SACRAMENTS - THE MEANS OF GRACE- Part II

POSTCHRISTIAN CHRISTIANITY

Postchristianity is a term unfamiliar to many Christians but is one that I feel needs to be understood in the context of Christianity itself.  In general, the use of the term refers to the loss of primacy and influence of Christianity's worldview as exhibited in the rise nationalism and secularism.

Here I will briefly examine the influence the Postchristian era  is having on Christian thought, and in shaping the emerging Church in its wake.   In particular, I will examine how it is causing Christian  theologians to rethink long held doctrinal and dogmatic views that are not just losing influence in the world, but in the Church itself.  A discussion of the sacraments and the means of grace lend themselves to such a discussion.

The Postchristian era has been emerging in global North for a long time.  I would place its origins when cracks started appearing in long held church beliefs; such as, the earth being the center of the universe in which everything revolves around, the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Enlightenment when reason started to undermine and challenge long-held beliefs that could not withstand the scrutiny from the various emerging fields of science.  It was further hastened in the 19th and 20th centuries with the theory of evolution,  astrophysics, and theories about the origin of the universe in which humankind was no longer seen as the central object of creation, but rather a small narrow sliver of it; the life we know on a speck of dust in a small solar system at the edge of galaxy in universe filled with billions of galaxies.

In the wake of these discoveries, human events began to come into stark focus as something very limited and possibly, if not likely, short-lived.  There were major shifts in philosophies that attempted to rethink human events in a purely secular sense that, thus far, have proven to come up short in guiding the nations of the world in engaging in peaceful and reasoned ways to stem human violence against one another and our world.

Christianity and other world religions have been dragging their feet on such matters and currently the world is moving in a less than stellar direction.  Some, in this emerging worldview, see religion; particularly, theistic religions as the problem and there is validity to some of these claims, but we also have experienced that as much as religion is deemed a problem, attempting to go non-religious, in a theistic sense, has merely given rise to secular and nationalistic religions that rely on unimaginative reason and soul killing endeavors to eradicate problems largely through exclusivity and fear-based deterrent.

The problems that have arisen in theistic religions is that they have tended toward concretism with regard to their  doctrines and practices when faced with new discoveries and thoughts that appear to contradict their long-held theological views.  They have resisted being informed by science and an imaginative reasoning that should have long ago caused them to pause and examine their teachings and their sacred scriptures in the light of a non-geocentric and non-anthropocentric light.

Given what I have said above, there is a paradoxical effect on Christian theology emerging in this Postchristian era.  While science has lessened the centrality of the earth and humankind as the sole purpose for the universe coming into being, it has caused open minded theologians to consider or reconsider the meaning of biblical scripture and other sacred scriptures in the light of what science has to offer.

As demonstrated in my previous post, science and it's emerging theories about the origins and workings of the universe inform and expand the meanings and importance of scripture, rather than diminish them.  After all, theory is rooted in the Greek word for God, theo. Theories are nothing more than an examination of God's activities from a philosophical and a scientific perspective.  It is only in recent decades that Christian theology has been rushing to catch up as to their implications with regard to scripture.

The question in this post is what effect does this Postchristian era has on our understanding of grace and the sacraments. How are they being shaped and re-imagined?

SPIRITUALITY

One of the outcomes of or responses to Postchristianity is an emerging or, perhaps better said, a re-emerging sense of spirituality.  It is interesting that many who do not wish to identify as being religious identify as being spiritual.  In fact, this is a term finding wider use among mainline Christian denominations.  Spirituality is not a concrete term.  It is a term that implies fluidity.  What does this mean with regard to long-held doctrines and traditions considered solidly sacrosanct in the Christian canon?

The meaning of the sacraments are slowly modifying and expanding, even though the liturgical language of their rites remain the same.   As noted in my last post, most Christian denominations had a history of being exclusive when it came to the administration of Holy Communion. In most churches, a recipient had to be baptized, confirmed, and a recognized member of a congregation within the domain of that particular denomination and of a certain age before receiving Holy Communion.  In some mainline liturgical churches, this is no longer the case and hasn't been for some time.   In such environments, Holy Communion is being offered to all who show up.  In this sense, Holy Communion has become more fluid, more spiritual.  It has become more about seeking and finding God in Christ, rather than receiving forgiveness of one's sins.

The shift is subtle in that it does not remove the doctrinal or orthodox understanding of Holy Communion as a rite that conveys the grace of God as the forgiveness of sins, but rather that the forgiveness of sins is subsumed in finding God in Christ.

ENSUBSTANTIATION

Transubstantiation and consubstantiation are familiar terms when it comes to trying to define the action taking place in the sacrament of Holy Communion.

Transubstantiation is largely understood as the bread and wine used in Holy Communion actually becoming the true body and blood of Jesus while remaining in the form of bread and wine for obvious palatable reasons.  Consubstantiation is a Lutheran teaching that claims the actual true body and blood of Jesus is conveyed in, with, through, and under the bread and wine.  Both of these substantianal approaches to the elements are, to say the least, fantastical.

