and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest,
until her vindication shines out like the dawn,
and her salvation like a burning torch. Is 62:1
The
way we are formed as Christians in America, we tend to emphasize the
personal aspects of the Christ event. The meaning of Jesus “saving us”
by his suffering and death on the cross is enhanced by the idea that
Jesus did not suffer without love.
we want to understand Jesus as being MY savior -- that he died for MY sins. Jesus is thought of in many evangelical circles as a “personal” Lord and Savior.
After all, the logic goes, if sin is personal, then grace is personal. And after all, if there’s something wrong or not working in that dynamic, it has to be MY fault, because the love of Jesus is perfect.
In this same context, the favorite hymn of many of us is, “Amazing Grace.” While written by an Englishman, John Newton, in the mid-eighteenth century, it carries that sentiment of being personally saved, “a wretch, like me.”
Most of us have come to expect a lone piper playing, Amazing Grace, at the commendation of a fallen police or fire officer, yet Amazing Grace was probably never played on bagpipes before the Black Watch Regimental Pipes first recorded it in 1976.
Dare
I say, FIFTY Years ago, when the liturgy in the Roman Church was
incorporating what were hitherto thought of as Protestant hymns into the
liturgy, the lyrics of some hymns were changed in the pew missalettes
because of differing sensitivities and theologies, notions of political
correctness, and in some cases perhaps, to avoid copyright violations. Amazing Grace,
while in the public domain, in that context, had a brief change in its
second line from “that saved a wretch like me” to “that came and set US
free.”
But Amazing Grace had
become one of America’s own hymns, and as such, was not to be tampered
with any more than the pledge of Allegiance. The original words were
quickly restored, but unfortunately, the notion it tried to convey was
roundly missed -- a notion that tries to surface in today’s Hebrew
scripture. God is not edified merely by saving individuals from the jaws
of sin and death. God is edified when those individuals, once saved,
see themselves as complete by becoming a community of faith -- as the
body of Christ:
For Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest,
until her vindication shines out like the dawn,
and her salvation like a burning torch. Is 62:1b
The Gospel of John today tries to illustrate this another way:
To all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become (my emphasis) children of God.... Jn 1:12
For
me, it seems, the miracle of this season is not merely the power of one
life, the Babe in the manger, destined to be the Savior of the world,
though that is by no means a small matter.
The miracle is the call that comes in Communion.
We tend to be intimidated by the semantics of the first chapter of the Gospel of John,
(e.g. What is the meaning of Logos, [the Word.]?
Who or What is “the Light” that Darkness cannot overcome?
What is the World that knows him not? What am I in relation to that World?)
With
our curiosity, pre-occupation, or for some, our obsession with these
questions and others like these, we miss our vocational call to discern
the power we have been given to become children of God.
Without
true Eucharist (or Thanksgiving), without taking the full measure
offered us as we share the blessing cup, we are just showing up at some arbitrary finish line in a race of our own limited imagination and counting heads.
(“I made it. You made it. She made it. He made it.”) Who cares? For most of us here today, THAT’S NOT ENOUGH!!
In Romans, Chapter 5, we read
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. 8 But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. Rom 5:6-8
We
share a great prize, but our children will never have that passed on to
them, if they can’t understand why we struggle, (or whether we even want to
struggle) with Life’s persistent questions) while other
well-intentioned people seem quite satisfied with the mission of their
own choosing -- not the Mission of God’s calling.
And finally from verse 14 in today’s Psalm 147:
He has strengthened the bars of your gates; *
he has blessed your children within you.
How
are our children, either those of our upbringing or those we hold in
stewardship in these parish walls being blessed by our strength and
example?
Let our hearts be lifted up by these words from Ken Sehested for this New Year past
Benedicere
By Ken Sehested (adapted)
May your home always be too small
to hold all your friends.
May your heart remain ever supple,
Fearless in the face of threat,
Jubilant in the grip of grace.
May your hands remain open,
Caressing, never clinched,
Save to pound the doors
Of all who barter justice
To the highest bidder.
May your heroes be earthy
Dusty-shoed and rumpled,
Hallowed but unhaloed,
Guiding you through seasons of tremor and travail,
Apprenticed to the godly art of giggling
Amid haggard news
And portentous circumstance.
May your hankering
Be in rhythm with heaven’s
Whose covenant vows
A dusty intersection with your own:
When creation’s hope and history rhyme.
May Hosannas lilt from your lungs:
Creation is not done
Creation is not yet done.
All flesh,
I am told,
will behold
Will surely behold…
Benedicere
(“to bless, to praise”) is based on a prayer by Ken Sehested, author of
“In the Land of the Living: Prayers Personal and Public.”
Concept: David Felten & Scott Greissel
Edit: Scott Greissel
Cameras: Gregg Brekke, Scott Greissel, Jeff Procter-Murphy & Edwin Serrano
Copyright (c) 2012 livingthequestions.com
