This is the time of year when goodies show up in the office. Monday we had chocolate treats with a creamy dark chocolate inside. I had one. Wednesday was chocolate covered cherries. I had one. Today, an 18 inch diameter Christmas plate with holly and ivy plastic wrap tied at the top with a red bow was delivered to the office. Inside were at least a dozen chocolate chip cookies. I have had more than one. Yet for some reason, I was the only one enjoying them. Parents, parishioners, vendors and students bring treats to the office as we head closer to Christmas. Part of me, the morning workout part, would like the sentiment spread out over the whole school year. Some goodies are plastic wrapped and can be saved for the spring but most get consumed now. The last day of school is this Friday and a lot of this good stuff will get divided up and sent home then. More is given out on various Sundays at our Fellowship time – that is, what won’t get eaten at my desk as I am writing to you. Yesterday on the radio, the hosts of a sports show talked about tipping guidelines for the holidays. Although mail carriers, garbage collectors and teachers were mentioned, there was nothing about pastors or priests although at times it feels like we cross over into all three of those professions. Nevertheless, one of my favorite “tips” came in the form of a particular bottle of whisky at my first parish. And, I have a bottle of Kahlua that reminds me of the Saint John’s parishioner who gave it to me. At my current rate of consumption, I’ll be thinking of this person for the next eight years. It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Yet, the mystery of that cookie tray remained and bugged me enough that I finally asked around, “Hey, did you know there are cookies in here?” The response was an unenthusiastic yes. I was told to go read who they were from. I bounced back to the break room and saw the nice Christmas plate of cookies came from our local funeral home. “Oh, mortuary cookies,” I muttered under my breath and walked away. Besides thinking of how effective a diet campaign would be if one only ate food served by a mortuary, I started thinking why should it matter where these came from. It’s not like they gave us cases of unfiltered cigarettes with a note that said, “See you soon.” But, I have to admit, my enthusiasm for that plate of baked treats subsided and I am not even sure exactly why. I never wore black until I was ordained. Now the color black makes up a significant portion of my professional wardrobe. When I wear a collar, people tend to get out of the way. It’s like I am a giant plate of mortuary cookies. At my friend’s 50th birthday celebration, I gave a toast. When I was finished, he thanked me and then leaned in so I could hear him over the music and asked why I didn’t introduce myself as a pastor. Maybe it was the dancing, or the spiked punch, but I answered, “Because I’d like your friends to talk to me.” It didn’t work because he had already told his friends about me, anyway. Some of you know what it feels like from time to time to be like mortuary cookies. A friend in the Navy told me about his first tour in a new leadership role. None of his former buddies wanted to hang out with him anymore. It was a lonely time for him at sea. I have several friends who, once identified as recovering alcoholics, receive a similar cold shoulder – they’re no longer invited to Super Bowl parties, baseball games or even Christmas gatherings. I’m getting to know a police officer in the city and he gets treated the same way. At grocery stores or restaurants when he is in uniform, people get out of his way; he doesn’t get invited to parties, either. Sadly, I know several widows who also get the same treatment. It seems like the season brings out a variety of emotions and observations. It’s a time for eating sugary treats and party invites and increased police activity. It’s a difficult time to be deployed and also a very difficult time to be in mourning; Jesus is the light for the world to see in such circumstances. But perhaps an appropriate Christmas message for all of us this year might be to treat one another less like mortuary cookies. Maybe we should all act more like our Fellowship time after church where even cookies from a mortuary are appreciated and enjoyed. -Fr. Marshall A breaking story from La Jolla tells that eight sushi restaurants have been convicted of serving lobster rolls that didn’t have any lobster in them. Investigators from the City Attorney’s office purchased lobster rolls from various restaurants in the San Diego area and then sent them to a laboratory where DNA testing confirmed there was no-o-o-o lobster. None at all. Nada. Zilch.
