In these times of busyness and constant movement, what does the idea of “Sabbath” mean?
Biblically, the Sabbath is a reminder to people to:
• honour God; and
• take time to rest and recreate for their roles and responsibilities in family and community.
It is about recognising who we are as creatures of God (i.e. beings created by God)—mortal and subject to the vagaries of physical existence (“Remember we are dust and to dust we shall return.”) as well as gifted with the image and glory of God. It is about acknowledging the rhythms and seasons of the creation of which we are a part; and seeking to live in balance with the created life we have been given.
In our world, many people have jobs which mean that they must work on Saturday and/or Sunday. Does this mean they are “violating the Sabbath”? It is too simplistic to ask this question in terms of the days on which we work or when we worship. Even in the Christian understanding of biblical and liturgical (worship) time, Saturday is the Sabbath. Sunday is the “first” and the “eighth” day—the day of creation and of the new creation (resurrection).
The question is better asked in terms of whether we are taking time to honour God and to become attuned to the gifts and call of God; and whether we are taking time to rest and recreate for our roles and responsibilities in society and community. It makes sense healthwise as well as theologically; but then our health is a part of our createdness. So, what about you—are you taking time to honour God, to rest and recreate?
I’ve been starting to watch the local gardening columns to become more familiar with the rhythms of plant life in this place; and enjoying watching the changes of the leaf colour as we move through Autumn. As a physical season, Autumn is a reminder to prepare for the cold, make sure our garden beds are well-prepared for the winter, check that food is stored for the resource-scarce time. It comes for us in Australia in the liturgical season of Easter when we are celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ and remembering Christ’s resurrection as a foretaste of the final consummation of all things in God. What do we need to do to celebrate who Christ is, what Christ has accomplished and our expectation of the fulfilment of God’s promises in Christ when all things are enfolded into God?
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Marks of the Church
The Christian Reformers of the 15th & 16th centuries (people like Martin Luther and John Calvin) wrestled with the question of what was essential to the life of the church as the people of God, the body of Christ, the community of the Spirit.
Martin Luther (German Reformation) suggested that there were 7 things (marks):
• Preaching of the True Word of God
• Right Administration of Baptism
• Right Form of the Lord’s Supper
• Power of the Keys of the Kingdom (Right to Proclaim God’s Forgiveness)
• Rightful Calling & Ordination of Ministers
• Prayer & Hymn-Singing in the Vernacular (Language of the People)
• Suffering and Persecution
The Swiss Reformers (e.g. John Calvin) focussed on a reduced list which perhaps grouped some of Luther’s together:
• Proper Proclamation of the Gospel
• Right Administration of the Sacraments
• Proper Discipline within the Community
The Basis of Union of The Uniting Church in Australia describes the life of the community of faith as one of “worship, witness and service”. This description echoes a list from the early church which includes: leitourgia, kerygma, diakonia, koinonia (worship, proclamation, service, community). This list, in turn, has its basis in the account of church life found in Acts 2:41-47.
What would you describe as essential to the life of the church; or marking the church as church?
Martin Luther (German Reformation) suggested that there were 7 things (marks):
• Preaching of the True Word of God
• Right Administration of Baptism
• Right Form of the Lord’s Supper
• Power of the Keys of the Kingdom (Right to Proclaim God’s Forgiveness)
• Rightful Calling & Ordination of Ministers
• Prayer & Hymn-Singing in the Vernacular (Language of the People)
• Suffering and Persecution
The Swiss Reformers (e.g. John Calvin) focussed on a reduced list which perhaps grouped some of Luther’s together:
• Proper Proclamation of the Gospel
• Right Administration of the Sacraments
• Proper Discipline within the Community
The Basis of Union of The Uniting Church in Australia describes the life of the community of faith as one of “worship, witness and service”. This description echoes a list from the early church which includes: leitourgia, kerygma, diakonia, koinonia (worship, proclamation, service, community). This list, in turn, has its basis in the account of church life found in Acts 2:41-47.
What would you describe as essential to the life of the church; or marking the church as church?
Defining Church
The “classical” definition of the church is “the one, holy, catholic, apostolic church”. We hear and repeat this definition in the Nicene Creed: an important statement of faith of the whole church. It dates back to the 4th century.
