Saturday, November 27, 2010

Wish List

My children have begun their annual quest to determine what I want for Christmas. I'll admit that this is very difficult for them, mostly because I just don’t need anything. Well, that and the fact that what I want is usually too expensive for Christmas. So this year I figured out what I want everyone to buy me, and it's early enough to help them with their shopping.

Specifically, anyone that wishes to buy me a Christmas gift this year should make a donation to your favorite charity. You do not need to make the donation in my name, or even have a notification sent to me, although I would appreciate it. I plan to open the thank you cards that I receive from the various donations while others are opening their Christmas gifts. That way I'll have something to open too.

If you would prefer to know my suggestion for a tax deductible donation please send it to my niece, Holly Shippen, who is a missionary in the Philippines. She is a teacher and a mother, who needs the money for living and travel expenses for herself and her two children. Please make the check payable to Arden Church of the Nazarene, and mail it to 3337 Arden Way, Sacramento, Ca. 95825. Please include on the memo line, Shippen – Philippines, so that your donation will reach her.

Thank you for your generosity, and thank you for making my Christmas special this year. May your Christmas Season be special for you and your family too, and may God bless us ... everyone!

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Introduction to the New Testament – No Class

There was no class tonight. In the Acts of the Apostles, the second volume of Luke's two-volume work, Luke continues his presentation of biblical history. He describes how the salvation promised to Israel in the Old Testament and accomplished by Jesus, was now being extended to the Gentiles under the guidance of the holy Spirit. Luke was preoccupied with the Christian community as the Spirit filled bearer of the word of salvation, and thus only the roles of Peter and Paul serve Luke's interest.

Luke provides a broad survey of the church's development from the resurrection of Jesus to Paul's first Roman imprisonment. In telling this story, Luke describes the emergence of Christianity from its origins in Judaism to its position as a religion of worldwide status and appeal. Originally a Jewish Christian community in Jerusalem, the church was placed in circumstances impelling it to include within its membership people of other cultures: the Samaritans, at first an occasional Gentile, and finally the Gentiles on principle. In tracing the emergence of Christianity from Judaism, Luke is insistent upon the prominence of Israel in the divine plan of salvation and that the extension of salvation to the Gentiles has been a part of the divine plan from the beginning.

In the development of the church from a Jewish Christian origin in Jerusalem, with its roots in Jewish religious tradition, to a series of Christian communities among the Gentiles of the Roman empire, Luke perceives the action of God in history. His approach to the history of the church is motivated by his theological interests, and his history of the apostolic church is the story of a Spirit-guided community and a Spirit-guided spread of the Word of God.

Finally, an apologetic concern is evident throughout Acts. By stressing the continuity between Judaism and Christianity, Luke argues that Christianity is deserving of the same toleration accorded Judaism by Rome. Part of Paul's defense before Roman authorities is to show that Christianity is not a disturber of the peace of the Roman Empire. Moreover, when he stands before Roman authorities, he is declared innocent of any crime against the empire. Luke tells his story with the hope that Christianity will be treated as fairly.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Faith Formation Conference - 2010

The Saturday morning multilingual prayer service was presented by Santiago Fernandez, and included readings, music, and his personal reflection and testimony. I really enjoyed one of the songs, This Little Light of Mine, that was sung like a Spiritual and was very upbeat. I remembered this song from my childhood, but I don't remember singing it sinse. It was very inspirational and everyone was on their feet, clapping and singing.

The Keynote Talk entitled, Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion, was presented by Father Greg Boyle. His premise was that boundless compassion becomes transformative in Christ's abundant love. His talk was very powerful and centered on Kinship, which means, "no us and no them". I really connected with his statement, "If kinship was our goal then we would no longer need justice", and later when he said, "The measure of our compassion is the depth of our relationship with each other". He also said, "Don't hold the bar up and ask people to measure up. Just show up and hold a mirror up." This is an exceptional man doing an exceptional job of being Christ to his community.

The late morning session (5-20) entitled, Beyond Doctrine: How to hand on Catholic Identity in the RCIA, was presented by Nick Wagner. He began with Jesus' statement on the cross, "Today you will be with me in paradise", and pointed out that Jesus may have been talking to the thief next to him but that he was speaking to everyone. His discussion was very informative and outlined various approaches to informing and transforming adults in the RCIA program. Adults can be engaged through question and answer sessions, as well as faith sharing, but it's especially important to listen to what the Catechumen has to say and then to tie it back into the teaching of the Church.

