We just returned from a visit with friends at the shore, a welcome respite. One of the things we did was walk the virtually deserted beach and talk along the way. Our friend Maura was talking about her experience of discussing the Bible with one of her Jewish acquaintances at work. Maura was uncomfortable about not having an answer when her coworker said they had read and studied the New Testament and had problems with taking seriously a set of stories about Jesus that were written by people who had never met him and were written so many years after his death. I smiled and shook my head and offered the 'short version' of my answer.
About two miles and twenty minutes later, I had come to a conclusion, but some questions remained. And here I fell into the standard Lutheran answer, "As Lutheran we are not so much interested in defending the Bible as we are in studying and discussing it." Yes, all those things are true about the Gospel writers; but, here is some more bad news, Paul did not write all the letters attributed him, either. And here I get to feeling like the literature students who argue about the question, "Who wrote Shakespeare?" And I suppose the response I would like to offer is this, does it really matter? And for now I would like to give some answers that you can respond with when you get into a discussion and/or teachable moment with people who have faith questions.
What about all the differences in the stories of the Gospels? Well, go to your 30Th year High School reunion and get three friends together and ask them to recall a shared event. I am willing to bet that there may be some glaring discrepancies in the narrative accounts. It will be a good deal like the song "Ah, Yes I Remember it Well!" And my other response is what is the important part of the story? You have to remember that the Gospels were written for different audiences and to portray Jesus in a different way to that audience. And even more important, it is the GOOD NEWS, does it tell of the death and resurrection of Jesus, because that is the salvation part of the good news.
Next problem, what about the similarities of the three synoptic Gospels? While we live in an age where we respect an individual's work and can clearly recall the teacher telling not to look at an other's work, things were a little different 2000 years ago. And don't get me started on pseduoepidigraphia! Yes, the early gospel writers did lift sections from other writings and then inserted them without footnotes I might add, in their own writings. Is this a problem? I suppose it depends on which side of the argument you stand, and I can take either side.
Just on these two points alone you can find people who are willing to completely dismiss the authenticity and validity of scripture. Again, let me take the fallback position of we want to study and discuss scripture, not defend it. We accept that it is the inspired word of God, but it was written by mere mortals. And has gone through multiple translations. If you want to read scripture that was dictated directly to the amanuensis from the deity, you may want to convert to Islam and study Arabic.
The long and the short of all this is, maybe we all could learn a little bit more about our Book of Faith and be a bit less intimidated when the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Mormons come knocking on our door. Or even have a conversation with someone from a different faith tradition.
Peace,
Deacon Clyde
Friday, October 2, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Yet, still, again, more words- The letter "P"
Good afternoon, and yes, I'm still perseverating about words. I got to thinking last week during the sermon- no pastor my eyes were not closed in sleep, but in deep concentration. By the way, Luther had some pretty unkind things to say about the book of Esther as well as James. But I want to continue where Pastor went with Luther and the Book of James.
In one of life's little ironies, I was baptised in St. James Lutheran Church in Ashland, Pennsylvania. Hard to believe they would name a church after one of Luther's less favorite New Testament writers. But that is for another time. Luther and his rather strident position on the book of James is what brings us to 'the letter P' and the word Polemic. Luther found himself in the unenviable position of taking an extreme point of view because of his opposition to the Church's position on the value of works and in particular the way in which this position was part of the sales campaign for indulgences. When James talks about works, Luther, almost by default, has to attack him because it counters the argument for the power of grace. Much later Luther was able to soften his tone and accommodate the value of works for Christians. It was really quite simple, works are a result of our gratitude for the gift of grace, not the means of achieving salvation. But I wanted to talk about the 'P' word.
A polemic is a position one takes at the opposite pole of an argument presented by another, it is the favorite rhetorical device of adolescents. I think you all have a favorite memory to illustrate the point. And, while a polemic may win points for strident behavior, it does not do much for civil discourse. And one thing which Paul, and by default St. Augustine and then Luther would support was the theology of open and civil discussion leading to discernment and a resolution of the conflict. One of the major problems that I have with polemics is that it tends to demonize the other party and reduce them to a caricature. And we need to remember that we are all creatures created in the image of God, and, as such we should have respect for them in that capacity if nothing else.
Unfortunately, in the past 30 years we have seen the rise in this behavior, demonizing, in so much of the public discussion. Be it in the political or the religious arena, it opens wounds that are slow to heal if they heal at all. What I would like to close with is a thought from this week's second reading, taken from James 3: 8-10. "But no one can tame the tongue- a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so."
