Augustine: The Cross of Mortification

In a sermon on the beginning of Lent, Augustine says,

"It goes very well with our devotion, after all, that as we are very soon going to celebrate the passion of the crucified Lord, we should also make a cross for ourselves out of the curbing of the pleasures of the flesh, as the apostle says: But those who are Jesus Christ's have crucified their flesh with its passions and lusts (Galatians 5:24)." (p.103)

and,

"So it is that both Moses and Elijah and the Lord himself all fasted for forty days, to suggest to us that we are being worked upon in Moses and in Elijah and in Christ himself, that is in the law and the prophets and in the gospel itself, to ensure that we aren't conformed to this world and don't cling to it, but that instead we crucify the old self, behaving not in gluttony and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness; but let us put on the Lord Jesus, and take no care for the flesh in its lusts (Romans 13:13-14). Live here like that always, Christian; if you don't want your footsteps to sink in the earthly quagmire, don't come down from this cross.

But now, if that is what has to be done throughout the whole of this life, how much more during these days of Lent, in which this life is not only being spent, but in addition is also being mystically signified?" (p.104)

From Sermon 205 On the Beginning of Lent
The Works of Saint Augustine
A Translation for the 21st Century
Sermons
III/6
(184-229Z)
on the Liturgical Seasons
translation and notes by Edmund Hill, O.P.
editor John E. Rotelle, O.S.A.
New City Press: New Rochelle, New York
1993

"I pledge allegiance to one Church, under the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with liberty and justice for the repenting faithful"

"For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the flesh, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was written against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross."
~Colossians 2:9-15~

"If one of the definitions of nationalism is that the nation-state affords one his or her primary sense of identity and belonging, and if Christians on the whole have articulated no real disagreement with such a view--indeed have been wholly complicit with such a view--then it is fair to say that the church has surrendered its central claim that Jesus is Lord to the nation's demand for an unquestioned allegiance to free market capitalism. On the surface, this may seem an outrageous claim. Churches continue, one could argue, to baptize; they continue, in the liturgy and in their efforts at formation and discipleship, to confess the lordship of Christ and to proclaim the good news of the gospel. Yet the more complicated reality is that the church in the West has failed quite spectacularly to understand and to embody in a meaningful way the radical implications of such a confession and proclamation: that those who utter them will find themselves in profound conflict with any and all other appeals for loyalty and fidelity, especially those which would claim for a nation the sovereignty and power that alone belong to God."
(p.7)

"Baptism, then, is a subversive act. It is, like the Eucharist, an act of disaffiliation. It confers an identity at odds with the ways we are named and claimed by family, nation, and ideology. Baptism is the constitution of a new people whose prior loyalties and allegiances are exposed, named, and radically reconfigured. In this way, baptism can also be understood to be a profoundly political act, for if the church itself constitutes a polis--an alternative ordering of human relations governed by the Trinitarian pattern of love-in-communion--then baptism forms a people whose politics are shaped not by suspicion and self-interest but by trust and mutuality, thanksgiving and generosity." (p.8)

Debra Dean Murphy, "Identity Politics: christian baptism and the pledge of allegiance." Published in "Liturgy - God Bless America: Public Worship and Civic Religion." Journal of The Liturgical Conference Volume 20, Number 1, 2005.

Collect for February 22, 2009

God of all the nations of the earth: Remember the multitudes who have been created in your image but have not known the redeeming work of our Savior Jesus Christ; and grant that, by the prayers and labors of your holy church, they may be brought to know and worship you as you have been revealed in your Son; who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Collect for Lord's Day, Feb. 15th

God our Father, before the suffering of your only Son Jesus you revealed his glory upon the holy mountain – grant to us that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross, and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

" . . . but my ears you have opened;" Psalm 40:6

Shhh . . .

. . . listen.

Shut the mouth,
open the ear,
be attentive,
and believe.

Trust.

Then love
and obey.


Deuteronomy 6:4
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.

Psalm 141:3
Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD;
keep watch over the door of my lips.

