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magnify!!! (sermon from Advent 4, Luke 1:39-56)

You can hear my sermon from Sunday here:

Magnify! (Lk. 1.39-56)

friday listening party: The Swell Season and Over the Rhine

Over the last month, I've been able to see two remarkable bands.

I took my brother to see The Swell Season in Chicago on December 3rd.  It was the night before his 28th birthday, and it was to celebrate his recent completion of a Master's degree in Public History.  Glenn and Marketa were fantastic.  They were first introduced to the world as the quirky and creative lead characters in the movie, Once.  There songs are simple, but they come from deep deep places, mysterious and dark and green places.  Glenn is Irish (Marketa, Czech) and he seems to be cut from the same cloth that has made the Irish some of the most prolific folk songwriters on the planet.  Check out their biggest hit: Falling Slowly.

   

Then last Thursday, I took Julie to see Over the Rhine in Kent, OH.  They have been one of our favorite bands for years.  We've got some state pride for this group - they come from Cincinnati.  Their double disc album, Ohio, is remarkable.  It shows that this here state is more than corn and LeBron James (though we love our corn and LeBron James).  Karin and Linford have mastered the American songcraft, as evidenced by the leading track to their most recent studio album, I Don't Wanna Waste Your Time.

what's the deal with Mary?

This time of year we think a lot of about baby Jesus.  Baby Jesus almost didn't make it to Jude's preschool program, because my little Lucy (who turns 2 today) swiped him and began to nurture him before the play began.  And with baby Jesus comes mother Mary.  Just last night we put stamps on our Christmas cards with a beautiful Renaissance painting of Madonna and child.  So, what's the deal with Mary?  For Protestants this is a big question, because it is a source of division and misunderstanding with our Catholic brothers and sisters.  And for Catholics, it is likely a question to be explored so that the devotion to Mary that is part of the Catholic faith expression has some roots in history and theology.  So, I've done some thinking on this, on how and why there is a Christian devotion to Mary.

Disclosure: If you continue reading, you are wading into some historical theology... Enjoy

        Much of early Christian thought, and indeed even the creeds that contemporary worshipers still recite every day in many languages, were formed in response to either internal or external hostilities to the gospel of Jesus Christ.  The external hostilities took the form of persecution, and ultimately at times, martyrdom.  The internal hostilities, perhaps more lethal than imperial oppression, are known commonly and generally as heresies.  Among the most notable and influential heresies of the Patristic period is Gnosticism.

          Gnosticism is a diverse religious worldview of the ancient Near East that saw the universe as comprised of two equal and opposite forces, good and evil, spirit and matter.  Through a special, secret, and mysterious knowledge, or gnosis, one may achieve salvation, which is nothing more than the spirit being freed from matter, the soul escaping the body.  This view is harmful to Christianity in several ways.  First it recognizes evil, and the Evil One, as a power on par with good, or the Good One, or God.  Rather than viewing evil as a parasitic and bastard descendent of the good, Gnostics held the two powers in dualistic tension.  Additionally, Gnosticism leads toward a denial of the goodness of creation, of the theological and doxological truth and significance of the Incarnation.  That is, Gnostics would state that because matter is bad and God is good, Jesus Christ could not have been fully human and fully divine.  It is on this hinge that the glorious gates of salvation swing.  And so the Church waged an all-out assault on Gnosticism and its advocates and adherents.  Their main weapons in the fight were the creeds.  The Apostles Creed states ‘I believe in Jesus Christ… He was… born of the virgin Mary.’  And the Nicene Creed, formed by the Church’s early councils, states ‘Jesus Christ… became incarnate from the virgin Mary, and was made man.’  To the Gnostic threat against the true humanity of Jesus, and thus the efficacy of salvation in Christ, the Church Fathers speak in one voice of the earthiness, fleshiness, humanness of Jesus.  This aspect of his person is exemplified by the role of Mary in salvation history.

          In addition to the efforts against the heresy of Gnosticism, the role of Mary in imparting humanity to Jesus, in bearing God to the world (it is this view that gives Mary her name, Theotokos, or ‘God-bearer’), formulates the Christian view of history and of salvation history.  During the 2^nd and 3^rd centuries, there was much cultural transition and spiritual upheaval.  Among the most prominent questions was that of the meaning of time and history, and of what it means to be human.  Some philosophies, religions, and worldviews account for history from above, others from below, but the Christian view brings them together.  There is both ‘a providence that can be merciful and a human activity than can be responsible.’ 

Through the Incarnation immortality was absorbed in mortality, and eternity took up residence in history.  This cosmic coming together prepares the way for mortality, then, to be absorbed in immortality, and for history also to take up residence in eternity.  This is the event of salvation.  The person of Jesus is not ‘once upon a time’, but rather Jesus was born ‘in those days [when] a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.’  Jesus is not ‘in a land far far away,’ but rather Jesus is connected to a particular place on the map, ‘Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem.’  Salvation depends on the humanity of Christ, humanity depends upon a birth, and birth depends upon a human mother, that is, Mary.

