tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90448267040352799622024-03-17T02:24:32.461-04:00Mad PadreI'm Michael Peterson, a priest in the Anglican Church of Canada, currently serving a parish in the Diocese of Toronto. I'm also a retired Canadian Forces chaplain , hence the Padre in the title. Mad just means eccentric, and on that note, I also blog on toy soldiers, madpadrewargames.blogspot.com.
I'm on X (what used to be Twitter) at @MarshalLuigi and I'm on Bluesky at @madpadre.bsky.socialMad Padrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00410143683610813671noreply@blogger.comBlogger1457125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9044826704035279962.post-83886302780230810202024-03-16T17:11:00.003-04:002024-03-16T17:11:30.436-04:00We Want To See Jesus: A Homily for the Fifth Sunday of Lent<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Preached at All Saints, Collingwood, Anglican Diocese of Toronto, 17 March, 2024.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #010000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Texts for the Fifth Sunday of Lent (B): </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Jer 31:31-34; Ps 51:1-13 ; Heb 5:5-10; Jn 12:20-33</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i0.wp.com/covenant.livingchurch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/624EC2B3-FDA6-41BE-85F8-842EFDB7241D7C302D1E-D3EB-43B9-995B-D6A58578360E-scaled.jpeg?w=2048&ssl=1" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="640" height="400" src="https://i0.wp.com/covenant.livingchurch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/624EC2B3-FDA6-41BE-85F8-842EFDB7241D7C302D1E-D3EB-43B9-995B-D6A58578360E-scaled.jpeg?w=2048&ssl=1" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some
Greeks. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="color: #777777;"> </span></span><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him,
“Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” (John 12:20)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">We don’t know why these “Greeks” wanted to see
Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Today’s story comes just after
St. John describes the raising of Lazarus and the spreading fame of Jesus, so
perhaps these Greeks had heard the news and were curious (Jn 11:45-48).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe they had spiritual questions they
wanted to ask.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>John doesn’t tell us if
they got an audience with Jesus, but their statement, “Sir, we wish to see
Jesus” has a directness and an urgency that should get our attention.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><a href="https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fifth-sunday-in-lent-2/commentary-on-john-1220-33-3#">Karoline Lewis, a John scholar, notes</a> that this
verse is often written or carved on pulpits because the preacher’s central task
is to help God’s people to see Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">This sort of thing should be put in front of
preachers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I saw a photo of an English church
where, carved on to the pulpit for all to see, were the words “Woe to me if I
do not preach the gospel”.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Preachers and people alike should want to see Jesus,
and yet, we might well envy the Greeks in today’s reading because they could
hope for an introduction and to come face to face with him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How can we see Jesus?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where is he that we can look at him?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Fortunately for us, in the language of John’s
gospel, seeing Jesus is equated with spiritual understanding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lots of people in John see Jesus but didn’t
know who he was or who don’t believe him, like the Pharisees in John 9 who are
contrasted with the man born blind who receives his sight and says “Lord, I
believe” (Jn 9:35-41).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">There’s a lovely hymn by<a href="https://hymnary.org/text/open_our_eyes_lord_we_want_to_see_jesus"> Robert Cull called “OpenOur Eyes, Lord”</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not in our hymnal,
sadly, but it goes like this.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Open our eyes, Lord,<br />
we want to see Jesus,<br />
to reach out and touch him,<br />
and say that we love him.<br />
Open our ears, Lord,<br />
and help us to listen.<br />
Open our eyes, Lord,<br />
we want to see Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">In my Easter letter to the parish, which you may have
received by now, I said </span><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">that </span><span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">we as Christians are people who look to Christ and to Christ’s
light.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus says in today’s gospel that “Whoever
serves me must follow me”, but if we don’t look to Jesus, if we don’t see him,
then we can’t follow him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s like before
GPS, when you needed directions and someone else in another car said “just
follow me”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you remember how anxious
it got at stop lights, when you were afraid you would lose the person in front
of you?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We need to keep Jesus in sight
if we are going to follow him.</span><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Today I want to take three cues from today’s gospel
reading to suggest ways that we might spiritually see Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here’s the first.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">“And I, when I am lifted up from
the earth, will draw all people to myself”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">As we move through Lent, we know that one of our
final stops will be Good Friday and the cross.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All through this season we’ve heard the warnings
and predictions, as we did back on the second Sunday of Lent, when Jesus told
his friends “</span><span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"> that the Son of Man must
undergo great suffering … and be killed” (Mk 8.31).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Peter didn’t want to hear</span><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> that, and was sternly rebuked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Some of us have been watching The Chosen, the dramatic series on Jesus, and
we’ve talked about how the character of Jesus is so compelling and attractive
that we can’t bear to think of him dying so cruelly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus we come to better understand fierce,
protective Peter.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Last Saturday was our final Après Ski service for
this year, and our theme was the cross.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We spent some time standing or kneeling beside a large wooden cross laid
on the floor, surrounded by candles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
was a chance to approach the cross not with horror, but with love and adoration
for the one that poured out his life and blood for us there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Good Friday can be about love as well as sorrow,
and the cross can be the sign of love that leads us closer to Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">There is another way to see the cross which I also
think leads us closer to Jesus, which is to see how the cross changes and
transforms us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Last Sunday we heard
that difficult text from John’s Gospel, another passage where Jesus speaks
about being “lifted up”: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“</span><span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up” (Jn 3.14).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We heard that gospel as well as the passage
Jesus was thinking of, from the Hebrew Scriptures were God told Moses to make a
bronze serpent on a staff, the sight of which could cure the Israelites bitten
by the poisonous snakes sent by God.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">It was a strange set of
readings, and the story in Numbers is even a little horrific, but let’s think
about the snakes for a moment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
Genesis, it’s the serpent that tempts humanity out of relationship with God so
that they can invent themselves as they see fit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the Moses story, the snakes embody the
consequences of the Israelites’ frequent rebellions to God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In comparing himself to the serpent on the pole,
Jesus is predicting his becoming our sin, his taking the worst of humanity onto
himself on the cross so that we might be healed from our sins.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">I saw a wonderful expression
of this idea recently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>St Mark’s, an
Anglican church in Austin, Texas, had a processional cross designed for them by
a skilled blacksmith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The cross is a
simple shape in silver, and coiled around it are the loops of a bronze serpent,
a complex shape that suggests the knots of Celtic art.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://covenant.livingchurch.org/2024/03/11/a-bronze-serpent-processional-cross/">The Rector of St. Mark’s, the Rev. ZacCoons, writes</a> that he wanted this new cross to be a sign of our hope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The snake cross, he writes, is a way not only
of coming to terms with our sin in the Lenten spirit of penitence and self examination
so that we can look “directly at the serpents in our lives, the snakes lurking
in our hearts and imaginations”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">At the same time, Rev
Coons writes, the snake cross reminds us that in seeing our sins, we also see
our healing:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“through Christ, God can
take any sin, any mistake, and through the cross, work it into my salvation …
[so that] God can mold our mistakes into something holy, even beautiful”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">Could we dare see in the cross
the love of God in Christ that heals us and makes us beautiful,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>so that we might be the true people that God
dreamed of when he created us?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our
processional cross has no snakes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is
very traditional, very ornate, made of heavy engraved brass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wonder, though, the next time you watch
it go by you in our worship, could you regard that cross and see in its beauty something
of the beauty that happened on that cross in Golgotha, when Christ had the
courage to become our sins for us so that we might be ransomed and renewed, restored
to what God always wanted us to be?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That
would be another way to see Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Here's the second cue from today’s gospel that might
help us to spiritually see Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Very truly, I tell you, unless a
grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain;
but if it dies, it bears much fruit. (</span></i><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Jn 12.24)</span><span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">At this time of year, some of you will notice me
wandering around the grounds of the rectory, head bowed and staring intently at
the ground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gardeners will know what I’m
doing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m looking for those green shoots
that show the plants coming back to life – at least, the bulbs that the
squirrels didn’t get.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each day offers
the chance of a new discover, the promise of spring and of the renewal of the
earth.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">If we look at nature in springtime, we can see something
of the renewal of life that Jesus predicts and promises.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus is not just talking about his own
resurrection, but about the renewal of life in general – in the earth, in the
church, in his followers, and in the world, which will see a new creation, a
new heaven and a new earth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we can
see something of Jesus and his promise of abundant life in all the signs of
springtime, and we can see in those signs the hope and promise of our renewal
and remaking as Christ’s followers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>After all, if a humble bulb can come back to life, what more glorious
things can we hope for?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Here's the third cue from today’s gospel that might
help us to spiritually see Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><i><sup><span style="color: #777777; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">26</span></sup></i><i><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant
be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor. (Jn 21.6)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">We know that the words “servant” and “service” in
the gospels are key.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In John’s gospel,
shortly after this episode, Jesus will set aside his titles as Teacher and Lord
to become a servant and wash his friends’ feet “to set [them] an example, that
you should do as I have done to you” (Jn 13.14).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Elesewhere Jesus says that he did not come “to
