Autumn 2015

My brothers and sisters,^* whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, ³because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; ⁴and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. – James 1:2-4

 

We have been walking with James through the past several weeks in our Revised Common Lectionary readings. James’ authorship is debatable – some scholars believe that it was written by an apostle, some believe it was composed by a later admirer and follower of The Way. Many affirm it was written by James the brother of Jesus, an early leader in the church. Some deny its authenticity completely, and even Martin Luther wanted to have it banned from the canon completely, because it demands demonstration of faith, an opposition against Pauline “sola fide” – justification by faith alone. Regardless, women and men much more insightful than I over the centuries have found it to be authentic in presentation of our faith foundation, as well as inspirational in its commands for communities of Christian through the centuries.

 

Personally, I squirm each week as the readings are proclaimed from the lectern. I’ve even gone back to read the portions of the readings not always included. Here are some of James’ “Greatest Hits”:

…the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord…-1:6

 

…rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls…-1 :21

 

…faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead…-2:17

 

…show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom…-3:14

As our beautiful Prayers of the People affirm each week, we are a community that relies on connectedness and mutual affection, a gathering of friends and family who support one another in our spiritual journeys, and a faithful following that recognizes that what we say and do in worship must manifest in our lives outside of the hour we spend together on Sunday mornings. The Epistle of James was clearly written to both inspire Christians but also to challenge them to manifest faith and hope in how they engage their neighbors, do their jobs, relate to family. Christianity is not a thing that is mere belief, but it is our whole disposition to every moment of our lives. Moments of joy? They are a gift from God! Moments of despair? They are a gift to reflect on our reliance on God. Moments of frustration? They are a gift to trust in God’s grace to give us patience.

 

We believe, and our belief is demonstrated in our Christian disposition to see everything in light of God’s grace. Paul’s justification is not ignored by James; it is made manifest in our ability to insert that faith into our responses to every moment of our life. In this way, my faith doesn’t dictate my reactions; my reactions are framed by my indelible faith. We read James because we need to. Repeatedly. And whole-heartedly.

 

In Christ’s Peace,

Shawn+

Pentecost 2015 - B

This weekend's readings have the faithful moving on, "shaking the dust from their shoes," and focusing on mission. In preparation for Sunday's sermons, I came across this passage in IMAGES OF JESUS by Roman Catholic Benedictine theologian, Anselm Grun (given to me on as a gift at my priestly ordination...ten years ago...by the charming and inspiring Sr. Lucille DeStefano.). It helped me to empathize with more traditionalist Christians, as well as to be confident in radical hospitality and pure affection for all humanity.

Some conservative Christians use Jesus' capacity for enmity to justify the way in which they give offence everywhere. But there's also a danger here. If we use Jesus' experience of enmity to justify every conflict in which we get involved, we become blind to our own role in the conflict. Perhaps we give offense because we're incapable of understanding others, and are blind to their true concerns. Some people attempt to claim that their Pharisaism is an attitude of Jesus. When they experience resistance or criticism they hide behind the argument that Jesus, too, wasn't popular with everyone. Such identification with Jesus is always dangerous. It makes us blind to ourselves. I am not Jesus. I am not as transparent and clear as Jesus. So I must first check whether I've got needlessly involved in a confrontation with other people, whether I've simply been stubborn and incapable of understanding them, and whether I've hurt them. Only when I've examined myself sufficiently will I be able to recognize whether the enmity that I experience springs from the other person's hardheartedness or my own narrow-mindedness.

However, if I remain honest about myself, time and again I will have experiences similar to those of Jesus. If I speak of God's goodness I will be accused of being to lax. If I proclaim Jesus' mercy I will be told that my attitude will land me in hell. Such enmity corresponds to Jesus' experiences. When Jesus speaks authentically of God, he arouses anger and hatred in those with a narrow image of God who feel unsettled by him. Those who speak out will always also encounter enmity. Jesus gives me the courage to show myself as I am, to express myself and my quest for God without seeking to please everyone.

Anselm Grun, IMAGES OF JESUS, "The Jesus Who Is Capable Of Enmity," pp.. 36-37. 

I put it to you, and I leave it to you!

Peace/Salaam/Shalom,

Fr. Shawn

Pentecost 2015

You've got to be taught to hate and fear,

You've got to be taught, from year to year.

