Blog Archives
The Apostolic Mission that is the Church… and overcoming fear…
Devotional/Discussion Thought of the Day”
17 When they saw him, they worshiped him, even though some of them doubted. 18 Jesus drew near and said to them, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples: baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, 20 and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And I will be with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:17-20 (TEV)
In grasping the outstretched hand of Christ, the Church of the twenty-first century, and of all time, finds the remedy for its fear. It also finds the criteria of authentic Catholic reform: the criterion of truth— for it is the truth of Christ that measures all in the boat that is the Church— and the criterion of mission— for it is by Christ overcoming our fear that the Church finds the courage to be the mission it is. (1)
Even after forty days of coping with the disturbing fact that Jesus died, and the more shocking fact that He had risen, the apostles struggle. They know enough and desire to worship – but doubt and anxiety, even as it appears Jesus will be leaving them, begins to grow….they begin to waver… to be unsure of what’s next..
He commissions us, the entire church, to share this message. But then there is the beautiful thing – He promises again, that we will not be alone, never alone, in this work which is our life. Yeah, I said our lives, lived out in fellowship with God. You see, mission is now about what we do as believers. It’s not what we do to prove our salvation, or to become holy and sanctified. It isn’t about working in the Kingdom, as if it is some other part of our lives. some chore we do as God’s children. It cannot be – that kind of effort, programmed, built into us, can be used by God for sure….yes we grow in the skills, in the use of words, in understanding the people we serve and love, yet – you can’t plan to grow in love for someone, can you?
The answer to the wavering is in realizing the presence of God. The “disciplines” we “endure”, the Worship Services, the Bible Studies, the prayers, private confession and absolution, even things like fasting or almsgiving, is not about strengthening us like lifting spiritual weights, but they strengthen us – because we come into contact with Christ’s strong hand, we realize the presence of God, right here, right now in our lives. The joy of that encounter is what causes us to be missional – to realize where we have been sent as God’s apostles. It is His overcoming our fear, our doubts, our wavering, and the complete surprise that He is with us that those things we do have as their objective. To create a dependence on God’s presence, that is what we do as believers instill in us.
Wavering about what happens next in life? Where God would send you? Who around you needs to know about Jesus’ love? Look first to Jesus. Find your hand already grasped by Him. Relax and know His love… know He will not abandon you… and see who needs that same peace.
Go in His name, with Him.
Weigel, George (2013-02-05). Evangelical Catholicism (p. 92). Basic Books. Kindle Edition.
The Beauty of the Liturgy – Evangelical Catholic VIII
Church HDR (Photo credit: I_am_Allan)
Devotional/Discussion thought of the Day”
1 Six days before Passover, Jesus entered Bethany where Lazarus, so recently raised from the dead, was living. 2 Lazarus and his sisters invited Jesus to dinner at their home. Martha served. Lazarus was one of those sitting at the table with them. 3 Mary came in with a jar of very expensive aromatic oils, anointed and massaged Jesus’ feet, and then wiped them with her hair. The fragrance of the oils filled the house. 4 Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, even then getting ready to betray him, said, 5 “Why wasn’t this oil sold and the money given to the poor? It would have easily brought three hundred silver pieces.” 6 He said this not because he cared two cents about the poor but because he was a thief. He was in charge of their common funds, but also embezzled them. 7 Jesus said, “Let her alone. She’s anticipating and honoring the day of my burial. 8 You always have the poor with you. You don’t always have me.” John 12:1-8 (MSG)
“Evangelical Catholicism embraces this rediscovery of beauty as a primary category for understanding God and his ways and applies it to the Church’s liturgy. Its approach to church architecture, church decoration, liturgical music, liturgical vesture, and all the other tangibles of the Church’s liturgical life proceeds from the question, “Is this beautiful in such a way that it helps disclose the living God in Word and Sacrament?” In that respect, Evangelical Catholicism’s approach to liturgy is not somewhere “between” the approaches favored by liturgical traditionalists and liturgical progressives, but ahead of the curve of the now-tiresome Liturgy Wars.” (1)
As I continue my journey through the book Evangelcial Catholic – I came to the above quote regarding the Liturgy. Comes at an auspicious time, as I am about to start a Adult Bible Study on the Liturgy.
