Devotional

Zealous much? Paul, Character of God

Dining with St. Paul - A lovely salad plate to go with your Spode.

I have mentioned before, three years ago, in fact, that I am working on a devotional book called “Characters of God.” This Lent I led our Adult Forum class (sounds vaguely naughty when I write that out) at our church through several of these chapters. This past Sunday was Paul and I don’t believe that I have ever shared it on this site. Keep in mind this was originally written to be read aloud at a silent retreat (oxymoronic, I know, but if you have ever been on one you know the drill, leader reads a meditation, you go off and meditate). There is much that I would rewrite today, but I thought I would simply post it as is. I hope it is useful during the Lenten season.

Acts 7.54 When they heard these things, they became enraged and ground their teeth at Stephen. 55 But filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 “Look,” he said, “I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” 57 But they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him. 58 Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he died. 1 And Saul approved of their killing him.

That day a severe persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria. 2 Devout men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation over him. 3 But Saul was ravaging the church by entering house after house; dragging off both men and women, he committed them to prison.

Acts 22.3 “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, educated strictly according to our ancestral law, being zealous for God, just as all of you are today. 4 I persecuted this Way up to the point of death by binding both men and women and putting them in prison, 5 as the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me.”

Gal. 1.13 You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it. 14 I advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. 15 But when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles….

Rom. 10.1 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. 2 I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but it is not enlightened.

We do not know very much about Paul before he was confronted by Christ on the road to Damascus. What we do know is contained in these few passages.[1] As “Saul” he was a man devoted to “the traditions of my ancestors” and he used all his power in order to stamp out heresy and to keep heterodox views of Judaism from spreading. This included jailing people and perhaps even having them put to death. (Note the phrase “I persecuted this Way up to the point of death” [Acts 22.4], which might suggest that he did not actually seek their execution, but that may simply be a reflection of the fact that the Jews did not have the authority to execute anyone during Roman times.)

Saul’s zeal took him to great extremes and the consequences were dire for those whom he opposed. We can all think of various moments in history, sadly including present day situations, where an individual’s or group’s commitment to their ideology and theology led them to commit atrocities. And it is easy for us to condemn such actions. We hear frequently within our own church about those who are encouraging hatred of others under the guise of defending orthodoxy and our minds swirl with images of Galileo and Cranmer. But is zeal always bad? That is a much harder question to ask.

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Mary’s challenge, what to do when Jesus leaves?

Jul 18th, 2010

by Christian Brady.

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This morning, as usual, our priest gave a very good sermon. The Gospel was Luke 10:38-42 (of course preaching on the Gospel is a bit of a copout, the OT texts were particularly good and challenging Amos 8 and Psalm 52) and he preached the expected trope that Mary was doing the better thing by recognizing that Jesus’ time with her was fleeting. “Mary understand that God was with them and that this was a unique time. The dinner could go to hell. Let the meat burn, the potatoes go dry, and the desert stay frozen. God was with them and the ordinary had to be set aside.”¹

While very true and it is also true that we, like Martha, are often far too focused upon the busy, ordinary things of life and forget that we are to be about God’s work, but his statement made me wonder what Mary did once Jesus left. Presumably at some point we really ought to get the washing done and prepare proper meals. I am not stating anything new, this is a challenge we find in Paul’s letters and throughout the church history. It is still a real challenge. It is easy to say, “When Jesus is with us we should drop everything else and focus on him.” And…what about when Jesus isn’t sitting down for tea in our house?

I believe that is one of the biggest challenges that any Christian faces. What to do in the ordinary day-to-day, recognizing God is with us and yet still having to write that paper, grade those exams, and get the kids off to school? How do we consecrate the common?

I can’t resist pointing out that he is British. Perhaps that explains English cooking, they are recognizing that Christ is always with them! [↩]

We shall fear no longer sin, death, or the stock market.

Apr 12th, 2009

by Christian Brady.

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This is my sermon for this Easter morning.

Easter Sunday, Year B

Acts 10:34-43
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Mark 16:1-8

We shall fear no longer sin, death, or the stock market.

Alleluia Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
This morning is a time to rejoice, a time of relief and joy. It feels as if even the weather has cooperated. Maundy Thursday and Good Friday were gray and cold, a pall upon the land befitting a time of mourning. And yet this morning the sun breaks through bright and clear. All creation seems to break forth in Hosannas!

And so this morning we rejoice in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and we, like Mary and Mary, now should go forth and declare that Christ is risen! Isn’t that just what they did, go and tell the others that Jesus had been raised from the dead? No, not exactly.

So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. – Mark 16:8

Not really the ending you probably expected from this morning’s Gospel reading. They did not rejoice or thank the Lord, they didn’t even follow the directions of the angel but instead were scared out of their wits.

But who can really blame them? It is all too easy for us to imagine the grief and the anguish they had gone through. They had seen their friend and teacher brutally beaten and killed. Such a taking of life is always a tragedy, but they had hoped and expected so much from Jesus and it was all destroyed in a matter of hours, his life and their hopes and dreams. So when they arrive at the tomb they find it impossible to believe that Jesus has risen. How could it possibly be true? They want to believe and yet…they cannot. So they flee the tomb in terror, afraid to tell anyone of Jesus’ resurrection.

