Just after Reagan’s near-assassination in March 1981, when he thought he might be dying [he wrote in his diary]: “But I realized I couldn’t ask for Gods help while at the same time I felt hatred for the mixed up young man who had shot me. Isn’t that the meaning of the lost sheep? We are all Gods children and therefore equally beloved by him.”
“Ronald Reagan: The instinctual man” a review of The Reagan Diaries by Ronald Reagan, edited by Douglas Brinkley (HarperCollins, 2007), from The Economist, July 7th 2007, p. 81.
http://www.economist.com/books/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9435057
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Nathan Söderblom and the Good Samaritan
July 12, 2007
Today we remember the life and work of Nathan Söderblom, architect of the ecumenical movement of the 20th century, founder of the Life and Work movement that led to the World Council of Churches, and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He was Swedish, born in 1866 and living until this date in 1931. Early in his life, at the age of 24, he visited the United States, and began to form his future ecumenical work through this prayer, recorded in his diary:
"Lord, give me humility and wisdom to serve the great cause of the free unity of thy church."
Söderblom took a practical approach to ecumenical work, reasoning that in the life of the church right action was as important as right belief-hence the outward, active focus of the Life and Work group.
He had already begun to move toward intercommunion between the Swedish Church and the Church of England as early as 1909; in 1995 the Porvoo Communion formalized recognition between Anglican churches in the British Isles and Lutheran churches in Scandinavia and the Baltic states.
Söderblom was elected Archbishop of Uppsala & primate of Sweden in 1914. That year he led a prayer for peace at Uppsala Cathedral:
"May we ask the Lord to grant us peace,
that the day will soon come,
when the peoples are unified in love
and when Christ is the Lord;
the day that fulfils all the prayers of the holy"
*****
In high school P.E. class I heard this story – so it must be true: somebody riding his new motorcycle had a breakdown at the side of the road. Up roared a gang of bikers, who stopped, came over, and – fixed his bike. As they left, one handed him a nice white business card, with a big greasy black thumb-smudge on it, announcing, “Your emergency roadside assistance was provided by your local motorcycle club.”
The Samaritan is not who you would expect. Nor is the man who was robbed.
In the story of the Good Samaritan and the man who fell among thieves, we hear a lawyer asking a telling question: Who is my neighbor? We might well ask: Who are you? Responses could include, I am a person, a human being, a child of God – or, We are a people of God.
Augustine made the analogy, that the man who was robbed was like Augustine, or me, or you – the soul; that the Samaritan was like Jesus and the inn, providing shelter, was the Church.
What however was Jesus response, and what question did he ask in his turn? “Who was a neighbor of the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The one who showed him mercy.
We often think of ourselves in the place of the good Samaritan, but Jesus has the lawyer put himself in the place of the man who was robbed. Before we put ourselves in the superior position, the “helping” role, first we find ourselves in need of a little traveler’s aid ourselves.
And Jesus identified himself with this: “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” and he will tell them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:37-40)
Serving Jesus as we serve the least of these we see around us is the motivating force behind the efforts of so many ecumenical workers like Nathan Söderblom: not simply that we all might get along but that we might go forward together into God’s kingdom, where peace and righteousness embrace.
And I should point out one more current example of this. Last week in Tucson, a leader and elder in that community received a visit from a new member of Congress. She talked with her about immigration and our need for a new approach – not confronting each other but working together. She held up her hands as if to push away The Other, then moved them, turning them over and interlacing her fingers, to show that we must work together. Speaking practically, she suggested training for employment could begin across the border, so that people who live there could have a future and a hope. Remember this is God’s promise to us, to his people, fulfilled through Jesus and through Jesus’ hands in the world: our own. I will give you “a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).
Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts. Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land. Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other. Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from the sky. The Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase. Righteousness will go before him, and will make a path for his steps. (Psalm 85:8-13)
Sources
Nobel Foundation (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1930/soderblom-bio.html)
Uppsala Domkyrka (http://www.uppsaladomkyrka.se/setupups/local/engelsk/pdf/Ecumenism.pdf)
Luke for Everyone by Tom Wright (SPCK, 2001)
The Word Today: Reflections on the Readings of the Revised Common Lectionary, Year C, Volume 3 by Herbert O'Driscoll (Toronto: Anglican Book Centre, 2001)
"Living by the Word: Who we are" by Patrick J. Wilson, The Christian Century, Vol. 124, No. 13, June 26, 2007, p. 19. (www.christiancentury.org)
also worth a look:
Patrick's Well (www.herbodriscoll.com) Herbert O'Driscoll
Geranium Farm (www.geraniumfarm.org) Barbara Crafton et al.