Please insert dramatic crime show music, ba-ba-bummmm. I imagine this story will not appear on the next episode of CSI but nonetheless I find it interesting. The story explains that instead of lobster, testing revealed the substitution of various types of less expensive seafood like crawfish or Pollock. Last May, Christi and I took a few days off to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. We were window shopping in Ensenada (Baja California, MX) when a shop owner asked, in English, if we’d seen the news that day. We had not so he pulled out his smart phone and showed us a breaking story from Tijuana. A popular Chinese food restaurant was found to be snatching up stray dogs from around the city, slaughtering them and serving their meat as either pork or beef. Ba-ba-bummmm. Yeewww… I know it’s not a pretty story. And, the video shown on this man’s smart phone was disturbing as the videotaped restaurant workers had been caught in the act. I’m trying to avoid drawing socio-economic conclusions from this story by comparing life in Tijuana and life in La Jolla because killing stray dogs and serving them in Chinese food seems much worse and more heinous than swapping crawfish for lobster. But, my college years working for the Attorney General in Washington remind me that fraud is fraud. Whether it’s dog in Chinese food or crawfish passed as lobster in Japanese food, it’s still fraud. The eight restaurants in our county are being charged under the truth-in-menu law which disallows the undisclosed substitution or adulteration of food and the false advertising or misbranding of food items. This also means that the restaurants are allowed to serve crawfish rolls; they just can’t call them lobster. There is no California law against a Christian who doesn’t act Christ-like. Nevertheless, to claim to be a follower of Christ and then not live it out is an adulteration. It is false advertising; it’s misbranding. The action of someone who protests military funerals, and claims to do it with God’s blessing, or someone who attacks Planned Parenthood facilities in the name of Christ is an adulteration – a corruption, a falsifying debauchery of claiming one thing and doing something else. Jesus cautioned us about adulterating our relationship with God. Don’t say you love God with all your heart and then serve another master, he warns. It looks bad for all who believe and is doubly bad on the person who does it if it causes another to stumble. Jesus lifted up the bread, broke it and said, “This is my body, given for you.” Through faith, we believe in the truth-in-menu with Jesus. We believe it is his body, given for us. We receive it in faith that we will be united with him and one another and blessed by the Holy Spirit. And then, we are called to go out and do the work that has been given us to do. To live lives that truly represent truth-in-menu. -Fr. Marshall The insurance company I worked for required three separate sets of passwords for my position. In addition, my screen locked every ninety seconds. The passwords were encrypted to my keyboard so that none of them would work at a different computer. Each password expired in three weeks. This means that I was learning new passwords constantly. Once a password expired, a control box would appear and I could choose between any number of computer generated passwords. After choosing the new password, I would memorize the pattern it made on the keyboard (because we were reprimanded for writing down our passwords) and then go on with my work. I wonder how much brain energy and time was spent simply logging in and memorizing passwords. The energy spent on it must be less than what happens when confronting a computer breach. It almost made one want to say, “Bring on the breaches! They are easier than the constant password changing.”
One day, in 1997, an IT employee sat with us at lunch (they so rarely took lunch that we called him over when we saw him walk in to the break room). I asked if we got cyber attacked every day. He looked at me, shook his head, and said, “Once a day? We get attacked ten to fifteen times an hour.” He went on to tell me that insurance companies hold a lot of information about people. There are all sorts of nefarious types that’d like to get their hands on just a fraction of what the company holds. There are other types who are mad at insurance companies and want to damage us. And yet others from foreign countries who attempt to take information and then hold it for ransom or go public to shame the company. Flash forward to 2015. I am setting up a password for Ethan’s GameStop rewards plan. In order to set up his account, I needed a password with at least eight characters, two capital letters, one number, and, one character, like @#$%^ or &. I thought this was a bit extreme. I set up his account and have now already forgotten the password. It’s strange to me that a silly rewards program for a used video games store requires such a strong system. I cannot believe they are attacked like an insurance company. The list of programs and other useful on-line applications that I can no longer use because I have forgotten the overly-complicated password is getting longer and longer. Currently on my list – my bank, health plan, retirement plan, Facebook, LinkedIn, and iHeart Radio. For a few of the above mentioned companies, I actually have forgotten my secret phrases, too. I ask myself, did I say my favorite vacation spot is Maui or Hawaii? Or, did I say Detroit because everyone guesses Hawaii. Have we password-ed ourselves out of commission? Will we go back to paper simply because we can no longer remember our email login passwords? The good news is you have a secure account with God. Jesus tells us that our riches are stored in heaven where rust or moth cannot destroy and where thieves cannot break in and steal. I image Jesus would add to that list foreign governments and nefarious people looking to hijack our info. The password is simple, just put your hands together and pray. -Fr. Marshall There is a cryptic announcement in our church bulletin for this Sunday which says, “Revelation is coming!” I think it is a very timely announcement. While you might think that with Thanksgiving now over it is the Christmas season, I beg to differ. This is Advent. Since the season of Christmas starts at sundown on December 24, up until then it’s Advent time.
