Saturday, March 31, 2007

Great Thanksgiving | Maundy Thursday

Maundy Thursday 2007 | Great Thanksgiving
  • The Lord be with you.
    • And also with you.
  • Lift up your hearts.
    • We lift them to the Lord.
  • Let us give thanks to God.
    • It is right to give both thanks and praise!
Holy God, Mighty Lord, Renewer of Creation and Bringer of Joy,
endless are your mercies and unending your grace!
Maker of stars and Giver of dreams,
it is privilege indeed to acclaim and adore you!

At the dawn of time your Word spoke order out of chaos and disorder, and brought beauty into your glorious light;

You formed humanity in your image and drew us into covenant with you; you called us to be your reconciling Presence in the world.

When we strayed from your path and fled from your presence, choosing idols and intellect rather than Spirit and Freedom, you led us through the wilderness into a country flowing with your extravagant supply.

When rebellion against your righteous law broke us once again, you would not let this world remain shattered, and in Jesus of Nazareth, born of Mary, born under the law, you lived among us.

You baptized us with water, with fire and with your Spirit;
and sent Bread from Heaven to keep us wholly alive.

Therefore, in celebration with the people of God in all the ages, with all creation and with the angelic hosts of heaven, we sing:

Holy are you, God of Majesty and Awe,
and blessed is Jesus Christ, your Son, our Redeemer and Lord.

Leaving the boundlessness of heaven,
he came to earth, experiencing doubt, betrayal and abandonment
yet bearing the weight of sin and separation,
he carried us into the liberty of your grace.

Bound to the tree of shame on Calvary's Hill,
shedding his innocent blood, he sealed the covenant between heaven and earth.

Broken and dying for all creation's sake
rising to new life from the bondage of the tomb
he delivered us from sin and death,
creating in our inmost hearts the new creation promised by your prophets.

Remembering Jesus Christ's birth, life, death and resurrection,
with the Church in every place and every time, we proclaim the mystery of faith:
Christ has died;
Christ is risen;
Christ will come again!
On the night of betrayal and desertion, our Lord Jesus took bread,
and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me."

In the same way after supper, he also took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."

As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes again in glory.
Giver of the journey and Bestower of the gifts,

Send down your Spirit of holiness and transformation,
and sanctify these gifts of bread and cup uniting us to all creation in every place and in every time.

Send down upon this assembly of your creation and redemption – and upon the world – your Spirit of life and renewal;

Calm our anxieties and quiet our fears.

Make us bearers of your grace
that we may be your reconciling embrace for the world, reclaiming, restoring and transforming all creation into the reign of heaven on earth.

Then, at last, when endless morning comes,
when all brokenness is whole and holy,
when all creation once again redeemed,
with all the saints of every time and place
as the family of God in Jesus Christ we will gather around heaven's Welcome Table,

we will sing alleluias to you,
through Jesus Christ, crucified and Risen
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
endlessly into eternity, amen!
forever and ever,

Amen!


© Leah Chang 2007

Friday, March 30, 2007

Theology of the Cross 6

Although I planned this sixth class for NPC as a wrap and recap of the previous five, it was Palm / Passion Sunday, everyone participated in Holy Week and Easter prep so we didn't meet. I offered this series at OS-ELCA-NP for the adults for the five evenings of VBS during summer 2007, so we would not have needed a sixth session there anyway.


Theology of the Cross: what does this mean for the Church’s and especially for this congregation’s life and mission?
1. Go to dark Gethsemane, ye that feel the tempter’s power;
Your Redeemer’s conflict see, watch with Him one bitter hour,
Turn not from His griefs away; learn of Jesus Christ to pray.

2. See Him at the judgment hall, beaten, bound, reviled, arraigned;
O the wormwood and the gall! O the pangs His soul sustained!
Shun not suffering, shame, or loss; learn of Christ to bear the cross.

3. Calvary’s mournful mountain climb; there, adoring at His feet,
Mark that miracle of time, God’s own sacrifice complete.“It is finished!” hear Him cry; learn of Jesus Christ to die.

4. Early hasten to the tomb where they laid His breathless clay;
All is solitude and gloom. Who has taken Him away?
Christ is risen! He meets our eyes; Savior, teach us so to rise.

James Montgomery, in Selection of Psalms and Hymns, by Thomas Cotterill (London: 1820).
The cross of Calvary forms the ultimate type and reality of God’s characteristically hidden and paradoxical, sacramental presence in the commonest things, situations and people. Especially in the cross we learn God totally subverts evil for good, as the death of Jesus Christ becomes a redemptive reality for all creation.