The Word in Time (Revised Edition): A Gospel Commentary for Sundays and Major Feast Days (Complete Three-Year Cycle) by Arthur J. Dewey (New Berlin, Wisconsin: Liturgical Publications, 1990)
Luke by Sharon H. Ringe (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995) Westminister Bible Companion series.
Luke by Thomas W. Walker (Louisville, Kentucky: Geneva Press, 2001) Interpretation Bible Studies series.
Luke by Fred B. Craddock (Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox Press, 1990) Interpretation, a Bible commentary for teaching and preaching.
The Gospel According to Luke by Michael F. Patella, O.S.B. (Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press) The new Collegeville Bible commentary, New Testament; v. 3.
Preaching the Gospel of Luke: Proclaiming God's Royal Rule by Keith F. Nickle (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000)
Today we remember the life and work of Nathan Söderblom, architect of the ecumenical movement of the 20th century, founder of the Life and Work movement that led to the World Council of Churches, and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He was Swedish, born in 1866 and living until this date in 1931. Early in his life, at the age of 24, he visited the United States, and began to form his future ecumenical work through this prayer, recorded in his diary:
"Lord, give me humility and wisdom to serve the great cause of the free unity of thy church."
Söderblom took a practical approach to ecumenical work, reasoning that in the life of the church right action was as important as right belief-hence the outward, active focus of the Life and Work group.
He had already begun to move toward intercommunion between the Swedish Church and the Church of England as early as 1909; in 1995 the Porvoo Communion formalized recognition between Anglican churches in the British Isles and Lutheran churches in Scandinavia and the Baltic states.
Söderblom was elected Archbishop of Uppsala & primate of Sweden in 1914. That year he led a prayer for peace at Uppsala Cathedral:
"May we ask the Lord to grant us peace,
that the day will soon come,
when the peoples are unified in love
and when Christ is the Lord;
the day that fulfils all the prayers of the holy"
*****
In high school P.E. class I heard this story – so it must be true: somebody riding his new motorcycle had a breakdown at the side of the road. Up roared a gang of bikers, who stopped, came over, and – fixed his bike. As they left, one handed him a nice white business card, with a big greasy black thumb-smudge on it, announcing, “Your emergency roadside assistance was provided by your local motorcycle club.”
The Samaritan is not who you would expect. Nor is the man who was robbed.
In the story of the Good Samaritan and the man who fell among thieves, we hear a lawyer asking a telling question: Who is my neighbor? We might well ask: Who are you? Responses could include, I am a person, a human being, a child of God – or, We are a people of God.
Augustine made the analogy, that the man who was robbed was like Augustine, or me, or you – the soul; that the Samaritan was like Jesus and the inn, providing shelter, was the Church.
What however was Jesus response, and what question did he ask in his turn? “Who was a neighbor of the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The one who showed him mercy.
We often think of ourselves in the place of the good Samaritan, but Jesus has the lawyer put himself in the place of the man who was robbed. Before we put ourselves in the superior position, the “helping” role, first we find ourselves in need of a little traveler’s aid ourselves.
And Jesus identified himself with this: “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” and he will tell them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:37-40)
Serving Jesus as we serve the least of these we see around us is the motivating force behind the efforts of so many ecumenical workers like Nathan Söderblom: not simply that we all might get along but that we might go forward together into God’s kingdom, where peace and righteousness embrace.
And I should point out one more current example of this. Last week in Tucson, a leader and elder in that community received a visit from a new member of Congress. She talked with her about immigration and our need for a new approach – not confronting each other but working together. She held up her hands as if to push away The Other, then moved them, turning them over and interlacing her fingers, to show that we must work together. Speaking practically, she suggested training for employment could begin across the border, so that people who live there could have a future and a hope. Remember this is God’s promise to us, to his people, fulfilled through Jesus and through Jesus’ hands in the world: our own. I will give you “a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).
Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts. Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land. Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other. Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from the sky. The Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase. Righteousness will go before him, and will make a path for his steps. (Psalm 85:8-13)
Sources
Nobel Foundation (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1930/soderblom-bio.html)
Uppsala Domkyrka (http://www.uppsaladomkyrka.se/setupups/local/engelsk/pdf/Ecumenism.pdf)
Luke for Everyone by Tom Wright (SPCK, 2001)
The Word Today: Reflections on the Readings of the Revised Common Lectionary, Year C, Volume 3 by Herbert O'Driscoll (Toronto: Anglican Book Centre, 2001)
"Living by the Word: Who we are" by Patrick J. Wilson, The Christian Century, Vol. 124, No. 13, June 26, 2007, p. 19. (www.christiancentury.org)
also worth a look:
Patrick's Well (www.herbodriscoll.com) Herbert O'Driscoll
Geranium Farm (www.geraniumfarm.org) Barbara Crafton et al.
The Word in Time (Revised Edition): A Gospel Commentary for Sundays and Major Feast Days (Complete Three-Year Cycle) by Arthur J. Dewey (New Berlin, Wisconsin: Liturgical Publications, 1990)
Luke by Sharon H. Ringe (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995) Westminister Bible Companion series.
Luke by Thomas W. Walker (Louisville, Kentucky: Geneva Press, 2001) Interpretation Bible Studies series.
Luke by Fred B. Craddock (Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox Press, 1990) Interpretation, a Bible commentary for teaching and preaching.
The Gospel According to Luke by Michael F. Patella, O.S.B. (Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press) The new Collegeville Bible commentary, New Testament; v. 3.
Preaching the Gospel of Luke: Proclaiming God's Royal Rule by Keith F. Nickle (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000)
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
how to swing
Context, edited by Martin E. Marty, June 2007, Part A, p. 6-7, quotes Wynton Marsalis, who says “Swing is a rhythm, an era in American history, and it is a worldview. In this worldview there is a belief in the power of a collective ability to absorb mediocre and poor decisions. When a group of people working together trust that all are concerned for the common good, then they continue to be in sync, no matter what happens. That is swing: It’s the feeling that our way is more important than my way. This philosophy extends to how to treat audiences, consumers, staff, or dysfunctional families. This may seem idealistic, but think about how church congregations recite, nearly together and completely unrehearsed. They proceed by feel. Swing is the single objective. It is the core that makes us all want to work together.”
Hot corporations know how to swing
Wynton Marsalis shows how to put jazz to work
[FINAL Edition]
USA TODAY - McLean, Va.
Author: Del Jones
Date: Jan 15, 2007
Section: MONEY
Document Types: Interview
Text Word Count: 1325
Abstract:
A: The farther away from the sun we are, the colder it gets. To know the essence of a thing requires us to go back to the origination of that thing, because time erodes meaning and enthusiasm. The originators of jazz were a second generation out of slavery and victims of rigorous forms of segregation in which humanity was routinely and institutionally denied. You would think that they were thinking about getting revenge, but in actuality, they were thinking about sharing and communicating with all kinds of people, and they became masters of achieving balance with others. These early jazz musicians worked out a perfect way to co-create using improvisation and a basic unit of rhythm called swing.
A: When I was younger, just beginning to play jazz and getting publicity, almost every critic and older musician came out of the woodwork to say that my playing was inauthentic -- lacking soul and feeling. They said it was too technical and young. I had not paid enough dues to play with meaning or feeling. The great jazz trumpeter Sweets Edison, who played in Count Basie's 1930s band, asked me "Where are you from?" I said, New Orleans. He said, "What did you grow up doing?" I responded, "Playing." Then he said, "Why are you trying to act like what you are? Be what you are." This was a profound lesson in creativity. It's about being yourself, valuing your own ideas, mining your own dreams. You can be creative inside or outside of tradition. Outside of tradition, you create a new world. Inside of tradition, you create a new way to do the old things much better. Both can be innovative, because in one you reinvigorate a tradition. In the other, you counter-state it.
Q: Is there a boss in a jazz band who takes charge?
A: In jazz, hierarchy is determined by your ability to play, not your position in the band. The philosophy of jazz is antithetical to the commoditization of people. It is rooted in the elevation and enrichment of people. The reason that jazz is the most flexible art form in the history of the planet is because it believes in the good taste of individuals. It believes in the human power to create wonderful things, and it embraces that instead of attempting to administrate it away with senseless titles and useless hierarchies.
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/USAToday/access/1194496111.html?dids=1194496111:1194496111&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Jan+15%2C+2007&author=Del+Jones&pub=USA+TODAY&edition=&startpage=B.3&desc=Hot+corporations+know+how+to+swing+
http://www.contextonline.org/
Hot corporations know how to swing
Wynton Marsalis shows how to put jazz to work
[FINAL Edition]
USA TODAY - McLean, Va.
