The Internet Monk Archives

The Rite and the Wrong Way to Live

I commute half an hour each way to work, and there are no decent radio stations in the wilds of western Indiana. I’ve discovered college courses on CD as an antidote to boredom while I drive. Recently I listened to a series of lectures on Hinduism. It occurred to me as I listened that every religious and cultural system on earth, with one exception, has something in common. The common element is ritual, and the exception is most modern forms of Protestantism.

A ritual is “an established or prescribed procedure for a religious or other rite,” according to one online dictionary. Those of us who have grown up in modern evangelicalism have been taught to see ritual as a degradation of faith. We’re told that it interposes itself as a barrier between us and God. The word almost never appears without the modifiers “dead” or “empty” in front of it. Ritual is the tired repetition of words and actions that have lost their meaning. True faith rises above ritual to express itself in spontaneous outpourings of love and worship. Only the cold heart needs a script. I’ve heard this enough in Evangelical circles. If that’s so, then only in the last few centuries have we people figured out what true faith is – and then only a minority of us.

I’m always suspicious of new assumptions that ignore all the rest of human history. Maybe it’s the modern distrust of ritual that’s unnatural, not ritual itself. I acknowledge that ritual can be dead and empty. People are all too willing to perform outward actions without attending to their hearts. Religious practices such as Roman paganism, that didn’t care what you believed so long as you kept up the outward forms, are not honoring to God. But as is always the case with humankind, just because we sometimes do something badly doesn’t mean that it’s a bad thing. I think that people who reject ritual are certainly making a mistake about human nature and are probably making a mistake about God.

Continue reading “The Rite and the Wrong Way to Live”

Some of the “Most Discussed” Posts from 2013

2013 was another banner year for Internet Monk, and thanks belongs to you, our readers and commenters. Readership numbers have never been higher, and though we didn’t have spectacular numbers of comments, we did have consistently strong participation representing a high level of thoughtful and interesting discussion.

The following lists represent some of the most discussed posts from the past year.

You will note that my articles (Chaplain Mike) continued along themes that I have consistently written about over the years — the unity of the Church, women’s roles, biblical interpretation, eschatology, and what the Bible teaches (and doesn’t teach) about creation. On the other hand, it was rather a different year in terms of writing for me, having found it necessary to cut back for awhile in midyear to complete responsibilities with my ELCA ordination work. That is past now, and though it is unclear what the future holds with regard to my daily work, I continue to be amazed at the literary and pastoral opportunity this blog has afforded me. I’m eager to see where the journey leads in 2014.

Jeff’s most discussed posts, on the other hand, reflected major milestones in his faith journey. Jeff expressed his disenchantment with the thin spirituality and lack of love in evangelicalism, and announced that he was seeking confirmation in the Roman Catholic tradition. He joined a number of us who, finding the non-denominational, free church, revivalist tradition wanting, returned to historical traditions where we discovered deeper, more Jesus-shaped ways to practice our faith. In addition to these “personal journey” posts, Jeff’s weekly feature, “Saturday Ramblings,” remained one of our most visited and remarked upon features — our web equivalent of the small-town diner on Saturday mornings, where we can grab coffee, pull up a chair, and join a lively discussion with friends about the past week’s news.

Some of the posts that drew the most participation (and controversy) in 2013 were those written by guest author, Mule Chewing Briars, who joined us and wrote over the summer during Chaplain Mike’s break. Many didn’t agree with his take on women in particular, but he challenged us to think and talk with one another about contemporary moral issues like no one else. Mule continues to blog at his own site, A Mule in the Chapter House, where you can read his incisive, provocative writing.

We had other guest posts that brought considerable response, including Dee Parsons from Wartburg Watch, who contributed to our Lenten “scandals in the church” series by sending us an update about Sovereign Grace Ministries.

Thanks to our other regular writers who gave us such a wonderful variety of high-quality, thought-provoking articles and meditations over the past year:

Martha of Ireland
Damaris Zehner
Lisa Dye
Adam Palmer
Mike Bell
Denise Spencer
Adam McHugh

I’m especially grateful to these folks for taking on an extra load in 2013 so that I could attend to other matters in my life.

Thank you also to the other bloggers, writers, and readers who responded when we asked, and gave us articles that we could post and discuss.

And thank you for your continued interest and participation on Internet Monk.