be served but to serve” (Mk 10.45; Mt 20.28), and likewise he says that whoever
serves and helps another has seen and served Jesus (Mt 25.31-46).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Service to others can also be a way in which we spiritually
see Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We reenact this opportunity
to serve others during the footwashing part of our Maundy Thursday liturgy, but
our church offers many ways to serve friends, parishioners, and strangers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I invite you to see your volunteer
activities and your interactions with others, both within and outside All
Saints, as opportunities to spiritually see Jesus in acts of service.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">These are three ways that we might focus on seeing
Jesus spiritually.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are
others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we get to Easter Sunday and
onwards, you might spend time contemplating the magnificent windows about the
altar depicting Jesus’ Ascension.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a
glorious image and it shows another side of Jesus, who trusted his Father and
who shares his glory, and yet would love and serve us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">There are many ways to see Jesus spiritually, and I
think they all begin from cultivating a heart that is open to his love and
friendship, which we all need.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Open our eyes, Lord,<br />
we want to see Jesus,<br />
to reach out and touch him,<br />
and say that we love him.<br />
Open our ears, Lord,<br />
and help us to listen.<br />
Open our eyes, Lord,<br />
we want to see Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Mad Padrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00410143683610813671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9044826704035279962.post-32814417407034015632024-03-15T10:17:00.001-04:002024-03-16T10:18:12.766-04:00Classroom, Communion and Creed: A Homily on the Place of the Creeds in the Church Today<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Classroom, Communion and Creed:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A Homily for the <i>Signs of Our Common
Faith </i>Lenten series at Trinity Church, Barrie, Anglican Diocese of Toronto,
March 15<sup>th</sup>, 2024. There is a video recording of this service and homily <a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/hY3u846hd04?si=HICJuUpFE71RK23t">here</a>.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/31/Nicaea_icon.jpg/800px-Nicaea_icon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="590" height="400" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/31/Nicaea_icon.jpg/800px-Nicaea_icon.jpg" width="295" /></a></div><br /><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">It would have been about this time of year, 1700 years
ago, in the later weeks of Lent, that those seeking to become Christians,
called catechumens, would have been preparing for baptism. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As part of this preparation, they would have been
expected to learn the statement of our faith that today call the Apostles’ Creed
(the Nicene Creed was first written in 325 but did not come into wide use until
a few centuries later). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then, just
before Holy Week, the catechumens would come before their bishop and, one by
one, be expected to recite the Apostles’ Creed as well as the prayer we call
the Our Father, and to answer questions put to them. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">St Augustine, a learned and socially prominent
figure, would have had to submit himself to this process of instruction and
preparation before he was baptised by Bishop Ambrose of Milan in 387.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By that
time, the persecutions had ended and Christianity was now the official religion
of the Roman Empire, but the church still regarded the ability to say and
understand the Creed as a necessary qualification for baptism, and only then
could the new Christian participate in the Mass and receive the sacrament. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">So the Creed functioned then as it does now, as a
sign of Christian identity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, the
place of the creeds in the life of the church has changed considerably. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the early church, the Creed (specifically
the Apostles’ Creed) was used as a core curriculum, so that the novice
Christian could understand the identity and the saving actions of the three persons
of the Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Creed in the early church was for the
classroom, not for communion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It did
not have a place in the liturgy of the church.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Where the creeds came from is a long story that can
only get a brief answer in a short homily. The Apostle’s Creed was not, as was
charmingly claimed, written by the original apostles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>we know from scripture that the earliest Jesus
followers had statements of core belief that proclaimed Jesus as Lord (Christus
kyrios) and which contain the building blocks of Christian belief.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24.0pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 24pt 36pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Remember
Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, of the seed of David, according to my
gospel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(2 Tim 2,8)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The Apostle’s Creed probably came together over
time as a synthesis of these scriptures and teachings around them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">By the fourth century the Apostles’ Creed had become
a way to instruct new Christians and to distinguish them from pagans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Nicene Creed, as Gregory Dix noted, was
written to answer theological debates among Christians – was Jesus human or
divine (answer, both)?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus the Nicene
Creed, with its more robust Christology, works well in the Eucharist, whereas
the Apostle’s Creed is sufficient for services of the word and for the daily
offices.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By the sixth century the Nicene
Creed had found its place in the mass following the gospel, where it still
lives today, though before the Reformation it seems that the people recited the
Apostle’s Creed while the priests said the Nicene Creed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Today, I think it’s fair to say that we know and
say the Creeds (Apostles and Nicene) almost exclusively in liturgy. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They don’t really have a secure home
elsewhere in the life of our church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
have communion, but we don’t really have classroom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why
did this happen? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The practice of infant
baptism meant that instruction was shifted to the process of confirmation, which
was once a precondition for first communion. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Confirmation in turn lost much of its importance
as the Anglican church gradually adopted the practice of the open table, so
that we do not ask people to believe before they receive. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One could argue that it’s more grace filled to
invite seekers to first encounter Christ in bread and wine and then seek instruction
in the faith, but this puts the onus on the church to explain our faith after
the fact, rather like giving someone driving lessons after they’ve been on the
road.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, since we see fewer and fewer
new believers these days, we have largely lost the skills of catechesis, the
instruction of new Christians.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Even so, in liturgy the creeds still function as a sign
of belief and of Christian identity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
say them together, and while the rubrics don’t tell us to, we stand by custom,
paying the creeds the same honour that we pay to the gospel and to the
processional cross.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By tradition we
turn and face the altar, eastward in most churches, east being the direction of
sunrise and the direction from which Christ is expected to return.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of us make the sign of the cross as we
confess our belief in the resurrection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So the act of participating in,
even performing, the creeds is collective, so still a sign of our identity,
though perhaps not of unity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not all of
us, myself included, could recite either creed perfectly, nor could many of us
explain the articles of the creeds, even following the old catechism printed in
the Book of Common Prayer.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Barbara Brown Taylor once said that we say the
creeds together because there are days when we might not believe all we say,
and so rely on others to believe for us, and vice versa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While
this statement would likely startle early Christians like Augustine and
Ambrose, it does at least have the merit of being honest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Western Anglicans are, after all, a 21<sup>st</sup>
century church which sometimes seems more comfortable living the questions than
it does having all the answers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Believing
and reciting ancient creeds can seem charmingly archaic in our postmodern
age.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">However, our task is not to be relevant but to be
faithful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The creeds tell us that a
good and gracious God created all things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The creeds tell us that Jesus is Lord of heaven and earth, that he has conquered
sin and death, and that he gives us the hope of the resurrection. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The creeds assure us that the Holy Spirit is
amongst us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The creeds unite us with
those who have believed and proclaimed the gospel over the long centuries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These are the beliefs that I would offer to someone
seeking to learn our faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Let me finish with a final thought as to what the
creeds are not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some churches and
Christians call themselves creedal in a way that suggests that others are not true,
faithful Christians. I dislike this use of creedal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And in that spirit, let’s notice some of the
things that the creeds do not say.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
creeds say nothing about how to do liturgy, they are silent as to the number
and nature of the sacraments, and the creeds do not tell us how to govern or
structure our churches.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The creeds tell
us that the world was created but not how or when;<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>they allow us to believe in dinosaurs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The creeds say nothing about gender, about
marriage, or about preference.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the
creeds do not tell us that Christians should rule society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">So the creeds are not weapons to be used in church
culture wars. The creeds simply tell us that Jesus Christ is Lord.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And for us, at this time, as it was for
