Union in the Body

““Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.””

— G.K. Chesterton

It is not easy for any group of people to be the church. The fact that we have over thirty-five thousand Christian denominations worldwide is evidence of how hard it is for the people of God to be the united body of Christ. I find much in Saint Paul’s letters that tell me he was often working just as hard or even harder to hold the church together as he was working to build the church. At his first church plant at Corinth there were status differences and indifference dividing the community, and there were factions following Apollos versus those claimed allegiance to Paul. There were troublemakers at Thessalonica, idle folk who were gossips without enough holy work to do. At Philippi, there was quarreling between leading members of the church with supporters lining up behind each side. Judgment and condemnation passed between factions in the body of Christ at Rome. Imagine the passive-aggressive behavior. Again and again, Paul preached to the church about the need for unity, the desirability of putting on the mind of Christ and practicing humble service, of seeing each other as fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, of overcoming the world and the ways of the world. These internal challenges were likely influenced and compounded by the challenges coming from the outside. Saint James also knew about the struggle and especially took note of how what we say can be so damaging. He called the tongue a “restless evil, full of deadly poison.” I believe these divisions and our current divisions in the body grieve the Holy Spirit. I believe they also diminish our clam to be followers of Christ, our baptismal vows, and our witness to the world. 

Jesus says “love your neighbor as yourself.” And he famously added, “love your enemy.” As Saint James notes, with the same tongue that we bless God, we curse others. This must not be by the words of our mouths, by the pen, or the keyboard. As followers of Christ, our nly option is to love even those with whom we strongly disagree. This is not about your feelings, not a command to hold particular warm and fuzzy emotions, but is about how you treat others. No one is authorized to judge or condemn another. No one is authorized to speak harshly to another, to call someone a fool or stupid. No one who claims to be a Christian is allowed to gossip, lie or spread lies, engage in hateful speech or spread that speech. Union in the body requires this and our witness to the world requires this. This is not to say that we must agree on everything. Unity is not the same as conformity of thought. Of all denominations, it is us non-doctrinal Episcopalians who should appreciate that the most. We are a conciliar and a “big tent” people. We gather and we talk and we listen, and we seek common ground. There is no allowance for an attitude of “my way or I take my ball and go home.” We make room for varying opinions and, if no where else, we find our communion in our confession that we have again grieved the Holy Spirit and in our healing by Christ at the altar rail. 

In our current political climate, it is especially important that we are mindful of our baptismal covenant. We promise before God that we will seek and serve Christ in all persons, no exception both within the church and as well as outside the church. So, when we degrade another, we degrade Christ. When we serve another, we serve Christ. We promise to strive for both justice and peace among all people. We cannot seek one without the other nor can we seek one at the expense of the other. We are not likely to be all of one mind on how to best accomplish these ends, but as we promise to respect the dignity of every human being let us be ever mindful of practicing that respect for individual dignity within the church as well as outside the church.

A friend often reminds me of my own words, “it is not easy being church.” It never has, but maybe some mindfulness of the times and how they affect us, some willingness to put on once again the mind of Christ and to love and serve others in humility, and some individual and corporate repentance (Greek metanoia - to think again and to have a change of mind) would serve this faith community well. Saint Paul thought so.

Grace and peace,
Fr Bill+

Connecting with the Spirit of God

“Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”

— Matthew 4:16

“That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons of history.”

— Aldous Huxley

History does in some general way repeat itself. The players and the places change, but one can see the broad patterns. In part, that is how we are able to make connections with others though our common experiences where history has unfolded in some similar way across our individual lives. Common experiences, and that the experience of life is not complete randomness and chaos are to be expected for those who believe in the Christian God. We trust that God tamed and organized the chaos into a home for us. God gave that creation patterns of day and night, and set the sun and stars and planets in their places. God separated the dry land from the sea and the air and put each animal is its proper place. There is regularity, there is pattern, and there is renewal as things die and things are born.

Isaiah was a prophet in the royal court in the latter part of the 8th century BC. At that time, the Neo-assyrian Empire had conquered Syria and Israel (i.e., the northern kingdom of the divided monarchy). That Empire was now threatening the southern kingdom of Judah. Part of the captured northern lands were the tribal lands of two of the sons of the patriarch Jacob - namely, Zebulun and Naphtali.

“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.”