( I am started reading the book for two reasons – the first being a friend recommended it to help me understand where the Catholic Church is heading and secondly, because the Lutheran Churches were once know as the Evangelical Catholic Church )
As I think about the movement of the Liturgy (my study is called “The Dance of the Liturgy”) this concept of beauty is important – if not critical. It does what I’ve long contended – that in the battles of the owrship wars, the focus in not in the right place – and both extremes make the same error in what they point out is the problem. Let me illustrate. Let’s take church A – the are traditional (hymns, pipe organs, chausables, the pastor rapidly goes through the motions in a near monotone) but the organ is played too loud, the people can’t sing and they do not know what is behind the symbolism of the liturgy, the music, the sanctuary. Church B is contetemporary/progressive – (band which is made up of low level skilled musicians that don’t quite sync together, casually dressed pastor/priest) but again the music is too loud – there is no flow or theme to the service. Church C is like Church A – except people KNOW why they are doing what they are doing and why, the organ is used to facilitate worship, and the pastor reads, preaches and prays in a way that is more akin to a dialgoe and story), and Church D – the praise band – moved to the side – practiced and whether simple or complex play as one and focus is such that facilitates the singing of the people, the service is designed to instill the truth that God comes to them, brings them to life and guides their life in response.
Churches A & B are always held up as the examples of why the other form of worship isn’t “good and right and beneficial”. They distract people from why they are there, they give rise to complaints and dissatisfaction. They become the basis of the worship wars – the argument that is equivelant to saying the sanctuary is 1/4 full or 3/4 empty. And they completely take the discussion away from the purpose of the sanctuary – why it was dedicated. To be a place where
In C & D, I contend – there would be little discussion or nature of worship wars. The churches are focused on creating an atmosphere that is such that God is easily revealed through word and sacrament. It’s a complete package – the skills of all of those who facilitate worship. Where the musician and the pastor are not the focus – but everything blends in together in such a way that it is seamless – that God is the focus, His presence revealed, His love and mercy known and received.
Where the worship, the sermon, and the ‘execution” of them, the actual decor and atmosphere – whether simple or ornate, whether 20 people or 5000 – is “beautiful” because what it is supposed to be, the people of God gathered into His presence, receiving His gifts through (not of) word and sacrament, is what it is.
May all our churches become more and more beautiful, as we abound in His love.
(1) Weigel, George (2013-02-05). Evangelical Catholicism (pp. 71-72). Basic Books. Kindle Edition.
Related articles
- Need Hope? No Answers? Come Experience Jesus, Have Hope! (evangelical catholic VI) (justifiedandsinner.com)
Will Jesus find us trusting Him? (Evangelical Catholic Evaluation V)
Devotional thought of the day:
So what makes you think God won’t step in and work justice for his chosen people, who continue to cry out for help? Won’t he stick up for them? 8 I assure you, he will. He will not drag his feet. But how much of that kind of persistent faith will the Son of Man find on the earth when he returns?” Luke 18:7-8 (MSG)
We are three days into celebrating the fact that the tomb is empty, that the Lord Jesus Christ is Risen, and that because of that – we can know the Lord is with you!
We love Easter, the celebration, the enthusiasm, the overwhelming joy of coming face to face with God’s love, shown on the cross – where we find ourselves drawn into Christ’s death, and the miraculously, our spirits, freed from sin, soar incredibly without the weight of injustice, and sin and guilt and shame. But soon we crash down into this false reality of life, for reality is that peace, we forget the life we have in Christ. ( thank God we are reminded by Paul “ 2 Keep your minds fixed on things there, not on things here on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 Your real life is Christ and when he appears, then you too will appear with him and share his glory!” Colossians 3:2-4 (TEV) For we are assured that is our reality.
Back to today’s question! In the passage at the very top, we are asked will Jesus find faith on the earth when He returns. If He returned on Easter, as our churches are full, as people are singing and hearing and responding about His being risen from the dead, that day, the answer seems obvious. Yet what about 3 days from now – just a week after Good Friday? What about in August, when the heat is getting to us, and our patience is thin. What about after the next major trauma – whether global in scope or personal? We Christ find faith then?
Two Answers,
The first comes from the book Evangelical Catholic that inspired this post – and it deals with faith from the perspective of doctrine, the Biblical teachings that are handed down to us through our churches. The author, George Wiegel. He makes a very solid point about the impediment of our own adaptation of the faith.
Deep Catholic reform in the United States is impeded by bishops, priests, consecrated men and women in religious life, intellectuals, and laity who are in a diminished state of communion with the Church— existentially if not canonically— because they deny to be true what the Catholic Church “believes, teaches, and proclaims to be revealed by God,” as the profession of faith for those being received into full communion with the Church puts it. How many Catholics in the United States— again, bishops, priests, consecrated men and women in religious life, intellectuals, and laity— can say, without mental reservation, “I believe and profess all that the holy Catholic Church believes, teaches, and proclaims to be revealed by God”? To the degree that the answer to that question is negative, or ambiguous, then to precisely that degree is the deep reform of the Church envisioned by Vatican II being imperiled. (1)
Though I would need to adapt this a little, the idea that people who deny what is believed (faith placed in) and taught and proclaim that is revealed by God, is the key here. We don’t get to redefine what the “faith” is. It simply is what God has revealed it to be. And the more we deviate with that, the more we slowly at first depart from the faith. The more mental reservations we have, the more we say I believe what God has revealed in scripture, except XXX, the more we make ourselves the judge and jury over God, and the less we walk the life of faith, and to be honest, the more doubts we entertain.
