Forgiveness and Holy Icons

This is the third year that I've participated in Lent with St. Luke's Orthodox Church, but the first year that I've attended the Sunday services. The services during the week are beautiful, but Sundays are the deal. The Sunday before Lent begins on Monday is Forgiveness Day, and each person present asks everyone else for forgiveness even if the people are speaking to each other for the very first time. I've enjoyed all the aspects of worship in the Orthodox church that are new to me -- incense, candles, icons, chants --- but for some reason I froze to the spot instead of taking my place in the circle of forgiveness. Everyone else asked me for forgiveness, but I stood there mute. Why did I do that? The last person who asked my forgiveness whispered, "I'm new to this too" so I guess it was blatantly obvious that I was a fish out of water. I love the idea of starting Lent with a spirit of humility and realizing that we often do wrong people that we don't even know. Maybe next year I'll get over my paralysis. The first Sunday of Lent commemorates the Triumph of Orthodoxy and celebrates a church council decision from 843 A.D. that settled a century long dispute over whether it was ok to have icons in church. Oddly enough, the icons were more offensive to the local Muslims than the other Christians so modern day churches that forbid icons are following an Islamic tradition. Anyway, the service ends with an actual parade around the church with members carrying icons to honor the ancient Christians who joyfully carried the icons back into their church. St. Luke's members had extras so that no one had to walk around empty handed, but had I known, I could have brought my own. A longtime Baptist friend gave me one titled "the handmaidens of the Lord" years before I became interested in Orthodoxy. How strange.

The Interior Castle

This year in my observance of Lent I’m reading The Interior Castle written by Teresa of Avila, a mother of the church, in the 16^th Century.  It’s strangely blog-like, with numbered posts within chapter headings. Teresa was a Spanish mystic and poet who described the capacity of the soul as a castle made of diamond and containing many chambers. Through a spirit of unceasing prayer, she describes how progress can be made toward the center of our soul where The King of Glory dwells. As she describes moving through the different dwelling places in the soul, it reminds me of a dream I have where I suddenly realize that my house has rooms that I’ve never noticed before. I’m always so pleasantly surprised at the previously unnoticed potential of my home.  I’m hoping the same thing is true of my soul. 

Serendipity

I like the word “serendipity.” I even like just saying it. Happily, I experienced a bit of it this week, so I can use the word without having to contrive a context for it. Here’s what happened. I meet each Sunday evening with a group whose focus is “contemplative theology” for lack of a better phrase. We discuss living our faith, which sometimes takes a scholarly and Biblical tack, and sometimes involves practical application. Lately, we’ve been discussing food. We read The China Study and watched the documentary “Forks over Knives” both of which stress the health and environmental benefits of a whole foods, plant based diet. To complete this topic, we have an assignment to find a Biblical passage that references food, and present our understanding of how the food we put in our bodies is related to our spiritual condition. Also this week, I read Seven, by Jen Hatmaker, a book recommended by my daughter and several friends. Wisely, since she wanted to sell this book, Jen didn’t put the word “fasting” in the title, but that’s what the book is about --- her experience in denying herself personal comforts (including food) for a spiritual purpose.  I’ve read other books about fasting, but while the others might’ve stimulated my brain, Seven kicked me right in the head with its keen observations of the absurd excesses of wealthy nations like America. Not only that, but I laughed to the point of sometimes having to put the book down to regain composure. I hate it when reviews describe books as “laugh out loud funny” but that’s what this one was – a scolding that was humorous and inspiring.  You’ll just have to read it for yourself.  So, all week, I’ve been thinking about physical existence and its maintenance as well as something that I love about the Orthodox Church, its liturgical calendar of fasting and feasting. Some weeks, all roads do lead to Rome (or Constantinople as the case may be).

For my assignment scripture passage, I selected Peter’s food vision recorded in Acts 10. Here’s how it sounds in the Message:

            Peter went out on the balcony to pray. It was about noon. Peter got hungry and started thinking about lunch. While lunch was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw the skies open up. Something that looked like a huge blanket lowered by ropes at its four corners settled on the ground. Every kind of animal and reptile and bird you could think of was on it. Then a voice came, “Go to it, Peter – kill and eat.” Peter said, “Oh no, Lord. I’ve never so much as tasted food that was not kosher.” The voice came a second time, “If God says it’s okay, it’s okay.”