Throughout the witness of scripture, we find God’s Self-revelation from a series of mountains: the Mount Sinai Covenant recorded in Exodus 20:3-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21; the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:1-11 (there’s the parallel Sermon on the Plain plus in Luke 6:17...); the Transfiguration, with Mount Tabor, rising out of the Jezreel Valley as one of the traditional suspects; finally, Mount Calvary brings God’s definitive self-revelation, and ultimate covenant! (I love the name of the hymn tune, Bryn Calfaria...)

New Covenant: Jeremiah 31:31-34; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; Luke 22:[19]-20; 2 Corinthians 3:4-8; read the book of Acts!

New Covenant: On the day of Pentecost, Jews commemorated the Sinai Covenant; on the Christian Pentecost, we celebrate the gift of the Spirit through which God enables us to perform the New Covenant. Read the book of Acts!

Jesus said, “Do this!” Do this liturgical action? In the power of the Holy Spirit, God calls the church—
  • As the body of the risen Christ, the Bread of Life, to nourish the world, especially the stranger, the outcast and the “other”;
  • As branches of Jesus, the Vine, to pour out our lives to those around us.
12. What does the cross mean for the world in which we live and serve?

Martin Luther begins his Small Catechism – traditional preparation for First Communion – with the 10 Commandments. Walter Brueggemann observes, “It is the God of the Commandments with whom we commune!” In the Book of Common Prayer, The Holy Eucharist, Rite One, begins with the Ten Commandments—with the Great Commandment as an alternative.

We’ve been discussing God’s action and presence in the sacraments, considered a “means of grace.” American theologian Robert McAfee Brown suggested that people who aren’t practicing justice and righteousness in their daily lives should be kept from the Communion Table.

Decalogue: Exodus 20:3-17; Deuteronomy 5:6-21; the Great Commandment: Mark 12:28-31; Matthew 22:36-48

Some churches practice foot washing as a sacrament or as preparation for participating in the Lord’s Supper. Think about it!

13. The cross of Jesus Christ: Foolishness to the Greeks and foolishness to us?

“When Christ calls us, he bids us come and die...to go one’s way under the sign of the cross is not misery and desperation, but peace and refreshment for the soul, it is the highest joy...we do not walk under our self-made laws and burdens, but under the yoke of him who knows us and walks under the yoke with us.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Nachfolge (Discipleship)

14. Concluding questions, observations and loose ends.

For Paul, the gospel is death and resurrection.

Jubilee Year Redemption for all creation: Leviticus 25:8-24; Leviticus 23 and 24:

The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants. Throughout the country that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption of the land.

How does living as people of the cross ultimately lead to Jubilee Justice for all creation?
Let us Talents and Tongues Employ

1. Let us talents and tongues employ,
reaching out with a shout of joy:
bread is broken, the wine is poured,
Christ is spoken and seen and heard.
Jesus lives again, earth can breathe again,
pass the Word around: loaves abound!

2. Christ is able to make us one,
at his table he sets the tone,
teaching people to live to bless,
love in word and in deed express.
Jesus lives again, earth can breathe again,
pass the Word around: loaves abound!

3. Jesus calls us in, sends us out
bearing fruit in a world of doubt,
gives us love to tell, bread to share:
God, Immanuel, everywhere!
Jesus lives again, earth can breathe again,
pass the Word around: loaves abound!

–Fred Kaan, 1975–
© Leah Chang 2007

Holy Week Friday Five

Friday Five: Holy Week, Batman! for Rev Gal Blog Pals Friday 5

According to ReverendMother:
Well, the Clergy Superbowl is almost upon us, and so, I offer up this Friday Five (with apologies for the irreverent title):
1. Will this Sunday be Palms only, Passion only, or hyphenated?

Palms Alone!

2. Maundy Thursday Footwashing: Discuss.

It so strikes me that protestants have retained but two "dominical(?!)" sacraments, purportedly chosen because of Jesus' direct command plus the manner in which Baptism and the Lord's Supper make use of earthly means. I know so little about this, but I *think* some Mennonites as well as Church of the Brethren and Church of God in Christ consider foot washing a sacrament or possibly regularly practice it in tandem with HC? (Hey, folks—people seem to consider me somewhat expert on liturgy...I even received the title "Liturgy Queen"...but my experience remains in the mainline...} at the church I currently attend most frequently, Maundy Thursday 2006 was the first time they didn't wash feet; all the other years, anyone could come forward to the chancel to be washed and then to wash.

However, at a previous church, a handful of people I knew were big $$$$ contributers got hand-picked to be the symbolic wash-ees—something that still sticks in my craw! We know foot-washing was the work of the lowliest, none lower servant; we recognize Jesus' washing the feet of his followers as the ultimate example of servanthood and as such, it's a practice that at least on occasion all of us need to observe and probably to experience.

