Better Than Believing: Christianity or Christianism A reintroduction of two words by William Saffire, via Better Than Believing:

Christians are people who practice Christianity. They do their best to follow the way taught and lived by Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus stands at the center of the constellation of symbols by which they make sense out of their existence.
Christianists are devotees of Christianism. They use Christian symbols in propounding an ideology that they want to impose on society. They make sense out of their existence by convincing themselves that they are right and that any who disagree are outside of God’s favor.

Why are progressive Christians forced to qualify what kind of Christian we are? It implies that 'standard' Christianity is whatever the traditionalist right-wing calls it. Now we have a different word. After all, we think of the Taliban not as Moslems, but Islamists.
I like these words and the concepts behind them. I think I'll include them in daily conversation  ¶ 10:32 PM 0 comments

  Daily Office has moved There are things I want to say on this blog, but I feel that the Daily Office has a momentum that is broken by other writings, so I have moved the daily office series to a new blog:http://cuttingedgedailyoffice.blogspot.com/. This means another blog, but that's okay. God has not given me more than I am capable of doing. I have started that blog with Sunday's entry for Proper 6. I will slowly copy my Proper 4 and Proper 5 entries to the new blog.  ¶ 12:29 PM 0 comments

  Daily Office, Year One, Proper 5, Friday Today's Readings:

• Psalm 69 (24-30 optional)
• Ecclus. 45:6-16
• 2 Cor. 12:11-21
• Luke 19:41-48

Jesus predicts the fall of Jerusalem because they did not listen to Him as a prophet. He just made His triumphant entry into the city and is still not satisfied: the people who could have implemented change chose to ignore him. The priests who controlled the religion may have recognized that they were living in a classic sign of God's disfavor: living under an occupying force. Perhaps they, like Judas, were looking for a military leader to defeat the Romans. Jesus did not teach them to fight, but to be faithful to God. What good would a military leader have done if the people were unfaithful and unrepentant? Not a lot. Jesus criticized the scribes for their love of their stature, position, and appearance, the sin of idolatry. He chastises those who pray or fast publically, and taught to do these things privately.
This is one of the reasons why I bristle when people say things like "Jesus loves his Church" and mean the Christian Church exclusively. Jesus was not trying to form a new Church, but get the Jews and the rest of the world faithful to God.  ¶ 12:09 PM 0 comments

  Daily Office, Year One, Proper 5, Thursday Today's Readings:

• Psalm 70,71
• Ecclus. 44:19-45:5
• 2 Cor. 12:1-10
• Luke 19:28-40

Today will probably be a quick meditation. There isn't a lot of meat here for me, or perhaps I have entered morning prayer hasily, and not with sufficient prayer in my heart. The Psalms lately have been full of "Smite my enemies for me, God." Treating God like a bully that fights for us. Of course, historically, God was a tribal God. The shift in our perception from polythiesm through henotheism to monotheism hasn't changed what God is. I guess part of that bully-God pleading from the Psalms doesn't touch me in my life because I believe we were created with free will, for the purpose of loving God and wanting to be with God as a conscious decision, otherwise, our love for God would be worthless. If I made a robot that gave me a hug every day, would I think that it really cared for me? If God made a humanity that could not turn its back on God, would it mean much when they faced Him? No.
Switching to the Apocryphal or Deutercanonical book of Sirach (also called Ecclesiasticus) was a welcome shift, because I love the wisdom books of the Bible. I try to read Jesus' teachings as being part of that thread of wisdom literature when it's appropriate. Entering Jerusalem, Jesus begins to lose meaning for me. The parables are full of symbolic language, I can deal with that, but now Luke's narrative about Jesus switches to symbolic language. The colt that has never been ridden, throwing cloaks on the ground, the stones singing, all speak of symbols that I don't think the average 21st century person gets unless they've studies Biblical culture. The Bible is not very good at explaining its culture to later readers. It makes mention of mores and traditions assuming that the reader will be familiar to them.
In short, I'm not finding much today. I hope that tomorrow will be better. Heck, even Mission of St. Claire decided to talk about the first Book of Common Prayer today.  ¶ 12:02 PM 0 comments

  Daily Office, Year One, Proper 5, Wednesday Today's Readings:

• Psalm 72
• Deut. 31:30-32:14
• 2 Cor. 11:21b-33
• Luke 19:11-27

Luke tells the parable of the ten pounds: A man travels to seek royal power and leaves part of his fortune with his slaves. There is an attempt to have him assassinated while he is away. He returns to find one man has turned one pound into ten, another turned his pound into five. These slaves are praised and rewarded. One slave hid his pound and returned it to the master. This slave was punished, and those that sought the nobleman's death are killed.
It's a tough one to sort out. There are lots of small details that help. Jesus does not start this parable with "The Kingdom of God is like..." He tells this parable because his audience believed that the kingdom of God would appear immediately. This gives rise to the question: Is the nobelman of the parable the triumphant Christ or an Anti-Christ? I'll dismiss anti-Christ because I don't think of Jesus teaching about false prophets and the anti-christ that we usually think about in the Revelation to John. No, this nobleman is Christ, but he doesn't sound Christ-like, does he? Then again, what is a pound? In my Bible, the word pound is used instead of mira, which is worth about three weeks pay (thank God for footnotes). This story also appears in Matthew in a different guise. Instead of ten slaves, there are three. The three slaves are given ten, five, and one talent repsectively. Another footnotes points out that a talent is worth about fifteen years of work for a laborer.
The phrase that has given me the most trouble is Luke 19:26: "I tell you, to all those who have, more will be given; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away." Fortunately, this phrase shows up at least twice in Matthew, twice in Luke, and once in Mark. The other time Jesus uses this phrase he is referring to the secrets (or mysteries) of the kingdom of heaven. Those who know about the Kingdom will be given more knowledge, etc. In Mark and Luke, the second place this phrase appears is with one of my favorite Biblical images: The lamp under the basket. No one buys a lamp and hides it, but places it high so everyone can see its light.
So what am I left with? A closer reading of Luke's version of the nobleman and the slaves. Verses 15-17:

When he returned, having recieved royal power, he ordered these slaves, to whom he had given the money, to be summoned so that he might find out what they had gained by trading. The first came forward and said, "Lord, your pound has made ten more pounds.' he said to him, 'Well done, good slave...'

I've emphasized a few important key phrases that I didn't read the first time. I inserted the notion that the slaves returned money to the master, which is what caused me so much confusion. Jesus taught not to worry about money or wealth. The slaves did not return the money to the master. They made more money. What about the third slave, the one who hid his money? He is punished. Why? He was given a secret of heaven, and he hid it away, hoarded it, he didn't share it, he didn't think about it, so when the master returned he had nothing more than what he'd been given. He'd wasted his gift. If he had put the money in the bank, or taken the secret to heart and prayed, the master would have gotten the interest. The slave did not use the gift even for his own personal growth. He lived in fear of the master. Now, when I read 'fear of the Lord' in the Bible, I read it as 'awe of the Lord', because awe envelopes wonder, fear implies a"Just wait until your father get's home" kind of trouble. I've met Christians who claim to put 'fear of the Lord' first in their hearts, and their understanding of this is 'if I do something wrong, Jesus will send me to Hell.' They say that the movie The Passion helps them because they imagine their sins as a welt on Christs body, and that guilt keeps them on the 'straight and narrow' path of righteousness. The good slaves were the ones who did something with their gift. As a Christian, you have been given a light, you are a light. Be a beacon. Share your gift. Do not save it for the 'rapture', give it away. It will grow when you do.  ¶ 12:11 PM 0 comments

  Daily Office, Year One, Proper 5, Tuesday Today's Readings:

• Psalm 61,62
• Deut. 30:11-20
• 2 Cor. 11:1-21a
• Luke 19:1-10

Zacchaeus is a tax collecter in Jericho. He has heard about this Jesus of Nazareth, running around and teaching people about the Kingdom of God. Zacchaeus is not described as a believer, nor does he act like the other extra Biblical characters who believe that Jesus is the messiah as soon as they hear his name. Zacchaeus approaches Jesus with an open mind and questions: Who is this Jesus? What does he really teach? Why do so many people praise him? Why do so many curse him? Unsure, Zacchaeus makes an effort to witness Jesus personally. He does not believe everything he has heard without judging it against his own personal experience. He is an early Thomas figure, and for that he is one of my unsung heroes in the Bible.
We don't know what Jesus taught, so we don't know how Zacchaeus reacted. He may have reacted with the Biblical version of the fist-pump "Yes!" and shaken the sycamore, attracting Jesus' attention to him. He may have reacted like the previous tax collecter we read about, wailing in his heart "Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner". Either way, Jesus calls him down, and tells Zacchaeus that he is hosting Jesus for dinner. I'm sure that someone with more knowledge of Palestinian hospitality mores will be able to teach us what that really meant. Jesus inviting himself, forcing Zacchaeus to be a host, may have been awfully rude, it may have forced Zacchaeus into the role of a servant, and thus by humbling himself, exalting himself in the eyes of God.
All we know is that another soul, confused and lost in the screwed up dominion-based power struggle system of his day, was found and given salvation. Zacchaeus repents, and promises reparations. It is a good thing that Zacchaeus did not believe the first things he heard about Jesus. He may have heard that Jesus was a trouble maker, a false prophet who was taking the Jews to a false god. No, Zacchaeus needed to see for himself what Jesus was all about. That's the lesson of the day. Paul teaches us that Satan looks like the brightest angel, so it is no wonder that Satan's servants appear to be the most righteous. I'm reminded of a scene from The Fellowship ofthe Ring, when Aragorn first meets Frodo and Sam. Sam, being protective, is unsure about Aragorn and does not like the look of him. Frodo responds that if Aragorn was a servent of evil, then he would appear more fair but feel foul. Don't judge people by heresay. Judge people by personal experience.  ¶ 11:13 AM 0 comments

  Daily Office, Year One, Proper 5, Monday Today's Readings:

• Psalm 56,57
• Deut. 30:1-10
• 2 Cor. 10:1-18
• Luke 18:31-43

If we don't read Deuteronomy carefull, we fall into the trap of assuming that if we are wealthy and powerful, we have God's favor. We reverse the causality of God's favor to earthly wealth to suit ourselves. But from Paul we read that we should really stay within our limits. I read this as a "Know Thyself" passage. We have to know our strengths and limits to serve God properly. In Luke, I wonder why Jesus speaks about himself in third person. This kind of writing makes me wonder if Jesus believed that He was messiah, or if the messiah was still to be found. Hard to say, it raises a lot of argumentative questions.
The beggar in the Gospel passage wants to see again, and he is healed when he asks Jesus for mercy. A few odd thoughts: I don't believe that disease is caused by sin or demonic possession, so the healing stories are hard to assimilate. One day I'll figure out how, I hope. But if the blind beggar wants his sight back, and he has obviously heard of Jesus, why didn't he go searching for Jesus? Was is faith not strong enough to propel him across the lands, looking for his salvation? It's also intersting that blindness in mythology is usually a sign that the person has 'second sight' and can see deeper truths than mere mortals, but in the Bible blindness is always seen as a bad thing. I'm losing steam with this daily routine. I didn't think that everyday would bring an exciting topic that inspires me, but I'm tired. I have to ask myself if this is a chore or a form of worship.  ¶ 12:16 PM 0 comments

  Daily Office, Year One, Proper 5, Sunday Today's Readings:

• Psalm 24,29
• Deut. 29:16-29
• Rev 12:1-12
• Matt 15:29-39

We read that the punishment for lack of fidelity to God is pretty harsh: Wiped out from history, lands destroyed, your existence an anonymous reminder for the next generations about what fidelity should mean. The reading from Revelation is just too weird, but the story of Michael slaying the dragon is the source story for my parish, St. Michael and All Angels. Jesus cures many people, and the witnesses praise God (not Jesus, but God). He also feeds 4,000 (plus women and children) in the second great miraculous feast of the Gospel according to Matthew.
There is one interesting verse: Deut. 29:26: "They turned and served other gods, worshipped them, gods whom they had not known and whom he had not allotted them." (Emphasis added) Dabbling in henotheism is an interest of mine. Henotheism is the belief in one supreme being, but not the exclusiveness of that extreme being. It's a bridge between monotheism and polytheism. I think most people, even Christians, are practicing henotheists. No, I haven't heard anyone pray to a god of fire, but I've heard of sacrifices to the gods of barbeque, thanks to the parking gods, and curses heaped upon the computing gods when our machines just don't work.
I think henotheism exists because we want to be pure monotheists, but don't want to accept random chance explanations for things. We want God to be in charge of the Big Things in life, protect us from death, comfort us, etc. The ump makes a series of really bad calls against your team and that's a god of baseball mucking around (or simply showing a bias towards someone else's team).  ¶ 8:29 AM 0 comments