Proverbs 10:19
When words are many, sin is not absent,
but he who holds his tongue is wise.

Proverbs 18:13
He who answers before listening—
that is his folly and his shame.

Proverbs 19:20
Listen to advice and accept instruction,
and in the end you will be wise.

Proverbs 19:27
Stop listening to instruction, my son,
and you will stray from the words of knowledge.

Psalm 95:7b-11
Today, if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,
as you did that day at Massah in the desert,

where your fathers tested and tried me,
though they had seen what I did.

For forty years I was angry with that generation;
I said, "They are a people whose hearts go astray,
and they have not known my ways."

So I declared on oath in my anger,
"They shall never enter my rest."

Matthew 12:33-37
"Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."

James 1:19-27
My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.

If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

+New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society+

Just a Taste

I've been reading some great poetry by my friend Austin Givens, from his new book I Cry Enough for My Father and other poems. Here's a sample:

On How To Be Human

"I" being the

host tree,

"You" the

ruthless banyan

and soon "I" become "We."

and "You" much bigger then "me."

--------------------------

Read more, buy, download Austin's book here.

THE WAY OF THE HEART by Henri Nouwen

I recently read Henri Nouwen's 1981 publication The Way of the Heart: desert spirituality and contemporary ministry (Seabury). Not wanting to forget what I learned, I thought I would summarize the book here.

Nouwen asks, "The pressures in the ministry are enormous, the demands are increasing, and the satisfactions diminishing. How can we expect to remain full of creative vitality, of zeal for the Word of God, of desire to serve, and of motivation to inspire our often numbed congregations? Where are we supposed to find nurture and strength?" He suggests we ask the desert fathers.

Nouwen draws from the Sayings of the Desert Fathers of the 4th and 5th Centuries, who moved to the desert in Egypt to become hermits (from the Greek word for desert). After Christianity became legal in the Roman empire and persecutions of Christians had ceased, many faithful sought after new ways to 'witness' (meaning of 'martyr') for Christ. Many followed the example of St. Antony. While at church, Antony heard Jesus' command to the rich young ruler: "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." Antony took it to heart for himself, sold most of his wealth and moved to the edge of town, after which he sold all he had, moved to the desert to 'flee the world,' to find God and pray continually.

As an outline for his text, Nouwen uses the story of Arsenius, who asked, "Lord, lead me in the way of salvation." He heard a voice say, "Arsenius, flee from the world and you will be saved." So he moved to the desert to live alone. Having prayed the same prayer again, he heard a voice say, "Arsenius, flee, be silent, pray always, for these are the sources of sinlessness." Hence Nouwen examines the three disciplines of solitude, silence and continual prayer.

Solitude. In order to flee compulsive living and our false selves, we may flee everyone, find ourselves alone with God, and enter into conversation with Him, in whose image we were created. There we may take off our masks, be seen for what we really are, and be remade into a new creation. We don't flee just for privacy, but to be alone with God just as his Son Jesus did in his days on earth. "The goal of our life is not people. It is God. Only in him shall we find the rest we seek" (40).

The result? Compassion. This pattern is evident in the life of Christ, as it was in the life of his servant Antony, who after twenty years alone in the desert was a new man. Returning to civilization, "Those who saw him described him as balanced, gentle, and caring. He had become so Christlike, so radiant with God's love, that his entire being was ministry" (32). As we return from lonely places, we will have found space in our hearts for the world loved so dearly by God. We will then be able to love others as God has loved us.

Silence. It is hard to imagine the world before the advent of the printing press. Words were harder to come by in print, and most people were illiterate. Today our world is full of so many words that we become distracted from what really matters, and often feel the loss of meaning in what people say. God himself has much to say about silence in the scriptures. "When words are many, sin (lit. 'error, wandering, missing the mark') is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise” (Proverbs 10:19). See also James 1:19-27, and 3:1-12.