Peace,
Deacon Clyde
In one of life's little ironies, I was baptised in St. James Lutheran Church in Ashland, Pennsylvania. Hard to believe they would name a church after one of Luther's less favorite New Testament writers. But that is for another time. Luther and his rather strident position on the book of James is what brings us to 'the letter P' and the word Polemic. Luther found himself in the unenviable position of taking an extreme point of view because of his opposition to the Church's position on the value of works and in particular the way in which this position was part of the sales campaign for indulgences. When James talks about works, Luther, almost by default, has to attack him because it counters the argument for the power of grace. Much later Luther was able to soften his tone and accommodate the value of works for Christians. It was really quite simple, works are a result of our gratitude for the gift of grace, not the means of achieving salvation. But I wanted to talk about the 'P' word.
A polemic is a position one takes at the opposite pole of an argument presented by another, it is the favorite rhetorical device of adolescents. I think you all have a favorite memory to illustrate the point. And, while a polemic may win points for strident behavior, it does not do much for civil discourse. And one thing which Paul, and by default St. Augustine and then Luther would support was the theology of open and civil discussion leading to discernment and a resolution of the conflict. One of the major problems that I have with polemics is that it tends to demonize the other party and reduce them to a caricature. And we need to remember that we are all creatures created in the image of God, and, as such we should have respect for them in that capacity if nothing else.
Unfortunately, in the past 30 years we have seen the rise in this behavior, demonizing, in so much of the public discussion. Be it in the political or the religious arena, it opens wounds that are slow to heal if they heal at all. What I would like to close with is a thought from this week's second reading, taken from James 3: 8-10. "But no one can tame the tongue- a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so."
Peace,
Deacon Clyde
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Some additional words
It is good to get back to my schedule of posting on Wednesday, I hope to continue. In my last Post "A Few Words About Words" I talked about the word 'church', today I would like to talk about the word WORSHIP. When most people talk about 'worshipping in church' what they mean is they attend a worship service in a building (church). In an even more serious way equating worship with a particular activity in a specific place is wrong on many accounts. The Compact Bible dictionary says, "The English word worship comes from the Old English word worthship, a word that denotes the worthiness of the one receiving the special honor or devotion." Dom Dix in his book The Shape of the Liturgy says," The Liturgy is the term which covers generally all that worship which is officially organised by the church." he use both the words in the same sentence. But the phrase which I consider essential to my particular rant is, 'officially organised by the church'.
Martin Luther is quoted as saying, "Even a milkmaid can milk a cow to the glory of God." What Luther is saying to us is that every action we perform, our job, our study, our recreation should be done in a mindful way (this is very zen like for a German) and done in such a way that it reflects God's glory and that we, as his creation, respect us and all else within his creation. I wonder if Luther were alive and writing today, would he say, "Even the person collecting my garbage for Waste Management can do so to the glory of God" ? Think about how you would approach your day if you carried this attitude of doing whatever the activity not for your employer or teacher or whoever, but you were doing it to glorify God.
And so, the point I am belaboring here that we need to move beyond considering worship as the time we spend in the pew at 1700 Makefield Road. Several years ago after the flood in Yardley and Wing of Faith was working to clean up and restore the Duchat's home there was a great deal of work that still needed to be done after all the hours of work on Saturday. Pastor Taylor told
the work crew to return the next morning and continue their work, because that was a form of worship and they would be included in the attendance figures for the day. I want to be clear that this is not an invitation to skip attending church next week ! I want to be equally clear that this is not in any way an endorsement of works over grace as the path to salvation.
All the many ministries at LCR are a form of worship, it does not matter if they are done at a time other than Sunday or a place other than the building at 1700 Makefield Road. So regardless of where you are you can worship!
Peace,
Clyde
Saturday, August 29, 2009
A Few words about words
Last year as part of my lead in for the sessions on: Opening the Book of Faith , I wrote a presentation about A Brief History of Bible Translations. One of the first things I talked about was the problem of Dynamic versus Functional translation, basically do you want a word for word translation or one which captures the spirit of the passage. Each has its virtues and shortcomings. I next talked about the problems of lexical elaboration or why some cultures have multiple words to describe an object or concept, the classic example is the different words that Eskimo culture has for snow.
Our Pastors have talked in their sermons about the single word in English, which we translate as love is actually three different words in Greek, Eros , philos and agape. We are also aware of the concept of TIME in Greek being represented by two separate words, kyros and chronos , meaning God's time and time measured by man. Since the SPCA, PETA and the Michael Vick haters do not want me to continue flogging a dead horse. Let me write about some other words from the Greek that translators have wrestled with.