3. Share a particularly meaningful Good Friday worship experience.

A few years ago at one of the ELCAs, we received two small pieces of paper before entering the sanctuary (I think I was there mainly for the choir cantata or concert). At the designated time, we got to write something we wanted to nail to the cross on each paper scrap, and then went forward, received a couple of framing nails and got to nail our stuff to a big ole rugged wood cross that was stretched out in front of the chancel. That's a big church, and there was a mob of people that evening, so the total intensity has stayed with me.

4. Easter Sunrise Services—choose one:

this one: a) "Resurrection tradition par excellence!"

b) "Eh. As long as it's sunrise with coffee, I can live with it."
c) "[Yawn] Can't Jesus stay in the tomb just five more minutes, Mom?!?"


5. Complete this sentence: It just isn't Easter without...

Easter Vigil!

Bonus: Any Easter Vigil aficionados out there? Please share.

I'll spring for this one: my best Easter memories are two about the Easter Vigil—the year I read the Easter Proclamation – "This is the night that shines as the day!" – and the year I kindled the New Fire!

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Cross Pieces

After spending more time with Water Buffalo Theology by Kosuke Koyama to prepare for the Theology of the Cross series, I finally decided to blog about the book, so here it is—but only sort of!

This noontime was the 5th Theology of the Cross class of 6; the discussions have been wonderful, and my only real regret is that I started out with close to 20 pages of notes and found the amount of information so overwhelming that in the end I just "did something" related to the original outline for each class handout. For the blog at hand I'm using some of my Water Buffalo Theology notes and a few notes from the class handouts I prepared. Actually, I'd figured this would be a good opportunity to prepare for Sunday, because it would be the first of the pair of classes in which we try putting together some of the concepts we've discussed; originally I'd thought to post Saturday evening, but it's now Sunday afternoon! Disclaimer: as I revisit and assess my blogs - and my sermons - I've found the best ones, meaning those I'd "get the most from" if someone else had written them, almost always are those that aren't too tightly argued, leaving space for the HS to insinuate and make inroads. I've been thinking about this blog for too long now, so despite its needing lots of further developing, here it is.

Way back then at UMassBoston in my cultural anthro classes we learned about the concept of the liminal, which can be applied to formal, liturgical rites of passage as well as to a wide range of other social and psychological situations and encounters. Just like when you're on the limen or threshold of a building or room, in life passages and other circumstances there is a stage in space and time you're no longer where you started but not yet at your destination, either. Needless to say, just as with the pictogram depicting crisis as both danger and opportunity, when you're on the limen, there's a possibility of staying stuck neither here nor there and besides, although you have a clue as to what was in your past, you only can imagine what the future holds, making it unsettling at minimum and scary plus at maximum.

Our primary liminality text for anthro of religion was The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure by Victor Turner; one of the books about missiology we discussed on the old UCC forums was The Missionary Congregation, Leadership, and Liminality by Alan J. Roxburgh.

Regarding the geographically liminal, shorelines, the forest's edge and river's edge, a city's suburbs, the rim of the Central Business District come to mind; try the gates of a gated residential community, too, or for a more optimistic example, the door – or maybe the narthex (in some traditions termed "foyer") – of a cathedral or your local church building. Summer and winter solstice, vernal and autumnal equinox, dusk and dawn are ambiguous times neither here nor there, neither this nor that. We've particularly discussed and I've blogged almost incessantly about baptism as border and boundary between life, death and life, as well as bounded border between the world in the thrall of death and its agents and the resurrected community that in the sovereignty of life serves in the image of its Servant Lord, Jesus Christ. We've talked about the cross of Calvary as "more than atonement; more than God's definitive self-revelation; more than the ultimate example for us to follow" but a transformative reality, the way God initiates the New Creation, City of God and The Way Christ Jesus in the Spirit calls and enables us to follow. Related to this blog title, I'm now imagining the cross as a liminal place. Last week for Class 4 we talked some about God’s action and presence in the sacraments – considered a means of grace – and began imagining ways we can be means of grace in the world around us!

It's common to view the vertical piece of the cross as reaching up to heaven, while the horizontal reaches out to connect us with others--with all creation. Transformative as it ultimately can prove, for sure relationship of every kind is fragile and breaks all too easily. But in any case, at any stage, relating is an inevitably here and now aligned with an invariably not quite yet: on the limen, on the threshold of something different, some new creation, something synergistic: more than you started with and more than simply the predictable sum of the discrete parts!

This noon we specifically asked,

What does the cross mean for each of us as individuals, for this church community, for our nearby neighbors? Contextualizing the sacraments!

Theologian Jürgen Moltmann describes baptism as "sign, witness, representation and illumination of the Christ Event, and" we can claim the same about the Eucharist. We know Jesus Christ as sovereign, prophet and priest; baptized, we participate in that royal, prophetic priesthood. Especially related to those roles, how can our lives signify, witness to, represent and illuminate the birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ?