Advent is a time of watching and preparing for the coming of our Lord. We watch in fascination as the Holy Family-to-be walks to Bethlehem and is turned away at every hotel, motel, or Holiday Inn. We remember the Virgin Mary as she sits atop a donkey and ponders what it means to carry the Christ child. We look upon the face of Joseph as he holds the reins of the donkey. His face is set and determined but we can’t help but notice the look of awe, wonderment and fear. It is a time of fascination and wonder. And, it’s also a time to remember that Jesus promised that he would return. He came through on each promise and now we wait for the fulfillment of his final one – to return. When Jesus was lifted up into heaven, the angels told the disciples and on-lookers that Jesus would return in the same way they saw him depart. (Acts 1) So, this season is about looking up to the clouds and anxiously awaiting Jesus’ return while we also remember his birth. So what’s the deal with the cryptic announcement in our bulletin? Starting this past summer, many people exchanged names and became secret pals with someone else in the congregation. And, on the first Sunday of Advent, the secret pals will be revealed to one another. Each recipient will have an envelope with their name on the front. Inside will be a picture and contact information for their secret pal – the one who has been writing and praying for them in secret. Apocalyptic writers of the Bible tell us that all will be revealed and I think that really means everything. I expect that kind of revelation to happen in heaven, but the apocalyptic seers and writers seem to indicate they believe it will happen during a particular generation. And, as a tradition during each Advent season, we wonder if it will happen during our time. About this Great Revealing (and Reveling) that is to happen with Christ himself returning with the clouds, I wonder if it will be also like the secret pal’s envelope. At that time, will we receive an envelope which will reveal when Christ was in our lives? Will we get pictures of people who helped us when it was actually Christ himself working through them? Or, perhaps, will you receive one that shows when you were like-Christ for someone else. As you ponder that, I’d like you to think about which envelope is bigger – the one signifying when Jesus helped you or the one where you were the hands and feet of Christ for someone else. For me, I definitely see the envelope of someone being Christ in my life as much, much bigger than when I was Him for someone else. It’s more like a FedEx truck delivering an entire filling cabinet of full of times when Jesus helped me in my life. All the more, though, that image of the filing cabinet makes me want to be his ambassador here on earth. Happy Advent! - Fr. Marshall The virtue for December at Saint John’s School is “enthusiasm.” If there was a top ten list for virtues, I doubt enthusiasm would appear on anyone’s list. Nevertheless, I think it is important and I am not alone in my sentiment. Ralph Waldo Emerson is credited with saying, “Enthusiasm is the mother of effort, and without it nothing great was ever achieved.” Winston Churchill said, “Success consists of going from failure to failure without the loss of enthusiasm.” And Ivern Ball said, “Knowledge is power, but enthusiasm pulls the switch.”
Some find it surprising that we need to teach students from pre-k through 8th grade to be enthusiastic. Some say, “Don’t they have enough energy already?” For the most part, children have plenty of energy. But, there is a difference between childhood energy and enthusiasm. The root of enthusiasm is a combination of Greek words that translate literally to the “God inside.” (“En” for in and “thusi” [theo] for God). There’s a spirit inside each one of us and enthusiasm is what brings the God/Spirit out. We all have God inside. Focusing on this December virtue teaches how to bring it out. The end of the year brings a particular focus to spreadsheets, budgets, pledge drives, and the like. Because of it, I find my enthusiasm waning. Being a Priest-in-charge is not easy; the work never stops And we’ve come a long way since I joined the Saint John’s family three and half years ago. But, that “long way” has taken its toll, in particular on my enthusiasm. I don’t think I’m alone in this. Other church and school leaders may be finding their enthusiasm on the decline too. Negativity is the enemy of enthusiasm. There is a term for it – “emotional business management” (EBM). According to author and business consultant Suzanne Evans, EBM is about the ups and downs of business. As entrepreneurs know, there are good months and bad months. The EBM of a bad month, however, weighs heavier on the heart than the EBM for a good month. This applies to pastoral ministry, too. We’ve had good months and bad months and the bad ones can bring church leaders down more than the good ones energize us. The first thing negative EBM affects is enthusiasm. Additionally, things are not going well in the world and there are negative thoughts and forecasting regarding the future of the Church in America. Even our own Bishop preached on this a couple of Sundays ago. Suffice it to say, there is plenty of negative EBM to go around. Treating enthusiasm as a virtue is a way to counteract negative EBM. Here is a virtuosic plan of action for enthusiasm. Think and then list what you are thankful for, what you are proud of yourself for, and then how you will feel once a task or goal is completed. Write another list of all the things, moments, and people that make you happy. Write how you would feel inside if everything in your life would be just as you want it, then concentrate on this feeling and try to hold it as long as possible. Come back to this feeling and read your lists every time you feel sad or discouraged. This will help tremendously. Jesus was enthusiastic about his mission. The negative EBM he encountered was tremendous. Yet, he never let that trouble him or slow him down. Did Jesus make a list of all the things he was thankful for? Perhaps. And if he did, I bet you are on his list. Now that is something to be enthusiastic about. -Fr. Marshall If you look closely at my forearms today you’ll notice “LOVE & SERVE” on my left forearm and a heart shape on my right. Yesterday, when the black Sharpie print was darker, folks caught glimpses of my forearms, partially covered by my half-rolled black clergy shirt. Someone even commented, “Fr. Marshall, I didn’t know you had tattoos.” I thought I maybe should go with it and say, “Yes, I just had them done. What do you think?” Instead, I recalled to them the following story.