The early afternoon session (6-01) entitled, Engaging People in Ministry: The Power of Positive Leadership, was presented by Leisa Anslinger. My wife found this talk especially interesting, which asked the question, "How has belonging or not belonging changed you or someone you know"? Whereas normal leaders may build teams by recruiting others with similar personalities, a positive leader will build teams by recruiting others with complementary talents. She felt that those who offer their talents and are using their talents positively are more likely to be engaged and stay on the team. Two questions for self evaluation are "How do you use your talents" and "How do you partner with others".

The late afternoon session (7-15) entitled, In the Midst of the Community: An RCIA Job Description for the Whole Church, was presented by Nick Wagner. Here he stressed the importance of engaging the community in the process of encouraging adults in the RCIA program, and that in fact, the RCIA program should influence how the Parish works. Community involvement was the key to preparing and supporting the Catechumens before and after the Easter Vigil. As he said, "Everyone should be involved in the initiation of the faith for Catechumens.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Introduction to the New Testament – Class 3

Tonight we discussed the Gospel of Luke. I didn't read Luke, but instead attended a proclamation of the Gospel in the oral tradition. This presentation was the result of the hard work, dedication, and Christian commitment of two men, Michael Reardon and Patrick Lane. Michael Reardon, a native of Anaconda, Montana, proclaimed the complete text of the Gospel, and Patrick Lane, a native of Morrill, Nebraska, acted as Director, Musician and Lighting Artist. Filled with a desire to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ, they have given over 1000 performances in cities throughout the United States, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong, Republic of China, Europe, and Israel.

The plan of the Gospel of Luke, which follows Mark's outline as a rule, was written for a Roman audience and uses titles for Jesus, like Lord and Savior. The narrative is controlled and edited to bring in teaching and parables, and to omit episodes that would not interest Luke's non-Jewish readers. The originality of Luke is in his religious mentality: he is the faithful recorder of Christ's loving-kindness, he emphasizes the necessity for prayers, and he is the only one of the synoptic authors to give the Holy Spirit the prominence which we find in Paul and in the Acts of the Apostles. These qualities, combined with joy in God and gratitude for God’s gifts fill the third gospel, and are the ones that make Luke's achievement the warm and human account that it is.

The third gospel's distinguishing quality is due to the attractive personality of its author, which shines through all his work. Luke is at once a most gifted writer and a man of marked sensibility. He set to work in his own way with an eye to exact information and orderly narrative, but respect for his sources, together with his method of juxtaposing them, meant that even Luke was not in a position to arrange his traditional material in a more chronological way than Matthew or Mark. Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it (Luke 11:28)!

This Gospel invites us, who have "ears to hear," to listen deeply to what the heart is also hearing. The news is good! Enjoy, reflect, ponder, listen. Whenever the Word of the Lord is heard, it is heard as though for the first time; always new, always alive, always filled with power, delight, healing and wonder. Those who hear the Word are as essential a part of the Word as those who speak the Word. All are one in the Word that unites them, just as all are one in the Word that became flesh. This Gospel is the Good News of our salvation. Jesus is both its messenger and its message.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

You Are What You Eat

California is known for having happy cows. You may be familiar with the advertisement that includes some of these happy cows, milling about smartly in an idyllic green pasture, and interacting in perfect harmony with nature. They’re ruminating thoughtfully and discussing little of consequence (which is typical of most advertizing anyway). Of course what happy cows do in California is eat grass, and I’m fairly certain that’s what happy cows do everywhere.

As the cows eat the grass they slowly absorb the nutrients that the grass has absorbed from the soil. Essentially, the nutrients from a lower form of life, the plants in the field, are taken up by a higher form of life, the cows in this example. This process continues when we eat the cows. The nutrients from a lower form of life, the cows, is again taken up by a higher form of life, us. I realize that there might be some argument concerning the ranking of cows and humans, but I’m sticking with the analogy for now.

On Sunday morning recently, the homily talked a bit about nutrition and the idea that you are what you eat. At Mass something different is taking place. During the Celebration of the Eucharist we consume the body and soul of Jesus Christ, who is fully present in the form of the bread and wine. In effect a higher form of life, Jesus, is being absorbed into a lower form of life, us. He gave His life for us to save us from our sins, and He is the life giving nutrition that sustains us.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Introduction to the New Testament – Class 2

Tonight we discussed the Gospel of Matthew which presents a living Jesus. The book of Matthew isn't a history of Jesus, but is instead a faith proclamation of a living Jesus. It was written for the Jews, and the stories are intended to suggest the fulfillment of the story begun by Moses and continued by David. Matthew treated Mark as a good outline, but he developed that outline by filling in the details. For instance, in the Gospel of Mark it is unclear what Jesus was teaching (Mark 1:22) but Matthew spends most of chapters 5, 6, and 7 on the details of Jesus' teaching (Matthew 7:28).