I am not saying we shouldn’t challenge what we believe – exactly opposite. But what we test what we believe against is not what is logical, when can always be easily perceived. What is the standard is scripture. What is standard is how God reveals His love, His mercy, His presence to us, even as He fulfills His promise of bringing healing and life to our sin-bruised, battered and broken lives. The more we deviate from the God who is self-revealed in scripture, the more we struggle with placing our logic above God’s, the less we see His work in our lives.
Which brings us to the second point about faith,
Faith isn’t just a noun, it isn’t just getting to know what the scriptures reveal. It is getting to know, to intimately know, the God who reveals Himself through those writings. That is why I titled the above – will Jesus find us trusting Him. Faith is after all – the description of what we trust in God for, the expectation that He will be who He reveals Himself to be – for us, to us, with us. That is also the context of the first reading – where the judge grants the widow’s request because she places her life in his hands. (and even though an evil judge with be faithful and just, how much more will God be?) So the context of the quote about finding faith is nothing less than will Jesus find us trusting in Him, living based in trusting Him to fulfill His promises, and giving to Him everything that burdens us, that causes anxiety, the things we don’t have an answer for yet?
Will we trust Jesus? Will we realize what that cross and empty grave mean, and will we live life with Him, trusting completely in His promises?
That is what causes renewal in us, renewal in our parishes, renewal in our denominations and in the church universal (i.e. small c catholic)
BTW – He is the only one completely trustworthy.
Godspeed!
Weigel, George (2013-02-05). Evangelical Catholicism (p. 52). Basic Books. Kindle Edition.
Words of Life
Discussion thought for the day:
At lunch yesterday, I was reading a biography of a priest. He was serving in Spain during the Civil War that tore apart the country prior to World War II, and as he and many others were escaping across the mountains, the biographer included this…
“The student from Catalonia kept a journal of his experiences on the trip. On November 28 he wrote, “Here the most moving event of the whole trip takes place: Holy Mass. On a rock and kneeling down, almost prostrate on the ground, a priest with us is saying Mass. He doesn’t say it like other priests in churches…. His clear and heartfelt words penetrate the soul. Never have I attended Mass like today’s. “*
As a Lutheran pastor, such an impact is what I would desire – that no matter the location, a incredible cathedral, a simple chapel, a campground or on a retreat (this has happened on a few retreats I have been on – where everyone just knew… it was time to drop everything else… and rearrange the day around communion). It is not the location, by no means, but the miracle of God, dwelling in the midst of His people….
Such words as the student’s…most pastors and priests I know… would love to hear… because it means God is working through us…
To know that God could use, would use our words, much as this priest’s, much as St. Peter’s at Pentecost. To bring life and hope, to re-create the scene in Ezekiel 37, where life was generated, breathed into being… That the people would realize, not the presence of the pastor/priest, but the presence of God reaching them through the words, through the sacrament…
It brings to mind the words of Peter, as Jesus was abandoned by so many… and Jesus asks if they would desert him as well…
6:68 ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the message of eternal life, 69 and we believe; we have come to know that you are the Holy One of God.’
John 6:68-69 (NJB)
May our words, the words of Pastors and Priests in mass/service, and the words of our people so be heard… for they are not ours – but His – words of eternal life, words that are clear, and heartfelt, but that penetrate souls…
* de Prada, Andres Vazquez (2011-04-19). The Founder of Opus Dei: Volume II, God and Daring (The Life of Josemaria Escriva) (Kindle Locations 3453-3456). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Dedicated…Because they know He was!
The Dedicated Themselves,
Will We?
2 Corinthians 8:1–9, 13–15
† In Jesus Name †
May God grant you the grace, the overwhelming grace that so transforms your life, that you will be like the Macedonian Christians, whose confidence in God caused them to minister others beyond their means…
Stories upon Stories…
Reading Paul’s words this week to the church in Corinth, names and stories of those like the Macedonians came to my mind.
Our good friends Michael and Jill Hook, who this day celebrate their 23rd anniversary as well, who spent years in the inner cities of Ecuador, at huge personal cost, in order to ensure people had the gospel. I can’t even remember all the health issues, including several miscarriages, car-jackings and robberies, their goal – to help people know the blessed peace that comes as God is revealed, and our confidence in His love grows deep and strong.
I think of deacons like Mark, and Vicars like my friend Teo – who serve churches that no one else takes the time for, and whose joy can never be found in a paycheck – for their sacrifices often financially exceed their paychecks, never mind their talents and time that they give so liberally.