Contextualizing Eucharist

I really like this from today's handout, so here it is again:
Jesus said, "Do this!" Do this liturgical action? Recall Israel and desert manna, enabling God's people to live precariously in the [liminal] wilderness:
  • Bread = nourishing = body that is broken unto death and raised to new life
  • Christ's body = revealed in the breaking of bread/body
  • Church = Body of the risen Christ = nourishing the world, especially the stranger, the outcast and the "other"
  • Church / reveals Jesus' crucified body in its redeeming brokenness
  • Church / reveals Christ's risen body in its liberating wholeness

Water Buffalo Theology—a few notes on a few chapters, with a suggested new version of each chapter title.

Chapter 1: Theological Situations in Asia and the Mission of the Church | theological situations in Southern California and the mission of the church
Jeremiah 4-7

Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, "Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce...Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare."

This passage is both the original source of "where you're planted!" and practical, down-to-earth direction for living shalom-ly with self, with neighbor and with stranger.

Paraphrased from my earlier comment: I think all of us will be able together to celebrate a thanksgiving homecoming (after all, isn't homecoming the ultimate thanksgiving?) liturgy within a community gathered not only to perfunctorily and ritually evoke the presence of the risen Christ in Word and Sacrament, but when that gathered people attests to the presence of the Christ in each another: having gone slowly enough to know and to call each others' names, having gotten sufficiently grounded to ignore at least some of the babble of commerce and consumerism, having decided to "seek the welfare of the city" where they are rather than seeking the well-being of their purses and properties: looking outward to the other's interests and inward to an authentic, relational and re-creative self. The "crucified mind" can be as basic as looking to others' interests rather than our own...

Our Christian kerygma tells about our holy God's incarnation into the longitude, latitude and linear time of human history and of a particular culture and the ensuing reality of the death of death itself in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, the One we know as the Christ of God. And the same God whose passion from the beginning has been to journey with the people, continues incarnate in the Church, the Body of the Risen Christ, and still accompanies the people on their journey in the longitudes, latitudes and linear time of human history and now within many diverse cultures. We proclaim God Among Us in the spatial and temporal liminality of human life and endeavor! At the beginning of class this noon I referred to the book of Acts in passing, and as we left for home, I suggested everyone read Acts during this coming week, or at least turn the pages to remind themselves of the content.

From WBT: Jakarta is as central as Jerusalem and London in the mission of the Risen Lord. Though initially it may sound astounding to make Jakarta or anywhere else "as central as Jerusalem," if the person and work of the crucified and risen Jesus Christ is not for Jakarta just as much as it is for Jerusalem, he truly is not and cannot be Lord of all. One of the class participants, who always is full of great ideas, said he believes that for us, Jerusalem is right here and now.

Chapter 4: The "Efficiency" of the Crucified One in the World of Technological Efficiency | the efficiency of our witness in this world of technology

Rooting the Gospel: the Bible reveals God's attachment to the world of creation to the point of totally identifying with us to the extent of living and dying as one of us: learning and knowing us, creation – God's beloved – so completely as to walk in our sandals. Tevas or flip-flops or thongs or what kind of footgear, these days? Neighborology: our attachment to our neighbors to the extent of walking a while in their shoes, eating the same food or cuisine, working at the same job, being unemployed in the same manner. My identity needs to become translucent and transparent so "I" can get out of the way and see and feel the other. We're talking neighborology, the word about the neighbor!

Chapter 6: Aristotelian Pepper and Buddhist Salt | liturgical excess and low church blandness

Kitchen imagery is exceptionally apt in discussing Christianity, as the Bible is full of references and analogies to common, ordinary, everyday things (material, physical "possessions") and activities. As the author observes and as we all know, real theology is done in the venues and locales where actually people live--we need to begin practicing more and more neighborology! My blog readers know all about my "liturgical excess - low church" subtitle for this chapter, so I'll say no more.

Chapter 12: Cool Arhat and Hot God | Cool Dudes and Hot Jalapeños

This is southern California, where a few days ago I overheard a couple of young guys talking, one saying to the other about 12301298 times worth, "Dude, man, cool, dude!" Funny! God creates in order to have a creation to become passionately - hotly - attached to, so God and God's people live in particularly close attachment to each other. The God we meet in the Bible and in Jesus Christ loves creation enough literally to die for it!

Chapter 18: Three Modes of Christian Presence | Two Versions of the Gospel

WBT's author, Kosuke Koyama, mentions suffering because we're involved with others, involved with the other; suffering because we're involved in neighborology! Participating in the "glory of the crucified Lord"--the same Paul of Tarsus also talks about "the glory of the children of God!" And isn't our glory as God’s offspring also a crucified glory and a risen glory? Exactly what our discussion today was all about!