Matthew honors and adapts previous traditions by redacting the earlier written and oral works known to the author. Redaction is the process of editing, deleting, correcting, combining, and adding that results in a new work. The author was aware of and used the Markan documents as well as another common tradition known as "Q". We have no copies of “Q”, and it's unclear whether it was written or oral, but the two-source hypothesis does make sense of the similarities and differences between the two Gospels. It's interesting to note that although Mark spread the guilt around, Matthew focuses the guilt on the Pharisees. This may be because by the time that Matthew was written, the Temple had been destroyed and the Scribes and Sadducees were gone; only the Pharisees were left.

Matthew was convinced that Jesus was the Messiah expected by the Jews. It was obvious to him that Jesus was the fulfillment of Jewish scripture. Whereas Mark had depicted Jesus as a conduit of God's power, Matthew depicts Jesus' Word as the power of God. Matthew presents a living Jesus, using phrases such as "As it was written ... ", and "This was to fulfill ..." to show that Jesus was not only a great teacher, but the ultimate interpreter of the Torah.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Prayer and Ministerial Leadership – Workshop

The first session provided information on five common types of prayer, such as blessing and adoration, petition, intercession, thanksgiving, and praise, and some common forms of prayer, such as litany, antiphonal, acclamation, mantra, and contemplative. What I found especially interesting, because I am uncomfortable with spontaneous spoken prayer, was a formula that included You-Who-Do-To-Through. My attempt to create a prayer for guidance resulted in; Dear Lord (You), you share your Grace with us (Who). Lead each of us to be the person you want us to be (Do), so that we may share your love for us with others (To). We ask this in the name of your Son (Through). Amen.

The second session was on Ministerial Leadership. While talking about cultural considerations and the perception of power we reviewed cultures that feel empowered and cultures that don't feel empowered. Low Power Distance cultures believe that inequality in society should be minimized, that the existence of a hierarchy is only for the convenience of accomplishing tasks, and that changing the system by redistributing power includes giving the powerless the ability to make changes, such as a fair vote. High Power Distance cultures assume that there should be an order of inequality, that the existence of a hierarchy should be accepted as a fact of life, and that changing the system by redistributing power is restricted, which eventually results in the use of force.

We discussed the differences between leadership and ministry, and talked about a leadership model that included vision and mission. The vision should answer the question, "How will the world be different as the result of what we do?". The mission should answer the question, "What is our unique contribution to achieving the vision?". A good culture for leadership creates systems for participation that includes articulating the vision and mission, listening to feedback, and exchanging information. It should also include decision making skills and accountability that establishes expectations and a clear sense of responsibility.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Introduction to the New Testament – Class 1

Tonight we discussed the Gospel of Mark which is the shortest of the Gospels, and was probably the first of the Synoptic Gospels to be written. The destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, about 70 AD, sent shock waves throughout the Mediterranean and influenced the writers of Mark. What did it mean if the place where God was to be found no longer existed? Had God rejected his people and canceled his covenant with them? The story also seems to be hurried, moving feverishly from one event to the next. Were the authors of Mark concerned that the oral traditions of Jesus' life and teaching were in danger and needed to be put in writing?

The writers of Mark were crafting a story of the life and teachings of Jesus for their own community, which was probably Gentile. It was written within the community, probably by more than one author, by the community and for the community. The writer or writers of Mark included oral tradition in circulation at that time as well as other local materials. Copies of the document would have originally been circulated anonymously, and it was probably edited and adopted for use by other communities as it was circulated. Later, in the second century or so, the name Mark was attached to the document to establish its authority, and to identify the community or the principle author from where it came.

Mark attempted to stress Jesus' message about the kingdom of God breaking into human life as good news, and that Jesus himself was the gospel of God. Although the final ending was added later, the original story ended with a cliff hanger, with the women who discovered the empty tomb bewildered and trying to understand what it meant. Like the people in the Gospel of Mark, the living voice of God speaks within our lived experiences, and those who endure to the end will be saved.