The first one comes to us thanks the King James and his Authorized Translation of the Holy Bible. This is the dear Bible many of us grew up with, and it has an interesting history. For those of you curious about that history, I highly recommend God's Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible , by Adam Nicolson. If a camel is a race horse designed by a committee then you will appreceiate the problems of the KJV after reading Nicolson. But I digress ! The first word I want to talk about is Church. A word dear to you who are reading this posting. After all, we are members of a church and we attend a church. and all this comes from a single word, kirk being used to describe the assembled gathering, in Greek ecclesia.
Saint Paul talks about 'being one body in Christ' (Romans 12:5) and 'being baptised into one body' (I Cor 12:13). The word he uses to describe the early gatherings of Christians is ecclesia, and it meant the gathering of people, not the building. This is simply because the early groups met in other member's homes. There was no special building for worship, churches did not come into being for several hundred years and those were primarily pagan temples which were converted for worship when Christianity became the religion of the land, after Constantine.
What bothers me is that we tend to have greater concern for the building than for the gathering within the building. There are all manner of issues which distract us from our relationship with both God and the members of the 'Body of Christ'. All to often, when there is a division, we tend to take sides. We want God to be on our side rather than to on God's side of a discussion. Again we see the flat learning curve for Christians, Paul found himself writing to the various ecclesia that he founded where there were arguments about who had the most important spiritual gifts or was it allowable to eat food from a pagan Temple. Today we get caught up in such important aguments as: should we have carpet in the entire worship area, what style of worship is better or who should visit the sick in the hospital. I feel that we should not get caught up in the WWJD mentality, but should gather together in the ecclesia to pray and discuss the matter. But then that is just one man's opinion.
Peace,
Clyde
Friday, August 21, 2009
What's the difference between meditating and just goofing off?
I love August, the hot humid days are the swan song for summer and the cool nights, a harbinger of the crisp days of autumn. Well, I was on vacation in Maine for a few days and as the man at the little gas station in Winthrop said when I told him I loved the cool weather, "Better enjoy it, winter is just around the corner." It sounds even better with the downeast accent of a true Mainer, or is that Maniac?
Anyway, I was the house guest and cook for my Navy buddy Steve and his family for several days. Steve and I go back to the early 70's when we were stationed in Italy, and the friendship has lasted over the years with shared family vacations and lengthy phone conversations about any number of topics. The only problem, is that Steve does not know how to relax. He is the stereotypical hard working self reliant New Englander. The day I arrived he was wrapping up a two day seminar for High School AP US History teachers at Colby College, Steve is the Maine coordinator for AP History certification. The next morning we had an appointment to meet with the surveyor and walk the 20 acre property line on the land his mother had given him on the family farm. And the next was work on the Mustang he was restoring with their son Keith. My plans for some relaxation was getting lost in all this work.
It was then that I remembered a previous vacation when I helped Steve auger post holes for the deck foundation on a mother-in-law apartment above his garage. I had brought four books to read and my kayak to get in some water time and meditation and this was devolving into another work party. Fortunately none of the family are early risers, so I had time to myself after six and before nine a.m. I did get three of the four books read and some time was spent on Echo Lake, listening to the loons and admiring the changing color of the sky in late afternoon. And the several evening when the sky was clear there was time to enjoy the Perseid Meteor Shower and the opaque path of the Milky Way overhead.
With a goal of 'clearing my head' and getting some thoughts together for both Men's Group and the Adult Christian Education classes, I felt that this was in no way just goofin' off. It was a productive time as well as time for reflection and restoration. But here a strange question pops into my head, "What is wrong with just goofing off ?" We get so caught up in being productive that we have justify any time that does not show up on the balance sheet as time well spent. Sometimes, just unwinding and relaxing is time well spent; after all, recreation is time spent in re creating our self and our world. For all the obsessive type-A people we need to remind ourselves of a very important passage from Genesis: " By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work" (Gen 2:2). So, my reply to anyone who accuses me of just goofing of, my response is, "No, I'm just being Biblical !"
peace,
Deacon Clyde
Anyway, I was the house guest and cook for my Navy buddy Steve and his family for several days. Steve and I go back to the early 70's when we were stationed in Italy, and the friendship has lasted over the years with shared family vacations and lengthy phone conversations about any number of topics. The only problem, is that Steve does not know how to relax. He is the stereotypical hard working self reliant New Englander. The day I arrived he was wrapping up a two day seminar for High School AP US History teachers at Colby College, Steve is the Maine coordinator for AP History certification. The next morning we had an appointment to meet with the surveyor and walk the 20 acre property line on the land his mother had given him on the family farm. And the next was work on the Mustang he was restoring with their son Keith. My plans for some relaxation was getting lost in all this work.