Much is misunderstood about the role of Mary and the other women who are players in the gospel stories.  The canonical gospels, except for a few pericopes, do not give much attention to them.  But other sources, like the Protevangel of James, give scholars and the faithful much of the legend and biography that has formed a particular view of Mary.  It is from these stories that much dissension between Catholics and Protestants emerge.  Here we find that Mary maintained her virginity, and that she felt no birth pangs when laboring and delivering Jesus.  But regardless of these apocryphal assertions, it is clear from a systematic and historical overview that the growth of Marian devotion in the Patristic period, through the mystical expression of the Middle Ages, up until the Council of Trent and today, has its origins in a defense against the heresy of Gnosticism and in the offering of a uniquely Christian view of history, where salvation is the principle event.  These theories do not only reside in towers and books, councils and letters, but Mariology was expressed through devotion to and veneration of Virgin Mary, ‘the mother of my Lord’, as in Elizabeth’s greeting. 

These origins are good and right, and the growth of Marian devotion corresponds to the shrinking of Gnostic influence in the Church.  To be sure, there have been times of overemphasis and are still times of imbalance and misunderstanding.  But I wonder if an increased devotion to Mary and her role in our salvation perhaps would be the most potent weapon against twenty-first century iterations of Gnosticism.  Against the hyper-spiritualization of the evangelical gospel, against the escapist Word-Faith movement, and against the ‘better you’ message of Osteen’s gospel, perhaps all Christians, Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant, should turn devotion toward Mary and find there what Christians in the Patristic era found: a God who ‘became flesh and dwelt among us’.

fighting families, infidelity and tragic death (reflections on Tiger Woods and Chris Henry)

The news of Tiger Woods' infidelity has been cover story fodder for weeks now.  And just this morning, Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry died after he fell from the back of a pickup truck his fiance was driving during a domestic dispute.  Fighting families, infidelity and tragic death is all around.  And what a dark and cold time of year for it, too!  We should be waiting for the light and warmth of Christmas, peace and good will, joy and hope.  Instead we're fearing that the next little fight will change our lives forever.I can't afford big and extravagant gifts for my wife.  Most of us can't.  But I can do the simple and small things.  I invite you, if you are married, engaged, or in a relationship (romantic or otherwise), to consider what a Mustard Seed Marriage (or engagement or relationships or friendship) would look like.

Readings from Matthew's Gospel:

Give your gifts in secret, and your Father, who knows all secrets, will reward you.

The Kingdom of heaven is like yeast used by a woman making bread.  Even though she used a large amount of flour, the yeast permeated every part of the dough.

Therefore anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.

As they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread and asked God's blessing on it.

And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it.

The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed planted in a field.  It is the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of the garden plants and grows into a tree where birds can come and find shelter in its branches.

Eugene Peterson has said that the metaphors Jesus used for the Christian life are frequently the images of the single, the small, and the quiet, which have effects far in excess of their appearance: secrets, yeast, children, bread, wine, seed.

We must listen well to this beautiful truth concerning life in God’s kingdom.  It is in the simple and the small that we find significance.  And so I encourage you to find the mustard seeds of your marriage (or relationships): lighting a candle, preparing one another’s favorite meal, holding hands, a smile, a card or handwritten letter, putting the toilet seat down, taking a walk at dusk.  These simple and small activities, and others like them, will literally make a world of difference in your marriage (or relationships). 

May the grace that is granted to the mustard seed as it grows into a large and fruitful tree be yours as the simple and small building blocks of your marriage (or relationships) grow to create a rich and full life.

my friend, Patton Dodd, reflects on Oral Roberts

Anytime a figure of Oral Roberts' stature dies, it causes many to pause and reflect.  Among them, in the wake of Roberts' passing, is my good friend Patton Dodd.  Check out what he had to say about his time at Oral Roberts University, and what he had to say yesterday after the world learned of his passing.

my running coach is a world-class athlete...

...and she can be your coach too.

My running coach has won the Montreal marathon, the Boston marathon, the Twin Cities marathon, the Hokkaido marathon, and the Lawrence triathlon.  She was USA Track & Field Runner of the Year, and Runner's World Runner of the Year.  And she is Road Runners of American Hall of Famer.

And she can be your coach too.

When you sign up for Team Up to benefit orphaned children through Doma and to run the Capital City 1/2 Marathon in Columbus, OH on May 1st, Lisa Rainsberger is your coach!

Move.  Motivate.  Team Up.

give a gift of joy this Christmas

When you give a Gift of Joy with Doma this Christmas, you are not only honoring someone you love, you are also participating in a very real way in the very deep meaning of Christmas - you are turning yourself to the down and out and bringing them help and hope.  Today is the last day to order your Gift of Joy!!!

this is good news! (sermon from advent 3, luke 3:7-18)

You can hear my sermon from Sunday here:

This is Good News!

looking & listening (sermon from Advent 2, Luke 3:1-6)

You can hear my sermon from Sunday here:

Listening & Looking