Ponderings on a Faith Journey

There is a tendency for people in every age to try to envision something from the past in contemporary terms. Therefore, when my own denominational tradition was born at the turn of the nineteenth century on the "American frontier," the founders tried to "restore" the worship and practices of the early church, but did so in 19th century garb. That's understandable.  If we are to learn from the practices of the early church, it's important to remember that we probably won't be able to completely "restore" what went before.
I've been reflecting on the Eucharist and the Lord's Table (the recent lectionary reflections on John 6 can be added into this conversation, but this will be the third to draw upon Dennis Smith's From Symposium to Eucharist: The Banquet in the Early Christian World. What I want to take notice of here today is Smith's point that Pauline congregations likely worshiped at the tables where they ate their dinner. …

John 6:56-69 Common English Bible (CEB) 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in them.57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me lives because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. It isn’t like the bread your ancestors ate, and then they died. Whoever eats this bread will live forever.” 59 Jesus said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.60 Many of his disciples who heard this said, “This message is harsh. Who can hear it?”61 Jesus knew that the disciples were grumbling about this and he said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 What if you were to see the Human One[a] going up where he was before? 63 The Spirit is the one who gives life and the flesh doesn’t help at all. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 Yet some of you don’t believe.” Jesus knew from the beginning who wouldn’t believe and the one who would betray him. 65 He said, “For this reason I sa…

ISAIAH FOR EVERYONE (Old Testament for Everyone). By John Goldingay. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2015. Xii + 260 pages.
            The book of Isaiah has long been a flashpoint of controversy within the Christian community. There are several reasons for this. One has to do with authorship. Was there one author, an eighth century prophet in Judah who answered the call of God in the year that Uzziah died (Isaiah 6:1), or were there several, some of whom lived in the post-exilic world? References to Cyrus were seen by some as proof that Isaiah was truly a prophet who could foresee events centuries ahead of time.  This becomes important because Isaiah has been looked to for prophetic insight into the coming of Jesus the Messiah. Thus, the translation of Isaiah 7:14 has proven to be a matter of great concern. Was the prophet pointing to a person born to a virgin or was he speaking of a young woman, perhaps the wife of the king, who was about to bear a son who would be seen as…

Continuing with my conversation about the Eucharist and the development of a theology of the Open Table, I want to once again draw from Dennis Smith's book From Symposium to Eucharist. I am still reading the book and I have questions about his approach, but I do think that he is on to something by suggesting that the Eucharistic practices of the first couple of generations owe much to existing Greco-Roman banqueting practices (though modified by Christian needs). In other words the forms and rules of typical banqueting practices served as a foundation, on  to which a distinctively Christian vision was stamped. In the earlier post I noted the role of boundary setting in these meal practices. Smith goes into great detail showing how meal practices were marked by boundary setting. Thus, while Jews could dine with Gentiles, there were dietary issues involved. There was also social stratification involved as well. As the old adage puts it -- "birds of a feather flock together.&qu…

I would say that a majority of progressive/liberal leaning Mainline Protestant churches practice an open table of some sort. We're long past the day when denominational differences preclude coming to the Table. For many congregations the invitation may be given to all baptized Christians or perhaps simply Christians in general. Others of us, believe that the Table is open to all, drawing the circle of inclusion as wide as possible. It's not that we don't take the Table seriously, we simply believe that it is inappropriate to bar people from the Table.  We may do this as an expression of hospitality (or simply out of a desire to be nice), but do we have a theology of the Open Table?  That is a question that I am pursuing with some earnestness with members of the congregation (we're working on a worship  vitality grant application that seeks to link our Table practices with our Missional calling). 

It is often said that the church and with it Christianity is on the way out. Christendom is dead. The church is irrelevant.  You're heard it said, right?  Maybe you've said it yourself.  But it appears that this sentiment isn't new. Consider this reflection by Burris Jenkins, writing in his memoir published in 1939.  Jenkins was pastor of Community Christian Church in Kansas City. He was a liberal's liberal. He was Disciple, but he didn't consider denominational lables to be that important.
In the concluding chapter, as he's finishing up his life story, he reflects in a brief paragraph about the church and its future.  I thought I'd share it with you.
Ah, but isn't the church losing out? Isn't religion on the wane? Aren't people outgrowing it, becoming absorbed in the matieral, the mundane? Ask history -- the Dark Ages, the Middle Ages, all the ages. The church has its ups and downs, its depressions and recessions. Tim eand again the populace an…

Flesh and Blood Communion

John 6:51-58 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” 52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; 55 for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. 56 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” ****        …

THE SPIRIT OF GRACE: A Guide for Study and Devotion (The Heart of Christian Faith).  By Alister E. McGrath. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2015. X + 115 pages.
                With this volume Alister McGrath nears the close of his five volume The Heart of Christian Faith, which offers a basic introduction to what one might call traditional/orthodox Christian faith as outlined in the Apostles Creed. The first book in the series—Faith and Creeds—laid out the value and purpose of the creeds.  McGrath starts with the premise that what one believes is important, for belief forms the foundation of one’s world view, which allows for the moral life to be experienced. McGrath, who serves as the Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion at the University of Oxford insists that faith as outlined in the creeds provides an anchor for life.
                McGrath is an interesting person. He’s a British evangelical, an Anglican Priest, a theologian, and a scientist (his first ed…