Now, this story is part of a bigger story involving a Gentile named Cornelius and the Jewish notion of the day that certain people could be unclean and unworthy of the faith in much the same way that food could be unclean and unworthy of consumption.  It’s a beautiful illustration of the magnitude of God’s grace, but for the moment, let’s put that aside and just look at the passage literally. (I’m trying to be less critical of people who refuse to look beyond the literal interpretation of the Bible, so bear with me while I search for insight within literal readings.)  First, I love the fact that Peter is trying to pray but gets distracted and starts wondering what’s for lunch. He’s thinking about literally eating, so maybe the vision also has a message regarding literal eating. (See how literally I’m thinking?) Peter doesn’t seem to interpret the vision as urging him toward gluttony, but rather that the menu limitations that he has been observing are not ultimate laws of living. Laws regarding food can be held too rigidly or too loosely, and either way comes with less than optimal consequences. As with any law, Biblical or otherwise, the spirit has more value than the letter.

It’s a lot easier to follow a law than it is to find balance within two extremes --- for a while anyway. Then any law that’s too restrictive sends us barreling toward the other end. Just ask anyone who has ever been on the grapefruit diet. The very existence of a law makes us want to break it. Most of us drive at least slightly over the speed limit, no matter what the limit is. We can seek food balance on our own, and some folks are quite disciplined here while others fall into anorexia or obesity. The early church offered a food structure for the congregation --- sort of like an early version of Weight Watchers. The liturgical calendar involved a rotation of periods of fasting interrupted with feasts. The fasts were not total abstinence from food, but merely restrictions on meat and other rich foods.  The purpose might’ve been spiritual, but it had practical benefits as well. People who were eating together were eating similar food, so a built-in support system was in place. The feasts involved emotionally healthy fellowship as well as bodily nourishment. With an abundance of inexpensive food, our present experience is to keep the feasts and eliminate the fasts.  We frequently eat calorie laden rich foods all by ourselves in the car. What a poor substitute for a feast.

Personally, I feel that diet is a stewardship issue. I am aware of my impending death and the return of my body to ashes. However, I believe that God entrusted me with my body and meant for me to take care of it, but not get crazy about it. Being full of delicious food is good, but sometimes restricting food intake is more conducive to both physical health and spiritual awareness. So, what to do? Disregarding the fad diet of the week and the most recent update in the FDA food group/pyramid/plate, common sense indicates that vegetables, fruit, and whole grains are healthy food. If we eat mostly plants most of the time with small amounts of other foods and occasionally sit down with the people we love and pull out all the stops, then, well, “God says it’s okay.”

Rating the Bible NC-17

Actually NC-17 is probably generous. Much of the Bible deserves a definite R rating. I love the grand Old Testament stories, but every time I re-read them, the tales of sexual misconduct startle me. There's Abraham and Sarah and the housekeeper, Hagar, who had a triangle even more scandalous than Arnold and Maria. In the OT, Sarah was involved in the scheme, but later got jealous and kicked Hagar and her baby out into the wilderness where they were saved only by the grace of God administered through an angel.  Abraham probably didn't feel like he had too much say in the matter since earlier in the marriage he had passed his wife off as his sister to save his own skin. He'd rather let his own beautiful wife sleep with the king than face danger to himself. Prince of a guy, huh? Then of course there's Sodom and Gomorrah and the men who want to rape the visiting angels. And later the incest incident between Lot and his daughters. Whew. I'm not even halfway through Genesis! Just like Disney cleaned up all the blood and gore from Grimm's Fairy Tales, we often sanitize the stories in the Bible to give them a little more respectability.  I wonder what would happen if people read the Bible for the subversive shocking treatise that it actually is.