It's got to be drummed in your dear little ear

You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught to be afraid

Of people whose eyes are oddly made,

And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,

You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught before it's too late,

Before you are six or seven or eight,

To hate all the people your relatives hate,

You've got to be carefully taught!
- Oscar Hammerstein II, lyricist, SOUTH PACIFIC

The heartbreak in Charleston, South Carolina this week is on many of our minds. When we heard the news of the horrific attack on a group at the AME church who were engaged in a bible study that ended in the deaths of nine faithful, and by all accounts, caring individuals, there were no words. As details from the killings continue to be revealed, many of us are overwhelmed with emotions – some sadness, some anger, some confusion, and some, of course, with a deep desire for retribution and justice.

My mind, of course, linked to the lyrics of a Broadway musical. In 1949, the legendary musical team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II brought their award-winning adaptation of James A. Michner's TALES OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC to the stage with SOUTH PACIFIC, a sweeping love story set in World War II. While many more immediately might immediately recall the songs Some Enchanted Evening, or I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair, or There is Nuthin' Like A Dame, I was drawn to a song that is, even now, sometimes cut from performance: You've Got To Be Carefully Taught. In the second act of the musical, Lt. Cable is confronted by Emile Debecque who asks why his love interest, Nellie Forbush, has such aversion to his biracial children to his first wife, a Polynesian woman. Cable is overcome with his own self-loathing, and confesses that, “...it's not something you're born with...” but something that is intrinsically part of many's upbringings. As he sings, he confronts his own racial prejudice and hatred, and the audience, too, must also be confronted.

The song's inclusion in the musical almost brought about the downfall of the show. Many producers were concerned that the message was to controversial for audiences, and that potential supporters, particularly in southern theatres, would not book touring companies or produce the show because of its clear condemnation of racism. Many in the US had linked anti-racist rhetoric to communist principles. In Georgia, for example, a bill was introduced outlawing entertainment containing “an underlying philosophy inspired by Moscow.” But the authors were stubborn, and refused to allow the song to be removed, as it was in integral part of the show.

While we will continue to wrestle with questions regarding the mental state of the attacker, his behaviors and statements before the murders, the acquisition of the weapon used to commit this horrific act, and the correct response to create safer public spaces, one thing simply cannot be argued or explained away: this person was carefully taught – by his family, by his teachers, by his friends, by media, by society, by history – to hate. And his hate is more than mere distrust or aversion; it is a hate that allowed him to take the lives of others even after he was treated by those victims with caring and welcome.

Our response must be assume our responsibility, as followers of Jesus Christ, to counter that hateful teaching with the teaching of welcome, hospitality, concern, equality, justice, and love. It was radical in the first century; it is, in some parts of the world, just as radical today. We have to talk about it with our young people. We have to talk about it ourselves. We have to show it in how we live our lives and open are arms to all who are different from us.

Years of teaching of hatred are not easy to overcome, if they can be overcome at all. However, complacency in the face of racial intolerance does not follow the example of Jesus, who not only called out hatred, but confronted it with radical, unconditional love and self-sacrifice. The struggle for equality and justice is not one that was fought and one in the last century; it may well be the eternal struggle for all of human history. It is our responsibility and charge to engage this struggle and do what we can to leave the world more loving, more accepting than it was before our first entrance on the stage.

In the peace of Christ,

Fr. Shawn

Lent 2 2015

A few years back, someone asked me what my Biblical "Life Verse" was. I had not even thought about what verse might guide my life - I doubted if I would have a single verse that would guide a minute of a typical, hectic day. But in the midst of the search, during a vacation bible school that Carly Rowe and I were coordinating at the Cathedral, we came a cross a song that was based on a verse from the prophet Micah. The chorus of the verse was, "Act justly, love mercy, walk humbly, humbly with your God." Naturally, those words lifted in song by elementary voices made the verse irresistible and powerful.

Our New Revised Version of the text of Micah 6:8 is a little different:

He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
   and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
   and to walk humbly with your God?