  Daily Office, Year One, Proper 4 Saturday Today's Readings:

• Psalm 55
• Deut. 29:2-15
• 2 Cor. 9:1-15
• Luke 18:15-30

More about generosity. God renews the covenent at Moab, and extends it to everyone who is there, whether or not they are historically part of the faith, and even those Hebrews who are not present. Paul teaches us the God loves generous givers. Now, when money is tight, both of us are unemployed, the idea of giving what little we have away is a scary thing. We're willing to help out with our time, and soon we'll have plenty of that, but we won't be able to help anyone out financially. Generosity does not always mean money. That's been our saving grace. Jesus is generous with His blessings, telling the disciples to let the children come close. In the wake of the Michael Jackson trial, it's hard to have clean thoughts about that line, but thats the one we're stuck with. The point is, Jesus is generous. He tells a parable about a rich man who wants to know what it takes, and Jesus tells him to give everything away, give his money to the poor, and the young rich man can't hear those words. He walks away, shaking his head, not understanding that his love of material things prevents him from true happiness.
It's not that we shouldn't admire the physical things, but they should not be treasures to us. We should not greedily hoarde things, but be generous with what we have.  ¶ 8:28 AM 0 comments

  Great words, I wish they were mine. This post says a lot of things I've wanted to say for a long time. I have never understood it, except that there is a large proportion of people in this world who apparently would rather be certain than right. They equate questions with doubt with unbelief with sin. They assume a logical chain in the defintion of 'progressive christian' that means we're wrong. God tests us with false prophets, but apparently not with nagging questions in the back of our minds.  ¶ 12:30 PM 0 comments

  Daily Office, Year One, Proper 4, Friday Today's Readings:

• Psalm 40
• Deut. 26:1-11
• 2 Cor. 8:16-24
• Luke 18:9-14

Upon arriving in the promised land, the Hebrews are to sacrifice the best of the first crop to God, and recite a statement of their faith history. Paul praises Titus for his eagerness and skills as a preacher. Luke teaches us that we should not take pride in our own righteousness. This passage is one of those that traditional Christians have used to support the idea that human beings are miserable, worthless sinners; they are salvagable only through God's grace and right belief. The problem is that we are given a false alternative to the boastful and proud Pharisee. It is not that it is better to think of ourselves as sinners, but that we must know who we are.
The Pharisee defines himself by one standard: what he is not. He is proud that he is "better" than other men. He brags to God about his good works. How foolish! God knows the what's and why's of our actions. We don't need to tell God about our acts of charity. The BCP defines seven forms of prayer, and not one of them involves a day-in-review.
The tax collector, on the other hand, defines himself by who he is: a Jew who collects taxes from other Jews to give to the occupying forces of the Romans. It is a position that the Jews considers fundamentally sinful. He knows his actions were wrong, and begs for mercy. Jesus states that the tax collector went home justified. I'm not sure what He means, as I don't think the word 'justify' is used much in the Gospels. It may be, but I'm not able to think of any right now.  ¶ 12:08 PM 0 comments

  Daily Office, Year One, Proper 4, Thursday Today's Readings:

• Psalm 50
• Deut. 16:18-20, 17:14-20
• 2 Cor. 8:1-16
• Luke 18:1-8

Another day that doesn't seem to have an immediate theme to the readings, at least, non that jump out at me. Psalm 50 has the phrase "sacrifice of thanksgiving." I'll come back to that. Deuteronomy declares that judges and public officials must put Justice first above all else. Kings must live modestly and keep God's law. I could go on a long rant about the current group of people who have political power, but I wont. Paul teaches the Corinthians that generousity is good. Luke teaches that persistance is good, and we should not lose heart.
The phrase "sacrifice of thanksgiving" is something I've heard my entire life. I have probably never fully understood what it means, because I hear it so often, like a mantra, it looses meaning until that meaning is rediscovered. We need to talk about appropriate Christian Mantras (I'll come back to this). We must thank God for the blessings of this life. Our natural tendency, when getting some really good gift, is to run to all our friends and say "lookee at what I got!!!" We may not even be interested in sharing the gift, just showing it off. But to get away from that reaction and say 'thank you' to the giver and to God is a harder reaction to come across. We are taught to say 'please' and 'thank you'. These are the hallmarks of what we call a polite society, but it is really any good when it's just an automatic reaction? Take, for example, our habit of saying 'bless you' when anyone sneezes. Why do we say this? Because centuries ago people believed sneezes were caused by demonic possession. "Bless you" is a form of faith healing, and I for one don't believe in faith healing. We have doctors and medicine, and these too are gifts from God.
What does it mean to be truly thankful to other human beings and to God? We must practice, not for perfection, like athletes and musicians do, but for intention. We must focus ourselves on the moment, not thinking about what to do for dinner or to reminding ourselves to set the VCR. It's hard. It's not the American Way. In the United States we wear our hectic lives like a badge of honor. Even as I type, I'm eating a bland frozen dinner that I'm not really tasting, but I'm eating because I'm hungry and it's better than snacking on chips and cheese all day. So we need to build intentional practice into our lives. How? I don't know, try a mantra (see, I told you I'd get there).
Mantra's can act like white noise in our consciousness, preventing random thoughts from bullying us into distraction. Most people, when they think of the word, think of "Om" which is supposed to be the sound of the universe. We need Christian mantras. We have a few, we just don't think of them that way. The Roman Catholic rosary is a mantra, but it's a long one. I get lost even when using a form of the Anglican Rosary prayers. Let's keep them short. Psalm 51 has one: Open our lips, and our mouths shall proclaim your praise. Or how about a focusing mantra borrowed from Islam: There is no God but God. Make a list of your favorite Bible quotes, or from your favorite hymns, use them, see how your life changes and focuses on God.  ¶ 12:48 PM 0 comments

  Daily Office, Year One, Proper 4, Wednesday Today's Readings:

• Psalm 119:49-72
• Deut. 13:1-11
• 2 Cor. 7:2-16
• Luke 17:20-37

Psalm 119:71: "It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn your statues." It's almost as if the Psalmist is saying that we can only know God through our broken ness. Deuteronomy teaches us to beware of false prophets, they are tests from the Lord. Kill them. Jeepers! One interesting aside is the family structure hinted at in Deut. 13:6. Do not be deceived by your brother, the sons or daughter of your father, or the son and daughter of your mother. It's good to remember when people talk about how family life was instituted in the Bible. This passage is sounding more like a clan than a family. The "nuclear family" of 20^th century America is not Biblically based, we should remember that as we fight over the definition of family.
Back to the readings: Paul teaches that we should rejoice when grief leads to repentance. 7:10: "Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regrets." Again, God is found through brokenness. Paul is referring to grief that we cause others. This week I was insulted. Deeply insulted. I'm sure the person who insulted me has no idea I was insulted. I have been hurt by their statement. Yes, an error of mine led to the insult, and the pain I'm feeling from the insult is mine. I have to ask for forgiveness and repent from the ways I've thought of to get back at this person. I should not return the insult. I should not return pain. I need to forgive that person. It is not an easy thing to do.
Luke tells us an interesting story. It almost sounds like Jesus is describing the 'rapture' made famous in the 19^th century and the "Left Behind" series, but that may not be what Jesus is talking about. He tells the Pharisees that "The Kingdom of God is among you" then describes something different, something in the future, to his disciples. If the Coming of the Kingdom is the Judgement Day or the modern-mythological 'rapture', then we have caught Jesus in a lie. I didn't understand the last line when I first read it: "Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather." But then I reread the sectoin. Jesus is describing people being taken away suddenly, and we've also read recently that the bad weeds will be taken away first, before the harvest of good wheat. Is is possible that the 'rapture' event, people disappearing, are those who do not pass muster? Those found wanting? And is this act of disappearing different from other tragedies? Jesus refers to the Flood and the destruction of Sodom in this passage. Could this purging of people refer to the destruction of the Temple and the deaths of many Jews during their rebellion? Is Jesus somehow telling Judas that a military leader is not what humanity needs, because we have to get out of the cycle of death and resurrection? Hmmm... probably not, because life attuned to God is constant death and ressurection. More questions, less answers. Good theology.  ¶ 12:41 PM 0 comments