Case Studies 3.0

This is the saga of my evolving blog. I started it as a journal for Lent, then afterwards I used it as a place to store lesson plans for my Bible study class. At the moment, I am in transition. I'm not teaching a class or singing in a choir and I'm in a quandary over what to do with myself on Sunday mornings. So at least for now, this forum will serve as a grasscatcher for my oddball thoughts. I read a hodgepodge of different topics -- a classic jill of all trades and master of none ---- so I suppose the title is still appropriate, but I'm making no plans for any kind of theme. If the Mayans are right, it won't matter anyway, but I'd hate to think the world ended and I wasn't at a good stopping place. If my family doesn't follow my wishes for cremation upon my demise, I hope they at least use my desired  epitaph... "This was the last thing on my list."  It's taken me three tries before I'm comfortable blogging like so many others are able to do --- just saying whatever. I like order and planning. It's the same trait that causes me to clean before I leave town. In case something bad happens before I get back, I don't want the ladies who bring casseroles to see my house a mess. So, this is an experiment in my resolution to be less organized this year. We'll see what happens.

The Obligation of Freedom

Romans 15:1-13

Typically a strong person is thought to be one who is independent and self-sufficient, but Paul describes the strong Christian as one who subordinates his own preferences to the needs of those who are weaker in faith. The privilege of freedom comes with obligations. The key word here is "edify." The strong are to make concessions, but not simply for the convenience of the weak or even for peace in the fellowship. The strong are to bear the burdens of others so that eventually the others can leave the burdens behind. If strong Christians act so that others grow in spiritual understanding, then soon the concessions become unnecessary.

As our example, Christ showed patient sympathy for the limitations of others. But beyond a pattern of obedience, Christ also provides the power to conform to righteousness. In support of this dramatic conclusion, Paul quotes Old Testament psalms and prophets who were writing about the nature of God in anticipation of the fulfillment of the law through the Christ.

In the book of Romans, Paul describes the vast difference that the gospel makes in our outlook on life. We are not bound by what is humanly possible. We have more than our present experience. God works creatively through us, and the gifts from God are things that we are not likely to get any other way. 

Verse 13 concludes this section with a benediction blessing that sums up the new life in Christ.  "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."   

Acting From Faith

Romans 14

If this chapter had to be reduced to a soundbite, it would be "Do not judge another." From that perspective, this lesson could not be more relevant in modern times. The context, however, of food and which church days are special, are not the primary issues generating judgement in present circles. Let's start with Paul's solution and then look at applications beyond the ones the early church was facing.

Paul's Solution

1.      Believers are to act based on our reason and conscience. We are to use the measure of spiritual insight that we possess.

2.      Believers are not to be quick to judge those who do not answer to us. God will give Insight concerning the edifying response if we ask.

3.      The strong are not to place temptation in the way of the weak. Religious freedom maintains a link between insight and actions.

The book of Leviticus has an excellent framework for living. It points out that in life things can be classified as clean, unclean, or holy. Romans 14:23 echoes this sentiment by explaining that if we "act from faith"  then matters of daily living will take care of themselves. This is a good overarching principal, but it can be tricky at times to apply to specifics. For proof, just read the rest of Leviticus where the attempt is made to assign every waking moment to the correct category.

In comparing the weak and strong Christians, Paul clearly puts the burden on the strong to nurture the weak. Just as in parenting, a balance must be struck between being too strict and allowing too much freedom. Discipline must be administered in love, not doled out in punishment. Paul Bunyon wrote that the tendency to dispute over opinions is the mark of a frivolous mind. It's easier to argue over details than to take on the real responsibility of discipleship.

In Paul's dealings with issues of food and worship, he encouraged mutual tolerance and respect, but tolerance here means more than non-judgmental inaction. It means offering loving instruction and being quick to deny ourselves the freedoms that we have through Christ. Insisting on our rights at the expense of another's conscience is the mark of a "stumbling block." For those who haven't fully understood the liberty that Christ offers, laws and traditions will still feel necessary. Paul's idea of tolerance for the strong is an acceptance of  unnecessary limitations on themselves rather than an acceptance of destructive behaviors of the weak.

The Kingdom of God (14:17) is beyond trivial things like eating and drinking what we want and singing the songs we like in church. If we follow our convictions with integrity, and humble ourselves, then our hearts are more receptive to being led into the truth. We can serve God by observing rituals or ignoring them, but we do not have the option of denying the righteousness, peace and joy of the Spirit of God.