The virtue for the month at Saint John’s School is obedience. The reading for this week is from Deuteronomy 11: “The Lord says, ‘You must listen carefully to the commands I give you today: You must love the Lord your God, and serve him with all your heart and all your soul.’” This might sound familiar because we often recount in church that Jesus said the greatest commandment is, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.” Deuteronomy continues, “’Remember these commands I give you. Keep them in your hearts. Write them down and tie them on your hands and wear them on your foreheads as a way to remember my laws. Teach these laws to your children. Talk about these things when you sit in your houses, when you walk along the road, when you lie down, and when you get up. Write these commands on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.’” I told our students that in Moses’ day (to whom Deuteronomy is attributed) the “hand” started at the tips of the fingers and ran down to the elbow. We have names – fingers, palm, hand, wrist and forearm — but they simply had “hand”. I showed them one way to “tie them to the hands” is inscribe them on one’s forearm. That way farmers can continue to farm or a 21st century priest can type, shake hands, and celebrate communion without worrying about something tied around the palm. I asked an 8th grader to write “LOVE & SERVE” on my left forearm and a heart on my right to symbolize “with all your heart and soul.” All day, I caught glances of God’s command to love and serve the Lord with all my heart and soul. It caused me to think if I was being obedient to God’s command. I saw it when I dialed a phone number, when eating lunch, when I looked up a Bible passage on-line, at Bible study, and during the numerous meetings I had that day and even when I picked up our to-go order from our favorite Chinese food restaurant. When I finally sat down in the evening, I put my feet up on an ottoman, stretched, and saw “LOVE & SERVE' which made me ponder if I, even sitting at home, was being obedient. Imagine if we all took this command literally and wrote it on our forearms and our foreheads. What if we taught that command to our children and talked about it when we sat in our homes, commuted to work, when we lay down and got up. Imagine if it was written on the doorposts of our homes and on our gates. Despite the constitution, what if it were written over Congress, the Supreme Court and the White House and across the dome of our State Capitol. What if we listened carefully to the commands that God gives us. What would our obedience produce? -Fr. Marshall We celebrated Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) this week. The Anglican calendar shows it as All Souls day. From experience, I can tell you that Day of the Dead and All Souls Day are on the proverbial same-side of the coin. At the core of each celebration is remembrance. We re – member the souls of those whom we love but see no longer. Thankfully we have a day to remember the dead because the days spent with the living are busy and scheduled.