Augustine and Ambrose and all those before them, that is surely all we need,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Mad Padrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00410143683610813671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9044826704035279962.post-54688999617747074412024-03-15T09:16:00.001-04:002024-03-15T09:16:27.663-04:00Lent Madness: Julian of Norwich Takes On Zita (or is it Rita?)<p><span style="font-size: medium;"> Catching up with Lent Madness at the end of the week, we find that Cornelius the Centurion tamed one of our Shamrock Saints, Andoman, who goes back to the Emerald Isle. Likewise, the last of the Grappling Gerties, Gertrude the Great, was pulled off stage by the ecclesial crozier of Ambrose of Milan.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.lentmadness.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/LM2024bracket22-2048x1373.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="536" data-original-width="800" height="430" src="https://www.lentmadness.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/LM2024bracket22-2048x1373.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Today it's one of the girls from that wacky sitcom, "Rita and Zita", vs that wise and sensible English mystic, Julian of Norwich, and I feel confident in calling this one for Julian.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Vote <a href="https://www.lentmadness.org/2024/03/zita-vs-julian/#more-22995">here</a>.</span></p>Mad Padrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00410143683610813671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9044826704035279962.post-60787903092777940762024-03-13T08:54:00.001-04:002024-03-13T08:54:15.560-04:00Lent Madness: Cornelius the Centurion vs Andoman the Monk<p> <span style="font-size: medium;">Greetings saint supporters.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Yesterday saw a victory for the Emerald Isle contingent in this year's Lent Madness contest, as Canaire skipped over the waves and left Cyprian of Carthage floundering. Canaire earns her spot in The Elate Eight and will go on to face either Henry Whipple the Battling Bishop, or Clare (Not a Material Girl) of Assisi.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://virtueonline.org/sites/default/files/styles/news-large/public/CORNELIUS.png?itok=qP4Mwj3J" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="390" data-original-width="760" height="390" src="https://virtueonline.org/sites/default/files/styles/news-large/public/CORNELIUS.png?itok=qP4Mwj3J" width="760" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">In today's matchup, the pious Roman soldier Cornelius of Acts 10 fame goes up against another of our Celtic Tigers, Andoman of Ireland. I'm an old and pious soldier so I'm partial to Cornie, but I've been wrong before, and Andoman's voice of peace in the Dark Ages carries over to our time.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Who will win? Vote <a href="https://www.lentmadness.org/2024/03/adomnan-of-iona-vs-cornelius-the-centurion/">here</a>.</span></p>Mad Padrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00410143683610813671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9044826704035279962.post-19342270805248540022024-03-12T11:28:00.001-04:002024-03-12T11:28:12.570-04:00Lent Madness: Irish Water-walker vs Actual African Martyr<p> <span style="font-size: medium;">Welcome back to Lent Madness 2024. If you look at the two leaderboards, one in the parish hall, the other just outside the church on the bulletin board by the sacristy, you'll see that the numbers of winners are starting to thin out and the numbers of losers are growing. That's the way Lent Madness works. Fortunately, we're all winners in heaven!</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Yesterday I was busy with grandchildren so no time for a post here, but Joseph of Arimathea defeated Kassia of Byzantium. This was a surprising win, as I thought Kassia would be a favourite around International Women's Day, but Joseph shows the drawing power of the biblical saints in this year's contest. Joseph will go on to face either Zita (or is it Rita?) or Julian of Norwich, depending on who wins that contest.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.lentmadness.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/LM2024bracket20-2048x1373.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="536" data-original-width="800" height="536" src="https://www.lentmadness.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/LM2024bracket20-2048x1373.jpg" width="800" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Today's matchup features Canaire of Ireland vs Cyprian of Carthage. Canaire offers a charming story with a feisty feminist retort to a stodgy old abbot (who may have been her sibling), and a win for Canaire would avenge the defeat of her fellow Irish contender, Brigid. It being so close to St Patrick's Day, does Canaire have a shot at the next round?</span><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i0.wp.com/saintsbridge.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/st.-senan.-statue-.jpg?ssl=1" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="259" data-original-width="194" height="259" src="https://i0.wp.com/saintsbridge.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/st.-senan.-statue-.jpg?ssl=1" width="194" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">In the other corner, we have Cyprian of Carthage, whose life, faith, writings, and ultimate faithfulness to our Lord are all documented.</span><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.traditioninaction.org/SOD/SODimages7/321_Cyp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="622" data-original-width="350" height="622" src="https://www.traditioninaction.org/SOD/SODimages7/321_Cyp.jpg" width="350" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">It must have seemed strange to the Roman authorities to have been confronted with such early Christians. Official Roman religion was seen as the glue that held Roman society together, but not something that really mattered spiritually or was ultimately true. The early Christians, however, actually believed that their God was true, real, and lord of the universe, and were willing to die for that faith. Blessed Cyprian was one of that number.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Vote <a href="https://www.lentmadness.org/2024/03/canaire-vs-cyprian-of-carthage/">here</a>.</span></p>Mad Padrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00410143683610813671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9044826704035279962.post-30592179412977622202024-03-08T09:17:00.005-05:002024-03-08T09:17:43.997-05:00Lent Madness: Two Who Spread the Word, and One Who Spread Himself<p> <span style="font-size: medium;">As we saw with Thomas the Apostle's defeat by Albert Schweitzer yesterday, the Dangerous Disciples are no longer a Duo. Today sees the other of Jesus' chosen friends, Andrew the Fisherman, going up against the medieval preacher, Polish saint, and water walker, Hyacinth.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-d0POj-GVj78/Ug_BTx-U-QI/AAAAAAAACh8/gG3fLkBAQXw/s583/St+Hyacinth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="406" data-original-width="583" height="223" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-d0POj-GVj78/Ug_BTx-U-QI/AAAAAAAACh8/gG3fLkBAQXw/s320/St+Hyacinth.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Reading <a href="https://www.lentmadness.org/2024/03/hyacinth-vs-andrew-the-fisherman/">today's post at the Lent Madness website</a>, I noted that water walking is a theme in this year's LM: Piran of Cornwall surfed on a millstone, Canaire walked on the ocean to go browbeat a stodgy abbot, and Hyacinth used his cloak as a ferry service. Me, I fall out of my kayak. Go figure. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">As a preacher, there's something humbling that while Hyacinth was famous for his sermons, not a word of them survives, and yet he is remembered for spreading the faith all through the Baltic region and parts of eastern Europe.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EoEgcwzXMAQ31Ml?format=png&name=small" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="422" data-original-width="570" height="422" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EoEgcwzXMAQ31Ml?format=png&name=small" width="570" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Like St Hyacinth, St Andrew also spread the faith across the known world, and likewise spread his bones. The image above purports to show those of his bones currently resident in Scotland - about 7% of the bones of his body. The rest are spread far and wide. Talk about feeling scattered!</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I'm going to call St Andrew as today's winner, because Scotland. Vote <a href="https://www.lentmadness.org/2024/03/hyacinth-vs-andrew-the-fisherman/">here</a>.</span></p>Mad Padrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00410143683610813671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9044826704035279962.post-5035665898900339322024-03-07T09:57:00.001-05:002024-03-07T09:57:11.525-05:00Lent Madness: The Polymath vs The Apostle<p> <span style="font-size: medium;">Greetings Hagiophiles!</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Today we see the Saintly Sixteen completed, as Clare of Assisi had a tidy victory of Rafqa of Lebanon. Nobody's going to call her Poor Clare now, unless it's her accountant doing her taxes. The thirty two holy hopefuls have been cut in half (well, not literally, though that was one method of martyrdom - see Hebrews 11.37), and now things get really serious.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/originals/72/6d/45/726d451cefb40637e561b50bc78b6434.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="800" src="https://i.pinimg.com/originals/72/6d/45/726d451cefb40637e561b50bc78b6434.jpg" width="800" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Today it's our friends Albert Schweitzer (big moustache, did everything, certified polymath) versus Thomas the Apostle (hand picked disciple, doubter but then believer, reluctant apostle).</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.5GT0i4Q5QS-4J1Oj5aUlhQHaGX?rs=1&pid=ImgDetMain" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="407" data-original-width="474" height="407" src="https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.5GT0i4Q5QS-4J1Oj5aUlhQHaGX?rs=1&pid=ImgDetMain" width="474" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Biblical characters so far in Lent Madness 2024 have done well in getting into the next round, but here Thomas runs into a bona fide historical figure whose deeds are documented, whereas Thomas' story, if you read <a href="https://www.lentmadness.org/2024/03/thomas-the-apostle-vs-albert-schweitzer/">today's post</a>. The third century text The Acts of Thomas, for example, has many charming stories (legends, really) including how, while he was in India, Thomas found and baptized the Magi who had gone to Bethlehem to honour the infant Jesus.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">What do we make of these charming stories? The councils of the church excluded certain books, like The Acts of Thomas, from the canon of scripture, doubting their orthodoxy in some cases, or their accuracy in others. The Reformation was notoriously hard on the saints' lives and stories, like the ones about Jesus as a child, that had grown up during the Middle Ages. The Reformers disapproved of legends that they felt distracted the faithful from the saving truth of scripture, which alone could save us (sola scriptura).</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">However, today as our bible study noted when we met yesteday, millions of people follow the show <a href="https://www.angel.com/watch/the-chosen">The Chosen</a>, a multi-season life of Christ that makes liberal use of invented events and characters to flesh out the story and the world of Jesus and his followers. Perhaps it is because we are a story telling people that we need stories and legends to make biblical characters real. The same is true of history, as the Ridley Scott movie <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_(2023_film)">Napoleon </a>shows.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Anyway, I digress. Vote <a href="https://www.lentmadness.org/2024/03/thomas-the-apostle-vs-albert-schweitzer/">here</a>.</span></p>Mad Padrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00410143683610813671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9044826704035279962.post-46805443203989156292024-03-06T14:12:00.001-05:002024-03-06T14:12:16.747-05:00Lent Madness: Sisters Are Doing It By Themselves<p> <span style="font-size: medium;">Greetings saint supporters!</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Catching up after a very rejuvenating retreat this weekend, and discovered that Julian of Norwich easily put out the fiery Brigid of Kildare. While I'm always sorry to see an Irish saint go down to defeat, I must admit that Julian of Norwich's resume is much more substantial than that of someone who probably began her career as a Celtic fire goddess. Julian is a hero of the Christian mystical devotional tradition and she will go on to face (and, I predict, defeat) Zita. Or is it Rita? Who can tell them apart, really?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Apologies to Annie Lennox for the title of today's post. One of the things I'm grateful to Lent Madness for is it's introductions to so many women who have embodied and passed on our faith through study, charity, and devotion to our Lord. Today's matchup features two such saintly sisters, and they were sisters, in the religious and vocational sense.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.etsystatic.com/32193029/r/il/c23d87/4600531501/il_570xN.4600531501_evkh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="570" data-original-width="570" height="570" src="https://i.etsystatic.com/32193029/r/il/c23d87/4600531501/il_570xN.4600531501_evkh.jpg" width="570" /></a></div><br /><p></p><h1 class="firstHeading mw-first-heading" id="firstHeading" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; flex-grow: 1; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.375; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px;"><span class="mw-page-title-main"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Rafqa Pietra Choboq Ar-Rayès, to give her full name, saw her share of the religious violence that still afflicts her part of the world, and yet lived a life of quiet and calm devotion, making her own clear choices as to in which convents she would live out her vocation. Her Wikipedia entry contains a particular graphic account of the loss of her eye, which did noting to relieve a suffering which she gladly embraced. Today, when medicine keeps our suffering at bay as much as possible, and where MAID is an option, the desire of many saints to draw closer to the passion of Christ in their suffering is remarkable, and maybe even admirable. Would we choose such a route, I wonder?</span></span></h1><h1 class="firstHeading mw-first-heading" id="firstHeading" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; flex-grow: 1; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.375; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px;"><span class="mw-page-title-main"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/736x/e9/e7/c4/e9e7c4d1dda103f2d28896388f17c7c0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="569" data-original-width="570" height="569" src="https://i.pinimg.com/736x/e9/e7/c4/e9e7c4d1dda103f2d28896388f17c7c0.jpg" width="570" /></a></div><br />Clare of Assisi also reminds us that the religious vocation could be a liberating path in a man's world (and in a man's church). Her decision to follow the way of St. Francis also reminds us of how Francis' call to embrace a Christ-like poverty and service must have captivated the imaginations of many. Her example still inspires today, for her Order, the Poor Clares, maintain convents in BC and in Quebec.