It was then that I remembered a previous vacation when I helped Steve auger post holes for the deck foundation on a mother-in-law apartment above his garage. I had brought four books to read and my kayak to get in some water time and meditation and this was devolving into another work party. Fortunately none of the family are early risers, so I had time to myself after six and before nine a.m. I did get three of the four books read and some time was spent on Echo Lake, listening to the loons and admiring the changing color of the sky in late afternoon. And the several evening when the sky was clear there was time to enjoy the Perseid Meteor Shower and the opaque path of the Milky Way overhead.
With a goal of 'clearing my head' and getting some thoughts together for both Men's Group and the Adult Christian Education classes, I felt that this was in no way just goofin' off. It was a productive time as well as time for reflection and restoration. But here a strange question pops into my head, "What is wrong with just goofing off ?" We get so caught up in being productive that we have justify any time that does not show up on the balance sheet as time well spent. Sometimes, just unwinding and relaxing is time well spent; after all, recreation is time spent in re creating our self and our world. For all the obsessive type-A people we need to remind ourselves of a very important passage from Genesis: " By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work" (Gen 2:2). So, my reply to anyone who accuses me of just goofing of, my response is, "No, I'm just being Biblical !"
peace,
Deacon Clyde
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Tradition
I have been reading and thinking a great deal about what and how I will be presenting material this Fall in the class dealing with Christian Theology. Now all of this comes from a question that arose in one of my classes this past Spring. When after saying several times "Well Lutheran Theology on this is..." and the participant replied, "You keep saying Lutheran Theology, why don't you say Christian Theology?" As I attempted to answer the question, rather poorly, I realized that when we say Christian Theology, what we really mean is our specific denomin-ational theology. And this is shaped by our traditions. So, what are traditions?
Professor Phillip Cary of eastern University says: "Tradition means the handing down of wisdom (both practical and theoretical) from one generation to the next." He goes on to explain that Christian theology is the centeral intellectual activity of the Christian tradition, consisting of critical reasoning about what should be taught in the Christian community. This concise statement really blew me away, because this is what I was trying, in my particular rambling way, to get at in my classes last year when we explored the order of worship and the two creeds we recite in worship. Actually, as Lutherans we confess three Creeds, but for the practical reason of needing to get home from worship before sunset only use two in worship.
I would like to get us thinking about tradition in the way that professor Cary uses the word and see how that changes the way we look at what we believe. Believe in what you may ask. And that is exactly what I want to think about, believe in anything. Tradition and belief are two very powerful agents of stability; and, they support each other. I keep going back to Tevi in 'Fiddler on the Roof' when he proclaims, "Without tradition we would be as unstable as a fiddler on the roof." Consider some traditions outside of our faith community, such holidays, certain birthday celebrations, where and how we take vacations. all of these help us to define who we are and how we relate as individuals and as part of a larger community. I probably tend to ruminate about these things more than more normal people because that is just the way I am, and it has been reinforced by training in psychology and anthropology- be careful about letting your children study either field!
Tradition and belief, the two mutually supporting agents shape us, not only in what we believe, but also what questions we can ask about what we believe. And they provide both the lenses through which we view life, but also the filters that limit what we ask about the three fundamental questions we ask at some time in our lives. Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? Belief will eventually lead to a discussion of the question, "What is sound doctrine and what is heresey?" Again, for those of you who journeyed with us last year we had a brief discussion of the various beliefs that jostled for acceptance in the church. If you missed this or want to review, the lessons are available at the church website. My opening statement from these discussion about what happened after 'the great commission' (Matthew 28: 19-20) still holds true and we will look at how some of the problems were addressed and doctrine came into being in the first several hundred years of the church after we became Christians. I hope to see you in September, bring two things: an open mind and good questions.
Peace,
Clyde Beury
Professor Phillip Cary of eastern University says: "Tradition means the handing down of wisdom (both practical and theoretical) from one generation to the next." He goes on to explain that Christian theology is the centeral intellectual activity of the Christian tradition, consisting of critical reasoning about what should be taught in the Christian community. This concise statement really blew me away, because this is what I was trying, in my particular rambling way, to get at in my classes last year when we explored the order of worship and the two creeds we recite in worship. Actually, as Lutherans we confess three Creeds, but for the practical reason of needing to get home from worship before sunset only use two in worship.
I would like to get us thinking about tradition in the way that professor Cary uses the word and see how that changes the way we look at what we believe. Believe in what you may ask. And that is exactly what I want to think about, believe in anything. Tradition and belief are two very powerful agents of stability; and, they support each other. I keep going back to Tevi in 'Fiddler on the Roof' when he proclaims, "Without tradition we would be as unstable as a fiddler on the roof." Consider some traditions outside of our faith community, such holidays, certain birthday celebrations, where and how we take vacations. all of these help us to define who we are and how we relate as individuals and as part of a larger community. I probably tend to ruminate about these things more than more normal people because that is just the way I am, and it has been reinforced by training in psychology and anthropology- be careful about letting your children study either field!