Bread and wine are nothing more than visible signs and symbols of taking on and taking in a transformation of one's self, a transfiguration of self, seeing oneself as one with God in Christ, and the people sharing these elements and through this act being symbolically one with the whole of creation.  It is a ritual dying to oneself to make room for the other.  Partaking in the sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion are kenotic acts rather than the selfish notion of getting one's sin's forgiven in order to get into heaven. Sacraments are about living in the here and now and getting it right and endeavoring to find, with God's help, a way out of the messes we've created.

While I would never to pretend to speak for God, from what I can glean from my understanding of scripture and what I feel in my heart is that God doesn't give a hoot about our sins.  Sin has no affect or effect on God. It does not make God cry.  It does not madden or sadden God.  God simply deals with it by forgiving it; disempowering it. What seems apparent to me is that God gives more than a hoot about us;  all of us and all the life on this planet.  The question is whether we humans do.

The fact about sin (doing harm) is that it is a purely human issue that has brought life on this planet teetering on the brink of its becoming a planetary hell.  We sin against ourselves, our neighbors, and against our planet both personally and collectively and both actively and passively.

It seems to me that God's nature is to be creative; to work with the muck and mire that presents itself, including the muck and mire of our humanity.  The sacramental rituals we engage in as humans strike me as tangible reminders of such things and prompt us to engage in God's creative activity; to become one with God and one with each other; having faith that God is faithful in loving and is in the process of making all things new as suggested in scripture.

So is forgiveness a factor in these sacraments?

Yes  - HUMAN FORGIVENESS.  Humans forgiving each other is the only way forward.  It is the only true way to recall and remember the purpose found in Jesus's death and resurrection.   Jesus forgave the totality of us, the whole of us, as one of us;  as a human showing us our capacity to do the same, and God has been raising him and us up ever since as the Body of Christ.

In keeping with the tradition of calling the action of the Holy Communion as a substantiational act, I would call what I am describing here Ensubstantiation - of becoming substantiated.  It's not about changing bread and wine, but rather seeing through the use of these signs and symbols an intimate way forward, a way of engaging change in one's self,  in forgiving one another, in seeing the beingness and interconnected wholeness of creation that is present in our own being, of being transfigured with God in Christ and with Humanity in Christ.   Ensubstantiation is engaging with the grace that has been present ever since the Desire To Be - the Spirit of God brought about the universe we live in as heard in the continuing cosmic echo, "Let there be light!"

Until next time, stay faithful.

Norm

TO BELIEVE OR NOT TO BELIEVE - A Homily

This homily was delivered by the author of this post on Sunday June 2, 2019 at Christ Episcopal Church, Yankton , South Dakota

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As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may have confidence that you have sent me.   John17:21

Throughout this Easter season and for the next two Sundays, our Gospel readings have been and will be taken from the Gospel of John, and so on this Seventh and last Sunday of Easter, I am prompted to say a few thing related to this important Gospel and its relevance to who we are as Christians. 

The Gospel of John is unique amongst the four gospels of the New Testament in that it is more a work of theology than a linear telling of Jesus’ life and ministry.  The Gospel of John introduces us to a particular branch of Christian theology, called Christology – the study of Christ. Most of us have been taught that the title of Christ is synonymous with the Messiah, but the author or authors of John take this title to a much higher level, to the cosmic level and makes the bold claim that the Christ is a force, is the creative word of God that brings creation into being.  The major difference between the Gospel of the John and the synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke is a matter of perspective; on how Jesus is presented and revealed as the Christ. 

The synoptic Gospels mark as the beginning of Jesus living into his being the Christ at his baptism in the Jordan where God declares Jesus to be his Son.  In the Gospel of John, Christ is presented as the very Word of God by which all of creation came into being and is that which becomes incarnate in the person of Jesus, being one with God and one with us. As a result of these two divergent perspectives, one can say there are two distinct models by which to understand our journey with God through Christ Jesus. There is a linear side of living into Christ since our baptism and there is a cosmic side, one that says we’ve always been and always will be in communion with God in Christ.

The Gospel of John is believed to have been written some sixty to seventy years after Jesus’ resurrection and some thirty to forty years after the Fall of Jerusalem, the destruction of the Temple, and the disappearance of the Church at Jerusalem; a time in which both Christians and Jews found themselves without a geographic and spiritual center of their related religions.  By the time the Gospel of John was written, the followers of Jesus who knew him when he walked on the earth, his disciples had passed away along with their disciples. What remained were the communities or congregations they had founded.

The Gospel of John was most likely written for the communities that claimed Jesus’ disciple, John, as their founder.  Scholars believe that the communities founded by John were largely communities of Christian Jews who primarily were settled in modern day Lebanon and Israel. It is likely that some of them had witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem and the disappearance of both the temple and the church in Jerusalem.  It was a time when Christianity began to emerge as religion in its own right and they had questions, the foremost of which was, “Who is this Jesus we are following, and how do we deal with a growing sense of doubt being stirred amongst our community’s members and those outside of our community?