"Pilgrimage is silence," the fathers said. To flee the world and sin, be silent. Silence also guards the fire within. Our hearts are like saunas or cabins with a hearth. The longer the door of our mouth is open, the more warmth is let out. Do you want to keep your spiritual fervor? Let your words be few. "[T]oo many words . . . weaken our faith and make us lukewarm. But silence is a sacred discipline, a guard of the Holy Spirit" (56). Silence also teaches us to speak. "Silence is the home of the word. Silence gives strength and fruitfulness to the word. We can even say that words are meant to disclose the mystery of the silence from which they come" (48). Without silence, no one (including ourselves) will ever believe or care about what we have to say.

Continual Prayer. We flee people to be with God, and are silent to hear him. Solitude and silence provide the place for prayer. The apostle Paul said, "...pray continually...for this is what God wants you to do in Christ Jesus" (1 Thess. 5:17 and 18b). But how?

Nouwen notes that we often think of prayer as a mental exercise. Instead, the desert fathers learned that after prayers have been continually upon our lips, they easily enter into our hearts, where we may pray them with our whole selves, in earnest. Nouwen suggests:

1) The prayer of the heart is nurtured by short, simple prayers. Choose any phrase from scripture, such as "The Lord is my shepherd, I lack no thing," or "Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me." These are easily remembered and easily repeated.

2) The prayer of the heart is unceasing. Don't say it once and stop. Instead, repeat it throughout your day. When we say something repeatedly, we begin to believe it, whether it's true or not. Why not have God's truth always upon our lips? We don't repeat it thinking God will hear us better if we say it over and over again. We repeat it to let it move from our lips to our mind, and finally into our heart. Then we can own the prayer, and perhaps even stop speaking it aloud as we repeat it often in our heart to the Lord. "Pray without ceasing."

3) The prayer of the heart is all-inclusive. While we could probably never list all our needs before the Lord (that would take forever), we can bring to him all our needs with a few words. This is what Jesus gave us in the Lord's prayer. In just a few words, we can ask God for all our needs, and for the needs of the whole world. Don't pray "My Father," but "Our Father . . . give us our daily bread . . . forgive us our sins . . . do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil." In this way, we can pray for the whole church and the whole world. Are these too big for God? Certainly not. Instead of praying "God, be merciful to me, a sinner," say, "Lord, have mercy on us," and thus direct your prayer for all whom God cares for.

I posted this because I found these thoughts refreshing. "Lord, lead me in the way of salvation."

"Flee, be silent, and pray always, for these are the sources of sinlessness." While few of us will become hermits for life, we ought to work these principles into our lives to find God and his peace.

+ When and where will we flee every day this week?
+ When and how often will we silence our mouths and our hearts to hear others and the Lord himself?
+ What heart-prayers will we begin to pray continually?

Merry Christmas, from the underside

Dearly beloved friends,

If you hear nothing else from me this Christmas, please read this reflection by my good friend which I received by way of his Christmas letter. It is really worth a read. Please give it your eyeballs for two minutes:

"From the Underside"

And have a merry Christmas, and a happy new year.

Love,
Scott

Thinking on the Blessed THEOTOKOS

For Robert Stewart

As we enter Advent, we will meditate on the mystery of our Lord Jesus' birth from the blessed virgin Mary. During the 3rd and 4th centuries when the doctrine of the Holy Trinity was coming to its fullness, it became an element of common devotion for some orthodox Christians to call Mary "theotokos" - Greek for "God bearer" or "one who gives birth to God". They were more than happy to call Mary "mother of God" because they believed that the Lord Jesus Christ was the divine son of God in our flesh; the blessed virgin not only bore the savior of the world, she bore divinity in humanity.

This week I came upon an interesting commentary by John Piper (emphasis mine):

“Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” a woman cried out to Jesus. And he turned and said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” (Luke 11:27). The mother of God is the obedient Christian—married or single! Take a deep breath and reorder your world. (By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org)

I do not want to offend my fellow Christians who have a high esteem of the blessed virgin, for I think they are right in calling her blessed. (See Mary's Song, more traditionally known in the west as Magnificat, esp. @ Luke 1:48. In an advent sermon last year, Dr. Steve Lennox said he considered it the obligation of all Christians to call the virgin Mary blessed.) However, it seems to me that if we are to take Jesus seriously, the virgin mary is no more blessed than anyone who obeys Jesus - "those who hear the word of God and keep it." To rephrase, those who keep God's message from the lips and life of Christ are just as, or perhaps even more blessed than the virgin Mary (noting Jesus' use of the word "rather").