Author: Del Jones
Date: Jan 15, 2007
Section: MONEY
Document Types: Interview
Text Word Count: 1325
Abstract:
A: The farther away from the sun we are, the colder it gets. To know the essence of a thing requires us to go back to the origination of that thing, because time erodes meaning and enthusiasm. The originators of jazz were a second generation out of slavery and victims of rigorous forms of segregation in which humanity was routinely and institutionally denied. You would think that they were thinking about getting revenge, but in actuality, they were thinking about sharing and communicating with all kinds of people, and they became masters of achieving balance with others. These early jazz musicians worked out a perfect way to co-create using improvisation and a basic unit of rhythm called swing.
A: When I was younger, just beginning to play jazz and getting publicity, almost every critic and older musician came out of the woodwork to say that my playing was inauthentic -- lacking soul and feeling. They said it was too technical and young. I had not paid enough dues to play with meaning or feeling. The great jazz trumpeter Sweets Edison, who played in Count Basie's 1930s band, asked me "Where are you from?" I said, New Orleans. He said, "What did you grow up doing?" I responded, "Playing." Then he said, "Why are you trying to act like what you are? Be what you are." This was a profound lesson in creativity. It's about being yourself, valuing your own ideas, mining your own dreams. You can be creative inside or outside of tradition. Outside of tradition, you create a new world. Inside of tradition, you create a new way to do the old things much better. Both can be innovative, because in one you reinvigorate a tradition. In the other, you counter-state it.
Q: Is there a boss in a jazz band who takes charge?
A: In jazz, hierarchy is determined by your ability to play, not your position in the band. The philosophy of jazz is antithetical to the commoditization of people. It is rooted in the elevation and enrichment of people. The reason that jazz is the most flexible art form in the history of the planet is because it believes in the good taste of individuals. It believes in the human power to create wonderful things, and it embraces that instead of attempting to administrate it away with senseless titles and useless hierarchies.
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/USAToday/access/1194496111.html?dids=1194496111:1194496111&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Jan+15%2C+2007&author=Del+Jones&pub=USA+TODAY&edition=&startpage=B.3&desc=Hot+corporations+know+how+to+swing+
http://www.contextonline.org/
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Perfect Circle
This is the time of the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. Its opposite comes at Midwinter, just before Christmas. We follow the wheel of the year, from solstice to solstice: “He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30) The disc of the sun forms to our eyes a perfect circle - a picture of completion, of wholeness.
At the time of the summer solstice we celebrate the nativity of John the Baptist. John bears witness to the light. He prepares the way of the Lord, proclaims the way of peace. He proclaims the good news of the mercy of God to be embodied in Jesus Christ.
This is a season – as much as the winter solstice is – of the victory of the light of God. As Advent marks the fallow fields of winter, so this season marks the ripening for harvest – the harvest of the kingdom of peace, the gathering-in of the followers of the way of the Lord.
John baptizes the people, symbolizes their farewell to the old life and their welcome into the new way of being.
How are we to live this out? John himself focuses on practical matters. He told soldiers to be content with their pay and not force bribes from the poor. Let the one who has two cloaks, he said, give one to the person who has none at all. And a more radical departure from worldly norms was on its way with Jesus.
Six months before Jesus’ birth, his harbinger John appears. For the peoples of the earth summer has always been a time of fulfillment – here it becomes a time of promise. What is ripening?
On the Eve of the Nativity of St John the Baptist, the light of Christ is proclaimed at its zenith, six months before the Savior is born.
When I was in high school auto shop we had an old advertisement on the wall for Perfect Circle® piston rings. They began & ended at the same place. They were true – that is, they were not wobbly or warped or flawed. They were not, however, complete. To slip the ring onto the piston there is a little gap. You have to start somewhere. Then, when you are in place, you can do your job.
We can begin where we are, and we can start today. From here we can go on through the year, go on through the circle, the daily round, to a completion – that brings us back to the true starting point of all circles, the center.
Christ is the center: and yet he who was perfect was broken that we might be made whole. He made a gap through which we can enter – into the endless circle of divine life. It’s a perfect circle. And we are invited to take part.
Look at the Trinity icon, at the gazes of the three angels going around and around in a circle of hospitality and love. Theirs is a journey that is always complete, always beginning, always ending, always starting anew – and always welcoming us to join. The Trinity icon shows us the hospitality of God, giving rest to the traveler & strength to the weary, giving us all food for the journey.