— Isaiah 9:2

The promise in Isaiah is that to those people walking in darkness and to those now being threatened by darkness, a new hope from God has dawned. Centuries later, history is repeated. Details change, but the pattern is there. The ancient tribal lands are now the “Galilee of the Gentiles” and the oppressor of God’s people are now the Romans. The smell and the shadow of death are ever present, but again God brings hope. Can we learn the lesson of history: that darkness comes in a variety of ways, but God is faithful in bringing new hope? And, can we learn to search for the meaning of our lives and hope for our lives in the story of the Bible? Certainly, Matthew points back to Isaiah in order to bring hope to a new day. 

My German heritage includes something like an exodus story. A group of German settlers journey to a land where things for them are better. They work hard and become numerous and wealthy. Their religion, culture, and language become the common currency. Then there is war, retribution, and darkness and death. The light of God came in the form of the American Red Cross. Survivors made their exodus to a new home, not welcomed back home as “real” Germans, and scattered to many places across the sea. In our history, we are like the children of Jacob in our journey, like the Samaritans in our reception by others of our motherland tribe, and like all, we are children of God for whom a new light dawned. This is part of my story and how I connect with the story of God. I want to know your story and I want to know how your story connects with my story. 

Will you tell your story too?
Fr Bill+ 

Made in the Image and Likeness of God

““God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.’””

— Genesis 1:26 - - The Tanach, Jewish Publication Society tr. [1917].

I had a professor once who spoke in what seemed to me to be riddles. “Thing as thingness is” and “The quiddity of the thisness and the thatness,” he would say. It has been a while since he spoke those and other memorable phrases, but they did stick and I have come to understand some of what he was saying. I do not know if he considered himself Christian, but it seems to me that his criticism of our perception of the separateness of things and our treatment of others as “others” is also a Christian criticism of the way our modern world is presented and the way we moderns too often live. Early in the book Genesis, we read that we are all made in the image of God. That first and primary statement of our identify is that we all have one identity. It is not that some people in some places are and others are not. It is not that some people know or do or profess the right things and therefore are in the image of God, and that others who do not are not. It is simply that God made all - male and female; black, brown, white, yellow, red; Jew, Hindu, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist; theist, atheist - in the image of God.

What I find so profoundly unifying in this common identity is that God not only made us in God’s image, but that God also signed humanity with the name of God. Although the scriptures give many names for God, the primary name is YHWH for the God who said my name is “I am.” YHWH, the “I am” is pure being, existence, and reality. We human beings carry the name of God in our physical being. Written in the Hebrew language and turned vertically, can you see it? You might try tracing God’s name on your body. Trace your thumb across your forehead and down the center of your face, then across your shoulders and down your arms. Next trace from your neck to your waist, then from hip to hip and down each leg. You have now written God’s name, which is God’s essence and being, on your being. 

Genesis 1:26 continues on to say that we are made in God’s likeness. The likeness of God is the way that we live and it is related to but independent from our image. Image is, if you will, a given, but likeness is a choice. Like identical twins look the same but can have different personalities, being in the common image of God is no guarantee that we will act in the common likeness of God. Some will and others will not. God’s likeness is justice, mercy, compassion, peace, and holiness. God’s likeness is to defend the orphan, the widow, and the alien. The prophet Micah put being in the likeness of God this way: “And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Some do this and some do not. Perhaps seeing the first half of Genesis 1:26 is necessary for the living out the second. Perhaps only when we see God’s image in ourselves and our common image, and that all are signed with the name of God, will we be able to live into God’s likeness, no longer divided into “thisness and thatness,” “the us and the them,” “those who God loves and those whom God hates.”  There is a Jewish legend that says an angel of God goes before all of us saying, “Behold, the image of God.” It is as much an announcement of who we are as it is a command to be observant of who others are as well. It is a hopeful thought and one with which I wish you a Happy New Year of living in the image and likeness of God.

Fr Bill+
 

The Main Thing

Fr. Bill Breedlove

This past weekend I had the surprise opportunity to lead worship in the Chapel of the Transfiguration at Kanuga as part of our 95th annual Diocesan Convention. The Gospel text for that service came from the 21st chapter of the Gospel according to John. It was the lakeside scene where Jesus asked Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” It appears that Jesus wanted Peter’s full attention because he did that thing some mothers do when call us by our first and middle name. “Mary Katherine!” Having thus gotten our attention, they say something we should take to heart and head. So it is with Jesus. “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” And as if to make sure Peter knows what he is most to love, Jesus asked Peter twice more, “Do you love me?” 