It would be common for many of us to be sanctimoniously sentimental in our reverance for Jesus' nativity this Christmas. But if our devotion has nice thoughts for the holy family and no thought for Christ's teachings, we are of all people most to be pitied: outside of blessedness, according to Jesus. In Luke 11:27 Jesus tells us that he did not come so that his birth would be remembered fondly once a year, but so that we would obey his teaching and be born from above. Jesus cannot save us if we will not obey God's word through him. If we want the blessedness of Christmas to last year round, the solution is to obey Jesus always.

God's word to Mary was that she, a virgin, would bear the son of the most high God, who would receive an eternal kingdom. She assented, saying, "I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me as you have said," and so was blessed. When we kiss the feet of that same son Jesus, and agree to serve him by obeying his word, we will be blessed as well. "The mother of God is the obedient Christian." Or, the obedient Christian is more blessed than the mother of God.

So perhaps this Christmas, after (or before) we read the nativity story from Luke's gospel, we would not count ourselves blessed until we read and seek obedience to the words of Jesus that fill the rest of the gospel and bring us the salvation that was so enigmatically lauded by angelic hosts two milennia ago in a town called Bethlehem.

Environmentally friendly link: A Thada

Friends,

If you are interested in things ecological, in reducing how much you negatively influence your environment,

I highly recommend these very practical suggestions from my good friend A. Thada.

Favorite verses from Sirach

Well, friends: School is school, friends are friends, life is life, and God is good [it so happens that 'God' and 'good' have a linguistic connection in the history of English; go figure]. I am still learning to adjust to life; or how to live it.

I recently read the book of Sirach, which is an "apocryphal" text not in the Protestant canon. It contains the wise sayings of a Jew named Joshua [or Jesus, in Greek], son of Eleazar son of Sirach. My text introduction says that it was composed by this Joshua sometime before 180 B.C. The Greek traslation includes a prologue telling us that the author's grandson translated it from Hebrew into Greek. This piece of literature was written during the period of time between the Old and New Testaments of the Christian Scriptures.

I thought it would be fun to share with you the many verses I found interesting, wise, or startling. Please realize I do not agree with all of these, and none of them has the inspired authority that Old and New Testament do for Christians. You may find, however, that these proverbs sound similar to, and cover the same subjects as those found in the book of Proverbs.
_________________________

6:6 Let those who are friendly with you be many, but let your advisors be one in a thousand.

6:36 If you see an intelligent person, rise up early to visit him; let your foot wear out his doorstep.

7:14 Do not babble in the assembly of the elders, and do not repeat yourself when you pray.

7:15 Do not hate hard labor or farm work, which was created by the Most High.

7:17 (Hebrew) Humble yourself to the utmost, for the expectation of mortals is worms.
7:17 (Greek) Humble yourself to the utmost, for the punishment of the ungodly is fire and worms.

8:7 Do not rejoice over anyone's death; remember that we must all die.

9:8 Turn away your eyes from a shapely woman, and do not gaze at beauty belonging to another; many have been seduced by a woman's beauty, and by it passion is kindled like a fire.

9:10 Do not abandon old friends, for new ones cannot equal them. A new friend is like new wine; when it has aged, you can drink it with pleasure.

10:4 The government of the earth is in the hand of the Lord, and over it he will raise up the right leader for the time.

10:9 How can dust and ashes be proud? Even in life the human body decays.

10:12 The beginning of human pride is to forsake the Lord; the heart has withdrawn from its Maker.

10:18 Pride was not created for human beings, or violent anger for those born of women.

11:7 Do not find fault before you investigate; examine first, and then criticize.

11:8 Do not answer before you listen, and do not interrupt when another is speaking.