At the time of the summer solstice we celebrate the nativity of John the Baptist. John bears witness to the light. He prepares the way of the Lord, proclaims the way of peace. He proclaims the good news of the mercy of God to be embodied in Jesus Christ.
This is a season – as much as the winter solstice is – of the victory of the light of God. As Advent marks the fallow fields of winter, so this season marks the ripening for harvest – the harvest of the kingdom of peace, the gathering-in of the followers of the way of the Lord.
John baptizes the people, symbolizes their farewell to the old life and their welcome into the new way of being.
How are we to live this out? John himself focuses on practical matters. He told soldiers to be content with their pay and not force bribes from the poor. Let the one who has two cloaks, he said, give one to the person who has none at all. And a more radical departure from worldly norms was on its way with Jesus.
Six months before Jesus’ birth, his harbinger John appears. For the peoples of the earth summer has always been a time of fulfillment – here it becomes a time of promise. What is ripening?
On the Eve of the Nativity of St John the Baptist, the light of Christ is proclaimed at its zenith, six months before the Savior is born.
When I was in high school auto shop we had an old advertisement on the wall for Perfect Circle® piston rings. They began & ended at the same place. They were true – that is, they were not wobbly or warped or flawed. They were not, however, complete. To slip the ring onto the piston there is a little gap. You have to start somewhere. Then, when you are in place, you can do your job.
We can begin where we are, and we can start today. From here we can go on through the year, go on through the circle, the daily round, to a completion – that brings us back to the true starting point of all circles, the center.
Christ is the center: and yet he who was perfect was broken that we might be made whole. He made a gap through which we can enter – into the endless circle of divine life. It’s a perfect circle. And we are invited to take part.
Look at the Trinity icon, at the gazes of the three angels going around and around in a circle of hospitality and love. Theirs is a journey that is always complete, always beginning, always ending, always starting anew – and always welcoming us to join. The Trinity icon shows us the hospitality of God, giving rest to the traveler & strength to the weary, giving us all food for the journey.
A Man of the City
C Proper 7 RCL
A man of the city – this is how the gospel describes him: not “the Gerasene Demoniac”, not “the appendectomy in Ward 7a”, but a person in relationship to a community. Jesus goes on to ask him your name: he continues to approach the other person with respect, recognizing his human dignity. And when the man is restored to himself, sitting clothed and quiet with Jesus’ feet, Jesus tells him to stay and be a witness in his own community to what God has done for him.
The people of the region see him, and Jesus, as problems. They tried to restrain the man – and he broke free. Jesus strikes fear into their hearts – God can do anything, even restore a man possessed by demons to his right place in the community, perhaps even set everything to rights… with all the problems that would create for the powers that be and those who love them.
Go away, Jesus, you are doing too much good. A little good is enough. If you restore even the demoniacs to their right minds, won’t you also proclaim the year of the Lord and restore us all to our rightful inheritance? Won’t that involve giving up what we’ve gained in our modus vivendi, our accommodation, to Pontius Pilate and the Roman occupiers? To the collaborators in the Sanhedrin and their minions?
Am I going to lose valuable rental property because this guy, the rightful owner, is no longer a raving lunatic in the graveyard, but claiming his place in town?
And worse than that: Jesus did not take him away when he’s gone. The man is still here, still a living witness to the living God. God has done great things for him. And if you don’t watch out, it could happen to you too.
The apostle Paul reminds us that it is not just “a man of the city” who is in chains.
Before faith came, as he put it, we were in bondage ourselves, to sin. The law guarded us, but it was not until faith came – faith and justification by faith in Christ – that we were set free. Acting as a schoolmaster or disciplinarian, the law treated us like unruly children.
Law means the rules and rule-keeping that kept us from sin or self-destruction during a time of our own incapacity (due to sin), as the shackles were meant to keep the man of the city from injuring himself during a demoniac fit. Like him we too lived in tombs – tombs of self-construction, our own vices and habits, which kept us from living freely as people of the city of God.
Jesus called us out of slavery, out of Egypt, out of bondage to our own erroneous ways, into the new land of freedom and ourselves. He gave us the keys to the city – the city not built by human hands, the New Jerusalem, city of God.
When Jesus asked the man his name, he is continuing to address him with dignity. He is also asking, “What is your handle?” as names were powerful in those days and if you had hold of his name you could hold power over a man. His name could give you some power over him just by addressing him, just by knowing who he was.