* * *

SOME “MOST DISCUSSED” POSTS FROM CHAPLAIN MIKE

First Quarter – Schism: Is the Church under Judgment?

Second Quarter – IM Book Review: A Year of Biblical Womanhood

Third Quarter – As Long as We Approach the Bible This Way, We’re in Trouble

Fourth Quarter – Why I Am Not a Six-Day Creationist

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SOME “MOST DISCUSSED” POSTS FROM JEFF DUNN

January 24, 2013 – What Am I Missing?

March 20, 2013 – Swimming the Tiber, or Just Taking a Dip?

August 25, 2013 – The Homily

December 21, 2013 – Saturday Ramblings

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SOME “MOST DISCUSSED” POSTS FROM OTHER WRITERS

By Dee Parsons – Sex and Power: What’s Up with Sovereign Grace Ministries?

By Mule Chewing Briars – Losing the War Part III – Love in the Ruins

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What posts and subjects most captured your attention and imagination in 2013?

Homily for Christmas I: “Banish all thoughts of peaceful Christmas scenes”

Giotto_-_Scrovegni_-_-20-_-_Flight_into_Egypt — Flight into Egypt, Giotto

“Banish all thoughts of peaceful Christmas scenes”
A sermon for first Sunday in Christmas 2013

Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.’ Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I have called my son.’

When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:

‘A voice was heard in Ramah,
wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.’

When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.’ Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, ‘He will be called a Nazorean.’

– Matthew 2:13-23

* * *

I cannot think of a better way to summarize this series of narratives than to simply quote the words of Tom Wright, from his Matthew for Everyone commentary:

The gospel of Jesus the Messiah was born, then, in a land and at a time of trouble, tension, violence and fear. Banish all thoughts of peaceful Christmas scenes. Before the Prince of Peace had learned to walk and talk, he was a homeless refugee with a price on his head. At the same time, in this passage and several others Matthew insists that we see in Jesus, even where things are at their darkest, the fulfilment of scripture. This is how Israel’s redeemer was to appear; this is how God would set about liberating his people, and bringing justice to the whole world. No point in arriving in comfort, when the world is in misery; no point in having an easy life, when the world suffers violence and injustice! If he is to be Emmanuel, God-with-us, he must be with us where the pain is. That’s what this chapter is about.

Anyone familiar with the Hebrew Bible can hear echoes of the Torah (the first five books of the OT) in Matthew’s account.

A patriarch named Joseph receives divine revelation through dreams.
Joseph leads his family to Egypt.
An evil ruler threatens Joseph’s family.
This evil ruler kills children in an effort to eliminate Joseph’s family.
A chosen child is spared from the genocide.
At the proper time, the child and his family return from Egypt to the Promised Land.

In the final verse of this passage, Matthew reflects on the the pitiful state of God’s people as spoken through the prophet Isaiah in Isa. 11:1, and uses a word from that verse to encourage hope. “He will be called a Nazorean” is a play on the word “nezer” (a shoot, a sprig) that describes a small, living shoot which would spring forth from “the stump of Jesse” to bring justice and peace to all the earth.

Continue reading “Homily for Christmas I: “Banish all thoughts of peaceful Christmas scenes””

Saturday Ramblings 12.28.13

Did you hear that whooshing sound, iMonks? That was time passing by like lightning. Yes, it is once again time to get a new calendar for the kitchen wall. It is once again time to make resolutions you know you won’t keep past next weekend. It is time to write the wrong year on your checks for the next month. It is time, in other words, for us to Ramble.

Oh joy and delight. The senior duck call maker has been allowed back on his TV show. All is right with the world once again. Troops can stand down. Wall Street will breathe a sigh of great relief. The sun will shine brighter tomorrow. Look, I really don’t give a rat’s rear about that TV show. What bothers me about this whole deal is that people have been so bothered by this whole deal. It’s a freaking TV show. It is not anything like real life, no matter how shaky the camera moves. Real life is found in the homes of your neighbors. Get to know them and forget about duck calls. Got it?

Hollis Phelps at Religion Dispatches wonders if liberal Christians and conservative Christians worship the same God. I wonder how and why we have ever gotten to the place where we have to ask that question.