I have some friends who are spending time bringing hope to families in Santa Ana – their church works with the rescue missions and brings nutritious meals – ready to eat – with food trucks – to those barely able to feed the rent. Others who give of their money and time to help the children of our preschool, and the people of this church in ways that would astound you, if you only knew the details…
Paul’s words describe them well,
“Somehow, in most difficult circumstances, their joy and the fact of being down to their last penny themselves, produced a magnificent concern for other people. I can guarantee that they were willing to give to the limit of their means, yes and beyond their means, without the slightest urging from me or anyone else. In fact they simply begged us to accept their gifts and so let them share the honours of supporting their brothers in Christ.
Paul desired that all who followed Christ would find themselves so completely dedicated to the Lord, and thereby find themselves sharing, being part of the koinonia, the community of Christ Jesus… for it testifies not just of their graciousness – but such dedication speaks of their confidence in God’s presence and love..
And therefore I share that desire for all you…
Why do people give?
There are a number of reasons why people give, whether it is putting money in a collection plate, or responding to a call for mercy, responding to a disaster, or to family or friends in need.
Some of us respond really well, even though we are motivated highly by guilt. There are those who won’t hesitate to get us to spend our time, our money, our treasure by loading on the guilt. It is not as much about what we are giving to – some who use guilt quite efficiently, or respond because of guilt – the actual recipients really need it.
Others give to impress, whether it is to impress their friends, or society, or maybe, because of some deep dark secret – they give to impress God. Think of the glitzy glamorous fundraisers, and again, it’s a question of the heart – not the recipient. Though some donate to honor others, some buy plaques on buildings and rooms to testify of their own goodness. Universities, Hospitals, even churches often depend on people’s vanity to gain needed funds. Again, the money us used well, yet why did they give?
Some don’t give – because of cynicism, or doubt, or simply because they can’t see a need outside of their own.
Then there are others, like the Macedonians , those that give and give, till their relatives think they are nuts. They give because they wanted to share in meeting the needs of others. These are people Paul describes as being completely dedicated to God, and they then find themselves dedicated to helping those who God would have them serve – no matter the cost, for they know something important…
There is a difference here, one that is the key…
These give… because they realize Chirst’s generosity and reflect it
I have often found, that those who give of time, talents and treasures to those in need – to support God’s work, are the ones who realize the least how much they are giving of their time and talents. You talk to them, and their answer is huh? I didn’t do nuthin pastor…
You see, dear friends, there is something else on their mind – the love and work of God. They don’t look to what they are giving up, they are realizing what Christ has given up – to be with them. That is what is so precious, that is why Paul was so joyous about the Macedonians.
To realize their trust in God was that deep – that so much of the focus of their life, that they subconsciously begin to imitate Him, as they imitate His sacrifice, as his magnificent concern for others! They know so well that He gave up the riches of heaven, to come and live with us… that the poverty He would take on, would mean… the incredible beyond belief of sharing life with Him. They look at the pain of a crucifix, and know joy, for they realize how great the Father’s love for us is.
Now, and presently, as we saw last week, in the midst of our own poverty or riches, in the midst of our own joy, what matters is that we know He is with us, that we trust in His promise that all works for good, that there is nothing we can risk, that He cannot provide a rescue.
That is why Paul wants them to pick up what they started… to finish the project, because it would require them to look beyond themselves, and place themselves in the hands of God, to know He will provide.
Been there, dealing with that myself, as I keep getting asked to consider a short term mission trip here or there for a week or two. For the third time – from three different groups in three different parts of the world now, My instinct is to say – it can’t be me… the challenges are too great, the costs too high. Then I look at the prayer list and see Pastor Bernie’s name, or Te’s, or Chris knowing the sacrifices he makes for his students, and for us, or Mark at Bellflower, and excuses fade away for me, as they must have for the church in Corinth, as they heard about the Macedonian’s magnificent concern, and desire to share in helping others… helping them live, helping them know Jesus.
There is no sacrifice we can make, that doesn’t lead us to depend on Christ, and that is a blessed thing.
It’s the relationship, knowing God our Father, knowing that He is all. For us,
It comes back to the relationship do we realize what we have been given ( go to the baptismal )– what we are given (pull the veil off the covered elements) Do we grasp the breadth and the depth and the height and width of God’s grace, His love, His peace?
I’ve said it a number of times – it’s not about the gift, or even the recipient, its that we trust God so much, when our confidence in His work is so well supported by His word, that sacrifice isn’t the issue… it’s looking forward to sharing the work with Him, with each other.
It’s about knowing the peace of God, which surrounds us, which protects us in Christ, which the world… so needs,,, and we realize how great God’s concern is that they are invited into it.. and we do that which only those who know how great God’s love is can do….
Share it.
AMEN?