</span></span></h1><div><span class="mw-page-title-main"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="mw-page-title-main"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Hard to call this one. Vote <a href="https://www.lentmadness.org/2024/03/rafqa-of-lebanon-vs-clare-of-assisi/">here</a>.</span></span></div>Mad Padrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00410143683610813671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9044826704035279962.post-72182883178852381352024-03-04T11:38:00.002-05:002024-03-04T11:38:23.596-05:00Lent Madness: Two Gertrudes Intrude<p><span style="font-size: medium;">In last Friday's Matchup, Cornelius the Centurion gained another victory for the biblical saints by narrowly defeating Piran of Cornwall, thus showing that pious centurions can beat out hard-drinking Cornishmen.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">In todays matchup, two Saint Gertrudes compete for the last spot in the Saintly Sixteen. I confess that I'm a fan of the name Gretrude, which, sadly, is one of those arcane names like Beulah and Iris that don't seem to be popular for girl's names these days. Also, I have fond memories of Gertie Hamelin, a friend of my mom's, who used to tell wonderful stories of life in wartime Scotland. But I digress.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://newdailycompass.com/storage/imgs/gertrude-large-0-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="504" data-original-width="690" height="504" src="https://newdailycompass.com/storage/imgs/gertrude-large-0-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9.jpg" width="690" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;">Saint Gertrude the Great has a decent resume, as a scholar, theologian, and mystic. She is often depicted holding the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and she is credited with beginning the Catholic devotional tradition of meditating on the heart of Christ.</span><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DqscrKKVYAAYApF.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="579" height="800" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DqscrKKVYAAYApF.jpg" width="579" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;">Gretrude of Nivelles, on the other hand, does not appear to have a resume to impress, but she had great regard for the souls in Purgatory (a belief of medieval Christianity in the west) and, since those souls were often depicted as mice, she became the patron saint of cats, which I think pretty much guarantees that she'll win.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I'm voting for Gertie the Great, but you cat fans vote as you please. Vote <a href="https://www.lentmadness.org/2024/03/gertrude-the-great-vs-gertrude-of-nivelles/">here</a>.</span></p>Mad Padrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00410143683610813671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9044826704035279962.post-17526411232609142472024-03-01T10:44:00.001-05:002024-03-01T10:44:11.547-05:00Lent Madness: Surfer versus Soldier<p><span style="font-size: medium;">Good day saint supporters.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">In yesterday's match of the battling bishops, Bishop Henry (the Whip) Whipple, like Jesus in the temple, cracked the whip and drove poor Bishop Jackson out of the ring. Personally I'm not sure what the difference was between these two guys, but our American Anglican friends, the majority of Lent Madness players, have strong opinions and most threw their votes to Whipple.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">In today's matchup, the corn jokes have already been done on the Lent Madness website, so I'll spare you, my puns would just be empty husks of humour. Today we get to choose between Dark Ages Celtic fancy and a brief but important biblical appearance.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Piran of Cornwall is Irish by birth, so he's in good company in these year's competitors which include Canaire, Brigid, and Andoman. Besides being the patron saint of tinsmiths and hard drinkers, Piran could be the patron of surfers.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.cornwallheritagetrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/st-piran-morgelyn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="429" data-original-width="347" height="429" src="https://www.cornwallheritagetrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/st-piran-morgelyn.jpg" width="347" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Cornelius the Centurion gets my vote because he's a pious soldier, though the soldiers I knew would have probably wanted Piran as their Padre (see hard drinking). Cornelius makes a crucial appearance in Acts 10 where he and his household are baptized by Peter at the Spirit's urging, thus convincing the church in Jerusalem to open membership to gentiles. As a gentile myself, I say, thank you, Cornelius</span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.episcopalchurch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/01/Cornelius-the-Centurion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="280" height="400" src="https://www.episcopalchurch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/01/Cornelius-the-Centurion.jpg" width="280" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">I'm voting for Cornelius myself, but I suspect Piran will win the day because of his various antics.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Vote <a href="https://www.lentmadness.org/2024/03/piran-of-cornwall-vs-cornelius-the-centurian/">here</a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>Mad Padrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00410143683610813671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9044826704035279962.post-44065276495421427922024-02-29T11:56:00.000-05:002024-02-29T11:56:04.677-05:00Lent Madness: Battling Bishops<p> <span style="font-size: medium;">In yesterday's matchup, Zita handily disposed of her fellow Italian saint, Rita. I confess that I didn't have much enthusiasm for that particular faceoff, but I'm still hoping for the sitcom.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Today the mitres are mixing it up and the croziers are clubbing as two Victorian bishops of the US Episcopal church put up their pious dukes. I think this is the first matchup of the year featuring two bona fide Anglicans in the ring.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">In this corner, Bishop Henry (The Whip) Whipple.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.hmdb.org/Photos6/694/Photo694537.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="592" data-original-width="799" height="592" src="https://www.hmdb.org/Photos6/694/Photo694537.jpg" width="799" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Like his Canadian contemporaries such as Bishops Moutain and Strachan, he was not only a church builder, he was a diocese builder. He spent most of his adult life (42 yrs) as the first bishop of Minnesota, and was a fearless advocate for the indigenous people that most American settlers and politicians saw as a nuisance at best, and as inhuman at worst. For that, he deserves the church's gratitude and memory. Fun fact, there is a massive government structure, the Henry Whipple Federal Building, in Minnesota.</span><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://scalar.usc.edu/works/episcopal-diocese-of-northern-indiana-archives/media/Jackson%20Kemper%20undated246.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="495" height="800" src="https://scalar.usc.edu/works/episcopal-diocese-of-northern-indiana-archives/media/Jackson%20Kemper%20undated246.jpg" width="495" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">When I was a divinity student at Wycliffe College, we used to hear about Isaac Stringer, the Archbishop of Rupert's Land, also known as "the Bishop who ate his boots" because once, trapped in a cave during a blizzard, he boiled and ate his deerskin boots. Jackson Kemper was a bishop of that ilk. Not sure what he ate during his long travels through the largely unsettled Northwest US, but he seems tireless. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Fun fact, both contestants had a role in ordaining Enmegahbowh, the first American indigenous Episcopal priest and a contestant in Lent Madness 2023 who made it to the Saintly Sixteen. Kemper ordained him a deacon, and Whipple ordained </span><span style="font-size: large;">Enmegahbowh a priest.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">For that, don't they both deserve a vote?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Vote <a href="https://www.lentmadness.org/2024/02/henry-whipple-vs-jackson-kemper/">here</a>.</span></p>Mad Padrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00410143683610813671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9044826704035279962.post-75984329965665990932024-02-28T12:57:00.002-05:002024-02-28T12:57:36.640-05:00Lent Madness: Sounds Like A Sitcom Matchup<p> <span style="font-size: medium;">Greetings Halo Hopers: </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I was a little surprised that William Byrd played some sour notes and was voted off the stage in favour of Ambrose of Milan. That takes my record to 3 wins and 6 losses. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Very pressed for time today so nothing to add in the way of witticisms, except that "Rita and Zita" sounds like the title of a TV sitcom. Hard to choose between them, as Rita's life seems unbearably sad, but I suspect that Zita will win because a) her name is cooler and b) we all lose stuff, including me, the guy who asks my wife to call my cell phone so I know where it is.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Vote <a href="https://www.lentmadness.org/2024/02/rita-vs-zita/">here</a>.</span></p>Mad Padrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00410143683610813671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9044826704035279962.post-244437200404148992024-02-27T10:50:00.004-05:002024-02-27T10:50:48.392-05:00Lent Madness: The Reluctant Bishop vs the Discrete Musician<p> <span style="font-size: medium;">Welcome to our second full week of Lent Madness 2024. In our last matchup on Friday, I was surprised that the North African theologian Cyprian of Carthage beat Pachomius, one of the founders of monasticism. That takes my record of predictions to 3 wins and 4 losses.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I didn't post on yesterday's matchup between Andoman and Joseph Vaz, and didn't have thoughts on who would win. Anyway, congratulations to Andoman, our second Irish saint in this year's Lent Madness.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.pravoslavie.ru/sas/image/102164/216410.p.jpg?mtime=1444059546" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="253" data-original-width="250" height="253" src="http://www.pravoslavie.ru/sas/image/102164/216410.p.jpg?mtime=1444059546" width="250" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">In today's matchup, Ambrose of Milan squares off against William Byrd. </span><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://classicalliberalarts.com/wp-content/uploads/Gerard_Seghers_attr_-_The_Four_Doctors_of_the_Western_Church_Saint_Ambrose.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="609" data-original-width="600" height="609" src="https://classicalliberalarts.com/wp-content/uploads/Gerard_Seghers_attr_-_The_Four_Doctors_of_the_Western_Church_Saint_Ambrose.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">It's always a good rule to be suspicious of clergy who desperately want to wear a purple shirt. Ambrose, by contrast, wasn't even baptized before he was chosen by the faithful of Milan to be their bishop. He would go on to be a fearless opponent of tyrants and heretics, and like his opponent today, managed to write a hymn or two, <a href="https://youtu.be/B8YPoIyzprc?si=ac84diiel7J_zIUP">some of which survive today and which you might hear in church during Advent.</a></span><p></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.43ca404a637f3f6c2de8b5fe25329c89?rik=TkRKr831rT7kmg&riu=http%3a%2f%2f3.bp.blogspot.com%2f-efUjWnfpbjM%2fUNHrxuj32CI%2fAAAAAAAAAVg%2f32_CHhQt98s%2fs1600%2fWilliam%2bByrd.png&ehk=t3nTjMe6QvcN2gfIU0S3%2f6llCbZvuH4Ofq5ZhoHkvmU%3d&risl=&pid=ImgRaw&r=0" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="614" data-original-width="500" height="614" src="https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.43ca404a637f3f6c2de8b5fe25329c89?rik=TkRKr831rT7kmg&riu=http%3a%2f%2f3.bp.blogspot.com%2f-efUjWnfpbjM%2fUNHrxuj32CI%2fAAAAAAAAAVg%2f32_CHhQt98s%2fs1600%2fWilliam%2bByrd.png&ehk=t3nTjMe6QvcN2gfIU0S3%2f6llCbZvuH4Ofq5ZhoHkvmU%3d&risl=&pid=ImgRaw&r=0" width="500" /></a></div><br /><p><span style="font-size: medium;">If Ambrose was reluctant, William Byrd was discrete. He managed to keep his head down (and on) during the tumult of the Tudor period, even though he was a Roman Catholic. Queen Elizabeth I was a fan. Like that of his contemporary, Thomas Tallis, Byrd's music has a haunting beauty and took advantage of the taste in complex polyphony (multiple voices and parts) of the time. Here's <a href="https://youtu.be/ePqqoag8s1E?si=WBSH7ulQ6k66Yc9E">a taste</a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I'm a fan of Tudor church music, so I'm going with Byrd to win. We'll see if other birds of a feather flock to him.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Vote <a href="https://www.lentmadness.org/2024/02/ambrose-of-milan-vs-william-byrd/">here</a>.</span></p>Mad Padrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00410143683610813671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9044826704035279962.post-7247770266982660652024-02-24T07:18:00.002-05:002024-02-24T07:18:27.272-05:00The Same Hope: A Homily for Vestry Sunday<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Preached on Vestry
Days, Saturday, Feb 24, and Sunday, Feb 25, at St. Luke’s, Creemore, and All
Saints, Collingwood, Anglican Diocese of Toronto.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Readings: Gen 17:1-7.