But this definition makes no sense if we are only looking at ourselves as the frail, fragile, broken, damaged, impure people that we are. It only makes sense when we understand ourselves theologically (in “God-talk” terms) as being enfolded into the life of God.
In Baptism, we are enfolded into the life of God, incorporated into the Body of Christ. In Christ, we claim our unity and are responsible for working for the unity of all Christian people (one). In Christ, we claim our holiness and fervently pray that, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we may be conformed to Christ (holy). In Christ, we dare to proclaim the good news to all the world as the universal good news for all people (catholic or universal). Through Christ and in the power of the Spirit, we are sent to worship, witness to and serve the Triune God as the people of God (apostolic or “sent”).
It’s easy to look at the church as a very human institution, and it is; but if that is all it is to us, then perhaps we are not looking through the eyes of faith.
Contemporary theologian, Rebecca Chopp talks about the church as a “community of emancipatory transformation [liberating change]”. Through our transformation in Christ, we are made the community of the church. As the church, we are called/sent to proclaim that transformation to the world. And even as we do that, we are engaged in seeking to live out that transformation through a process of “constant rending and renewal (reformation)” in the life of our community and the lives of each of its members.
But this definition makes no sense if we are only looking at ourselves as the frail, fragile, broken, damaged, impure people that we are. It only makes sense when we understand ourselves theologically (in “God-talk” terms) as being enfolded into the life of God.
In Baptism, we are enfolded into the life of God, incorporated into the Body of Christ. In Christ, we claim our unity and are responsible for working for the unity of all Christian people (one). In Christ, we claim our holiness and fervently pray that, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we may be conformed to Christ (holy). In Christ, we dare to proclaim the good news to all the world as the universal good news for all people (catholic or universal). Through Christ and in the power of the Spirit, we are sent to worship, witness to and serve the Triune God as the people of God (apostolic or “sent”).
It’s easy to look at the church as a very human institution, and it is; but if that is all it is to us, then perhaps we are not looking through the eyes of faith.
Contemporary theologian, Rebecca Chopp talks about the church as a “community of emancipatory transformation [liberating change]”. Through our transformation in Christ, we are made the community of the church. As the church, we are called/sent to proclaim that transformation to the world. And even as we do that, we are engaged in seeking to live out that transformation through a process of “constant rending and renewal (reformation)” in the life of our community and the lives of each of its members.
Describing Church
So, how do you describe the church?
Sociologists will tell you our age, gender and class demographics. They may survey our opinions and analyse our “society”. All of these are valid methods for sociologists and we may find the data useful.
Organisational analysts will talk about our structures, our decision-making processes, and the distribution of power within churches as institutions. All of these are valid methods for organisation analysts
and we may find the data useful.
Business analysts will look at our reason for being in the context of our market, our success at delivering our product and the consequent cash flow. All of these are valid methods for business analysts and we may find the data useful.
But as the church, we must start with defining the church in relation to God, i.e. we must begin with a theological understanding of church; a definition written in “God-talk”.
Significant “God-talk” understandings of the church include:
• People of God;
• Body of Christ;
• Community of the Spirit;
• Herald of the Good News;
• Servant of the Servant Lord;
• Sacrament of Salvation.
In what way do you describe the church? How does that affect the role of the church in your life as a Christian? How does that affect your hopes and dreams for this community of faith—Armidale Uniting Church?
Sociologists will tell you our age, gender and class demographics. They may survey our opinions and analyse our “society”. All of these are valid methods for sociologists and we may find the data useful.
Organisational analysts will talk about our structures, our decision-making processes, and the distribution of power within churches as institutions. All of these are valid methods for organisation analysts
and we may find the data useful.
Business analysts will look at our reason for being in the context of our market, our success at delivering our product and the consequent cash flow. All of these are valid methods for business analysts and we may find the data useful.
But as the church, we must start with defining the church in relation to God, i.e. we must begin with a theological understanding of church; a definition written in “God-talk”.
Significant “God-talk” understandings of the church include:
• People of God;
• Body of Christ;
• Community of the Spirit;
• Herald of the Good News;
• Servant of the Servant Lord;
• Sacrament of Salvation.