In seminary, we often asked, “What does one teach children about death?” The answer is simple – they understand a lot more than we think. And, they can also tell when adults are not being authentic when talking about it. At Saint John’s School, the students found a way to talk about death through art. Many created shadow boxes which feature a clay representation of a person the student wants to remember. On the back of the box are two or three sentences about the subject of the box. In addition, the box is painted in pastel pink, teal, and purple as well as black and white for contrast. I hope to borrow a few of them this Sunday for you to see in the Narthex. Curiosity propelled me to take a sneak peek at who the students were coming up with to remember this year. They are all fantastic. Many have descriptions of the person represented in the box as someone who they never knew but was loved by everyone in the family. Although touching, I could tell the boxes were not quite as authentic as the ones where a loved one was known by the artist. The one that stands out for me is by Ximena (Heh-main-a). I don’t know what grade she is in as there are Ximena’s in most grades. This Ximena, however, spells her name with two hearts – one over the “i” and a heart after the “a”. In her shadow box, she created the most beautiful dog with white fur, floppy ears, straight tail, black eyes and a pink collar. The box is colorfully decorated with green and blue back ground with pink pastel hearts. On the inside, the dog is standing on bright green grass offset by a blue sky, a tree and three sun shades. In pencil, Ximena wrote on the back, “My dog and I used to play. I would give her food and water. I will always remember how you used to make me laugh.” It makes me wonder if All Souls Day includes dogs. According to my fancy Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, it is a day to remember the “faithfully departed” which became universally accepted in the Church in 998. I also wonder when it is appropriate to remember the un-faithfully departed. After all, faithfully departed is a Christian code word for those who died in the faith. Prior to 1969, it was obligatory to include the chant, “Dies Irae” which means day of wrath. Unfortunately, the twenty pound, 1786 page tome has no listing for Day of the Dead. In fact, the rules for Dia de los Muertos say nothing about who can be remembered. Traditionally held in cemeteries, it is perhaps assumed the celebration day is for humans. Does All Souls/Day of the Dead include pets? According to Ximena, it does. She is the foremost authority on her own grief. For her, this day is a time to remember her dog. Do dogs have souls? For Ximena, her dog does. Is it worthwhile to remember pets that we love but see no longer? According to Ximena, and me, it certainly is. -Fr. Marshall I have a clergy friend who recently agreed to serve in a difficult situation. When the opportunity came up for him to serve, I told him that if he went I would go with him – in the sense that I’ll be there to talk and support him. Little did either of us understand how problematic his work would become. We talk on a nearly daily basis.
My friend is dealing with what theologians refer to as the powers of the world. To summarize the theologians, there are two powers, one from heaven one from the world. As articulated in the Gospel and pastoral letters of John (for whom our church is named), these two powers are at odds with each other. The power from the world arises from, as you might guess, things of the world. These things include fear, hate, anger, and anxiety that manifest themselves in social class, greed, beauty, gender bias, racism and other forms of domination and suppression. In olden days, an emperor was supreme at manipulating the powers of the world (fear, hate, anxiety) to keep his power. This suppressive and aggressive power is seen in many Gospel lessons but most heart renderingly in the crucifixion of our Lord. The powers of the kingdom of heaven are love, unity, self-sacrifice, peace and joy. In the first century, the power of love and peace seemingly couldn’t hold a candle to the incredible and overarching powers of the world. For instance, the powers of the world held the citizens of Rome in an invisible prison of fear and anxiety that started just beyond their fingertips. Their choice was to either participate in the system or drop out and be chewed up by it. There is evidence that the people of Jerusalem were also held in a similar invisible cage that tied them to the Temple authorities, local officials and under the oppressive thumb of the emperor. Into this political and economic climate, Jesus came to preach peace, forgiveness and to reconcile all people to God. Within the first generation of believers, many had been kicked out of their houses of worship. Some had left their occupations in order to follow Christ. They formed congregations that met in homes and other safe havens. In that time, the author for whom our church is named, wrote, “You are from God and you have conquered them [the powers of the world] because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” (1 Jn 4:4) History shows us the believers went out and changed the world. Those Christians believed, obviously, that the One inside of them was in fact greater than the power of the world. But what about us, in our time, with the immense powers of fear, hate, anger and anxiety of the world stacking against believers of the Kingdom? This is what I believe – the fire from the Holy Spirit in my clergy friend is greater than the fire that he stepped into. The fire/Holy Spirit will sustain him and will burn longer than any difficult pastoral situation that he is currently involved in. Likewise, with you, no matter what situation you are dealing with, no matter what powers of the world are pressing in on you, the One who is in you is greater than the power that is in the world. The powers of love, unity, self-sacrifice, peace and joy will conquer all. -Fr. Marshall A recent sermon for our school had to do with prudence. We played a game called, “Is It Prudent?” One statement was, “Eat fruits and vegetables and stay away from chips.” The contestants had to figure out if that statement was prudent or not prudent. This question spilled out into classroom discussions so this