11:9 Do not argue about a matter that does not concern you, and do not sit with sinners when they judge a case.

11:10 My child, do not busy yourself with many matters; if you multiply activities, you will not be held blameless.

11:14 Good things and bad, life and death, poverty and wealth, come from the Lord.

11:20 Stand by your agreement and attend to it, and grow old in your work.

11:29 Do not invite everyone into your home, for many are the tricks of the crafty.

11:34 Receive strangers into your home and they will stir up trouble for you, and will make you a stranger to your own family.

13:1 Whoever touches pitch gets dirty, and whoever associates with a proud person becomes like him.

15:17 Before each person are life and death, and whichever one chooses will be given.

19:24 Better are the God-fearing who lack understanding than the highly intelligent who transgress the law.

19:29 A person is known by his appearance, and a sensible person is known when first met, face to face.

19:30 A person's attire and hearty laughter, and the way he walks, show what he is.

20:8 Whoever talks too much is detested, and whoever pretends to authority is hated. [For example, Michael Scott, insolent and inane manager on NBC hit series THE OFFICE]

20:13 The wise make themselves beloved by only a few words, but the courtesies of fools are wasted.

20:18 A slip on the pavement is better than a slip of the tongue.

20:30-31 Hidden wisdom and unseen treasure, of what value is either? Better are those who hide their folly than those who hide their wisdom.

21:26 The mind of fools is in their mouth, but the mouth of the wise is in their mind.

22:14-15 What is heavier than lead? And what is its name except "Fool"? Sand, salt, and a piece of iron are easier to bear than a stupid person.

27:2 As a stake is driven firmly into a fissure between two stones, so sin is wedged in between selling and buying.

27:11 The conversation of the godly is always wise, but the fool changes like the moon.

28:2 Forgive your neighbor the wrong he has done, and then your sins will be pardoned when you pray.

28:7 Remember the commandments, and do not be angry with your neighbor; remember the covenant of the Most High, and overlook faults.

28:22 [The tongue] has no power over the godly; they will not be burned in its flame.

28:24-25 As you fence in your property with thorns, as you lock up your silver and gold, so make balances and scales for your words, so make a door and a bolt for your mouth.

29:8-10 Nevertheless, be patient with someone in humble circumstances, and do not keep him waiting for your alms. Help the poor for the commandment's sake, and in their need do not send them away empty-handed. Lose your silver for the sake of a brother or friend, and do not let it rust under a stone and be lost.

30:9-10 Pamper a child, and he will terrorize you; play with him, and he will grieve you. Do not laugh with him, or you will have sorrow with him, and in the end you will gnash your teeth.
30:11-13 Give him no freedom in his youth, and do not ignore his errors. Bow down his neck in his youth, and beat his sides while he is young, or else he will become stubborn and disobey you, and you will have sorrow of soul from him. Discipline your son and make his yoke heavy, so that you may not be offended by his shamelessness. [ I wonder if vv.11-13 make use of an analogy to oxen: "errors=wanderings", "bow down his neck", "beat his sides . . . or he will become stubborn", "make his yoke heavy".]

30:14-17 Better off poor, healthy, and fit than rich and afflicted in body. Health and fitness are better than gold, and a robust body than countless riches. There is no wealth better than health of body, and no gladness above joy of heart. Death is better than a life of misery, and eternal sleep than chronic sickness.

30:21-24 Do not give yourself over to sorrow, and do not distress yourself deliberately. A joyful heart is life itself, and rejoicing lengthens one's life span. Indulge yourself and take comfort, and remove sorrow far from you, for sorrow has destroyed many, and no advantage ever comes from it. Jealousy and anger shorten life, and anxiety brings on premature old age.

31:5 One who loves gold will not be justified; one who pursues money will be led astray by it.