In what way do you describe the church? How does that affect the role of the church in your life as a Christian? How does that affect your hopes and dreams for this community of faith—Armidale Uniting Church?
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Easter Hope
Alleluia! Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed! The ancient greeting and exchange begins the most important celebration in the Christian calendar. Today we remember that not only did God become one of us in Jesus Christ—being born, living and dying—but, as we understand it, Christ is also risen from the dead. Christ’s resurrection assures us of God’s final triumph over sin and evil in our world; and of the life of God in which we are enfolded through Christ.
Easter was the time in the early Christian church when “catechumens” (people preparing for the Christian Life) were baptised into the body of Christ, the church. Through our participation in Christ, we are brought into the eternal life of God. This miracle of salvation/liberation is the source of our hope. Today we celebrate, as joyfully as we can, our new life in Christ.
This new life, our hope, is the good news we have to tell the world. So, what does it mean to you? How would you talk about the new life you have in Christ? Or the hope we have because of Christ’s life, death and resurrection? What does salvation/liberation mean for you in your context?
The theme which Revd Alastair Macrae, the President-Elect of The Uniting Church in Australia, has chosen for his term (2009-2012) is “Living Water, Thirsty Land”. Alastair will be installed in July. Living water is one of the images of new life that we find in the scriptures in the story of Jesus meeting the woman at the well (John 4). Alastair writes: “Our mission context is this dry, thirsty land which seems to be becoming more so. The thirst of the land is mirrored in the spiritual dryness of so many who live here” (Mission Prayer Handbook 2009, p. 5).
Of course, in our region, in the last few weeks, we’ve been faced with a lot of water. In this context, the warmth of the sun has perhaps symbolised our hope, even as we have enjoyed the life that the rain has brought to the vegetation. So, again, I invite you to consider the ways in which you can talk about the hope we have in Christ.
Easter was the time in the early Christian church when “catechumens” (people preparing for the Christian Life) were baptised into the body of Christ, the church. Through our participation in Christ, we are brought into the eternal life of God. This miracle of salvation/liberation is the source of our hope. Today we celebrate, as joyfully as we can, our new life in Christ.
This new life, our hope, is the good news we have to tell the world. So, what does it mean to you? How would you talk about the new life you have in Christ? Or the hope we have because of Christ’s life, death and resurrection? What does salvation/liberation mean for you in your context?
The theme which Revd Alastair Macrae, the President-Elect of The Uniting Church in Australia, has chosen for his term (2009-2012) is “Living Water, Thirsty Land”. Alastair will be installed in July. Living water is one of the images of new life that we find in the scriptures in the story of Jesus meeting the woman at the well (John 4). Alastair writes: “Our mission context is this dry, thirsty land which seems to be becoming more so. The thirst of the land is mirrored in the spiritual dryness of so many who live here” (Mission Prayer Handbook 2009, p. 5).
Of course, in our region, in the last few weeks, we’ve been faced with a lot of water. In this context, the warmth of the sun has perhaps symbolised our hope, even as we have enjoyed the life that the rain has brought to the vegetation. So, again, I invite you to consider the ways in which you can talk about the hope we have in Christ.
Who will roll the stone away?
Who will roll the stone away for us? Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James and Salome approach the tomb of Jesus to perform the burial rites that they were unable to perform over the Sabbath. They were there at his crucifixion, they saw it all (the horror and the pain) and they want to ensure that his ending is observed appropriately. So they come, carrying spices, that they might anoint the body for burial: a lost of act of care and devotion to a beloved leader.
But there is a problem! The tomb has been sealed. An obstacle is in their way. So as they come, they ask themselves: “Who will roll the stone away for us? How shall we overcome this obstacle?”
In the readings set down for the Easter Vigil, the service held anytime between sunset on Holy Saturday and sunrise on Easter Day, we hear a rehearsal of key moments in the Judaeo-Christian story of salvation history: the creative saving/liberating presence of God with the people of God over the whole history of creation. The rehearsal is long. We hear about creation, of the great flood and Noah. We hear of Abraham, Sarah and Isaac; of Miriam and Moses. We hear the prophesies of Isaiah, Ezekiel and Zephaniah; and the wisdom of Proverbs. Not all the episodes of the saga of the Hebrew people are mentioned, so many more could be recalled: Esther and Daniel, Deborah and Jonah, and so on…
Yet even so, each of the episodes rehearsed in the Easter Vigil is significant. They represent snippets of the story of the way in which human beings confronted with the powerful, awe-ful, wonderful predicament of being human have often asked the question “Yet how shall we overcome this obstacle, this experience of being human, these experiences of being created, tested, displaced, exiled, searching, questioning, dying, drying out, burning out, losing hope? Who will roll the stone away for us?”