15-16; Ps 22:22-30, Rom 4:13-25; Mk 8:31-38.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.agnusday.org/strips/Mark08v31to38_2003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="215" data-original-width="640" height="215" src="https://www.agnusday.org/strips/Mark08v31to38_2003.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">”Then he began to teach
them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the
elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again" (Mk 8:31)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">Imagine that you’re
invited to be part of something – a new business, a political campaign, a
romantic relationship – wouldn’t you want to know that all would turn out
well?</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">Would you accept the invitation
if you knew that it would all come crashing down and that your hopes would be
dashed?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I’m sure that at this
point in Mark’s Gospel, Peter and his fellow disciples were completely
blindsided by Jesus’ prediction that he would undergo rejection, suffering,
torture, and a terrible death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Think of
all that they had seen and done with Jesus thus far – demons put to flight,
lepers cleansed, crowds fed from scraps of food, storms calmed by a word from Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sure there had been bumps along the way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had seen Jesus scorned and rejected in
his home town, they’d seen the Pharisees become increasingly hostile, and they’d
heard of the arrest and execution of John the Baptist.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Even so, Peter’s
shocked reaction to Jesus’ prediction shows that the disciples expected a
triumphant outcome, that Jesus would fulfil their expectations of the Messiah
and be a conquering king, a second David, who would drive the Romans from the
land promised by God to Abraham and his descendants.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It’s almost as if
Peter was so outraged at what sounded like a prediction of defeat and crashing
ruin that he did not hear Jesus’ last words, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that “after three days [he would] rise again”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And really, who can blame him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We all want the
future to be bright and to keep our hopes intact.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We don’t want the pain of disappointment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We don’t want to admit that we’ve failed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think that’s true of life and, I would
say, it’s also true of churches.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Today and tomorrow we’re
having vestry meetings at two historic churches, St Luke’s, Creemore, and All
Saints, Collingwood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The people who
dreamed of these churches, built them, paid for them, looked after them, they
have long since gone to their reward. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If
they were here with us today, would they be disappointed by what they would
see?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Would they be
disappointed by the general decline of Christianity in a country that’s become
increasingly secular?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If they asked
where the children were and we said, most of them go to hockey on Sunday
mornings, while congregations got smaller and older and clergy got fewer, what
would they think?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If they saw that
famous Anglican Journal newspaper saying that our church will go extinct by
2040, would they think they’ve failed and that founding these churches was in
vain?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">No.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think that if they were here with us
today, they’d say no, it was all worth it, because here you are, acting in the
present and planning for the future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here you are, feeding the hungry, welcoming
the stranger, sharing the good news of Jesus Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here you are, living out the hope of our
faith, inspired by the same Holy Spirit that inspired us to build these
churches.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was worth it then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s worth it now.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I said earlier that
Peter didn’t hear or understand what Jesus said, that “after three days [he
would] rise again”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Peter and the
disciples couldn’t understand those words at the time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>None of Jesus’ friends were prepared for the
reality of the resurrection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wasn’t
until they saw him, heard him, broke bread with him, that they began to
believe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it wasn’t for years
thereafter, as they started to travel and preach throughout their known world,
that they began to realize that Jesus had empowered them to build his church.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The same is true of
us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We dedicate considerable time,
energy, and wealth to keeping these churches going, which is good thing <i>if</i>
these buildings bring people closer to Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When things go wrong, or as we get older and fewer, we can lose sight of
the promise of the resurrection that Jesus promised.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">But here we are,
still going.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our ministries have
changed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We run foodbanks and we feed people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We see society fragmenting and we care for the
lonely.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We see the housing crisis
getting worse and we are called to speak out to those in power, as you will see
in our social justice motion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s
the spirit of the resurrection, leading us to follow Jesus in new ways and to
adapt the mission of the church.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">So let’s remember, in
our vestry meetings and in the year that follows, that we continue to be church
because we follow the same Lord, and hold to the same promise of the
resurrection, that animated the first disciples. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We keep faith with the generations before
us that built these churches and served these communities and worshiped this
God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of what we do – prayer, praise, and
worship – hasn’t changed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of our
ministries have evolved and changed as we follow the Holy Spirit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We do all these things because we believe
the mystery of our faith – Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come
again – and that gives us our hope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Amen. <o:p></o:p></span></p>Mad Padrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00410143683610813671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9044826704035279962.post-29457121471134279462024-02-23T11:00:00.002-05:002024-02-23T11:00:25.907-05:00Lent Madness: Out of Africa<p> <span style="font-size: medium;">Judging by what the host site, Blogger tells me, these Lent Madness updates are read by a depressingly small handful of people, but I shall forge on.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">In yesterday's matchup, Lazarus was buried under the pile of votes heaped on Joseph of Arimathea, so Jesus' secret disciple goes on to face the redoubtable Kassia, while Lazarus goes back to sleep.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I'm calling this the Out of Africa matchup, because that's all I've got that's clever, and Egypt is technically in Africa. In one corner is Saint Pachomius, looking rather dismayed at the reading assignment given to him by the angel.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://stshenoudamonastery.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/st-pachomius.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="474" height="360" src="https://stshenoudamonastery.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/st-pachomius.jpg" width="474" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">When I was an undergrad, a history professor liked to go on about how the monastic movement was a cop out. Believers, he said, should be out in the world preaching and evangelizing (he was a Mormon), not holed up from the world praying. Fortunately, faith is not a binary choice, and needs all sorts of ways of belief. <a href="https://www.toronto.anglican.ca/from-our-bishops/letter-to-the-diocese-from-bishop-andrew-feb-15-2024/">Bishop Andrew, in today's letter to the Diocese</a>, talks about how he and his fellow diocesan leaders always make a Lenten pilgrimage to a monastery. Monasteries and convents are sanctuaries for the weary, places of retreat and restoration, and send prayers aloft daily for the world. We should be glad to have them, and grateful to St. Pachomius for being a founder of monasticism.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://energeticprocession.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/saint_cyprian.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="330" data-original-width="250" height="330" src="https://energeticprocession.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/saint_cyprian.jpg" width="250" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">In the other Cyprian of Carthage was one of those North African theologians and church leaders most famously represented by Augustine of Hippo, whose early life and conversion Cyprian closely resembles. He had a fine legal mind, and was a fearless leader of the church, who like many of our Lent Madness Halo Heroes embraced a martyr's death.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Cyprian famously said that "He who does not have the church as a mother cannot have God as a father", which those who profess to find God on Sundays on the golf course may disagree with, but it's a good sentiment to think about on the eve of our parish vestry meeting.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I think I'm about 3 and 3 for my predictions, and this time I'm going with Pachomius on the grounds that he's an old soldier, like me, and I'm fond of monasteries.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Vote <a href="https://www.lentmadness.org/2024/02/pachomius-vs-cyprian-of-carthage/">here</a>.</span></p>Mad Padrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00410143683610813671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9044826704035279962.post-74468336104035220412024-02-22T11:41:00.003-05:002024-02-22T11:41:56.900-05:00Lent Madness: Graves and Graces<p> </p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">It wasn't even close. Poor Polycarp was a catch and release contestant, while Andrew the Fisherman filled his nets with votes. Andrew will go on to face Hyacinth. We will see which one will blossom.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Today's matchup points us towards Easter because both saints represent empty tombs.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">In one corner, looking a bit like The Mummy, is Lazarus of Bethany,</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-8dmgsukq0i/images/stencil/1280x1280/products/850/1145/LEG096__39712.1631106725.jpg?c=1" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="632" data-original-width="800" height="632" src="https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-8dmgsukq0i/images/stencil/1280x1280/products/850/1145/LEG096__39712.1631106725.jpg?c=1" width="800" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">I've always felt a little sorry for Lazarus, because he had ample time to enjoy the pleasure of heaven, assuming that we go there and don't just sleep until we are called awake on Judgement Day (both are attractive prospects; the first sounds a lot like the wonderful ending of CS Lewis' The Last Battle, the second sounds like a good rest).</span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">What makes Lazarus human as well as miraculous is that he and his sisters were friends of Jesus, who knew their house and welcomed their hospitality. May our Lord always be welcomed under our own roofs.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">In the other corner, we have Joseph of Arimathea.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2bNOCTC7IJ6-PDWc1HKJjKfGuVeaU4V8ZHmpSukVqqMaw7rnmSFvwvgzIiHR_r0aetuJffd0uiSOvSmT13olve9S6w6owj263gIpIhYMScN1AMODpSa1GYHCJWLtOSw_Q2uVKa4AmWfE/s1031/1312.