Advent: Come, O Come Emmanuel!

The word Advent means "coming" or "arrival." The focus of the entire season is the celebration of the birth of Jesus the Christ in his First Advent, and the anticipation of the return of Christ the King in his Second Advent. Thus, Advent is far more than simply marking a 2,000 year old event in history. It is celebrating a truth about God, the revelation of God in Christ whereby all of creation might be reconciled to God. That is a process in which we now participate, and the consummation of which we anticipate. Scripture reading for Advent will reflect this emphasis on the Second Advent, including themes of accountability for faithfulness at His coming, judgment on sin, and the hope of eternal life.

In this double focus on past and future, Advent also symbolizes the spiritual journey of individuals and a congregation, as they affirm that Christ has come, that He is present in the world today, and that He will come again in power. That acknowledgment provides a basis for Kingdom ethics, for holy living arising from a profound sense that we live "between the times" and are called to be faithful stewards of what is entrusted to us as God’s people. So, as the church celebrates God’s inbreaking into history in the Incarnation, and anticipates a future consummation to that history for which "all creation is groaning awaiting its redemption," it also confesses its own responsibility as a people commissioned to "love the Lord your God with all your heart" and to "love your neighbor as yourself."


Advent is marked by a spirit of expectation, of anticipation, of preparation, of longing. There is a yearning for deliverance from the evils of the world, first expressed by Israelite slaves in Egypt as they cried out from their bitter oppression. It is the cry of those who have experienced the tyranny of injustice in a world under the curse of sin, and yet who have hope of deliverance by a God who has heard the cries of oppressed slaves and brought deliverance!


It is that hope, however faint at times, and that God, however distant He sometimes seems, which brings to the world the anticipation of a King who will rule with truth and justice and righteousness over His people and in His creation. It is that hope that once anticipated, and now anticipates anew, the reign of an Anointed One, a Messiah, who will bring peace and justice and righteousness to the world.


Part of the expectation also anticipates a judgment on sin and a calling of the world to accountability before God. We long for God to come and set the world right! Yet, as the prophet Amos warned, the expectation of a coming judgment at the "Day of the Lord" may not be the day of light that we might want, because the penetrating light of God’s judgment on sin will shine just as brightly on God’s people.


Because of this important truth, especially in the Eastern Orthodox Churches, the Season of Advent has been a time of fasting and penitence for sins similar to the Season of Lent. However, a different emphasis for the season of Advent has gradually unfolded in much of the rest of the church. The season of Advent has come to be celebrated more in terms of expectation or anticipation. Yet, the anticipation of the Coming of the Messiah throughout the Old Testament and Judaism was not in connection with remembrance of sins. Rather, it was in the context of oppression and injustice, the longing for redemption, not from personal guilt and sin but from the systemic evil of the world expressed in evil empires and tyrants. It is in that sense that all creation groans for its redemption as we witness the evil that so dominates our world (Rom 8:18-25).


Of course, there is the problem of longing for vindication from an evil world when we are contributors to that evil. This is the power of the images of Amos when he warns about longing for the "Day of the Lord" that will really be a day of darkness (Amos 5:18-20). Still, even with Amos’ warning the time of Advent is one of expectation and anticipation, a longing for God's actions to restore all things and vindicate the righteous. This is why during Advent we as Christians also anticipate the Second Coming as a twin theme of the season. So, while some church traditions focus on penitence during Advent, and there remains a place for that, the spirit of that expectation from the Old Testament is better captured with a joyous sense of expectancy. Rather than a time of mourning and fasting, Advent is celebrated as a time of joy and happiness as we await the coming of the King.


There will be time enough during the rest of the journey through the Church Year to remember our sins. It begins in Epiphany when we hear about the brotherhood of the Kingdom, and realize our failure to effect it. Then as we move toward and through Lent we realize that the coming of Jesus served more to lay bare our own sin than it did to vindicate our righteousness. There will be time to shed Peter's bitter tears as we realize that what started with such possibility and expectation has apparently ended in such failure.


It is only as we experience that full cycle, beginning with unbridled joy in Advent that slowly fades into the realization of what we have done with and to the Christ, that the awful reality of Good Friday can have its full impact. And in that realization we can finally be ready to hear the Good News on Resurrection Sunday! That is the journey that the disciples took. And so there is value in taking the same journey beginning with the anticipation and joy of Advent!