In each episode of the story the people are assured that, though it is not in their power to overcome such obstacles, God is with them, God is guiding them, God is even challenging them in the midst of those experiences. And despite their tendency to question, to feel isolated and disappointed, angry and frustrated, alienated, displaced and exiled, despite their inability to understand the ways of God, to want to be like God, to always look for more than they have, to go against the ways of God, God has been there, and just when they thought that they could go on no longer God’s creative saving/liberating presence shows them and takes them on the next step of their journey: into the wonderful world of creation; out of the place of slavery that is Egypt; away from testing and out of exile; out of ignorance and into understanding; out of despair and into hope. And you’d think from all that the people would have learnt wouldn’t you? You’d think from all that, we, human beings, creatures of God, would have learnt, wouldn’t you?
You’d think that just one of those episodes would have been just enough for God’s creatures, us, to stop the questioning and the searching and the agonising and the complaining and the despair and running away and the trying to be like God and going against the ways of God… but none of them did. The people of God persisted in asking the question, “How shall we overcome this obstacle: the obstacle of being human and all that it brings with it? Who will roll the stone away for us?”
Who will roll the stone away for us? The irony is that according to the end of the Gospel of Mark, the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus might have been just another one of those episodes in salvation history where the people of God were reminded once more that it is God who journeys with us, that it is God who understands and God who liberates and saves, God who rolls the stone away. For this resurrection story in Mark ends not with great celebration, not with a bang but a whimper. We are told that the women were afraid. They fled the tomb and their strange experience at that place in terror and amazement, and, according to the text, said nothing to anyone. It could have been just another episode in the grand narrative of people asking questions of God, seeking answers, receiving God’s assurance and forgetting it all again before the next trial befalls them.
But, we know that the story does not end there. We actually know that the women must have told someone. We know that it does not end there, or we would not be here. We would not be gathering to hear this story of the culmination of salvation and the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. The story did not end in fear or we would not be celebrating that we no longer have to ask the question “How shall we overcome this obstacle?”
In the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, God demonstrates that being human is not an obstacle to relationship with God; that none of the vagaries or foibles or pitfalls of being human can separate us from the love of God. God enables the relationship to continue beyond our wanderings and our yearnings, our questioning and our defiance, our ill-advised ventures and our sin. And God achieves all this by becoming one of us in Christ, experiencing the heights and the depths of human experience all the way to an ignominious death on the cross, and beyond that death to a resurrection that proclaims the overcoming of all that we might have expected to separate us from the love of God. How shall we overcome this obstacle? There is no obstacle to be overcome. Dare we believe it? It’s easy to maintain the patterns that we know and fail to hear the new good news: that God is with us, that God loves us, that forgives us, and the God travels beside us every step of the way.
Who will roll the stone away for us? The stone is no longer there. It has been removed because of Christ. And we have been enfolded into Christ in our Baptism, plunged into the life, death and resurrection of Christ and all that that entails. It is awe-inspiring, it is amazing, it is even somewhat frightening, that you and I together now bear the marks of the risen Christ, as the body of Christ. Yet, this is the truth we celebrate here today. This is story to which we give witness. This is the covenant promise which governs our lives as the people of God who follow the way of Christ.
Who will roll the stone away for us? The stone is no longer in place. It is long gone, Jesus Christ is risen, and we celebrate our resurrection to new life in God with that risen Christ, alleluia, amen!
But there is a problem! The tomb has been sealed. An obstacle is in their way. So as they come, they ask themselves: “Who will roll the stone away for us? How shall we overcome this obstacle?”