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1031" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2bNOCTC7IJ6-PDWc1HKJjKfGuVeaU4V8ZHmpSukVqqMaw7rnmSFvwvgzIiHR_r0aetuJffd0uiSOvSmT13olve9S6w6owj263gIpIhYMScN1AMODpSa1GYHCJWLtOSw_Q2uVKa4AmWfE/s320/1312.jpg" width="233" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">All the gospels agree that Joseph was one of the friends of Jesus who care for his body after his death on the cross, selflessly giving up his own tomb for our Lord. As someone who had his own tomb, Joseph must have been a man of substance, He must have been notable in his community, because he was allowed an audience with Pilate the governor and requested that Pilate release Jesus' body. Notable or otherwise, that must have taken courage on Joseph's part. John's gospel also tells us that he was a Pharisee but secretly recognized the truth of who Jesus was. That makes him very human. Not all of us have the courage to give up our security for our beliefs, and so we try to do the best we can under the radar.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">So an interesting choice. Lazarus was the recipient of grace, while Joseph was an active benefactor of Jesus. Your choice.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Vote <a href="https://www.lentmadness.org/2024/02/lazarus-vs-joseph-of-arimathea/#more-22825">here</a>.</span></p>Mad Padrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00410143683610813671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9044826704035279962.post-91745663823666808932024-02-21T09:34:00.003-05:002024-02-21T09:34:38.724-05:00Lent Madness: The Carp and the Fisherman<p><span style="font-size: medium;">As I predicted (correctly, for a change), in our Lutheran Lashup, Henry Muhelenberg was soundly defeated by Albert "Out of Africa" Schweitzer, proving that a handsome moustache can give a saint an edge. Albert will go up against Thomas the Apostle and that will be an epic challenge.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://newdailycompass.com/storage/imgs/san-policarpo-3274938660x368-large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="504" data-original-width="690" height="504" src="https://newdailycompass.com/storage/imgs/san-policarpo-3274938660x368-large.jpg" width="690" /></a></div><br /> <span style="font-size: medium;">Was Polycarp burned wearing his bishop's vestments? Mitre been.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">For today's Saintly Scrapple, in one corner we have Polycarp of Smyrna, a bishop, theologian, and martyr of the early church. He joins Thomas Cranmer in this year's Lent Madness roster as a bishop who was sentenced to be burned at the stake, though his executioners found that task harder than expected.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Polycarp was a defender of what we would today recognize as credal Christianity and orthodoxy, though in his lifetime at was a massive dragout debate. He is famous for embracing his martyrdom serenely at an advanced age, saying to his Roman persecutors, "Hear me declare with boldness, I am a Christian". That's a good sermon for this coming Sunday's gospel reading, in which Jesus tells us not to ashamed of him or of his words (Mark 8.38).</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Polycarp.s opponent is the fisherman, disciple, and apostle, Andrew the Fisherman, who is one of the characters of the popular series "The Chosen".</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://funkymbti.files.wordpress.com/2022/03/andrew.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="469" data-original-width="778" height="469" src="https://funkymbti.files.wordpress.com/2022/03/andrew.jpg" width="778" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: medium;">If learned and wise people like Polycarp kept the faith, it was simple and brave people like Andrew that established the church. Both Polycarp and Andrew deserve honour and veneration, and both were willing to die for their master in hope of the resurrection that he promised his followers. Hard choice. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Andrew apparently went everywhere in his career as an apostle, so players of Lent Madness with Scottish, Romanian, Ukrainian and Russian descent will likely tip the balance in is favour.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">My prediction is that Andrew will come out of today with his net full of votes.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Vote <a href="https://www.lentmadness.org/2024/02/polycarp-vs-andrew-the-fisherman/?unapproved=176992&moderation-hash=627f2240ac1bdd7eb9dea37e79b9fb0a#comment-176992">here</a>.<br /><br /></span></p>Mad Padrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00410143683610813671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9044826704035279962.post-68387447690839979512024-02-20T17:48:00.001-05:002024-02-20T17:48:20.195-05:00Lent Madness: Grappling Germans<p><span style="font-size: medium;">Our last matchup saw the Irish saint Canaire skipping across the waves while "Boom Boom" Barbara came close but ultimately flamed out. I'm always a sucker for an Irish accent, so I backed Canaire and now my prediction record is 2-2.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Today's matchup features two Teutonic titans, two grappling Germans, zwei disputing Deutschers.</span> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.philart.net/images/large/hmuhlen2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="615" data-original-width="615" height="615" src="https://www.philart.net/images/large/hmuhlen2.jpg" width="615" /></a></div><br /><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Henry Muhlenberg looks to me a lot like the Anglican missionaries and clergy who came over to Canada and America in the 1700s to found the church here. It's interesting to note that other Christian denominations were doing the same here, and the German diaspora would have had it's share of Lutherans coming to minister to them. (Fun fact: it wasn't just Lutherans, our friends in Collingwood at New Life Church can trace their roots back to Low German settlers in Pennsylvania who were Anabaptist, and who became known as Brethern in Christ. Christianity then as now was quite diverse). </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I almost feel sorry for Henry, he has a sweet kind face, but he doesn't have the awesome moustache or reputation of Albert Schweitzer.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://thegreatpeacemakers.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Albert-Schweitzer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="600" src="https://thegreatpeacemakers.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Albert-Schweitzer.jpg" width="800" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Pastor, theologian, musician, doctor, missionary, author - is there anything that Schweitzer didn't do better than almost anyone else? Fun fact, Schweitzer makes a cameo appearance in Young Indiana Jones, a TV series aired in the early 1990s. You can see a brief clip <a href="https://youtu.be/EN3SucdeLVw?si=kXtt23Qur6AdkTDl">here</a>.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I'm willing to bet that Schweitzer will handily win this battle of the Dueling Deutschers, but he'll go on to face Thomas the Apostle, and that will be an epic battle.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Vote <a href="https://www.lentmadness.org/2024/02/henry-muhlenberg-vs-albert-schweitzer/">here</a>.</span></p>Mad Padrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00410143683610813671noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9044826704035279962.post-54492917913209497422024-02-19T18:19:00.001-05:002024-02-19T18:19:12.333-05:00Forged in the Wildnerss: Gospel and Homily for the First Sunday of Lent<p> </p><div style="padding:56.25% 0 0 0;position:relative;"><iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/914564389?badge=0&autopause=0&player_id=0&app_id=58479" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;" title="Gospel and Fr Michael's homily for the First Sunday of Lent"></iframe></div><script src="https://player.vimeo.com/api/player.js"></script>Mad Padrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00410143683610813671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9044826704035279962.post-89778940154286042172024-02-19T16:41:00.003-05:002024-02-19T16:41:16.075-05:00Lent Madness: Duelling Mistresses of the Elements<p> </p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I hope that if you're reading this, you're enjoying Lent Madness 2024 and have learned something about some of the strange and wonderful figures of our faith. To track the progress of our Halo Heroes, there are two "leader boards" in the church where you can track their progress.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Progress was one thing that poor Casimir conspicuously lacked. Even with three hands, he was unable to stop Kassia from sprinting to the finish line. She'll be a strong contender.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Today's matchup features two ladies who feel like they might be at home in a Marvel superhero film because they have control of the elements.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i0.wp.com/saintsbridge.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/st.-senan.-statue-.jpg?resize=313%2C418&ssl=1" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="418" data-original-width="313" height="418" src="https://i0.wp.com/saintsbridge.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/st.-senan.-statue-.jpg?resize=313%2C418&ssl=1" width="313" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Saint Canaire, an Irish saint, is famous for walking (some say on water for part of the way) from Bantry Bay in County Cork, 182 kns north to Inish Cathaigh, now named Scattery Island. She was then an aged woman who had spent her life as a holy hermit, and had a vision that Inish Cathaig would be where she would die and await the resurrection. Cathaig was occupied by a grumpy monk, St Senan, whose monastery had a "no girls allowed" policy, but Senan was impressed by Canaire's insistence that God loved women and men equally.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">There is a wonderful account of her life </span><a href="https://saintsbridge.org/2018/01/23/st-canaire-of-ireland/" style="font-size: large;">here</a><span style="font-size: large;">, and I feel like Canaire's last journey would be an excellent pilgrimage route and a great excuse to visit the beautiful south of Ireland</span><span style="font-size: large;">, </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://ih1.redbubble.net/image.2178602832.2325/bg,f8f8f8-flat,750x,075,f-pad,750x1000,f8f8f8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="800" src="https://ih1.redbubble.net/image.2178602832.2325/bg,f8f8f8-flat,750x,075,f-pad,750x1000,f8f8f8.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><br /><p><span style="font-size: medium;">When I was a military chaplain, I was always fascinated by the tradition that certain branches of the military had their own patron saints. Barbara is the patron saint of artillery, or gunners as they like to call themselves (army joke: how do you know that someone is a gunner? Answer: what? eh? speak up!). </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Barbara's association with explosives and fiery ends comes from the story of how her pagan father was punished for murdering her. Once again we note the theme of embattled chastity in the lives of the early female saints.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">So today's matchup features a fiery lady vs a water walking hermitess. My money's on St Canaire just because my heart's in Ireland, but my prediction record thus far is 1 win, 2 losses, so there you go.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Vote <a href="https://www.lentmadness.org/2024/02/conaire-vs-barbara/">here</a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>Mad Padrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00410143683610813671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9044826704035279962.post-4735353501654663582024-02-18T06:30:00.000-05:002024-02-18T06:30:02.387-05:00Forged in the Wildnerss: A Homily for the First Sunday of Lent<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><i>(This week was especially busy, and after preaching last night, I decided to find a sermon from three years ago, which had pretty good bones, but needed a new intro and conclusion. So apologies to longstanding readers of this blog who may find this somewhat familiar. Also, it was fascinating to reflect on the pandemic time we were in three years ago when I first wrote this, and how far we have come since then, gratia deo! MP+)</i></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Preached at All Saints, Collingwood, Anglican
Diocese of Toronto, 18 February, 2024.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Readings for this Sunday: Genesis 9.8-17, Psalm
25.1-9, 1 Peter 3.18-22, Mark 1.9-15</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">“He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted
by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">” Mark 1.13<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.agnusday.org/strips/Mark01v09to15_2024.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="197" data-original-width="640" height="197" src="https://www.agnusday.org/strips/Mark01v09to15_2024.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br />This verse from today’s gospel reading, told in