So, we celebrate with gladness the great promise in the Advent, yet knowing that there is also a somber tone as the theme of threat is added to the theme of promise. This is reflected in some of the Scripture readings for Advent, in which there is a strong prophetic tone of accountability and judgment on sin. But this is also faithful to the role of the Coming King who comes to rule, save, and judge the world.


Because of the dual themes of threat and promise, Advent is a time of preparation that is marked by prayer. While Lent is characterized by fasting and a spirit of penitence, Advent’s prayers are prayers of humble devotion and commitment, prayers of submission, prayers for deliverance, prayers from those walking in darkness who are awaiting and anticipating a great light (Isa 9)!


The spirit of Advent is expressed well in the parable of the bridesmaids who are anxiously awaiting the coming of the Bridegroom (Matt 25:1-13). There is profound joy at the Bridegroom’s expected coming. And yet a warning of the need for preparation echoes through the parable.


Come, O Come, Emmanuel!

Christ the King ends the liturgical calendar today

Today the church's liturgical calendar concludes with Mass dedicated to Christ the King. Today’s celebration of Mass reminds us that no matter how prevalent evil may become in this world, it is still God and His goodness that will triumph in love and grace.

As we celebrate the Solemnity of Christ our King, let us always keep the message of Sunday’s Gospel reading in our minds. He is a King, yet aServant. He is Lord, yet identifies Himself with the lowly. He is a God who became like us so that we might enjoy more fully the dignity that we have as His children. He is truly different from so many leaders of our time. There are leaders who enjoy being “set apart” from others – enjoying the privileges that go with their position or rank. Sunday’s celebration gives us hope that one day the lowly will be exalted and the mighty and the powerful will be thrown out of their thrones.

Jesus Christ, our King and our God, show us the path to righteousness. Help us to seek you in our brothers and sisters, especially those who are the lost, the least, and the last.

Why being righteous and doing right matters.

Over the last few weeks I've been doing a lot of praying and reflecting on where righteousness has gone for Americans in their daily lives.  You know, doing the right thing because it's the right thing to do.  Everyone would agree that evil can succeed when people stand idly by in blissful self-created ignorance.  Nowadays it seems that many among us have entered into an equally abhorent and insideous mode of doing just the bare minimum required of them by law, regulation or rule and do so not as a point of righteousness, but rather as a matter of "cover my ass," sort of speak.


Yes, Joe Paterno is a good man who ran an honest, big-time college-football program, donated generously to his school and was active in the university community. He's idolized by his players and Penn State alumni alike.  Back in 2002 when a graduate assistant reported an apparent sexual assault in the team showers between a young boy and Jerry Sandusky, Paterno followed Penn State procedure and reported the allegation to the school's athletic director.  But that was it. No follow-up, no checking back to make sure the incident has been reported to the authorities.  He "covered his ass," but didn't really act righteously.  He fell well short of what many believe, rightly, was his a moral responsibility. 


The matter became public with a graphic grand-jury report. Sandusky has been charged with abusing nine young boys so far, and it appears that his predatory behavior may have many more victims.


Suddenly there's apparent righteous outrage.  Following charges of perjury and failure to report the abuses against athletic director Tim Curley, he took a leave of absence, and a university vice president, Gary Schultz, then retired. Finally the board of trustees fired Penn State's president, Graham Spanier, and Paterno himself, even though he had asked to be able to finish out the season, his 46th as head coach.  Keep in mind that as this unfolded both Spanier and Paterno appeared to be more interested in "damage control" than acting righteously.


Even so, the trustees had no choice, but their actions perhaps weren't righteous.  It was yet again more "cover your ass" and "damage control" as the police investigation is ongoing, as is one by the U.S. Department of Education for possible federal offenses, and there will be the inevitable lawsuits.


Also, it is hard to escape the queasy thought that there are more revelations to come. Paterno's parting words to the students who gathered outside his house in support were typical: Go home, study, get some sleep.  He told reporters in a statement: "This is a tragedy. It is one of the great sorrows of my life. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more."


What's the lesson to be learned?  Doing the right thing because it's the right thing to do ought to be our paramount moral obligation.  Righteous action is our obligation.  Forgo it, and evil succeeds in ruining the lives of victims and those who stand by in blissful, self-created ignorance.

Snapshots of Alister McGrath's Christianity: An Introduction - Chapter 4

This short summary was prepared as part of my postulancy studies for the Anglican Order of Preachers.