It is not one world, as St. Paul Harvey would say. Raif Badawi is a blogger in Saudi Arabia. He blogs, or did blog, under the banner Free Saudi Liberals. For daring to express his views, he has been branded apostate and faces the death penalty. Here, I just get raked over the coals verbally for daring to say something radical like, oh, God’s grace is totally free. As I said, it is not one world.

Continue reading “Saturday Ramblings 12.28.13”

The Sentimentality that Blinds Us

A voice was heard in Ramah,
wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.

– Matthew 2:18

Churches and Christians in the U.S., by and large, focus on all the wrong battles.

In our relative prosperity and ease, we are concerned about minor irritations that annoy us and ignore the person right outside our door lying in a pool of blood taking his last breath.

Contrast the cacophonous furor over the recent suspension of a reality TV star with the almost absolute silence about the Christmas Day bombings near churches in Iraq.

According to the BBC, 35 people were killed in Christian areas in Baghdad. However, it is not only this one incident that should break our hearts, but the fact that nearly one-half of Iraq’s Christians have fled the country since the U.S. invasion of 2003. These are the “unintended consequences” of our “just war” against terrorism. And the Church (at least here in the U.S.) is silent.

Some of the world’s Christians have taken notice. Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, did not let this go unnoticed in his Christmas sermon:

Today, singing of Bethlehem, we see injustices in Palestine and Israel, where land is taken or rockets are fired, and the innocent suffer.

We see injustice in the ever more seriously threatened Christian communities of the Middle East. The Prince of Wales highlighted their plight last week. Even this morning a church in Baghdad, where there have been Christians since the 1st century, was bombed and 15 more people testified to their faith with their lives. Christians in the region are attacked and massacred, driven into exile from an area in which their presence has always been central, undoubted, essential, richly contributing, faithful.

Some American believers, like Michael Newnham of Phoenix Preacher, have given praiseworthy support to an effort to release Saeed Abedini, an Iranian-American pastor and U.S. citizen being held in a prison in Iran. But Michael also notes how we here in the free world may support our own while almost completely ignoring articles such as this one, chronicling the massacre of Christians in Syria.

To us, Bethlehem and the land where biblical history was spawned has become little more than Christmas sentiment which gives us the opportunity to become grinches who growl when people don’t honor the cultural perks to which we’ve become accustomed.

We’re 2000+ years behind in our understanding that the first people to know Jesus have kin that continue to worship under Herod’s rapacious rule.

Rachel is still weeping for her children there. Why are we not?

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For further reading: A Real Cause for Christian Outrage at her.meneutics.

Why Ending the Slave Trade and Apartheid Worked, and Prohibition Didn’t – Implications for the Culture Wars

Last week I posted about how I stepped out of the culture wars. A number of comments were made comparing the fight against abortion with the fight against slavery. Prohibition was also mentioned as one battle that didn’t go so well. I have been thinking about that a lot over the past week, and have come to some conclusions about why some battles seem to have better resolutions than others. My first reflection relates back to a post I had a couple of weeks ago on the ending of Apartheid.

The short answer to why Apartheid ended was because two men, F.W. de Klerk, and Nelson Mandela, both wielding power of different sorts, came to the same conclusion:

It simply did not make sense for both sides to lose millions of lives in a conflict that was unnecessary. The Independent – February 2, 2010

de Klerk, in one thirty minute speech accomplished the following:

The ANC and 30 other political parties, including the Communist Party, had been unbanned unconditionally; the death penalty was suspended; the state of emergency was lifted; trade unions were allowed to function freely; all political prisoners were to be released immediately and restrictions on political exiles were lifted; and, perhaps most importantly of all, de Klerk opened the way for South Africa’s first fully democratic election in 300 years by promising “a totally new and just constitutional dispensation in which every inhabitant will enjoy equal rights, treatment and opportunity.”

de Klerk did not have to convince a majority of people that Apartheid needed to end. The majority of the country, both black and white already knew it. Four years earlier the church of the majority of the whites had declared it morally wrong. Hid did however have to believe that a majority of parliamentarians would side with him in his decision. Herein lies the key to cultural change: In order for cultural change to be successful, it must only require the convincing of a few, and easily be applied universally.