Mark’s typically laconic style, feels like a test or preparation, doesn’t it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It reminds me somewhat of films or books
about someone preparing to do something heroic, who must first learn a skill
and prove themselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Think of Rocky
preparing for a big match in the ring, or Luke Skywalker learning how to use
the force, or the Soldiers in Band of Brothers going through basic training
before going overseas to fight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The fact that the synoptic gospels all begin with the
temptation of Jesus in the wilderness makes me think that something similar
might be going on in the gospels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
seems as if Jesus can’t begin his ministry until he proves himself in some way,
and the importance of this time of testing is underscored by some significant
details.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The testing occurs in the wilderness, where the
Israelites wandered and where they didn’t do very well (that whole golden calf
episode, for example).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus is tested
for forty days, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>which is one of those
significant numbers in scripture - <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Moses
led the Israelites in the wilderness for forty years, the early church saw
Jesus as a new Moses who would save God’s people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our church calendar also points to the
importance of forty: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lent is forty days
from Ash Wednesday to Easter and it’s a traditional time to fast like Jesus and
think about our faith, our mortality, and our dependence on
Jesus. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">I think that because we associate Lent with some
kind of privation and personal sacrifice, and because the temptation stories in
the gospels are always heard on the first Sunday of Lent, we can conclude that be
Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness somehow it explains Lent. I
don’t think it has anything much to do with “Jesus suffered for forty days, so
we can give up chocolate to honour his sacrifice”, which is how I’ve sometimes
heard it explained. What I want to do today is think about how
the start of Lent helps us understand who Jesus is, what he does, and why we
follow him, and I think today’s gospel reading is a good place to dig into
that.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Now it may seem as if we’ve been stuck in the
opening chapter of Mark for weeks now. We heard the baptism story a
few weeks ago, and you may be wondering why we’re going back to it
today. There are three events in today’s gospel:</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">1) Jesus is baptized and identified as God’s son</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">2) Jesus is tempted in the desert</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">3) Jesus proclaims the kingdom of God</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Mark doesn’t tell us why (1) or (2) are
necessary. They just happen. Mark’s whirlwind
storytelling style is to throw events at us and leave us to make sense of them
as best as we can, but they all seem connected.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">A few weeks ago I spoke about the baptism of Jesus
– I talked abut how Jesus shows God still engaged in God’s work of creation –
that Jesus’ baptism in the Spirit shows us a new way of being in which we can
be God’s children by adoption, to be God’s beloved sons and
daughters. Fair enough, but why is Jesus then immediately sent
to the wilderness? In Mark’s telling, the Spirit “drives” (the Greek
word is <i>ekballo</i>, which can mean “to thrust” or “expel”) Jesus into
the wilderness – it’s an urgent verb which suggests a crisis or an emergency.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">So what is this all about? If it is a
test, why does Jesus have to be tested? Is God not sure of his
ability? Considering that the voice from heaven has already
named Jesus as “my Son, the Beloved” (Mk 1.11), I don’t think Jesus has
anything left to prove. Rather, I think Jesus goes to the
wilderness to confront something. The wilderness as Mark
describes it is a place of spiritual extremes – angels are there, but so is
Satan , and the beasts are wild, suggesting something that is untamed and even
deadly. Mark suggests that Jesus <i>must </i>go to the
wilderness to confront something.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Typically, Mark doesn’t say anything about how that
confrontation went. There is no climactic, Hollywood style
battle. Sometime after these forty days, Jesus replaces John
the Baptist, who has been God’s messenger, and announces the coming of the
kingdom of God and the need to repent and put trust in the good
news. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Next, to show us what the kingdom of
God, we see Jesus curing people and driving out victims (Mk 1.21-34), and the
demons screaming with the knowledge that Jesus has come to destroy them
(1.24). The kingdom of God is thus revealed as healing, life, and
freedom from the things that oppress the people of God. Mark does
not make the connection explicitly, but it seems that the confrontation between
Jesus and Satan in the wilderness prepares Jesus to face sin and death. If
Jesus is tested, then, it’s not see if he is sinful, but more like being tested
in the way that a weapon is tested.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">And what a curious weapon God forges in the wilderness. Demons
fear him, even his disciples fear him when they see him transfigured, but whole
towns bring him their sick. Jesus’ power will be shown in acts
of compassion and healing. Just as angels served him in the
desert, so will serve others. As Jesus says “the Son of Man came not
to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Mk
10.45). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Here is the lesson of Mark, that Jesus goes into
the desert to confront Satan to show God’s love for us. Jesus
demonstrates the Father’s love by rescuing us from sin and death, by taking our
place on the cross. God tried to defeat sin with raw power once, and
that didn’t work so well.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Our first lesson reminded us of the Flood story in
Genesis, which, whatever you think about it’s historicity, is a story about the
problem of evil and how God ultimately chooses to address
it. In promising never to destroy the people God has made, God
decides to find some other way to deal the evil things that offend his perfect
sense of justice. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">God’s decision to save Noah, his family, and their
descendants is, if you like, a parable showing that God commits to seeing his
great project of creation through to a happy end and a grand
conclusion. God, who has the power to create and destroy the
earth, resolves instead to save humanity because the whole story of scripture
tells us that God is, first and foremost, love. In the Flood, God
tried to use power to get rid of sin and evil and it nearly destroyed
humanity. Now, God will use love instead. That’s why the
journey of Lent leads to the cross, because to save us, God must give himself
in our place. That’s how love works.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Lent has traditionally been a somber time in which
the faithful are urged to reflect on our sins and to express our penitence in
acts of sacrifice and austerity. I was looking back at some of the
Lenten sermons that I preached during the height of the pandemic, and I was
reminded of how much that felt like a wilderness time, making sacrifices,
living with fear and isolation. Austerity is our daily
lot. Lent during Covid became a way of life. We had a lot
of time to think about what we had been forced to give up.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Now that things seem more or less back to normal(ish),
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I propose that this Lent we dedicate
ourselves to gratitude. We can be especially thankful for the business
of our parish life, for our ministries and friendships.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can be thankful for our communities and
for the ways we are called to contribute to them. We can be
thankful for the little rituals that give our days and our lives.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">If there is a spiritual practice that you want to
rediscover, then try thinking back to the pandemic, when we were less busy and
had more time for stillness, more time to listen for God’s voice that speaks
most clearly in silent moments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s
try to be more attentive to the friendship God offers us in Jesus, who emerged
from the wilderness greater than any action hero.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s meditate on the fact that the God’s
great love and power came together in the one who was proven ready to save us,
while at the same time befriending us and inviting us to walk with him.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Mad Padrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00410143683610813671noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9044826704035279962.post-53178823605552168442024-02-17T15:17:00.005-05:002024-02-17T15:17:48.517-05:00Eternal Light: A Final Epiphany Homily<p><span style="font-size: large;">Preached at All Saints, Collingwood, Anglican Diocese of Toronto, as part of our Saturday Apres Ski series. March 17, 2024. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Text: Mark 9:2-9</span></p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.agnusday.org/strips/Mark09v02to09_2018.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="196" data-original-width="640" height="196" src="https://www.agnusday.org/strips/Mark09v02to09_2018.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /> "<span face=""Aptos Display", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-size: 18pt;">And he
was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no
one on earth could bleach them." (Mk 9.3)</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Aptos Display",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #111111; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Tonight
is the last night in our Apres Ski series that we will look at one of the
themes of the Epiphany season, even if
that means looking back over our shoulder, since we are of course now in the
season of Lent.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Aptos Display",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #111111; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The climactic
and final reading in Epiphany is usually the story of the Transfiguration, that
moment in the synoptic gospels when Jesus goes up a mountain with three of his
disciples and is momentarily seen in an unearthly brightness and glory. Most commentators would agree that the
Transfiguration story is intended to remind us that before Jesus became the incarnate
Word made flesh, he was one with the Father in the glory of heaven.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Aptos Display",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #111111; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The
story is called The Transfiguration because that is the word that English
bibles, since the King James version, have used to translate the Greek word used
by Mark and Matthew – <i>metamorphoo </i>(Luke uses another Greek word that means
“altered”). We of course know the word “metamorphosis”
from grade school biology, for example as when we learn how pupae turn into
butterflies, but what if Mark is saying something different, that Jesus is not
showing us a future state of being, like the butterfly, but rather showing us something
from whence he came, his eternal and Trinitarian being with God the Father?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Aptos Display",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #111111; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Since
the Season of Epiphany is about the revealing of Jesus’ true, let’s think a little
about what the Transfiguration story tells us about what Jesus turns into. In fact, we aren’t told a lot, Mark merely
says that Jesus’ clothes became an unearthly, “dazzling white” (Mk 1.3) whereas
Matthew tells us that Jesus’ face “shone like the sun” (Mt 17.2’ Luke repeats
the “dazzling white” but only says that Jesus’ face “changed” Lk 9.28) . So all we really have is the impression of lightness
and brightness, qualities which are consistently associated in scripture with God
and the divine.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Aptos Display",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #111111; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">A short
service like this does not allow time for a deep dive, so one example, from the