The fourth chapter of McGrath’s text, like the third chapter, offers an historical look at the development of the New Testament, as well as broad summary of its’ contents with a focus on Christ Jesus being the fulfillment of the Old Testament for both the Hebrew people of Israel and the gentile people of the world.  Like the Old Testament, the New Testament was first presented as spoken word, and much was transmitted between people in that way at that time. 

These texts were written at the end of the first century of the Common Era (CE) perhaps as a response to the deaths of those who knew Christ Jesus personally.  The desire to collect and preserve the happenings of his life, to clearly identify him as the fulfillment of Hebrew prophecy and to offer concrete and specific methods whereby Christians could live their day-to-day lives being faithful to God is the reason for the New Testament.  The New Testament is divided into a number of categories useful in understanding both the nature and content of each individual text within a particular place and set of circumstances.  It’s important to realize that because these texts compile various stories shared in an oral tradition, they are not historical in our post-postmodern sense of that term, nor were these texts meant to be history by their authors.  Instead, they are an opportunity to hand down to future generations what was considered essential in understanding who and what Christ Jesus represents to mankind and how salvation is achieved through grace as an unmerited gift of God.

What’s remarkable is that the order of the books in the New Testament are not indicative of when they were written, but rather ordered in a way that reflects how they may be used to teach the congregations of Christians about the faith for generations to come.  The Acts of the Apostles were likely written in the late 50s or early 60s CE.  The Epistles likewise were written around that same time.  Only later were the Gospels compiled and written.  The Gospel according to Mark was the first to be written in the late 60s CE, followed by both the Gospel according to Matthew and the Gospel according to Luke in the 70s CE.  The last to be written was Gospel according to John in the 80s CE. 

This means that approximately thirty years passed between the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus and the creation of the New Testament as written scripture.  This makes sense, however, in that those who knew Christ Jesus personally were sharing by spoken word these same stories in various congregations as shown in the Acts of the Apostles and in the Epistles.   Only as these evangelists died, either of age or as martyr, was there a great need to commit to writing the spoken word.  

It’s also interesting to note that the Gospel according to Mark may have been a primary source for the writers of the other Gospels along with various oral traditions known in the early church.   In regard to intended audience – meaning the time, place and persons to which these texts were written – content is also unique to each of the Gospels.  The Gospel according to Matthew was written for the benefit of Jewish Christians and stresses the continuity of between the Old Testament and the New Testament.   The Gospel according to Mark, however, was written for the benefit of Latin (Roman) gentiles and stresses that salvation is available to Jew and gentile alike.  The Gospel according to Luke is written for the benefit of Hellenistic (Greek) gentiles and stresses the ethic of caring for the poor and disadvantaged.  This fits with the lesser status of Hellenistic gentiles in the greater Roman Empire of that time when compared to their Roman overlords. 

The Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles are concerned with the congregations of Christians seeded through apostolic evangelism and missionary work of early evangelists.  Both Peter’s work to establish and grow the early church in Palestine and surrounding areas among the Jewish people is presented, along with Paul’s efforts to do the same among the gentiles in the Hellenistic east of the Roman Empire. 

The Epistles follow in order to provide encouragement, guidance, resolve disputes and establish a more robust theology for the early church.  Particularly important to the early church was Paul’s theology that by unmerited grace mankind is saved, rather than by action.  This isn’t to dismiss the requirement for righteousness, but rather makes clear that salvation is a gift given freely by a loving God to a sinful mankind apart from any act or work.  The importance of this was to open Christianity to gentiles as well as Jews. 

The New Testament ends with the Revelation of John, which could be considered a mystic work whereby John shares his visions as a method to encourage believers to keep their faith even in the midst of growing Roman persecution.  To me, this is the most misunderstood and misused text of the New Testament and receives far more attention from some Protestant churches fixated on preparing for the “end time” rather than on living the Christian life of agape love and charity.

Snapshots of Alister McGrath's Christianity: An Introduction - Chapter 3

This short summary was prepared as part of my postulancy studies for the Anglican Order of Preachers.