Possible modes of Christian presence: the geographically, socially, culturally, chronologically, theologically and/or spiritually liminal? Can our presence in the world and in our neighborhoods be a liminal, in the process of becoming, though not-quite-yet one? Partly in our own world and way, partly in theirs, and wholly in the sovereignty of heaven? Encountering each other in the church and our neighbors as Jesus Christ's representatives has got to be crisis-time, in terms of danger and amazing opportunity! About those Gospel Versions--for Paul, the Gospel is death and resurrection!

Friday, March 23, 2007

Theology of the Cross 5

Theology of the Cross 5 | Lent 5 | 25 March 2007

Theology of the Cross:
what does this mean for the Church’s and especially for this congregation’s life and mission?

A Tree on Your Back

1. We meet you, O Christ, in many a guise,
your image we see in simple and wise.
You live in a palace, exist in a shack;
we see you the gardener, a tree on your back.

2. In millions alive, away and abroad;
involved in our life, you live down the road.
Imprisoned in systems, you long to be free;
we see you, Lord Jesus, still bearing your tree.

3. We hear you, O man, in agony cry;
for freedom you march, in riots you die.
Your face in the papers we read and we see.
The tree must be planted by human decree.

4. You choose to be made at one with the earth;
the dark of the grave prepares for your birth.
Your death is your rising, creative your word;
the tree springs to life and our hope is restored..

–Fred Kaan, 1966

The cross of Calvary forms the ultimate type and reality of God’s characteristically hidden and paradoxical, sacramental presence in the commonest things, situations and people. Interpreting scripture, sacraments, everything in our lives and in the world with "What preaches Christ."
  • Last week we talked some about God’s action and presence in the sacraments – considered a “means of grace” in this tradition – and began imagining ways we can be a means of grace in the world around us.

  • It’s impossible to separate out today’s discussion topics, so I’ve suggested some texts and ideas to get us started.

A Theology of Baptism

Galatians 3:26-29; Titus 3:5-8; 1 Corinthians 12:12-13; Romans 6:1-14; Ephesians 4:4-6; Mark 1:4-11; Matthew 3:11-17; Luke 3:15-22

Theologian Jürgen Moltmann describes baptism as “sign, witness, representation and illumination of the Christ Event”; we can claim the same about the Eucharist. We know Jesus Christ as sovereign, prophet and priest; alive in Christ, we participate in that royal, prophetic priesthood. Especially in regard to those roles, how can our lives signify, witness to, represent and illuminate the birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ?

Contextualizing Baptism

We are baptized for events like 9/11; we are baptized to be the Christ alongside our friends, relatives and neighbors; we are baptized to not be an exclusive community, but to risk reaching out to image and model Jesus Christ to the world – including those who are culturally, ethnically, chronologically, occupationally, educationally different from us; to recognize Jesus Christ in others and to be the presence of the crucified and risen Jesus Christ in their lives.

A Theology of the Eucharist

1 Corinthians 10:16-17; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; Mark 14:22-25; Matthew 26:26-29; Luke 22:14-20; Luke 24:30-31; John 6:33; John 6:51; John 6:56

Jesus said, “Do this!” Do this liturgical action?

Contextualizing Eucharist

Jesus says, “I am the Bread of Life; I am the Vine!” In every culture, grain products form a substantial nutritional base; the grain may be rice, wheat, corn, wheat, barley...the fruit of the vine is a potent and pervasive biblical symbol, and beyond there and then, lately we’ve been learning a lot about grape’s benefits! In the power of the Holy Spirit, God calls the church—
  • As the body of the risen Christ, the Bread of Life, to nourish the world, especially the stranger, the outcast and the ‘other’

  • Like the Eucharist, to reveal Jesus’ crucified body in its redeeming brokenness

  • To reveal Christ’s risen body in its liberating wholeness

  • As branches of Jesus, the Vine, to pour out our lives to those around us

9. What does the cross mean for each of us as individuals?

Galatians 3:1-5; 2 Corinthians 5:16-21; Ephesians 1:17-23; Matthew 28:16-20; Luke 24: 44-49; Acts 1:6-8; 2 Timothy 2:8-13; 1 Peter 2:9-10

10. What does the cross mean for this church community?

From Water Buffalo Theology: Suffering because we’re involved with others, involved with the other; participating in the “glory of the crucified Lord”. My note: the same Paul of Tarsus also talks about “the glory of the children of God!” And isn’t our glory as God’s offspring also a crucified glory and a risen glory?