Tradition and belief, the two mutually supporting agents shape us, not only in what we believe, but also what questions we can ask about what we believe. And they provide both the lenses through which we view life, but also the filters that limit what we ask about the three fundamental questions we ask at some time in our lives. Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? Belief will eventually lead to a discussion of the question, "What is sound doctrine and what is heresey?" Again, for those of you who journeyed with us last year we had a brief discussion of the various beliefs that jostled for acceptance in the church. If you missed this or want to review, the lessons are available at the church website. My opening statement from these discussion about what happened after 'the great commission' (Matthew 28: 19-20) still holds true and we will look at how some of the problems were addressed and doctrine came into being in the first several hundred years of the church after we became Christians. I hope to see you in September, bring two things: an open mind and good questions.
Peace,
Clyde Beury
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Thoughts while donating blood
Earlier this week while I was making a red blood platelet donation I was reading the Red Cross material about how a single blood donation can save many lives. I know- you are probably thinking, "What does this have to do with Christian Education?"- well, bear with me for a moment and I will make my segue.
Since you don't have much to do while donating platelets I got to thinking. And one of the thoughts that crossed my mind was that Jesus Christ with his blood donation saved the entire human race. As my mind wandered I got to thinking about the baptism we had last week during the 11 a.m. worship service and how Christians, at least in Lutheran theology, are baptised into the death and resurrection of Jesus. In the past I have had conversation with friends from a variety of denominations, some who disagree with infant baptism. Our baptist friends believe that a person should not be baptised until they are of an age where they can understand and make a conscious decision to be baptised. the argument goes something like this: An infant cannot make a rational decision to come to Christ and be baptised (and saved). You must be old enough to fully understand that you are 'coming to Jesus' and it is through your decision that you are saved. In essence, if you do not understand what you are doing it is not effective and salvific.
My support of the Lutheran positions runs something like this: You are a parent, you have had your child vaccinated against a number of childhood ailments. Does your infant understand how the MMR or DPT vaccine works? Does it protect them from illness nonetheless? The Lutheran position is that when we are baptised we are claimed, called and gifted by the Holy Spirit. This is nothing that we do, but accept this gift- there is no decision. The position that my friends espouse is what is known as 'Decision Theology', and this is one of the problems that many Lutheran ministers have with Rick Warren's book The Purpose Driven Life.
We have been saved by the blood donation in a place called Golgotha almost two millinia ago by a Jewish teacher who healed and preached about the Kingdom of God and what our relationship should be with God (His father) and one another.
Please feel free to post your thoughts to this and other posts on this blog, it is my hope that this electronic kitchen will be the site of conversations for those who can't make it to some other forum.
Peace,
Clyde
Since you don't have much to do while donating platelets I got to thinking. And one of the thoughts that crossed my mind was that Jesus Christ with his blood donation saved the entire human race. As my mind wandered I got to thinking about the baptism we had last week during the 11 a.m. worship service and how Christians, at least in Lutheran theology, are baptised into the death and resurrection of Jesus. In the past I have had conversation with friends from a variety of denominations, some who disagree with infant baptism. Our baptist friends believe that a person should not be baptised until they are of an age where they can understand and make a conscious decision to be baptised. the argument goes something like this: An infant cannot make a rational decision to come to Christ and be baptised (and saved). You must be old enough to fully understand that you are 'coming to Jesus' and it is through your decision that you are saved. In essence, if you do not understand what you are doing it is not effective and salvific.
My support of the Lutheran positions runs something like this: You are a parent, you have had your child vaccinated against a number of childhood ailments. Does your infant understand how the MMR or DPT vaccine works? Does it protect them from illness nonetheless? The Lutheran position is that when we are baptised we are claimed, called and gifted by the Holy Spirit. This is nothing that we do, but accept this gift- there is no decision. The position that my friends espouse is what is known as 'Decision Theology', and this is one of the problems that many Lutheran ministers have with Rick Warren's book The Purpose Driven Life.
We have been saved by the blood donation in a place called Golgotha almost two millinia ago by a Jewish teacher who healed and preached about the Kingdom of God and what our relationship should be with God (His father) and one another.
Please feel free to post your thoughts to this and other posts on this blog, it is my hope that this electronic kitchen will be the site of conversations for those who can't make it to some other forum.
Peace,
Clyde
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