The third chapter of McGrath’s text offers both an historical look at the development of the Old Testament and a review of its contents both in relation to the Hebrew people of Israel (and Judah) and those who claimed those Scriptures as Christians.  It’s interesting to note that in the time of Christ Jesus and for several centuries before and after, the Hellenistic Jews of the time used the Septuagint Old Testament; that is, the Old Testament written in the common Greek of that period.  Another version written in Hebrew was used called the Masoretic text, which became the preferred text as the Christian use of the Septuagint text became more prevalent.  Most striking is that the Masoretic text was ordered in a way to end with Jewish kingship while the Septuagint text was structured to suggest the coming of a messiah. 

The Chapter also provides a summary of the canonization of the Old Testament by both Jews and Christians.  What I found most striking is that the Jewish canonization of the Old Testament was the work of Pharisee rabbis in the first century of the common era.  Fundamentally, Christians adopted the Septuagint as their canon for the Old Testament while Jews adopted the Masoretic as theirs.

The Scripture of the Old Testament offers an understanding of the Hebrew experience with the Divine and their belief in a special relationship between God and them as a people (and later as a nation-state).  This special relationship is shared in three ways:  laws whereby the people live according to God’s will, prophetical works whereby the people are encouraged to keep living according to God’s will, and wisdom writings that express God’s will.  It is important to remember that these scriptures were committed to writing in a time of exile for the Hebrew people so that even when far from their homeland and dispersed into foreign society they could retain and live into their faith.  The Pentateuch seems to be the heart of the Old Testament in that it creates the theology of the Hebrew people through an understanding of their special relationship with God in creation and the subsequent events of human history in which God has a direct presence.  Particularly important to the Hebrew people is the Exodus story whereby with God’s direct assistance and through his chosen representative they are freed from slavery in Egypt and in a covenant unique to Israel made the chosen people of God.  The history of the Hebrew people then follows with an evolution away from prophets – emissaries of God who remind the people to live righteously and in accord with the covenant – to the creation of the nation-state of Israel with a royal house.  This history continues to show the demise of the Israel nation-state through sin and political fracture continuing through exile and return to Jerusalem.    It’s a brilliant, impressive and marvelous statement of how the Hebrew people see themselves and more importantly how they see themselves in relation to God.

An equally engaging and inspiring part of the Old Testament are those books know for their wisdom.  These books offer not only remarkable common-sense to questions of life then and now, but also see to apply the Divine to the mysteries of our existence.  This is to say that these works of scripture bring the reader to a place of thoughtful introspection and reflection on matters both quite serious and sometimes mundane.  In addition, the Psalter offers words of awe, celebration, praise, and wonder regarding the complexities of human understanding and the incomprehensible nature of the Divine. 

The understanding that the Old Testament offers centers on the nation of our existence from creation to our present time.  It offers an explanation of both creation and how sin came into the world.  In fact, it offers the very definition of sin as human beings making the conscious choice to exercise the gift of free will in a way that separates human beings from God.  The scripture also presents the call of Israel as the people of God first through Abraham then Moses in a special covenant unique among all the peoples of the world.  The cycle of sin, judgment, and redemption is presented, and this forms the relationship between the Hebrews and God, as well as later between Christians and God.  The evolution of priesthood is presented together with kingship, both of which become very important in the theology of Christian faith.  In fact, Christians would offer that the Old Testament sets the stage on which the New Testament is revealed in the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Christ Jesus.

Snapshots of Alister McGrath's Christianity: An Introduction - Chapter 2

This short summary was prepared as part of my postulancy studies for the Anglican Order of Preachers.

The second chapter of McGrath’s text provides a concise, yet comprehensive overview of the Christian Bible.  It explores first the meaning of the word itself and how this derivative of a Greek term has come to mean sacred or Holy Scripture for those in the Christian church.  The Bible itself is really a collection of Hebrew and Christian writings spanning four thousand years.  The Hebrew writings include religious law, history and revelation through prophetic works, as well as practical insights into life.   The Christian writings include the Gospels – the story of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of the world – and writings of early Christians in the form of pastoral letters and letters about the faith generally ending with an apocalyptic vision.  This combination – Hebrew and Christian – of sacred or holy scripture offers mankind a continuing attempt among Jews and then Christians to understand mankind’s relationship with God.   It explicitly suggests continuity between the understanding of Hebrew experience of the Divine and that of those who encountered Jesus Christ in his earthly ministry and those whom he charged with sharing his Gospel.

