Lenten Books 4

In my final post on Lenten books, I'll highlight a time-honoured genre of meditations on the last words of Jesus from the cross. The three books I'll single out are Death on a Friday Afternoon: Meditations on the Last Words of Jesus from the Cross, by Richard John Neuhaus, The Seven Last Words from the Cross by Fleming Rutledge, and Cross-Shattered Christ: Meditations on the Seven Last Words by Stanley Hauerwas. Neuhaus, a convert to Roman Catholicism and a longtime conservative cultural critic in the tradition of G.K. Chesterton, C.S. Lewis, Thomas Merton and others, brings verve and erudition to his journey into the mystery and wonder of the crucifixion of Jesus. Fleming Rutledge, a noted Episcopal priest, used the three hour Good Friday service to develop her series of seven meditations on Jesus' sayings formed out of a position of generous orthodoxy.  Cross-Shattered Christ is a small book packing a significant 'Hauerwasian' punch as the writer grapples with the 'ungraspable' mystery of the heart of the gospel. Each of these books was written in the early years of the 21st century and so the examples from history and events give evidence to this period. And yet each has a staying power which makes them well worth revisiting over the years.

My favourite is Hauerwas's Cross-Shattered Christ. Self-described as a "high-church Mennonite", Hauerwas loves paradoxes and finds in the gospel the most extraordinary paradox of all -  crucifixion brings new life.

The Gospel of John makes explicit what all the Gospels assume - that is, that the cross is not a defeat but the victory of our God. Earlier in the Gospel of John a voice from heaven responded to Jesus's request that the Father's name might be glorified through his obedience, saying "I have glorified it and I will glorify it again." Jesus tells us this voice came for our sake so that we might know that "Now is the judgement of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself" (John 12:28-32). That "lifting up" is the cross, the exaltation of the Son by the Father, making possible our salvation.

This is, moreover, as Pilate insisted, the King of the Jews. That kingship is not delayed by crucifixion; rather crucifixion is the way this king rules. Crucifixion is kingdom come. This is the great long-awaited apocalyptic moment. Here the powers of this world are forever subverted. Time is now redeemed through the raising up of Jesus on the cross. A new age has begun. The kingdom is here aborn, a new regime is inaugurated, creating a new way of life for those who worship and follow Jesus.

Lenten Books 3

In this series of posts on Lenten books, I want to highlight four books by women which have positively influenced my appreciation of the genre. The first is Gazing on Truth by Kitty Muggeridge, followed by Through Lent with Luke by Margaret Hebblethwaite, Approaching Easter: Meditations for Easter by Joyce Huggett, and The Way of the Cross: The Path to New Life by Joan Chittister. Muggeridge's collection reflects the Catholic direction of faith she and her husband Malcolm took in their latter years of life. Hebblethwaite and Huggett offer practical lessons out of their readings and reflections on particular biblical passages. The volumes by Muggeridge, Hebblethwaite and Huggett seem somewhat dated but still have their value for those with more traditional values and conservative theology. Each of these books has forty meditations, corresponding to the forty days of Lent. The book by Chittister, on the other hand, has fifteen short chapters based on the Stations of the Cross. Each book is intended to convey a sense of 'journey' as the reader is invited to journey with Jesus first to the Cross of Good Friday and then to the Empty Tomb of Easter.

The newest book of the four mentioned here is Joan Chittister's The Way of the Cross. Chittister is a member of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, Penn., and a columnist of the National Catholic Reporter. She has written on many spiritual themes and continues to write prophetically about the contemporary church. This book is no different, addressing topics like human suffering, our relationship with divine grace and opportunities for renewal along life's journey. The Way of the Cross includes full-size colour illustrations of the Stations of the Cross originally made by artist Janet McKenzie which give the meditations an extra depth and pathos. Here is a sample of Chittister's reflections taken from her meditation on the First Station where Jesus has been condemned to die in spite of his innocence:

 The first station of the cross requires us to examine our entire philosophy of life. Jesus is condemned to die because he defied the standards of both the state and the religious establishment in which he lived. To both he brought a truth they did not want to hear. He set out to witness to the love and justice of the God of all creation: Jews and non-Jews, women as well as men, underlings as well as the professional types of his time.

Surely we are called to do the same, to speak our truth with clarity, simplicity and conviction. What must rise in us in times like this is a clear commitment to what must be, to the truth that must surely come if the will of God is really to be done on earth and to our role in bringing it.

He cured on the Sabbath, mixed with foreigners, taught theology to women, played with children, questioned every law, chose people over ritual every time, and never made institutional authority a god.