This year has been a time of great mourning and suffering for all of us. We have lost those we love dearly, have seen friends and family become seriously ill, and all of us have been effected by the economic crisis. Some of our hardships we brought upon ourselves, some are the result of the greed of others, all of it is because we live in a sinful and broken world. Like Mary and Mary we mourn those who are no longer with us and we fear our own future. This grief and fear can keep us from living, it can keep us from accepting and recognizing that the resurrection of Jesus changes everything, it changes sin, death… and even how the stock market should affect us.

The resurrection of Jesus changes everything because it affirms that he is the Christ, the Messiah sent from God to bring forgiveness of our sins and to heal this broken world. His resurrection is the triumph of life over death. Later in the same chapter of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians that was read this morning he declares

“Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Cor. 15.54-56)

The resurrection is our victory over death. Oh yes, someday these perishable bodies will crumble and fall. All too often we see the frailty of these bodies and weep, as people die far too young, as they suffer with disease, hunger, and war. And if this world is all that we have, then we would, we should despair. But this world is not the end and this body shall someday be replaced, “for this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality” (1 Cor. 15.53). The resurrection of Jesus is but the first, just as he has overcome death so shall we for we have died with Christ and so shall we live in Christ.

The resurrection of Jesus is our resurrection and that means that everything has changed for us as well. We mark that transformation in each of our lives through baptism, the symbol given by God of our own death and rebirth in Christ. This morning we will welcome a new child into the household of faith and renew our own baptismal vows. Notice how the imagery and our liturgy speak of our rebirth in Christ. This is the power of the resurrection in our own lives. Because Christ lived as an example for us and died to take away our sins now we are able to live a new, transformed life in him through his resurrection.
In Paul’s letter to the Romans he writes

Rom. 6:3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

This morning we celebrate not only the resurrection of Jesus but our own resurrection as well. If this new year is like all that have passed there will still be wars and poverty, disease and death, suffering and sorrow. But because of the resurrection of Jesus we know that none of this is the end, while these perishable bodies will pass away we will ultimately be raised eternal life with Christ. And we know that there is new life for us in Christ yet while we continue to live in this world for through baptism we have been born again and we are already being transformed by the Holy Spirit. Death has no sting, the stock market cannot rule our lives, illness may hinder us and death separate us from loved ones, but only for a time. In the words of the apostle Paul,

8 If we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Amen.

Latterday Latitudinarians Lumbering over the Limen

Oct 19th, 2008

by Christian Brady.

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George F. Will has an excellent and fair summary of where the Episcopal church finds itself. You can find the article in the Washington Post: A Faith’s Dwindling Following. The summary is fairly straightforward:

As the church’s doctrines have become more elastic, the church has contracted. It celebrates an “inclusiveness” that includes fewer and fewer members.

He is, of course, not saying anything new or that we have not observed before. I have often marveled at how the so-called “progressives” in our church (I say “so-called” because such a term, like so many in politics, is used not to define oneself, but the other; the opposite of “progressive” is, of course, “regressive”) are so confounded as to why evangelical churches with a fairly straightforward message of repentance, acceptance of forgiveness, and Bible study have been growing so rapidly while our numbers dwindle. The answer is simple. Very few people want a religious community where “anything goes.”

People fundamentally understand that not everything can be equally right. We go to churches, synagogues, and mosques to hear guidance and direction. We know we aren’t perfect and recognize there must be a better way. The last thing we want to hear is “your OK just the way you are, don’t change a thing” because we know that we are not OK. A newer generation won’t get the reference, but we might say “I’m not OK and you’re not OK and that’s OK.” At the core of all the Bible and the Gospel particularly is the assertion that we and this creation were made for something much, much better than what we are now. We need clarity of message so that we can decide whether or not we agree with it. Say what you will about Willow Creek Bible Church, you know what they believe. You may not agree with them, which is fine, but you know what they believe. What does the Episcopal Church believe? Hmm. That’s a tough one….

In many ways I think that the Episcopal Church would be far, far better off if it simply decided to draw a clear line in the sand regarding the role and authority of Scripture. The church would probably lose members and it might gain them, but at least being decisive would allow those seeking a community of faith to know upon what (or whom) the Episcopal Church based their faith. Be hot or be cold, but no one finds luke wark palatable.

Charlie Brown, what is the purpose of man?

Aug 16th, 2008

by Christian Brady.

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That is the first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism (that I had to study and reply to before I joined the Presbyterian church as a youth).

Q. 1. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God,[1] and to enjoy him forever.[2]

I am sure that you all are aware of Charles Schultz’s (1922-2000) personal Christian convictions and that it seeped into his Peanuts strip from time to time. This week’s reruns have CB addressing just this question, but his answer is hardly catechetical.

It seems to me that Lucy and Linus’ responses are rather profound, given CB’s view that our purpose is “to make others happy.” If that is our sole or primary purpose then indeed somebody (everyone) isn’t doing their job. Now on the other hand, I suppose we could say that this is just “the second great command” put in new terms and I would accept that, but it is given primacy in this account. I think the order (love God first then we are able to love our neighbors, and even ourselves, properly) is rather important.