prologue of John’s gospel, might suffice.</span><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span><i><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #010000; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%;">In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. </span></i><i><sup><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #777777; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%;">2</span></sup></i><i><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #010000; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%;">He was in the beginning with God. </span></i><i><sup><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #777777; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%;">3</span></sup></i><i><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #010000; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%;">All things came into being through him, and
without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being </span></i><i><sup><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #777777; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%;">4</span></sup></i><i><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #010000; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%;">in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. </span></i><i><sup><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #777777; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%;">5</span></sup></i><i><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #010000; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%;">The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness
did not overcome it. (Jn 1.1-5)</span></i><span face=""Aptos Display",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #111111; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #010000; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%;">St John tells us, in so
far as we can comprehend it, that Jesus came from the Father, from an existence
before creation and created being, from the source of all light and life. We also know that God is the source of life
thanks to the creation story in Genesis, where the first thing that God says is
“let there be light” (Gen 1.3). The fact
that the first thing God creates is light, I think, says something profound
about the character and good purposes of God.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #010000; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%;">However, there is something
even more profound going on. The light
God creates in Genesis is created, it is second order, it is not God itself, in
the same way that the earth, or you or I, are created by God but are not God. The light that belongs to God, the light that
I think we see in the Transfiguration, <i>belongs</i> to God, it is the
uncreated, self-sufficient essence of God, it is the glory of God, and the
glory that we see revealed glory in Christ is what Epiphany is all about. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #010000; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%;">If Jesus remained in his transfigured
state, there would be no gospel, and no salvation. If Jesus is fully God and fully human, then
the human Jesus must be the lens through which we can see God the Father. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #010000; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Aptos; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Indeed,
this is one of the great themes of John’s gospel, where Jesus several times
explains to his disciples that since they know him, Jesus, then they also know
and have seen the Father (Jn 14.7). This
knowledge is made possible by the <span style="font-size: 18pt;">incarnation, by God’s
graciousness in sending the Son in human form, so that relationship, friendship,
teaching and salvation through death on the cross are possible.</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Otherwise there would only be the
inaccessible glory of God that we see in the Old Testament in places like Moses’
encounter with God on the mountain (Ex 33:18-20).</span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%;">This is all very abstract
stuff, so let me address the “so what” question with some brief, concrete and
(I hope) hopeful thoughts.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%;">We know that our lives
take us by and through some dark places, be they guilt, despair, loneliness, or
even mortality, the darkness of the valley of the shadow of death. Our hymns and prayers around evening time,
including the ones we sing regularly at his service, address our need for light
in the midst of our darkness. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%;">What better light can there
be to guide our feet, and our lives, than Jesus, our friend and our brother, who
with his Father shares and is the eternal light from whom all evil things are
revealed and vanquished? What better
guide and guardian can we ask for than the gracious light of Jesus, who will
accompany us until we reach the heavenly city glimpsed in Revelation, the city
which “has no need of sun or moon to show on it, for the glory of God is its
light, and its lamp is the Lamb” (Rev 21.22).</span><span face=""Aptos Display", sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #111111; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Aptos Display", sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #111111; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"> </span> </span>Mad Padrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00410143683610813671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9044826704035279962.post-16988346348112857432024-02-17T14:01:00.000-05:002024-02-17T14:01:57.271-05:00Lent Madness: Kassia vs The Pious Pole <p> </p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Today's Lent Madness matchup feels a little one-sided to be honest. In one corner, we have Casimir, the national saint of Poland and Lithuania, whose biography doesn't exactly make one want to run to the voting both and mark your ballot for him. Other than being learned, pious, and possibly having three hands (which would make him the patron saint of multitaskers), Casimir's life could be summed up by the motto "Die Young, Stay Holy". Mind you, there is a Polish-Canadian Roman Catholic parish named after him, so I wouldn't want to denigrate him, because, well, have you met Poles?</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://angelusnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Screen-Shot-2020-02-26-at-12.19.52-PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="432" data-original-width="800" height="432" src="https://angelusnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Screen-Shot-2020-02-26-at-12.19.52-PM.png" width="800" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">In the other corner, we have St Kassia, a strong-willed and learned nun who also appears as a character in the TV series, The Vikings, where her behaviour is, well, somewhat less than saintly..</span></p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.NaXB0VdAfpN74Ih8a1d3pgHaJo?rs=1&pid=ImgDetMain" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="616" data-original-width="474" height="616" src="https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.NaXB0VdAfpN74Ih8a1d3pgHaJo?rs=1&pid=ImgDetMain" width="474" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Kassia's music is still sung in the liturgy of the Orthodox church, and she was a prolific composer, poet, and theoligian, not unafraid to stand up to the Emperor of Byzantium. The Emperor was an "iconoclast", an opponent of religious imagery called icons, Kassia was willing to be beaten for her opposition to the Emperor, saying that "I hate silence when iut is time to speak", which is a good motto for anyone of integrity, really. The next time you're in All Saints and see the icons by the votive candles in the east transept, say a prayer of thanks to Kassia.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">My predictions thus far have been rubbish, but I'm willing to say that Kassia will beat Casimir in a landslide.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Vote here.</span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Mad Padrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00410143683610813671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9044826704035279962.post-47220803982082356932024-02-16T10:49:00.004-05:002024-02-16T10:49:54.759-05:00Lent Madness: Floral Faceoff<p><span style="font-size: medium;">Today is the second contest of the Halo Heroes that we will be following this Lent. Yesterday in the battle of the Thomases, our Anglican champion, Thomas Cranmer, got burned by Thomas the Apostle, whose chances no one should have doubted.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">In our second matchup, in one corner we have St Hyacinth of Poland, who fans of Keeping Up Appearances might have thought had a girl's name, but in fact, judging from the artwork online, was a handsome and buff young fellow, which might explain why he is the patron saint of weightlifters (see the story at Lent Madness to find out why he is associated with lifting heavy objects).</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.nashvilledominican.org/wp-content/uploads/within-the-text_st-hyacinth_1-629x1024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="491" height="800" src="https://www.nashvilledominican.org/wp-content/uploads/within-the-text_st-hyacinth_1-629x1024.jpg" width="491" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">In the other corner is St. Rose of Lima, whose images online remain resolutely beautiful, despite her biography which describes how she disfigured herself so that her beauty and the suitors it attracted would not distract her from the religious life.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71-A9SQjkaL._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="590" height="800" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71-A9SQjkaL._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg" width="590" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">It's not uncommon in the lives of the women saints to find that they felt the need to hide or veil their beauty in order to lead a spiritual life. Some see this stories as proof of the misogyny inherent in Christianity (going back to the temptation of Eve) but Lent Madness reminds us that the desire to love and serve God transcends time and gender. We should revere these saintly women for hearing and following God's calling, even at great price.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">My modest prediction is that St Rose will win and bloom in the next round.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Vote <a href="https://www.lentmadness.org/2024/02/hyacinth-vs-rosa-of-lima/#more-22729">here</a>.</span></p>Mad Padrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00410143683610813671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9044826704035279962.post-87934627805344460452024-02-15T13:20:00.000-05:002024-02-15T13:20:00.733-05:00Lent Madness First Matchup: Duelling Toms<p><span style="font-size: large;">Lent Madness begins with the Battle of the Thomases. I'm partial to both as Thomas is my middle name. In one corner, we have one of the Twelve Disciples, Saint Thomas the Apostle. He can certainly claim seniority in this matchup, though there are a LOT of biblical saints in this year's competition.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-30c33/images/stencil/1280x1280/products/2636/2526/1TH86__37729.1316243301.jpg?c=2" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="512" height="800" src="https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-30c33/images/stencil/1280x1280/products/2636/2526/1TH86__37729.1316243301.jpg?c=2" width="512" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">In the other corner we have Thomas Cranmer, the first Archbishop of the English Church under Henry VIII, and one of its first martyrs, as Thomas lost his job, and then his life, when Henry's Catholic daughter Mary took the throne. However, Cranmer left a lasting legacy in his Book of Common Prayer, which we still use today in various forms. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.35520e398f44f01d945118057b1660d6?rik=CAFiMulu7Pe5zg&riu=http%3a%2f%2fwww.luminarium.org%2frenlit%2fcranmer.jpg&ehk=SBLttcdQ5UFYIYE8ovjezAsAxC22AGagEJWdUjGcPXY%3d&risl=&pid=ImgRaw&r=0" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="660" data-original-width="494" height="660" src="https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.35520e398f44f01d945118057b1660d6?rik=CAFiMulu7Pe5zg&riu=http%3a%2f%2fwww.luminarium.org%2frenlit%2fcranmer.jpg&ehk=SBLttcdQ5UFYIYE8ovjezAsAxC22AGagEJWdUjGcPXY%3d&risl=&pid=ImgRaw&r=0" width="494" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">One of the things I like about both these saints is their humanity. Thomas the Disciple of course earned the name Doubting Thomas for wanting proof that Christ rose from the dead. Imprisoned under Queen Mary, Thomas Cranmer tried to save his life by signing a letter recanting his protestant faith, but when the sentence of death was passed and he was burned anyway, he is said to have held the signing hand out to the flames as a sign or remorse for his weakness.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Both are saints that we can see something of ourselves in.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I predict a narrow win for Thomas Cranmer because this is Lent Madness is an Anglican thing, but I've been wrong before!</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Vote <a href="https://www.lentmadness.org/2024/02/thomas-cranmer-vs-thomas-the-apostle/">here</a>.</span></p>Mad Padrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00410143683610813671noreply@blogger.com1