What do I do for fun? Well, I write things!! So, here I am on vacation and feeling the urge to write. So in my defense I share a word from one of the more intriguing figures in the history of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the Rev. Burris Jenkins, long time pastor of what is today Community Christian Church in Kansas City, Missouri.  Here is his word of advice to clergy (you must remember that in the 1930s most mainline clergy were male and that the idea of inclusive language had yet to emerge): Every man should possess an avocation, a side line, something to amuse himself with and help release the strain of living and working. Ministers who can no longer play even croquet can always write. It is great fun; and as Robert Louis Stevenson said, it is worth while even if one never publishes a line of it, just for the joy of the working.  [Where My Caravan has Rested, (Chicago: Willett, Clark, and Company, 1939), p. 90]. The great thing about contemporary technology is that yo…

This is likely the first and last mention of Ted Nugent in one of my blog posts. I'm not a fan of his music or his politics. That said, my friend Luke Allen wrote a blog post with that title and I'd like to engage it, because Luke has raised some important questions for those of us on the left side of center, especially those of us in the church! The post isn't about Ted Nugent, but about the realities of white rural America and attitudes among white liberals toward what some term red necks or white trash -- often the white working poor. 
Luke places himself on the liberal side of the political spectrum, but he grew up in small town Michigan. In recent years he has spent considerable time doing urban and suburban community organizing (I partnered with him and another pastor in launching what became the Metro Coalition of Congregations).  Luke has a strong passion for communities like the one he was raised in, even though he lives in the urban/suburban part of southeast Mi…

THE DISCIPLES AT THE LORD'S TABLE: Prayers Over Bread and Cup across 150 Years of Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Worship. By Gerard Moore. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2015. X + 106 pages.
                It would be appropriate to call the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) a Table-centered communion. From our earliest days as a movement, which spans at least three major groupings in the United States, we have gathered weekly at the Lord’s Table (if not more often). The symbol that represents the denomination is a red chalice with the St. Andrew’s cross imposed upon it. Our liturgy of the Table tends to be simple and among major denominations the Disciples are unique in that they do not require an ordained minister present at the table to consecrate the elements. Indeed, until recently the table was the domain of lay elders. Today most Disciples churches will have the Minister preside, offering the words of institution, while elders will offer the prayer over th…

The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) has made the pursuit of Christian unity one of our foundational principles. Thus, we are an ecumenical people. This ecumenical principle has been at the heart of my own spirituality, in large part because my own spiritual journey has taken me to several different denominational traditions, all of which have contributed to my identity. 
With that in mind I would like to share the Rev. Jose Morales' Stalcup Lecture on Christian Unity entitled "One in the Spirit," which is sponsored by the Council on Christian Unity and Brite Divnity School. Jose speaks here of an ecumenizing spirituality that involves lament over our division, our self-emptying of self (church), and movement toward unity of all life -- a new heaven and new earth.
Jose is a good friend with whom I share a passion for theology and its importance to the life of the church. He is currently a Ph.D. student in theology at Claremont School of Theology and Director of Pa…

John 6:35, 41-51 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.41 Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 43 Jesus answered them, “Do not complain among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they d…

THE GOD WE WORSHIP: An Exploration of Liturgical Theology (Kantzer Lectures in Revealed Theology). By Nicholas Wolterstorff.  Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2015. Xi + 180 pages.

Theology asks the question: Who is God? Liturgical theology asks the question who is the God confessed and celebrated in the liturgy? That is, how did the creators of the liturgy understand God as they laid out that liturgy? Yale philosophical theologian Nicholas Wolterstorff has written an important book that seeks to make explicit what is implicit in the liturgy. Liturgical theology is different from other forms of theology in that it focuses its attention on lived experience of worship. It is a corporate theology that influences communities of faith as they seek to live out the Christian life. This is a form of what Wolterstorff calls “church-reflexive” theology. It overlaps other forms of theology, but it is undertaken for very different reasons, reasons that are important to the life of th…

2 Samuel 11:26-12:15

Last Sunday you heard the story of how King David -- who was supposed to be a righteous king and the writer of great spiritual hymns -- took a woman from her husband, raped her, and then had her husband killed to cover up the fact. Bathsheba’s husband was an honorable man who refused to share the comforts of home when his comrades were at the front fighting for the king who had stolen his wife. As I understand it, last Sunday Rick talked about power and how it can corrupt.
We human beings have this tendency, when we accumulate great power, to believe that we’re above the law. We can do whatever we want when we want, and no one can stop us. Sometimes we’re brazen about it. We don’t mind if people see us squishing the little guy. At other times we decide to project an image of uprightness to cover the dark side of our lives. After all, reputations do matter.