He threatened the establishment with his incessant attempts to build a better world and they set out to destroy him for it.  

The question with which the first station confronts us is a stark one: What is it in life for which we are willing to be condemned? The goal in life is not to avoid condemnation. No one does. Life's great challenge is simply to decide who will condemn us and why. If we were better people, perhaps, we would be condemned more often.

Most of all, when we are condemned for the right reasons, the first station reminds us, we know we will not be there alone. Jesus will be standing beside us, full of pain for our sake, but head up and unyielding.

Lenten Books 2

During his incumbency as Archbishop of Canterbury, one of the many gifts Rowan Williams gave to the Christian community worldwide was a series of Holy Week lectures on different spiritual themes and topics. Some of these lectures have been put into print and published as little Lenten books. The books I have on my shelf are: Tokens of Trust: An Introduction to Christian Belief, The Lion's World: A Journey into the heart of Narnia, Meeting God in Mark: Reflections for the Season of Lent, Meeting God in Paul: Reflections for the Season of Lent, and Being Christian: Baptism, Bible, Eucharist, Prayer. There is one to come later this year entitled Being Disciples: How to Remain Spiritually Healthy. All of them make wonderful Lenten reading, not difficult to understand but profound and written to engage the reader by offering new perspectives on old topics.

His most recent book, Meeting God in Paul, is devoted to exploring St. Paul's "big idea", that of God's universal welcome. Exploring all of the traditional corpus of Paul's New Testament writings, Williams teases out the implications of God's welcome for the Early Church, for the Empire and for the different social classes. Williams writes that his aim is "that the reader will emerge with a better sense of that 'dangerous newness' - of why Christians believed that the events involving Jesus completely changed the framework within they lived; and then to trace some of the specific ways in which both behaviour and language in the Christian community were being remoulded day by day under the pressure of the way Christians had learned to pray." Williams avers that the same is true for the contemporary church. In prayer, Christians articulate the nature of the faith they confess, and yet frequently one observes that the church is  unaware of the pressure it places on the theological language it employs. The danger is that  much Christian prayer language has withered and died. This book is an attempt to re-introduce the Church to this 'dangerous newness'  of which Paul preaches and in so doing, re-kindle some of the flame which inspired the early church in the contemporary church. This little volume is a unique and beautiful introduction to the thought of the Apostle Paul and as a way into the profound mystery of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Written in language that is easily understood, the book is refreshing in the new glimpses it offers to the old story. It comes with questions for group discussion and a Lenten Reading Guide right through Week 6.

Lenten Books

One of the spiritual exercises I have practiced over the years since I was married, has been the annual reading of a devotional classic during the season of Lent. More recently I have taken to reading the Archbishop of Canterbury's yearly Lenten selection, usually commissioned years in advance. There have been many wonderful books which have graced my devotional reading in this way. But the most memorable experience of this practice was my first conscious decision to undertake this exercise. Having never read C.S. Lewis' "The Chronicles of Narnia" before, I read them in sequence, one a Sunday afternoon throughout the Sundays of Lent, ending on Good Friday with The Last Battle. It was a wonderful experience! After that, I found other books which offered much good food for thought throughout my Lenten journeys, year by year. Over the next weeks, I will describe some of the books I've enjoyed most and why. They are not necessarily great books nor the one's which exhibit the best scholarship. But they are the ones which met me at a particular time and place, addressing me in a timely or profound way. And that is why each year I continue to look forward to the next one and then read it during Lent.

I will start with the small volume entitled At the Cross: Meditations on People Who Were There written by Richard Bauckham and Trevor Hart. Illustrated by the woodcuts of Helen Firth, this little volume offers some wonderful meditations about those who receive mention alongside Jesus' journey to the cross. Here is a brief excerpt from the chapter on Peter:

"The cross shatters our illusions. It shatters our illusions about ourselves. It shatters our illusions about Jesus. It shatters our illusions about the world. Jesus, we discover, is not there to fulfill our aspirations, however fine they may be. Jesus does not conform to the world's aspirations, however attractive they may seem. Jesus does not confirm our self-made images of ourselves, the way we like to think of ourselves, the way we would like others to think of us. There is no smooth path to God which we can ascend with all our expectations of life confirmed and fulfilled. There is only the way of the cross, where the condemned and crucified Jesus contradicts our expectations, forces us to see ourselves as we really are, not as we would like to be seen, and reveals the world as a strange new landscape we had not seen before, a paradoxical game in which only losers can succeed."