31:19-30 How ample a little is for a well-disciplined person! He does not breathe heavily when in bed. Healthy sleep depends on moderate eating; he rises early, and feels fit. The distress of sleeplessness and of nausea and colic are with the glutton. If you are overstuffed with food, get up to vomit, and you will have relief. Listen to me, my child, and do not disregard me, and in the end you will appreciate my words. In everything you do be moderate, and no sickness will overtake you. People bless the one who is liberal with food, and their testimony to his generosity is trustworthy. The city complains of the one who is stingy with food, and their testimony to his stinginess is accurate.
[now for some non-Wesleyan-friendly verses . . .]
Do not try to prove your strength by wine-drinking, for wine has destroyed many. As the furnace tests the work of the smith, so wine tests the hearts when the insolent quarrel. Wine is very life to human beings if taken in moderation. What is life to one who is without wine? It has been created to make people happy. Wine drunk at the proper time and in moderation is rejoicing of heart and gladness of soul. Wine drunk to excess leads to bitterness of spirit, to quarrels and stumbling. Drunkenness increases the anger of a fool to his own hurt, reducing his strength and adding wounds.

32:7 [At dinner . . .] Speak, you who are young, if you are obliged to, but no more than twice, and only if asked. Be brief; say much in few words; be as one who knows and can still hold his tongue. Among the great do not act as their equal; and when another is speaking, do not babble.

32:10 Lightning travels ahead of the thunder, and approval goes before one who is modest.

32:11 Leave in good time and do not be the last; go home quickly and do not linger.

32:18 A sensible person will not overlook a thoughtful suggestion; an insolent and proud person will not be deterred by fear.

33:5 The heart of a fool is like a cart wheel, and his thoughts like a turning axle.

33:10-13 All human beings come from the ground, and humankind was created out of the dust. In the fullness of his knowledge the Lord distinguished them and appointed their different ways. Some he blessed and exalted, and some he made holy and brought near to himself; but some he cursed and brought low, and turned them out of their place. Like clay in the hand of the potter, to be molded as he pleases, so all are in the hand of their Maker, to be given whatever he decides.

36:28 If kindness and humility mark her speech, her husband is more fortunate than other men.

37:13-15 And heed the cousel of your own heart, for no one is more faithful to you than it is. For our own mind sometimes keeps us better informed than seven sentinels sitting high on a watchtower. But above all pray to the Most High that he may direct your way in truth.

37:27-28 My child, test yourself while you live; see what is bad for you and do not give in to it. For not everything is good for everyone, and no one enjoys everything.

37:29 Do not be greedy for every delicacy, and do not eat without restraint . . .

38:15 He who sins against his Maker, will be defiant toward the physician.

38:24 The wisdom of the scribe depends on the opportunity for leisure; only the one who has little business can become wise.

39:17 No one can say, 'What is this?' or 'Why is that?' - for at the appointed time all such questions will be answered.

39:33-34 All the works of the Lord are good, and he will supply every need in its time. No one can say, "This is not as good as that," for everything proves good in its appointed time.

Hauerwas on the pitfalls of a liberal democracy

In his essay "The Church and Liberal Democracy: The Moral Limits of a Secular Polity" published in his book A Community of Character (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame, 1981), Stanley Hauerwas sheds some light for us on the question we asked in an earlier post: Why are our neighbors viewed as strangers or even enemies?

On page 81:

. . . liberal polity is the attempt to show that societal cooperation is possible under the conditions of distrust. The very genius of our society is to forge a political and social existence that does not have to depend on trusting others in matters important for our survival. . . .

Of course the more it becomes unthinkable to trust a stranger, the more we must depend on more exaggerated forms of protection. But the human costs of distrust are perhaps the most destructive. For we are increasingly forced to view one another as strangers rather than as friends, and as a result we become all the more lonely. We have learned to call our loneliness "autonomy" and/or freedom, but the freer we become the more desperate our search for forms of "community" or "interpersonal relationship" that offer some contact with our fellows. Even the family is not immune from this development, since we now assume that children should have "rights" against the parents, as if the family itself were but a contractual society.