11. What does all of this mean for our nearby neighbors?

When I was on staff at the church in City of History, I wrote their Mission Statement:
We are the people of God, forgiven and set free by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ; by the power of the Holy Spirit we are called together and sent into the world as witnesses to his resurrection. God calls us, a servant people, to proclaim in word and action the presence of the risen Lord to all those whom our lives touch, especially in this community.
The author of Water Buffalo Theology talks about “neighborology”—the word about the neighbor! The Bible and Jesus Christ reveal God’s attachment to the world of creation to the point of learning and knowing us so completely as to walk in our sandals (Tevas, or flip-flops or boots or snow boots...) and to die a physical death, just as all of us inevitably will. Especially in the shadow of the cross, how can we practice neighborology?

© Leah Chang 2007

Rivers in the Desert Friday 5

Rivers in the Desert is Friday 5 for today on the RevGals blog

I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:19, NRSV

desert riverSongbird blogged:
As we near the end of the long journey toward Easter, a busy time for pastors and layfolk alike, I ponder the words of Isaiah and the relief and refreshment of a river in the desert.

For this Friday Five, name five practices, activities, people or _____ (feel free to fill in something I may be forgetting) that for you are rivers in the desert.
Before reading my play, you absolutely need to notice the name of this blog, but of course you already know it's desert spirit's fire! Here's today's highly conventional and (for me) very predictable play:
  1. The Desert, any desert, is a stream in my wilderness, but especially going to Tucson and being in the Sonoran Desert;
  2. The Beach, any beach, at any time of day and any time of year;
  3. The City—once again, almost any city;
  4. Corporate Worship—especially when we celebrate Eucharist and/or there's a baptism;
  5. Conversation with almost anyone: someone who's been a friend for a long time and with whom I've talked lots, or someone who's been a total stranger previous to this moment.
The Formal End.

...but of course I could add dozens of others.

Friday, March 16, 2007

Theology of the Cross 4

The class also will get a 2-page handout with some Heidelberg Catechism and some Q&A from the 1998 Study Catechism of the PC(USA); I chose those two because Luther's Small and the Shorter Westminster probably are more familiar in this country.

Theology of the Cross: what does this mean for the Church’s and especially for this congregation’s life and mission?
Here we will take the wine and the water;
here we will take the bread of new birth,
here you shall call your sons and your daughters,
call us anew to be salt for the earth.

Give us to drink the wine of compassion;
give us to eat the bread that is you;
nourish us well, and teach us to fashion
lives that are holy and hearts that are true.

Marty Haugen, Here in This Place/Gather Us In, © 1982 GIA Publications, Inc.

I, the Lord of font and cup,
covenant to lift you up.
Splash the water, break the bread; pour out your lives.
Faithfully my love you’ll show,
so their hearts will always know,
They are mine eternally...

© Linda LeBron, 2002
Theology of glory vs. theology of the cross: Theologians of the cross build their theology in the light of God’s own revelation of himself, particularly God’s self-revelation in Christ crucified. The cross of Calvary forms a paradigm and model for God’s characteristically hidden and paradoxical, sacramental presence in the commonest things, situations and people.

•Interpreting scripture, sacraments and everything in our lives and in the world with “What preaches Christ.” Especially look for God’s hidden yet apparent presence and for “Types of Christ.” Imagine the classic attributes of God through the lens of the cross!

8. The Cross and the Sacraments

Study Catechism of the Presbyterian Church (USA), 1998

Question 70. What is the main difference between baptism and the Lord’s Supper?

While I receive baptism only once, I receive the Lord’s Supper again and again. Being unrepeatable, baptism indicates not only that Christ died for our sins once and for all, but that by grace we are also united with him once and for all through faith. Being repeatable, the Lord’s Supper indicates that as we turn unfilled to him again and again, our Lord continually meets us in the power of the Holy Spirit to renew and deepen our faith.

a. A Theology of Baptism

Galatians 3:26-29; Titus 3:5-8; 1 Corinthians 12:12-13; Romans 6:1-14; Ephesians 4:4-6; Mark 1:4-11; Matthew 3:11-17; Luke 3:15-22

Theologian Jürgen Moltmann describes baptism as “sign, witness, representation and illumination of the Christ Event.” We can claim the same about the Eucharist.
In baptism, God and the church claim us in covenant...baptized, we live reborn in the water of Jesus’ birth and alive in the fire of his death—the transforming, rebirthing power of the cross. As a baptized people, we no longer live under the reign of death, its idols and its artifacts, but in the alternative community countering the individualisms of covetousness, greed, commoditization, consumption, superfluity, satiation, and (ultimately) despair.

b. A Theology of the Eucharist

1 Corinthians 10:16-17; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; Mark 14:22-25; Matthew 26:26-29 ; Luke 24:30-31; John 6:33; John 6:51; John 6:56