Does my thesis hold up? Let us look at slavery. The Slave Trade act of 1807, did not seek to end slavery in the British Empire, but rather, the slave trade. The Royal Navy controlled the world’s oceans and trade, and so Britain had the ability to enforce its laws. Through agreements and treaties with other nations who were dependent on British trade, the ban on trading quickly spread to other nations as well, and by 1820 all of the significant powers of the day had ended their trade in slaves. It should be noted that in 1793 a similar bill in parliament had failed to pass by eight votes. Again, while a it is a simplification of the situation, change required the convincing of a few, and was able to be applied universally. The end to slavery in the Americas was a much harder fight, being one of the primary causes of the civil war.

Prohibition was a different beast. While it took only the convincing of a few to pass it, it was largely unenforceable. The perception was that it was being applied unevenly and thus it became very unpopular among the working class. It also led to a surge in criminality (the opposite of its intended effect) with organized crime receiving a huge boost from its implementation.
If my thesis does hold true what does this mean for the culture wars? Access to abortion and the legalizing of gay marriage have succeeded or will succeed because of the same general rule that ended Apartheid, and ended the Slave Trade. That is, the convincing of a few, with a universal application. In the case of abortion it was the ruling of Roe versus Wade that made the universal application (or in this case Country specific application). As with prohibition, it is easier to provide access to something that is being demanded than it is to restrict access. The legalizing of gay marriage will succeed because it requires convincing a few (i.e. Supreme Court in Canada) who have the ability to apply it universally. I think that we could take each of the issues of our day and determine the likelihood of change based upon these criteria.

So what is likely to succeed if this thesis holds true? There is another abolitionist movement afoot in the United States. That is, the movement to end Capital punishment. Consider these two maps.

The map on the left shows the states which still have capital punishment on the books. The darkest red represents those who have had executions since 2000. The map on the right shows the percentage of evangelicals in the U.S. The darker the color, the greater the number of evangelicals. Note the strong correlation between the two maps! If evangelicals are truly pro-life then they do have the ability to end capital punishment, for the states in which they have the greatest voice are the majority of states in which capital punishment still exists. Capital punishment is one of those issues where the actions of a few, like the clemency of a Governor or a decision of a legislature, can have universal (or in this case state wide) effect. Is this a battleground for a new culture war? It is a winnable one. Methinks that evangelicals just might find themselves on the wrong side of the battle.

I will leave my fellow imonks with a few final questions? What other issues are out there that you could apply my criteria to? What is the likelihood of success or failure in each of these areas? Are there different issues, like capital punishment or modern day slavery, in which Christians should be involved?

From Pope Francis’ Christmas Message

Dear brothers and sisters, today, in this world, in this humanity, is born the Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. Let us pause before the Child of Bethlehem. Let us allow our hearts to be touched, let us not fear this. Let us not fear that our hearts be moved. We need this! Let us allow ourselves to be warmed by the tenderness of God; we need his caress. God’s caresses do not harm us. They give us peace and strength. We need his caresses. God is full of love: to him be praise and glory forever! God is peace: let us ask him to help us to be peacemakers each day, in our life, in our families, in our cities and nations, in the whole world. Let us allow ourselves to be moved by God’s goodness.

* * *

Here you may find the entire text of Urbi et Orbi, the Pope’s 2013 Christmas message.

iMonk Classic: On Another Shore, In a Greater Light

A Classic Michael Spencer Post
From Christmas 2008

My favorite piece of liturgy in the world is a sentence in the opening section of the Traditional Service of Nine Lessons and Carols broadcast round the world on the BBC . Why is it so moving? Because it is beautiful and true. Each year, as more and more of those I know join the saints in light, this single portion of the prayer becomes more and more evocative of the power of Gospel hope. Somehow, hope returns, over and over, to be the most powerful gift of the Gospel for me in this life.

The entire opening is a work of art in language, full of lucid prose statements of the Gospel, but the tear-inducing, singularly moving line for me is in boldface:

The Dean: Beloved in Christ, be it this Christmas Eve our care and delight to prepare ourselves to hear again the message of the angels: in heart and mind to go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which is come to pass, and with the Magi adore the Child lying in his Mother’s arms.

Let us read and mark in Holy Scripture the tale of the loving purposes of God from the first days of our disobedience unto the glorious Redemption brought us by this Holy Child; and let us make this chapel, dedicated to his pure and lowly Mother, glad with our carols of praise:

But first let us pray for the needs of his whole world; for peace and goodwill over all the earth; for unity and brotherhood within the Church he came to build, within the dominions of our sovereign lady Queen Elizabeth, within this University and City of Cambridge, and in the two royal and religious Foundations of King Henry VI here and at Eton:

And let us at this time remember in his name the poor and the helpless, the cold, the hungry and the oppressed; the sick in body and in mind and them that mourn; the lonely and the unloved; the aged and the little children; and all who know not the loving kindness of God.