So, the light Hauerwas sheds on our inquiry is this: Our American society is based on the principle that our competing interests can be served in a land where we are free to pursue them, under a government whose primary task is to preserve the liberty of citizens who have little to do with each other.* But Hauerwas says in this essay that our society's refusal to sponsor anything but freedom and the protection of the rights of individuals** has resulted in a real incapacity for our society to encourage any virtue beyond self-interest (which, from a Christian standpoint, is a poor basis for moral decisions; if it may be called a virtue at all).

. . . our society offers no ready alternatives to liberalism. We are all liberals. In fact for us in America, liberalism, a position dedicated to ending our captivity to nature, custom, and coercion, ironically has become our fate. The great self-deception is in thinking that the tradition of liberalism gives us the means to recognize that it is indeed a tradition. Instead it continues to promise us new tomorrows of infinite creation. (Hauerwas 83)

If anyone doubts "We are all liberals": remember we are not speaking per se of leftist vs. so-called conservative politics. We are talking of "ending our captivity to nature, custom, and coercion." This concept pervades our society. For example, most children are told at a young age that they will have the liberty to choose their own vocation or occupation; we would look down upon a father who insisted his son take up his profession without question. It is the same way in our culture with marriage. Arranged marriage is so far off our moral map that it would be seen as perverse in our society to make someone marry a person they did not love. This liberalist individualism is also epitomized in the American Christian sphere by Rick Warren's book The Purpose Driven Life: what on earth am I here for? (Note how the confusion of the subtitle presupposes a person who has not been given a purpose in life; more specifically, has not received any tradition to hand on to future generations.)

So unless an American is raised in a community that actually encourages moral virtue of some sort, it is very likely that self-interest will domineer the moral decision-making process for any given American. Rather than suggest that Christians attempt to advocate and enact some change to our government, Hauerwas urges that the church do its best at being itself, part of which is certainly teaching, encouraging and exemplifying virtue. We must be the people and family of God, the light of the world:

My call is for Christians to exhibit confidence in the lordship of Yahweh as the truth of our existence and in particular of our community. If we are so confident, we cannot help but serve our polity [i.e. the church], for such confidence creates a society capable of engendering persons of virtue and trust. A people so formed are particularly important for the continued existence of a society like ours, as they can provide the experience and skills necessary for me to recognize the difference of my neighbor not as a threat but as essential for my very life. (Hauerwas 86)

*Note also our economy is free market capitalism.
**This is also primarily what our justice system is based on; rather than really upon any more substantial moral story.
_______________________

What do you think?

In what ways does our liberal democracy stifle our society's ability to be/do something together as a whole?

How does it limit our communities and relationships, especially to our neighbors?

And what good news does the church have to proclaim in such an atmosphere?

John Howard Yoder on Hebrews 11

'When the author defines "faith" as assurance of the hoped-for and conviction of the unseen, the "hoped-for" and "unseen" realities are not some otherwise unknown truth, proposition, or prediction but the concrete vindication of obedience. "Faith" is obeying when it is not "visible" that it "pays" or "works."'

- The Politics of Jesus, p.129 footnote 30

We might give that interpretive suggestion a trial run by reading Hebrews chapter 11!

Thanks to Zach for these words

I want to cry and say I'm sorry.
I want to kneel and give you glory.
I want to feel your presence on me.
I want to live and know you love me.

I want to live and know you love me.

I want to tell you that I love you,
But I don't want to say it.
I want to prove it through my actions
Because my words aren't strong enough.

[lyrics by Zach Melton, from "Honest to God" by Rodeo Ruby Love, crossroads of america records 2007]

AMEN.

The Value of a Year

At church last night, we watched a video clip* concerning God's divine grace in giving us the freedom to choose. [Yes, I wondered how popular such a thought would be amongst Calvinists . . . although Calvin believed God gave us free will - he just thought we lost it after the fall and (I think) that we won't get it back until the life everlasting.]

One of the sections of the video prodded the viewer to consider the value of time.

The first sentence was something like, "To learn the value of a year, talk to a student who's failed a grade."

YUP. THAT'S ME. Two Fs. MUST . . . NOT . . . LET THIS HAPPEN AGAIN, ever.