Jesus said, "Do this!" Do this liturgical action? In the Eucharist, the entire church and all creation in every age and time comes together; this is an action of the whole, entire church! Farmers, vintners, truckers, weavers, potters, storekeepers, builders, bakers, more... Moltmann said Christ’s invitation is prevenient. William Stringfellow says (paraphrased, from An Ethic for Christians and Other Aliens in a Strange Land) the Bread and Cup are “tokens of the Resurrection” and these “tokens...are discerned as the Word of God indwelling all creation and transfiguring human history.” Martin Luther: the ubiquity of the risen and ascended Christ.
  • Recall Israel and desert manna, enabling God’s people to live precariously in the wilderness
  • Bread = nourishing = body that is broken unto death and raised to new life
  • Christ’s body = revealed in the breaking of bread / body
  • Church = Body of the risen Christ = nourishing the world, especially the stranger, the outcast and the ‘other’
  • Church / reveals Jesus’ crucified body in its redeeming brokenness
  • Church / reveals Christ’s risen body in its liberating wholeness


Heidelberg Catechism, 1563

Question 76. What is it then to eat the crucified body, and drink the shed blood of Christ?

It is not only to embrace with believing heart all the sufferings and death of Christ and thereby to obtain the pardon of sin, and life eternal; but also, besides that, to become more and more united to his sacred body, by the Holy Ghost, who dwells both in Christ and in us; so that we, though Christ is in heaven and we on earth, are notwithstanding “flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone” and that we live, and are governed forever by one spirit, as members of the same body are by one soul.

The Holy Supper...but it means more. Through the Holy Spirit, who lives both in Christ and in us, we are united more and more to Christ’s blessed body. And so, although he is in heaven and we are on earth, we are flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone. And we forever live on and are governed by one Spirit, as members of our body are by one soul.

© Leah Chang 2007

Friday, March 09, 2007

Theology of the Cross 3

Oh wow—I just accidentally posted this on ...urban wilderness...

Theology of the Cross 3 | Lent 3 | 11 March 2007

Theology of the Cross: what does this mean for the Church’s and especially for this congregation’s life and mission?
All Who Love and Serve Your City

1. All who love and serve your city,
all who bear its daily stress,
all who cry for peace and justice,
all who curse and all who bless,

2. In your day of loss and sorrow,
in your day of helpless strife,
honor, peace, and love retreating,
seek the Lord, who is your life.

3. In your day of wrath and plenty,
wasted work and wasted play,
call to mind the word of Jesus,
“I must work while it is day.”

4. For all days are days of judgment,
and the Lord is waiting still,
drawing near a world that spurns him,
offering peace from Calvary’s hill.

5. Risen Lord! shall yet the city
be the city of despair?
Come today, our Judge, our Glory;
be its name, “The Lord is there!”

Words: Erik Routley © 1969 by Stainer & Bell Ltd., administered by Hope Publishing Co., Carol Stream, IL 60188
Theology of glory vs. theology of the cross: Theologians of the cross build their theology in the light of God’s own revelation of himself, particularly God’s self-revelation in Christ crucified. In addition, the cross of Calvary forms a paradigm and model for God’s characteristically hidden and paradoxical, sacramental presence in the commonest things, situations and people.
  • Law and Gospel; interpreting scripture and life with “What preaches Christ.”
6. Paul and his ilk; Martin Luther: the cross as Weltanschauung, as an all-encompassing worldview. Why?

Romans; Philippians—texts we looked last Sunday.

2 Corinthians 5:16-21 – we are a new creation; ministry of reconciliation

Colossians 1:15-20 – Christ reconciled all to himself, making peace through his shed blood

Colossians 2:9-15 – buried and raised with Christ, who disarmed and made a public spectacle of the powers and authorities

Hebrews 12:1-3 – for the joy set before him endured the cross; not the when or why of bad things happening to good people, but the how of God blessing us and all creation

Acts 1:5-8 – restore the Kingdom to Israel? In the power of the HS we are witnesses from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth!

Luther spoke about “The God Who became small for us in Christ”—small enough to die.

From Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Nachfolge (Discipleship): “When Christ calls us, he bids us come and die...to go one’s way under the sign of the cross is not misery and desperation, but peace and refreshment for the soul, it is the highest joy...we do not walk under our self-made laws and burdens, but under the yoke of him who knows us and walks under the yoke with us.”

Great Ends of the Church 6: The exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world – that’s us!

To the five Reformation solas – Sola Scriptura, Solus Christus, Sola Fide, Sola Gratia, Soli Deo Gloria – theologian Martin Marty adds a sixth: Cross Alone - Sola crux.

7. Some familiar theologians of the cross

Especially look for God’s hidden yet apparent presence and for “Types of Christ.” Today’s discussion primarily is about discovering lives that preach Christ crucified – and risen. However, it’s not only about being the presence of Christ to and for the world, living a responsive yet unassuming servant lifestyle that may take us to the Cross of Calvary; it also includes recognizing the presence of Christ in the world and in our neighbors. Matthew 25:31-40 – Lord, when did we see you hungry...”