The sad answer Jesus gets is “Legion” – the man of the city is beset by a host of troubles. Jesus clears them all out, as he cleared the moneychangers from the Temple. This temple of the Holy Spirit, the man’s body, is now restored to its rightful condition, and he is free to praise God.
Like the man who lived among the tombs we have been set free. We are now clothed as he was clothed by Christ, in Christ. We are not now different from one another, one free, one enslaved, one rich, another poor, one privileged, another beset with oppressions. We are all one in Christ Jesus, heirs of hope.
God could raise up sons and daughters to Abraham from the very stones, Jesus taught us. Instead, he has raised us. From among the gravestones he has called us to rise and live. From the tombs of unrighteousness and wrong he has called us out into new life. And we are to witness to him, here in this city, where we live and where we are known. Let us declare what God has done for us.
Proper 7 - Year C - RCL Psalm 43 Galatians 3:23-39 Luke 8:26-39
A man of the city – this is how the gospel describes him: not “the Gerasene Demoniac”, not “the appendectomy in Ward 7a”, but a person in relationship to a community. Jesus goes on to ask him your name: he continues to approach the other person with respect, recognizing his human dignity. And when the man is restored to himself, sitting clothed and quiet with Jesus’ feet, Jesus tells him to stay and be a witness in his own community to what God has done for him.
The people of the region see him, and Jesus, as problems. They tried to restrain the man – and he broke free. Jesus strikes fear into their hearts – God can do anything, even restore a man possessed by demons to his right place in the community, perhaps even set everything to rights… with all the problems that would create for the powers that be and those who love them.
Go away, Jesus, you are doing too much good. A little good is enough. If you restore even the demoniacs to their right minds, won’t you also proclaim the year of the Lord and restore us all to our rightful inheritance? Won’t that involve giving up what we’ve gained in our modus vivendi, our accommodation, to Pontius Pilate and the Roman occupiers? To the collaborators in the Sanhedrin and their minions?
Am I going to lose valuable rental property because this guy, the rightful owner, is no longer a raving lunatic in the graveyard, but claiming his place in town?
And worse than that: Jesus did not take him away when he’s gone. The man is still here, still a living witness to the living God. God has done great things for him. And if you don’t watch out, it could happen to you too.
The apostle Paul reminds us that it is not just “a man of the city” who is in chains.
Before faith came, as he put it, we were in bondage ourselves, to sin. The law guarded us, but it was not until faith came – faith and justification by faith in Christ – that we were set free. Acting as a schoolmaster or disciplinarian, the law treated us like unruly children.
Law means the rules and rule-keeping that kept us from sin or self-destruction during a time of our own incapacity (due to sin), as the shackles were meant to keep the man of the city from injuring himself during a demoniac fit. Like him we too lived in tombs – tombs of self-construction, our own vices and habits, which kept us from living freely as people of the city of God.
Jesus called us out of slavery, out of Egypt, out of bondage to our own erroneous ways, into the new land of freedom and ourselves. He gave us the keys to the city – the city not built by human hands, the New Jerusalem, city of God.
When Jesus asked the man his name, he is continuing to address him with dignity. He is also asking, “What is your handle?” as names were powerful in those days and if you had hold of his name you could hold power over a man. His name could give you some power over him just by addressing him, just by knowing who he was.
The sad answer Jesus gets is “Legion” – the man of the city is beset by a host of troubles. Jesus clears them all out, as he cleared the moneychangers from the Temple. This temple of the Holy Spirit, the man’s body, is now restored to its rightful condition, and he is free to praise God.
Like the man who lived among the tombs we have been set free. We are now clothed as he was clothed by Christ, in Christ. We are not now different from one another, one free, one enslaved, one rich, another poor, one privileged, another beset with oppressions. We are all one in Christ Jesus, heirs of hope.
God could raise up sons and daughters to Abraham from the very stones, Jesus taught us. Instead, he has raised us. From among the gravestones he has called us to rise and live. From the tombs of unrighteousness and wrong he has called us out into new life. And we are to witness to him, here in this city, where we live and where we are known. Let us declare what God has done for us.
Proper 7 - Year C - RCL Psalm 43 Galatians 3:23-39 Luke 8:26-39
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Columba
We tend to think of Columba in terms of where he ended up – Iona – yet where he began was at the end of Europe, in the far west of Ireland, in the little church of St. Enda, in the Aran Islands. It stands today, open to the sky – and surrounded by graves three deep in the churchyard of the village of Killeany: a cloud of witnesses. There is no monastic community on Inishmor – these are the graves of the ordinary people of the island, interred in the sand built up over 15 centuries around the little oratory of the saints of Aran. These ordinary people are the ones here to carry on the faith, to learn, as would we, the traditions of the past and to pass them along to the people of the future.