For your information, the video went on to encourage us all to consider the value of smaller portions of time, such as a month, a week, a day to day laborers to keep food on the table, an hour to lovers waiting all day to meet, a minute to one trying to catch a bus or train, and a second to one who barely missed an automobile collision.

This second means something! Glorify God now in all you do obeying him.

"Now these three abide: faith, hope and love; but the greatest of these is love."
________________________
*To credit the producers, the video was from an Erwin McManus dvd accompanying his book Chasing Daylight.

"Catastrophe Bag"

by Away With Vega, lyrics by Zach Melton, [with my own structural interpretation based on the song pattern]:

it's gonna take some time
to appreciate my skeleton.
it's what helps me to walk.
it's what keeps me strong.

why are you still sleeping?
wake up! you are missing everything.

i don't mean to bring up any past catastrophes,
but i think it's important to measure all the ground I've covered.
now the rooms are empty, so are the stairs,
unset tables and broken chairs,
and i can't wait to come back home.

i was walking on water.
downstream i fell through.
i know you're near, but i can't hear you.
now i'm not breathing,
and I am sinking deep with you.

hey, wake up!
it's gonna take some time.

Why are you still sleeping?
Wake up, you are missing everything.

translated :: The Canticle of Brother Sun

[Fr[ater] Fra[n]ciscu[s] (S. Benedetto/Subiaco, ca. 1224)]

by Francis of Assisi
Most high, all-powerful, good Lord,
yours are the praises, glory, honor and every blessing,
to you alone are they to be referred,
and no human is worthy to name you.

Be praised, Lord my God, because of all your creatures,
and especially on account of honorable brother Sun,
who makes the day and illumines us by night;
he is handsome and radiant and of great splendor,
and he bears your seal, Lord.

My Lord be praised on account of sister Moon and the stars,
whom he created clear and beautiful in the sky.

My Lord be praised because of brother Wind,
air, cloud, serenity and on account of all the seasons,
through which he serves food for all creatures.

My Lord be praised on account of sister Water,
who is very useful, humble, precious and pure.

My Lord be praised because of brother Fire,
he shines through any night;
he is roseate, golden, invincible and ardent.

My Lord be praised on account of our mother Earth,
who sustains and nourishes us
and produces various fruits
and flowers and herbs of many colors.

Be praised, my Lord, because of those, who for your love have forgiven offenses,
and have patiently sustained tribulation and infirmity.
They are happy, who endure in peace,
for they will receive a crown from you, O most high.

Be praised, my Lord, on account of our sister Death,
whom no one living can evade.

Woe to them, who die in mortal sin!
They are happy, who in the hour of their death find themselves
conformed to your most holy will,
for the second death will not harm them.

Praise and bless my Lord, gratify
and serve Him, all creatures, with great humility!

::In the year of our Lord 1223::

Latin text from BIBLIOTHECA AUGUSTANA.

Excerpt from "Four Word Letter (pt. 2)"

by mewithoutYou

"We hunger, but though all that we eat brings us little relief we don't know quite what else to do,

We have all our beliefs but we don't want our beliefs,

God of peace, we want you."

amen.

Psalm 131

I have recently been intrigued by the 131st Psalm. I have prayed it, sung it, and am seeking to find myself at one with its author in heart:

My heart is not proud, Lord; my eyes are not haughty.
I do not concern myself with great matters, or things too wonderful for me.

But I have stilled and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother.
Like a weaned child is my soul within me.

Israel, put your hope in the Lord both now and forever more.

::Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit - as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be unto ages of ages. Amen.::

How is a still soul like a weaned child with its mother? What is the meaning of this simile?

What thinkest thou? Please do comment.

Love and Peace,
Scott

"Because He Lives"

God sent his Son- they called Him Jesus;
He came to love, heal and forgive.
He lived and died to buy my pardon;
An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives.

Because He lives I can face tomorrow;
Because He lives, all fear is gone.
Because I know He holds the future,
And life is worth the living just because He lives.

by Bill and Gloria Gaither