In the readings set down for the Easter Vigil, the service held anytime between sunset on Holy Saturday and sunrise on Easter Day, we hear a rehearsal of key moments in the Judaeo-Christian story of salvation history: the creative saving/liberating presence of God with the people of God over the whole history of creation. The rehearsal is long. We hear about creation, of the great flood and Noah. We hear of Abraham, Sarah and Isaac; of Miriam and Moses. We hear the prophesies of Isaiah, Ezekiel and Zephaniah; and the wisdom of Proverbs. Not all the episodes of the saga of the Hebrew people are mentioned, so many more could be recalled: Esther and Daniel, Deborah and Jonah, and so on…
Yet even so, each of the episodes rehearsed in the Easter Vigil is significant. They represent snippets of the story of the way in which human beings confronted with the powerful, awe-ful, wonderful predicament of being human have often asked the question “Yet how shall we overcome this obstacle, this experience of being human, these experiences of being created, tested, displaced, exiled, searching, questioning, dying, drying out, burning out, losing hope? Who will roll the stone away for us?”
In each episode of the story the people are assured that, though it is not in their power to overcome such obstacles, God is with them, God is guiding them, God is even challenging them in the midst of those experiences. And despite their tendency to question, to feel isolated and disappointed, angry and frustrated, alienated, displaced and exiled, despite their inability to understand the ways of God, to want to be like God, to always look for more than they have, to go against the ways of God, God has been there, and just when they thought that they could go on no longer God’s creative saving/liberating presence shows them and takes them on the next step of their journey: into the wonderful world of creation; out of the place of slavery that is Egypt; away from testing and out of exile; out of ignorance and into understanding; out of despair and into hope. And you’d think from all that the people would have learnt wouldn’t you? You’d think from all that, we, human beings, creatures of God, would have learnt, wouldn’t you?
You’d think that just one of those episodes would have been just enough for God’s creatures, us, to stop the questioning and the searching and the agonising and the complaining and the despair and running away and the trying to be like God and going against the ways of God… but none of them did. The people of God persisted in asking the question, “How shall we overcome this obstacle: the obstacle of being human and all that it brings with it? Who will roll the stone away for us?”
Who will roll the stone away for us? The irony is that according to the end of the Gospel of Mark, the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus might have been just another one of those episodes in salvation history where the people of God were reminded once more that it is God who journeys with us, that it is God who understands and God who liberates and saves, God who rolls the stone away. For this resurrection story in Mark ends not with great celebration, not with a bang but a whimper. We are told that the women were afraid. They fled the tomb and their strange experience at that place in terror and amazement, and, according to the text, said nothing to anyone. It could have been just another episode in the grand narrative of people asking questions of God, seeking answers, receiving God’s assurance and forgetting it all again before the next trial befalls them.
But, we know that the story does not end there. We actually know that the women must have told someone. We know that it does not end there, or we would not be here. We would not be gathering to hear this story of the culmination of salvation and the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. The story did not end in fear or we would not be celebrating that we no longer have to ask the question “How shall we overcome this obstacle?”
In the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, God demonstrates that being human is not an obstacle to relationship with God; that none of the vagaries or foibles or pitfalls of being human can separate us from the love of God. God enables the relationship to continue beyond our wanderings and our yearnings, our questioning and our defiance, our ill-advised ventures and our sin. And God achieves all this by becoming one of us in Christ, experiencing the heights and the depths of human experience all the way to an ignominious death on the cross, and beyond that death to a resurrection that proclaims the overcoming of all that we might have expected to separate us from the love of God. How shall we overcome this obstacle? There is no obstacle to be overcome. Dare we believe it? It’s easy to maintain the patterns that we know and fail to hear the new good news: that God is with us, that God loves us, that forgives us, and the God travels beside us every step of the way.
Who will roll the stone away for us? The stone is no longer there. It has been removed because of Christ. And we have been enfolded into Christ in our Baptism, plunged into the life, death and resurrection of Christ and all that that entails. It is awe-inspiring, it is amazing, it is even somewhat frightening, that you and I together now bear the marks of the risen Christ, as the body of Christ. Yet, this is the truth we celebrate here today. This is story to which we give witness. This is the covenant promise which governs our lives as the people of God who follow the way of Christ.
Who will roll the stone away for us? The stone is no longer in place. It is long gone, Jesus Christ is risen, and we celebrate our resurrection to new life in God with that risen Christ, alleluia, amen!
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