1500 years ago a young man went to the end of the world to learn to be a leader of Christian communities. Known to us as Columba, “the dove of the church”, he went, as it is remembered on that island, to Inishmor, Aran of the Saints, the island farthest west in the bay of Galway, to enter St Enda’s “spiritual boot camp” (in Sarah’s phrase). In a monastery with room for a dozen monks and their abbot, Enda established a place to learn a model of Christian community that served to evangelize Ireland – and beyond. Like the monastic communities of Martin of Tours, provided a new vessel to convey the gospel to a new generation, a new situation and a new people.
After a spell, the young man, trained as deacon, priest, and poet, left Enda’s school for sanctity, traveling north to found communities in the north of Ireland and then crossed the sea to Iona, a small island in the Western Hebrides – indeed, an island about the size of Inishmor, three or four miles long and a mile wide – where he established the base for communicating the gospel to the Scots. It became the center of evangelism and witness to the people of Scotland, to whom it is a place of pilgrimage, and renewal in the faith, to this day. From there the good news spread to the north of England, where Aidan established his base at Lindisfarne…
June 13, 2007.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/columba-e.html
1500 years ago a young man went to the end of the world to learn to be a leader of Christian communities. Known to us as Columba, “the dove of the church”, he went, as it is remembered on that island, to Inishmor, Aran of the Saints, the island farthest west in the bay of Galway, to enter St Enda’s “spiritual boot camp” (in Sarah’s phrase). In a monastery with room for a dozen monks and their abbot, Enda established a place to learn a model of Christian community that served to evangelize Ireland – and beyond. Like the monastic communities of Martin of Tours, provided a new vessel to convey the gospel to a new generation, a new situation and a new people.
After a spell, the young man, trained as deacon, priest, and poet, left Enda’s school for sanctity, traveling north to found communities in the north of Ireland and then crossed the sea to Iona, a small island in the Western Hebrides – indeed, an island about the size of Inishmor, three or four miles long and a mile wide – where he established the base for communicating the gospel to the Scots. It became the center of evangelism and witness to the people of Scotland, to whom it is a place of pilgrimage, and renewal in the faith, to this day. From there the good news spread to the north of England, where Aidan established his base at Lindisfarne…
June 13, 2007.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/columba-e.html
a school for sanctity - and a base for mission
Columba
From Medieval Sourcebook: Adamnan: Life of St. Columba, Introduction [Seth Seyfried]:
St. Columba was born on December 7, ca. 521 A.D. to Fedhlimidh and Eithne of the Ui Neill clan in Gartan (Donegal). As a young man, Columba soon took an interest in the church... Columba went north and founded the church of Derry.
Tradition has it that after founding several other monasteries, Columba copied St. Finnian's psalter without the permission of Finnian, and thus devalued the book. When Finnian took the matter to High King Dermott for judgement, Dermott judged in favor of Finnian, stating "to every cow its calf; to every book its copy"... Columba refused to hand over the copy, and Dermott forced the issue militarily. Columba's family and clan defeated Dermott at the battle of Cooldrevny in 561.
Tradition further holds that St. Molaisi of Devenish, Columba's spiritual father, ordered Columba to bring the same number of souls to Christ that he had caused to die as penance. In 563, Columba landed on Iona with 12 disciples, and founded a new monastery. After founding several more monasteries, ... Columba died on June 9, 597.
Source: Life of Saint Columba, Founder of Hy. Written by Adamnan, Ninth Abbot of that Monastery, ed. William Reeves. (Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas, 1874) I
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/columba-e.html
***
We tend to think of Columba in terms of where he ended up – Iona – yet where he began was at the end of Europe, in the far west of Ireland, in the little church of St. Enda, in the Aran Islands. It stands today, open to the sky – and surrounded by graves three deep in the churchyard of the village of Killeany: a cloud of witnesses. There is no monastic community on Inishmor – these are the graves of the ordinary people of the island, interred in the sand built up over 15 centuries around the little oratory of the saints of Aran. These ordinary people are the ones here to carry on the faith, to learn, as would we, the traditions of the past and to pass them along to the people of the future.