When I read the words from my study Bible, I felt I had been hit by lightning. All of my life, I have tried to do what is right, what is fair, what is just, and to encourage it in others. All of my life, I have tried to love kindness, to show kindness to others, to encourage that right action in others, and to provide safe and healthy environments where kindness is normal. And as a person who has been given much by God and by others, through industry, study, and development, I have always said that all of my gifts are God's, and I am humbly allowed to share them with others.

At this time, however, through several prompts around me, I am drawn to the requirement that I "do justice." The news is filled with injustices that seem insurmountable: the economic injustices of Wall Street who engage in risky profit-driven practices which continue to put 99% of the population's welfare, industry, and lives at stake. The social injustices of our criminal justice and penal systems that has created an income line placing fines on those who are arrested and incarcerated. The paternalistic injustice that allows wealth to corrupt, and for the corrupt to become powerful, and for that power to prevent wealth from effecting the common good.

I and others from our church attended the Inter-Church Ministries of Erie County's continuing education event, "Creating Common Good: A Practical Conference for Economic Equality," partnered with the Trinity Wall Street (TEC) Institute, which presents conferences, workshops, and extraordinary dialogues for in which people of all faiths (and even none at all) share visions and ideas on how to make this world a better, safer, and holier place. Hearing the words of Dr. Cornell West, Barbara Ehrenreich, and The Most Reverent Justin Welby (our own Archbishop of Canterbury) was inspiring, unsettling, and challenging.

++Justin provided a statement which resonated especially with me: "Complacent, lazy churches accept inequality without challenge." It took me aback. I believe that we, in our outreach, are doing our best to countermand the course of injustice in wealth distribution. We support our local food banks, we extend our hands to needy beyond our borders through our regular contributions to the the Episcopal Relief and Development, we have opened our church building to those who have a spiritual and educational need.

But coupled with the Micah "What does the LORD require of you..." is a reminder that it is our charge to DO justice, not to tolerate injustice. As we can certainly celebrate our impact on our community, our region, our world, we must always ask ourselves if there is something else, another word to be spoken, another action to be done, which might also bring God's will for humanity and the world into being.

In the evening, after this provocative conference, I attended the Erie Playhouse's production of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. By the end, I was inspired, upset, and challenged - another patron said to me, "This play is so timely." My reply was, "Yes. It is timely. And it SHOULDN'T BE." And then I asked myself, what can I do to DO justice, love KINDNESS, and still walk HUMBLY - and do all with GOD.

In Christ's Peace,

Shawn+

Lent 1 2015

Jesus' temptation reveals the way in which the Son of God is Messiah, contrary to the way Satan proposes to him and the way men wish to attribute to him. This is why Christ vanquished the Tempter for us: “For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sinning” (Heb. 4:15).  By the solemn forty days of Lent the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert. - Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church/CCC 540

This year, I have a different outlook on Lent, thanks to a student who approached me on Ash Wednesday and asked what smudged foreheads were all about. He hadn’t really been a part of any faith community, though his family were certainly spiritual. I realized that the notion of humbling before God, examination of personal sinfulness, desire to reconcile for being a miserable offender, etc., were just not going to be rhetorically effective.

I read again the words at imposition – “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” There was a time before we were, and there will be a time after we are gone. And between those times is the time of our existence, when we are created from the fantastic elements of the universe. Being created in itself can be a humbling experience, but not in the way that you might expect. It means also knowing that we are individual – individually made, individually gifted, individually provided with insights and resources which can have a positive impact on our co-sojourners and on ourselves.

So I said to my student, “You are created in love – you are invited to take time to think about the wonderful gifts you have been given, and to ask yourself if you are living into your created potential. The ashes are not a sign of false humility as much as they are a sign of synergistic vitality.”

In the Roman Catholic catechism, this perspective, while occluded by sin-language, is also shared. We are invited in these forty days of Lent to journey with Jesus into a place apart, where we can have a more clear perspective of our created-ness, and see if we are living as God has created us to live. Not as the challenges of this world would wish us to live, or in ways that other people think we should live. Lent is a time for personal examination – but maybe not just of brokenness. This Lent I am looking at the gifts I have been given by God and asking myself if I am prepared, as Jesus was prepared, to use those gifts for the betterment, not only of my relationship to my Creator, but also to my companions on life’s journey.

I invite you, too, to journey to the desert and celebrate your gifts and God’s invitation.

Peace,

Fr. Shawn