The early Christian church didn’t quickly create the Bible as these congregations were dispersed over most of the Roman Empire.  Instead, a gradual consensus among those congregations, or perhaps more appropriately the Bishops of those congregations, regarding those writings to be considered sacred or Holy Scripture emerged.  First came agreement on that the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) were sacred or holy because of their contents and as a result of their understood author being an apostle of Jesus Christ.  It wasn’t until the fourth century CE that the New Testament as we see it today was agreed upon by the Christian church.  Authorship, authority and use in worship determined the writings included.  In essence, the writings selected after three hundred years of discernment were those that edified and built the Christian church.  It should be noted that most of the writings were originally in Greek only later to be translated into Latin.  Not until Wycliffe’s English translation in the fourteenth century CE did it move into another language, and then it was only a translation of the Latin (and not the original Greek).  Translations of translations, if seems, can be prone to error both as a matter of poor understanding, purposeful or intended adjustment and the passage of time changing the vernacular of a particular language.  Perhaps one of the most wonderful outcomes of the Reformation in the sixteenth century CE was the desire to translate the Bible from the original Greek so as to remove any intended or unintended changes therein.

McGrath provides a very useful summary of the methods of Biblical interpretation – literal, allegorical, moral and anagogical – that I’m unfamiliar with and therefore need to study in more detail.  This “fourfold sense of Scripture” was a common methodology for Biblical study in the Middle Ages, and for me seems just as relevant and useful today.  He then moves into the use of the Bible as a source of Christian spirituality.  As someone who has used Lectio Divina as a practice for prayerful study of Scripture, his historical summary of this topic reflects in many ways what the current method used by many appears to be; that is, to study Scripture, reflect and ponder upon it, open one’s heart to contemplate it and then seek prayer through it. 

Learning about the Protestant introduction of Biblical commentaries was also something I didn’t realize was a result of the Reformation, but is likewise another wonderful outcome of the Reformation.  He ends the chapter with a discussion of Biblical imagery focusing upon “light” and “dark” in his summation of the topic.  It would be useful as a Dominican Friar to use this technique in preparing a homily that is more easily understood and useful to those listening.  It certainly made for an engaging expression of the concept regarding “light” and “dark” in the Bible.

Snapshots of Alister McGrath's Christianity: An Introduction - Chapter 1

This short summary was prepared as part of my postulancy studies for the Anglican Order of Preachers.

The first chapter of McGrath’s text explores Jesus as a person unique in history and in the religious life of the Jewish people, as well as non-Jews (gentiles).  His life, crucifixion and resurrection are according to the Gospels the fulfillment of the ancient covenant between the Jewish people and God from the time of Abraham to Moses.  Jesus, both fully human and fully divine, is God and thereby the bridge between mankind and God through redemption of humanity.  To live the Gospel, one must live as Jesus abiding in love of God and love of all others.  Redemptive salvation is open to all people who believe, regardless of ethnicity, gender, or any other difference among one another, that Jesus died and was resurrected in atonement for their sins to reconcile them with God. 

There is a rich, deep complexity to understanding Jesus as a historical figure and as God incarnate.  The Christological titles for Jesus of Nazareth demonstrate this fact most clearly, and this is the first time I’ve had a concise outline and explanation of the deeper meaning behind each title.  I would like to engage in further study of this manner of understanding Jesus as both person and as God. 

It is surprising and very interesting that in the time of Jesus’ ministry, there were apparently denominations among the Jewish people as various sects held their own understanding of their faith; that is, there were active sects including the Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots and Essenes each having a set of core beliefs quite different from the other and acting upon those beliefs in how they lived their daily and spiritual lives. The Jews of the Diaspora who lived a more Hellenistic (Greek) way of life were even farther removed from those in Jerusalem.  Of particular note is that the Pharisees believed in the resurrection of all the dead at the end of time, while the Sadducees didn’t believe in any form of resurrection.  Learning more about these various sects would have value in better understanding the spread of the Gospel message among the Jewish people, as well as non-Jews. 

I appreciated the mention of Mary, the God-bearer, as a person of devotion and trust in God to be emulated, as well as the role various other women had in the ministry during the life of Jesus.  This is a topic that needs more attention in the universal church and is strong validation for equality among all the Baptized in the administration of sacraments and Holy Orders.   I would also like the opportunity to examine more thoroughly the parables shared by Christ Jesus with the apostles and those listening to his teachings.  These would be a good source for inspiration in teaching and preaching, especially as they apply to our contemporary challenges living as Christians in a postmodern world.