Lastly let us remember before God all those who rejoice with us, but upon another shore and in a greater light, that multitude which no man can number, whose hope was in the Word made flesh, and with whom we for evermore are one.

These prayers and praises let us humbly offer up to the throne of heaven, in the words which Christ himself hath taught us: Our Father…

All: Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive them that trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. Amen.

The Dean: The Almighty God bless us with his grace: Christ give us the joys of everlasting life: and unto the fellowship of the citizens above may the King of Angels bring us all.

Those who rejoice with us, on another shore and in a greater light.

I have many friends and family in that multitude. Usually I miss them. But with this line, I envy them.

It is evocative of the vision given to us in Hebrews.

Hebrews 12:22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

Just a glimpse, for a moment, of the completed work of the Christ-child. The righteous “made perfect.” The assembly of those who all God’s firstborn sons in his only begotten son. The New Jerusalem, where the journey is completed. Where faith in the Word made flesh has come to glorious completion.

It is a “greater Light” than we know. It has always shone in the darkness, but in Bethlehem it was incarnated. In Jesus it was manifested. In the cross and resurrection it proved that the darkness cannot overcome it.

Now, the saints dwell in that light. From another shore, they tell us that the Lamb is worthy of our faith and that their hope was secure.

In that city, there is no sun, for Lamb is the Light. But at this very moment, as we sit in the artificial aftermath of our American Christmases, full (too full) of the best that this paltry life has to offer, the saints on another shore, and in a greater light, surround us with rejoicing and urge us on to the City of God. They urge us to live in the hope of the Word made flesh, and to know we will not be disappointed.

Whatever your tradition tells you today about those who have gone before us, you can pause and contemplate this multitude that cannot be counted. You can hear their song and feel the human and divine connection we share with them and with all Christians everywhere. You can contemplate those you know who await you there, and you can wonder at the particular joys in which they worship the Light of lights.

You and I can determine to join them in hope, faith and love of Jesus our King and Brother. We can rejoice with them, even for them. We can live in the hope which they now experience as reality itself.

So a Happy beginning of the Christmas Season to all of the Internet Monk family. The darkness of Advent has yielded. Christ is born and he will gather together, like a shepherd, all those who are his, and bring them together “upon another shore and in a greater light.”

Holy Father, We praise you for glimpses of the completed work of your Son; glimpses that include many we love and long to see again; glimpses we pray include ourselves and our children. May we live in the one enduring light, even in a time of great darkness. May our ultimate celebration of life’s greatest gifts be on another shore with those who now, in a greater light, beckon and encourage us onward and home. Make these days of Christmas filled with Christ himself, and may our enduring, ever-increasing hope in him be our path through this world and these times. For your mercy to bring to yourself all those who hoped in the Word made flesh, we give you praise. Shed the light of the Holy Spirit in our hearts that we may never despair, but always fight the good fight with faith, hope and love. For Jesus, your Light, your Mercy and your Love, we give you imperfect, but genuine thanks. More of him, less of us, and ultimately, all of yourself. This we pray in Jesus’ name.

Merry Christmas from Internet Monk

Nativity Perugino — Nativity, Pietro Perugino (1497-1500)

Merry Christmas

iMonk reader Christiane mentioned a quote from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Return Of The King yesterday. To me, this is the crux of Tolkien’s wonderful trilogy. Frodo and Samwise were within reach of the destination, yet it was in the shadow of Mt. Doom. All could still be lost. Still, in their darkest hour, there was light.

Far above the mountains in the west, the night-sky was still dim and pale. There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty forever beyond its reach.

Today is our day of light. The Shadow truly is a small and passing thing. Light and high beauty is forever beyond its reach.

We read in Isaiah,

The people who had been living in darkness
have seen a great light.
The light of life has shined on those who dwelt
in the shadowy darkness of death.

Today is our day of light. The same light that made day into night for the shepherds is the light that chases away our darkness today. Do not fear the shadows, for what shadow can ever stand in the light?

From all of us here at the InternetMonk, we wish you a very merry Christmas.