past week, I addressed the fruits and vegetables versus chips question head on. I brought out a bag of Takis, the most popular school chip. The bag says there are 150 calories per serving. I hope you are sitting down because there are four servings in the lunch-sized bag. That’s 600 calories. I asked which has more calories, four apples, a granola bar, a celery stalk, or a chocolate bar. I then held up the aforementioned items and told them the total calories of them all equaled the chips. I then asked how full they’d feel if instead of eating the chips they ate the entire celery stalk, all the apples, the granola bar and chocolate bar in one sitting. Most said they couldn’t eat that much. Yet, they could imagine eating the entire bag of Takis. Now my kids’ sermons have object lessons so bear with me a second on this one. Fact: chips, which are not nutritious, do not fill us up even though they are very high in calories. Fact: eating four apples would fill the average person up but has few calories compared to chips. Are there other things in life that are like that? Well, I think posting mean things on line about someone is like eating chips; it fills us with calories but is not good for us. Consider a hug; it is fulfilling and good for us at the same time, like an apple. I continued with the students that studying for a test is like eating an apple; it is valuable. Cheating on a test is like eating chips — there is no nutritional value and it leaves one feeling empty inside. After the morning services, I head straight into Bible study. We are reading Paul’s Letter to the Romans where he writes there are two laws at work in him, the law of God and the law of sin. He knows what is right but he does what is wrong. Finally, he declares, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God – through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (7:24) We know what is right but we do what is wrong. We know celery is better for us but we go for the chips. We know that a hug fills us up and is what we are supposed to do but then gossip arises and we find ourselves empty. Like Paul, I am not immune. I caught myself this week wondering how to give my neighbor’s dogs fleas. I know that is wrong but I have become tired of listening to their barking and barking and barking. Giving their dogs fleas won’t make my neighbors better dog owners. But, like a bag of chips, it made me feel a little better just thinking of it. I think that Jesus wants us to live on full, not empty. He wants us to do things that fill us up, like hugs. I also believe that Jesus, being human, knows what it is like to be tempted to eat chips in our world even though he is the only one who never ate any. And he’s the only one who can save us when we do. -Fr. Marshall It is interesting and fashionable to have multi-faith dialog. There is real importance to this work. For instance, in the contested Kashmir region between India and Pakistan, it is of paramount importance to have Hindu and Muslim dialog. Likewise, multi-faith dialog is principal to finding peace in Israel. But what about inner-faith, ecumenical dialog? Has it gone out of fashion?
A division in the catholic (universal) church has recently been healed. This division started on October 8, 451, when a month-long church council was held at Chalcedon. There were issues of authority but the core of the meeting was the nature of Christ. Today we freely say that Jesus is fully human and fully divine. But it took the Church centuries to get to that phrase. While the New Testament shows that Jesus was fully divine and also human, it focuses more on Christ’s divinity than his humanity. To the witnesses of Jesus, the most remarkable aspect was his divinity. Later, however, as the Church came to take his divinity for granted, there was an effort to look more at his humanity and this searching caused a great Church divide. Prior to Chalcedon, an earlier council had decided Christ has one nature. But the Nicene Creed seems to suggest that Jesus has two natures – human and divine. A century after it was written, however, Church leaders thought that it did not make sense; it’s either one or the other, right? Not so fast, said the bishops at Chalcedon. If we think in human terms, yes, it makes no sense, but if we look at Christ through divine eyes, nothing is impossible. The problem with councils is that someone is always going to feel left out. In the case of Chalcedon, that group is the Oriental Orthodox churches (Coptic, Ethiopian, Eritrean, Syriac, Indian Orthodox, Armenian) and that was the beginning of the divide between East and West. Our Book of Common Prayer includes liturgical elements from both the Eastern and Western church. Speaking of divides, it also incorporates parts of the Scottish and English rites. It would make sense then that the Anglican Communion could help in uniting the Oriental Orthodox with Western Orthodox. Last week, a statement on Christology was published by the Anglican-Oriental Orthodox International Commission. It addresses the division that started in Chalcedon. The Commission quoted Anglican theologian Richard Hooker (16thcentury) who quoted St. Cyril (5th century) that, “His two natures have knit themselves the one to the other, and are in that nearness as uncapable of confusion as of distraction. Their coherence hath not taken away the difference between them. Flesh is not become God but doth still continue flesh, although it be now the flesh of God’ (Laws 53.2).” Another component is that the union of both natures – human and divine – is natural, hypostatic (united in one God-man), real and perfect. The commission underscored that the two natures of Christ are distinguished in our mind in thought alone; it’s not a God thing but a human understanding thing. One more interesting note – the commission also agreed that Mary is the Theotokus, the mother of God. Up next for the commission is the Holy Spirit. The Eastern Church disagrees with Nicaea on this: “We believe in the Holy Spirit… who proceeds from the Father and the Son.” They believe the Holy Spirit did not “proceed” since that implies creation after the Father and the Son. Although I personally don’t think that was the intent of the phrase, it is a sticking point. We wake up today with a more united Body of Christ. And that is good news. -Fr. Marshall |