Sermon March 22, 2009

Lent IV

Running through today's readings is a common thread, a mutual question: where do we find authority. The Israelites rejected Moses' authority, but found out that God had other ways of getting their attention and response. In John we see Jesus replacing the Temple system as the only authority for believers.

The question of authority - where we find it, who we give it to - is never old or out of date. In fact that question - where do we find our authority? - remains lively for us, especially at this time in our history.

Three weeks ago - on the First Sunday of Lent - I invited you to broaden your observance of Lent beyond a focus solely on personal piety. In particular I suggested that you do this in light of two, inter-related things:

1. I talked about the state of the economy and our place and responsibility within it as Christians, especially what was happening to Churches in light of declining financial income; and,
2. A deeper reality of change in our world that will of necessity - and certainly out of faithfulness to our faith's ever-changing understanding of the Good News about Jesus - mean that our future as Christians will be different than it is now.

I described both of these realities as interconnected, and looking much like a tidal wave, and suggested that we either learn to surf or drown.

I want to say now, up-front (so that you don't get too nervous!), that among the several responses to change the one I believe is most appropriate for us as Episcopal Christians is called, by some (notably Diana Butler Bass and Phyllis Tickle) "re-traditioning". What that phrase means, essentially, is revisiting our own Anglican/Episcopal tradition going all the way back to the New Testament and recovering those things that have, down the centuries, given energy and life to our tradition.

We began that in 2006 with our common sabbatical. Pretty much everything that is good that's happened here is as a result of our intentionality around this continuing journey, this pilgrimage.

So I'm not, here, talking about some fearful new experience where we pull out the organ and replace it with a drum-set (Carol will, I'm sure, be very relieved to hear this!)

What "re-traditioning" is not - and I want to be really clear here - is a reactionary, or conservative response to change where we bury our collective heads in the sand and hold our breath, in the hope that once the tidal wave has passed over us we can swim to the surface largely unchanged.

Let me give you but one example of the sort of change I mean - and those of you who know me as a biblical scholar will not at all be surprised to hear what example I've chosen!

We have to take seriously the fruits of modern biblical scholarship - and by modern I mean since a man named Hermann Samuel Reimarus, 1694-1768 - in other words, the last 250 hundred years of scholarship.

Here's the example. What do you think about this passage, which most bibles, including the one we use every Sunday, the NRSV, identify as St. Paul's 1st Letter to Timothy (1 timothy 2:11-15)

"Let a woman learn in silence with full submission. I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she will be saved through childbearing, provided they continue in faith and love and holiness, with modesty."

I suspect most of us - men as well as women - cringe at that. It sounds like St. Paul at his most misogynistic, doesn't it? Women are to be silent, barefoot, and pregnant.

So here's the thing. Paul didn't write this letter. Not only did Paul not write it, it wasn't even written by someone who was trying to soften what Paul really said. It was written by someone who set out intentionally to undo everything that the real Paul had said and done about the role of women in the Churches he brought into being.

The real Paul was committed to a radical equality. The real Paul included women and men equally in liturgical and administrative leadership. The real Paul numbered women among the Apostles.

What "re-traditioning" means, in this context, is that we recognize what Paul really did write - Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, 1 Thessalonians, Galatians, Philippians, and Philemon, are conscious and intentional around the letters he most likely didn't write - Ephesians, Colossians, and 2nd Thessalonians, and are extremely cautious around the contents of the so-called "Pastoral Epistles": 1 & 2 Timothy, and Titus, which Paul definitely didn't write.

All of which is to say that I am in no way asking you look at the Church - or your faith - as old and decrepit and in need of replacement. Rather, think of the Church - and our common Christian faith - as pregnant with new possibilities....and that this is so not in spite of the challenges we face but because of the challenges we face.

Last time I preached I left you with some questions to ponder: "Who are we? What are we supposed to be? What are we about what are we supposed to be doing; what's our mission? What are we being called into by God?"

I want to offer you a list of contrasts that comes from a man named Brian Maclaren. Brian is perhaps the most prominent theologian and leader of the so-called Emerging Church. Brian was an evangelical Episcopalian who was, briefly, in the ordination process in the Diocese of Virginia - so he understands our church better than many outsiders. Brian shared this list at the Diocese of Washington D.C.'s convention a few weeks back. It's both what we do really well and what we don't do well - our strengths and our challenges. Please remember this list is for the whole church, not just one congregation. Please hold that in mind.

1. We are blessed with a "via media", a "middle-way" mind-set. We are open to mysticism, to broader religious experiences that enrich our core identity.
   
   But we are often in danger of having an upper-class mind-set, where a college degree is helpful and we can sometimes be very elitist in our view of others.



2. We have a Celtic mind-set which places a desire to enter the 'thin places' of encounter ahead of a rigid adherence to form.
   
   But we also have an institutional mind-set, which is centralized, controlled, change-resistant, risk-adverse, and bureaucratic.



3. We have a diverse mind-set. Within the Episcopal Church there has always been room to differ, and, increasingly, room for all.
   
   But we have also have a bi-polar mind-set; we have been sucked into the cold war between liberals and conservatives.



4. And, lastly, we have a liturgical mind-set. We understand the importance of sacred space, we appreciate the beauty of, and encourage and welcome full participation in, worship.
   
   But we also have a "Christendom" mind-set, which inaccurately believes both that Christianity is normative in our North American culture and that we are so good at what we do that people should come to us.

My invitation to you is to think on this list, and next week - the last Sunday before we get to Palm Sunday and Holy Week - I want to share with you some thoughts on what sorts of tools we will need to be able to engage our future in positive and life-giving ways. Amen.