For starters, here’s a very short list: Bonhoeffer; Dorothy Day; Gandhi; Martin Luther King; Desmond Tutu; Mother Teresa; us! Who else comes to mind? Some of our relatives, friends and neighbors? In the church and out of the church? Christian and not? Describe and explain.

A few days I was listening to Lionel Richie’s song, “Endless Love.” “My love, there’s only you in my life; you’re every breath I take; you’re every step I make, and I want to share all my love with you. Two heart, two hearts that beat as one...and love, I’ll be a fool for you – my endless love” reminds me of God’s love for us in Jesus Christ and of the foolish love any theologian of the cross has for all creation.

Considering these theologians of the cross—including us, particularly vis-à-vis our immediate neighbors, how do we become fools for love? Paul describes the cross as a scandal, a stumbling block to trip into and fall over to Jews who emphasize keeping the law to the extreme, and as complete foolishness to Greeks – or to anyone who aspires to high levels of intellectual pretense. Think about both of those aspects!

© Leah Chang 2007

Friday, March 02, 2007

Theology of the Cross 2

Theology of the Cross: what does this mean for the Church's and especially for this congregation’s life and mission?

Knowing You

1. All I once held dear, built my life upon,
all this world reveres and wars to own,
all I once thought gain I have counted loss,
spent and worthless now compared to this.

Chorus:
Knowing You, Jesus, knowing You.
There is no greater thing.
You're my all, You're the best, You're my joy,
my righteousness; and I love You, Lord.

2. Now my heart's desire is to know You more,
to be found in You and known as Yours,
to possess by faith what I could not earn,
all surpassing gift of righteousness.
Repeat Chorus

3. Oh, to know the power of Your risen life,
and to know You in Your suffering,
to become like You in Your death,
My Lord, so with You to live and never die.
Repeat Chorus

By Graham Kendrick – based on Philippians 3:7-11; © 1993 Make Way Music

Theology of glory vs. theology of the cross: Theologians of the cross build their theology in the light of God’s own revelation of himself, particularly God’s self-revelation in Christ crucified. In addition, the cross of Calvary forms a paradigm and model for God’s characteristically hidden and paradoxical, sacramental presence in the commonest things, situations and people.
  • Domesticated gods: Egyptian imperial religion; Roman imperial religion; Jerusalem Temple; contemporary consumerism
  • God of the bible: dynamic, free and elusive; the God who raises the dead
  • Three uses of the law: Martin Luther and John Calvin
  • Law and Gospel; interpreting scripture with “What preaches Christ.”
Throughout scripture, especially look for God’s hidden yet apparent presence and for “Types of Christ”

4. Paul, Mark and Jesus of Nazareth

Mark

4:35-41 – Boat on the turbulent lake; who is this?! Even the wind and the waves obey him!
8:1-9 – loaves and fishes; provision for the people.

Philippians

1:21-24 – To live is Christ; to die is gain.
2:1-11 – look to the interest of others; humbled himself unto death on the cross; Jesus is Lord
3:7-11 – count everything as loss in order to gain Christ; knowing Christ and the power of his resurrection; becoming like him in his death.

5. Mark, Paul and Jesus the Christ

Romans

3:21-26 – Righteousness from God apart from the law, but the law attests to it. Justified by grace!
3:27-31 –the law still remains in its entirety; cross as both judgment and grace; the cross of Calvary is both God’s No and God’s Yes to the world.
6:1-10 – Baptized into death and resurrection; united with Christ in both death and resurrection; no longer slaves to sin.
  • Revelation 22:1-5 – the River of Life flows from the throne of God—from the cross.
8:1-4 – because of IX, we no longer live under the law’s condemnation
10:1-4 – Christ is the end of the law; righteousness for all who have faith in Christ

Mark

Particularly in Mark’s gospel, the journey to Jerusalem and to the cross is incessant and focused.

1:1-13 – gospel of IX, Son of God; IX baptizes with the HS; Jesus’ baptism; God’s claim on him. Spirit drove Jesus into the desert.
5:35-43 – raising Jairus’ daughter from death [sleep?!]; giving her food.
8:27-29 – Some say John the Baptist; some say Elijah. Who do you say I am? The Christ!
9:35 – to be first, you must be the last and the servant of all.
10:35-40 – you do not know what you are asking; baptism; cup; places you’re prepared for.
10:43-45 – servant is the greatest; first is slave of all. Jesus, the Human One came to serve and to give his life as a ransom.
14:22-25 – Last Supper; broken body; blood of the covenant.

© Leah Chang 2007