1500 years ago a young man went to the end of the world to learn to be a leader of Christian communities. Known to us as Columba, “the dove of the church”, he went, as it is remembered on that island, to Inishmor, Aran of the Saints, the island farthest west in the bay of Galway, to enter St Enda’s “spiritual boot camp” (in Sarah’s phrase). In a monastery with room for a dozen monks and their abbot, Enda established a place to learn a model of Christian community that served to evangelize Ireland – and beyond. Like the monastic communities of Martin of Tours, provided a new vessel to convey the gospel to a new generation, a new situation and a new people.
After a spell, the young man, trained as deacon, priest, and poet, left Enda’s school for sanctity, traveling north to found communities in the north of Ireland and then crossed the sea to Iona, a small island in the Western Hebrides – indeed, an island about the size of Inishmor, three or four miles long and a mile wide – where he established the base for communicating the gospel to the Scots. It became the center of evangelism and witness to the people of Scotland, to whom it is a place of pilgrimage, and renewal in the faith, to this day. From there the good news spread to the north of England, where Aidan established his base at Lindisfarne…
The lessons appointed for use on the Feast of Columba, Abbot of Iona, 597 (June 9th): 1 Corinthians 3:11-23, Psalm 97:1-2, 7-12, or Psalm 98:1-4, and the gospel of Luke 10:17-20.
From Medieval Sourcebook: Adamnan: Life of St. Columba, Introduction [Seth Seyfried]:
St. Columba was born on December 7, ca. 521 A.D. to Fedhlimidh and Eithne of the Ui Neill clan in Gartan (Donegal). As a young man, Columba soon took an interest in the church... Columba went north and founded the church of Derry.
Tradition has it that after founding several other monasteries, Columba copied St. Finnian's psalter without the permission of Finnian, and thus devalued the book. When Finnian took the matter to High King Dermott for judgement, Dermott judged in favor of Finnian, stating "to every cow its calf; to every book its copy"... Columba refused to hand over the copy, and Dermott forced the issue militarily. Columba's family and clan defeated Dermott at the battle of Cooldrevny in 561.
Tradition further holds that St. Molaisi of Devenish, Columba's spiritual father, ordered Columba to bring the same number of souls to Christ that he had caused to die as penance. In 563, Columba landed on Iona with 12 disciples, and founded a new monastery. After founding several more monasteries, ... Columba died on June 9, 597.
Source: Life of Saint Columba, Founder of Hy. Written by Adamnan, Ninth Abbot of that Monastery, ed. William Reeves. (Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas, 1874) I
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/columba-e.html
***
We tend to think of Columba in terms of where he ended up – Iona – yet where he began was at the end of Europe, in the far west of Ireland, in the little church of St. Enda, in the Aran Islands. It stands today, open to the sky – and surrounded by graves three deep in the churchyard of the village of Killeany: a cloud of witnesses. There is no monastic community on Inishmor – these are the graves of the ordinary people of the island, interred in the sand built up over 15 centuries around the little oratory of the saints of Aran. These ordinary people are the ones here to carry on the faith, to learn, as would we, the traditions of the past and to pass them along to the people of the future.
1500 years ago a young man went to the end of the world to learn to be a leader of Christian communities. Known to us as Columba, “the dove of the church”, he went, as it is remembered on that island, to Inishmor, Aran of the Saints, the island farthest west in the bay of Galway, to enter St Enda’s “spiritual boot camp” (in Sarah’s phrase). In a monastery with room for a dozen monks and their abbot, Enda established a place to learn a model of Christian community that served to evangelize Ireland – and beyond. Like the monastic communities of Martin of Tours, provided a new vessel to convey the gospel to a new generation, a new situation and a new people.
After a spell, the young man, trained as deacon, priest, and poet, left Enda’s school for sanctity, traveling north to found communities in the north of Ireland and then crossed the sea to Iona, a small island in the Western Hebrides – indeed, an island about the size of Inishmor, three or four miles long and a mile wide – where he established the base for communicating the gospel to the Scots. It became the center of evangelism and witness to the people of Scotland, to whom it is a place of pilgrimage, and renewal in the faith, to this day. From there the good news spread to the north of England, where Aidan established his base at Lindisfarne…
The lessons appointed for use on the Feast of Columba, Abbot of Iona, 597 (June 9th): 1 Corinthians 3:11-23, Psalm 97:1-2, 7-12, or Psalm 98:1-4, and the gospel of Luke 10:17-20.
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