for a book involved more than a web search and so I began travelling from book store to book store to scour the shelves for a copy of Original Blessing.
Original Blessing’s Introduction begins with two questions: “1. In our quest for wisdom and survival, does the human race require a new religious paradigm? 2. Does the creation-centered spiritual tradition offer such a paradigm?” Having absolutely no idea what the word “paradigm” means, I knew I was about to be challenged. So, I got my dictionary off the shelf and prepared to wade into unknown waters.
Lead by Fox, I explored the ancient wisdom of Creation Spirituality and began a love affair with the wonders of mysticism and the marvels of science that continue to reveal ecstasies that intrigue and excite my body, mind and spirit!
Matthew Fox’s work continues to nourish my desire to approach they Mystery we call divinity. In the videos below Fox delivers (in 2 parts) the Jarvis Lecture in which he calls for the Reinventing of Christianity. Fox believes that “if we cannot reinvent our religious then we are doomed, the human species is doomed.” Fox insists that Christianity needs to reset its focus; away from a preoccupation with redemption toward a focus upon creation.
Telling the Story of Jesus Today – Marcus Borg
Jesus: Uncovering the Life, Teaching, and Relevance of a Religious Revolutionary If you are looking for an introduction to current scholarship on the man known as Jesus of Nazareth, Marcus Borg’s book is an excellent place to begin.
For those of you (and you know who you are) who tell me you don’t have time to read one more thing: in this video Borg provides a wonderful overview of his book. Borg challenges his listeners and readers to move beyond what they may have learned to believe about Jesus toward a more nuanced understanding of the radical nature of Jesus’ life and teachings. Whether you’re a reader or a viewer, a scholar or a seeker, a believer or a sceptic, I’m sure you will find that Borg’s way of telling the story of Jesus will reveal new ways to integrate Jesus’ story into your life today.
pastordawn 