The unique way that the writers of John answer these questions is to put the questions of  John’s community in the voice of the  people Jesus encounters that are found only in the Gospel of John; such as, during the night time visit from a member of the Jewish ruling council, the Sanhedrin, Nicodemus, a Samaritan women at a well, a crippled healed on the Sabbath by the Pool of Bethesda,  a young blind man whose veracity at being blind and then being healed is questioned by Jewish authorities, and the heart-wrenching questions by Jesus’ own disciples during  a discussion around an evening meal – hinting of the Last Supper – pondering what it means when Jesus begins talking about what will happen to them when Jesus is no longer in their midst.

Another unique aspect of John is the way such questions are answered.  In the Gospel of John, Jesus is presented as the self-revealing Christ, who speaks of himself for himself and answers these questions by himself.  The Gospel of John is also a narrative cast in the context of the two great sacraments we know as Holy Baptism and Holy Communion.  Water, bread, wine and light play significant roles in the Gospel of John as the signs and symbols of these two sacraments:  “Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give, it shall be a well-spring that never dries up”  “I am the Bread of Life”  “I am the Vine and you are the branches”  “I am the light of the world.” 

Who is Jesus Christ and where is the risen Christ to be found remain active question for us today.

In the Gospel of John, finding the risen Christ is in the experience of sacramental living – being bound with Father through Jesus, the Christ, like a grape vine to its branches.We find the risen Christ in the primal waters of baptism.  We find the risen Christ in the light that breaks through the darkness.  We find the risen Christ in the bread broken and spread throughout the world. We find risen Christ in those who shepherd us along life’s path or as a gateway that ushers us into a new adventure.  We find the risen Christ in the truth revealed along the way as we live into being one with God through Christ Jesus.

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With this Sunday, we come to the close of the Easter season   Easter is one of the longest seasons of the church year, lasting fifty days, yet it seems to fly by as so many other events and happenings fill our lives during this time of year.  Let’s face it.   Easter has lost its disturbing edge.  

I say disturbing because if you read the gospel accounts of this event, it’s easy to overlook the initial reaction when the empty tomb is first encountered.  The earliest gospel account of this event is recorded in Mark and in its oldest manuscripts, the gospel ends by describing the initial response of the women who first discovered the empty tomb like this:   “And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for they trembled and were amazed: neither said they any thing to any man; for they were afraid.”[1]   That’s how the earliest gospel account of this event ends without further explanation or comment, leaving one with so many unanswered questions as if to prompt one to find this reportedly risen Jesus.

The resurrection turned upside down everything we humans thought we knew about the world, everything we believed about the world, everything we thought we knew about God and everything we believed about God up until that moment.  To this day, the resurrection of Jesus defies belief itself, and so it should, because the resurrection does not require belief.   It requires faith. 

Belief and believe are an interesting choice of words found in the translations of the original Greek text.  The problem with the word believe used in translations of the New Testament from the original Greek texts is that word being translated as believe is actually a verb form of the Greek word for faith.  For example, faith, like hope and love, is used to great effect in the letters of Paul because each of those words is a verb in Greek.  We understand hope and love as a verb, but we don’t have a verb form for faith in English.  Faith is defined in the New Testament itself as “… the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”[2]  Or as Paul wrote to the Corinthians “We walk by faith not by sight.”[3]  We walk in confidence and trust, in spite of what we may see, what we believe, or what we think we know.

You may be wondering why after centuries of translating faith as belief it matters.

It matters because we live in world that is increasingly polarized by the variety of beliefs we entertain, especially the beliefs that cause us to doubt.   We believe all sorts of things about our neighbors, our government, our nation, our humanity, and God; and more often than not, we do so at the expense of having faith in our neighbor, faith in our government, in our nation, faith in humanity, and faith in God.

The antidote to doubt is not belief.  The antidote to doubt is faith.  Belief requires a sense of certitude that faith does not.  There is nothing certain about faith, about hope, or about love except that to live without them makes life a living hell.  Ultimately, Christ is not found in things we believe to be true, but rather Christ is found when Christ is actively sought by living life as an act of faith, by living life as an act of hope and by living life as an act of love.  

So I invite you to change “believe” to having faith,  to trust, or to be confident when reading John or any of the New Testament scriptures and see the difference it makes in understanding what you are reading.  In fact after this homily, you’ll have an opportunity to check this out when we say the apostle’s Creed.  The first two words of each of its three articles begins with I believe.  I’m not asking you to change the wording when we say it, but after saying it  the way its written, I invite you to silently say the beginning of that creed as “I have faith in God the Father," "I have faith in Jesus Christ," "I have faith in the Holy Spirit" and see if it feels differently and takes on a new meaning.

To bring new meanings into our lives and into the life of this church, let us live and walk by faith,  live and walk with hope, and live and walk the way of love in unity with God through the Christ.

Amen

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Until next time, stay faithful.

Norm

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[1] Mark 16:8

[2] Hebrews 11:1

[3] 2 Corinthians 11:7