 Peter, the centurion at the cross, Barabbas, Simon of Cyrene, Mary of Bethany, Mary Magdalen and others are featured, challenging us to a deepening of faith and a greater understanding of Jesus' journey to the cross. Prayers and contemporary reflections close each chapter. Published by IVPress in 1999, it still repays reading and rereading.

Bests of 2015

As is customary for this time of year, many "best" lists are being written. Here are some of mine:

Top Ten Reads in 2015 (in no particular order):

1. The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings: J.R.R. Tolkein, C.S. Lewis, Owen Barfield, Charles Williams - Philip Zaleski and Carol Zaleski

2. Landmarks - Robert MacFarlane

3. Reading Backwards: Figural Christology and the Four-fold Gospel Witness - Richard Hays

4. Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End - Atul Gawande

5. Lila - Marilynne Robinson

6. Confessions - Augustine of Hippo

7. All My Puny Sorrows - Miriam Toews

8. Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs - Wallace Stegner

9. The Lewis Trilogy: The Black House, The Lewis Man, The Chess Men - Peter Mays

10. Meeting God in Mark: Reflections for the Season of Lent - Rowan Williams

Top Five Albums Enjoyed in 2015 (in no particular order):

1. Songs of Innocence - U2

2. Tracker - Mark Knopfler

3. The John Rutter Christmas Album

4. Puer Natus Est - Stile Antico

5. Pilgrimage - Steve Bell

Top Five Television Series Seen in 2015 (in no particular order):

1. Poirot - David Suchet

2. Broadchurch - David Tennant

3. Foyle's War - Michael Kitchen

4. Downton Abbey - Hugh Bonneville, et. al.

5. Sherlock - Benedict Cumberbatch, et.al.

Armistice Day: A Hundred Years After the Great War Began

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation stated that there were approximately 50,000 people in attendance for the the Remembrance Day service in Ottawa today. The War Memorial, only days ago the scene of the killing of a soldier on ceremonial guard duty, became the focal point for a resurgent patriotism expressed by the many people who came to be there. Perhaps the nice weather was partly responsible for the larger than usual turnout. Perhaps the permanent return of the Canadian military mission to Afghanistan had settled in. But there seemed also to be a growing unease expressed by those interviewed. They felt the need to come to our capital and 'remember' the sacrifices made by many before them and renew their pledge to their country and its ideals.

The year of 2014 represents the 100th anniversary of beginning of World War I. I made it my assignment to learn more of the causes and consequences of this "War to End All Wars." One of the significant books written with this anniversary in mind was The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914 written by the eminent Canadian historian Margaret MacMillan. Her painstaking account of the Zeitgeist and diplomacy leading up to the outbreak of the war is a litany of missed opportunities and failed diplomacy. Add to that the rising tide of nationalism, the resurfacing of historical resentments and the sparks of unanticipated events or actions, and you have the recipe for war. Macmillan's last paragraph serves as a stern reminder for us all. "…If we want to point fingers from the twenty-first century we can accuse those who took Europe into war of two things. First, a failure of imagination in not seeing how destructive such a conflict would be and second, their lack of courage to stand up to those who said there was no choice left but to go to war. There are always choices."

Fourth Sunday of Lent BCP March 30 2014

Collect

Grant, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that we, who for our evil deeds do worthily deserve to be punished, by the comfort of thy grace may mercifully be relieved; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

First Reading

The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, seeing I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” And Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.” And the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you, and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ And invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for me him whom I name to you.” Samuel did what the Lord commanded, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, “Do you come peaceably?” And he said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord; consecrate yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he consecrated Jesse and his sons, and invited them to the sacrifice. When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him.” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and fetch him; for we will not sit down till he comes here.” And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him; for this is he.” Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.

1 Samuel 16: 1-7 (RSV)

Second Reading

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him. We must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day; night comes, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” As he said this, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed the man’s eyes with the clay, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar, said, “Is not this the man who used to sit and beg?” Some said, “It is he”; others said, “No, but he is like him.” He said, “I am the man.” They said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash’; so I went and washed and received my sight.” They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.” They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. The Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” There was a division among them. So they again said to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.” The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight, and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” His parents answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age, he will speak for himself.” His parents said this because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if any one should confess him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, “He is of age, ask him.” So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and said to him, “Give God the praise; we know that this man is a sinner.” He answered, “Whether he is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see.” They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you too want to become his disciples?” And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” The man answered, “Why, this is a marvel! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if any one is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that any one opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out. Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who speaks to you.” He said, “Lord, I believe”; and he worshiped him. Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard this, and they said to him, “Are we also blind?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.

John 9: 1-41  (RSV)