Much had transpired between the last meal they shared in the upper room and fish breakfast they shared that morning of questioning. Peter had said things and made promises he could not take back. Peter and the others had run away from the fight for God’s reign in this world. While they were grieving, others were probably feeling some relief or even joy that this troublesome young rabbi had finally been silenced, his movement snuffed out, and that his followers were in disarray. This is the way things often appear to us in a lifeworld of winner and losers. Winners celebrate and losers wonder what went wrong. Winners claim the trophy, losers are forgotten. I wonder if those on both sides ever hear Jesus asking them, “Do you love me?” “Do you love me more than your trophy, and the adoring crowds, and your championship rings?” And to those who are the losers, “Do you love me more than your need to win?” “Do you love me more than your need to be right?” 

I recall the difficult time the church in South Carolina faced in 2003 when Gene Robinson, an openly gay and partnered man, was elected Bishop of New Hampshire. Having been duly elected by the people of New Hampshire to be their chief pastor, that election went before the General Convention for the necessary standing committee assents. The leadership of the Diocese of South Carolina was strongly opposed. There were winners and there were losers. Winners celebrated and the losers wondered how this could be. Our rector had to deal with the fallout in a parish that was not of one mind and where there were many who wanted the church to make some strong proclamation and take some strong action in response. I know where he stood at that time on matters of human sexuality and I also know that he was seeking to hold together a church family he loved under conditions not of his making. I recall him saying that the matter was important, but it was not and would not be our primary concern. It was not the main thing and that we would keep on “main-thinging.” What is the main thing? It is how we answer the question, “Do you love me more than these?” I hope our answer is “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you more than these,” that we will continue to keep that the main thing, and that in first affirming our love of Jesus above all things, we will continue to be true to our baptismal promises to seek and serve Christ in all persons, to love our neighbor as ourselves, to respect the dignify of all people, and to repent when we fail. 

Grace and peace,

Fr Bill+ 

Storytelling

In the past couple years, I have been working on recovering my story: who I am and where I come from. It turns out that you can find a lot of free genealogical information on the Internet. My paternal grandmother lived in a textile mill town in the upstate of South Carolina, one of those with company owned houses, company stores, and company scrip. My paternal grandfather was born in California and his paternal grandparents are listed in a census report as “born in Ireland.” Through one descent reckoning, I am related to an English Congregationalist who is one of the co-founders of Norwalk, Connecticut. Norman Rockwell is one of my distant relatives. On my mother’s side, my ancestors were part of a great 18th century migration of German Roman Catholics to what later became Yugoslavia. It is quite possible that I am related to the Dupont family and people originating from Alsace-Lorraine. I recently completed a test of my ethnicity and found out to my surprise that my DNA comes from all over Europe. I grew up with stories from my mom’s German side and later found that my father claimed to be of Irish descent. But DNA testing showed much more variety. By far, the greatest proportion of my DNA, about 56%, is what is characteristic of people who have lived a long time in Britain. According to this test, I am 13% Western European, 10% Eastern European, 7% both of DNA characteristic long time residents of Ireland and of Greece/Italy, as well as having trace amounts of DNA from the Iberian Peninsula and Scandinavia. Most delightful, I found that I have 2% DNA characteristic of European Jews. I think my ancestors got around, at least around in Europe, and mixed it up with diverse peoples. So, pass a pint of ale and the baklava, and Mazel tov!

While I have been doing this investigating I have also been thinking about the story of the Bible. It is the story of God’s people. It is our story - yours and mine - and if you read it as an on-going story, you see that the life events, the triumphs and the tragedies are telling a story that extends beyond the pages of the book. In my family story, I see a migration of a people into a promised land where they became prosperous only to have world event impose tragedy and death, and then a exodus back to ancestral lands. There is a story to tell, and I am working on recovering that story. My hope is that I will be able to one day visit the Holy Land and experience first hand that part of my story, to learn more about the story of the Bible by being there. My hope is that I will be able to visit the villages where my German relatives lived and died in what is now Serbia. And I hope to pilgrimage to the Abbey of Iona to explore more of the Celtic spirituality that is part of my story as a Briton and an Episcopalian, and that is part of the spirituality of a people who lived in a land that looks at times something like our part of God’s kingdom.

We all have a story to tell and the necessary part of telling that is, of course, to know your story. Do you know your story? Do you know how your story is the on-going story of God’s people? I would like to know mine and yours, and our story.

Grace and peace,

Fr. Bill

Finding Our Center

Fr. Bill Breedlove

It was years ago that someone brought to my attention that the first four of the Ten Commandments regard our relationship with God and the next six concern our relationships with others. I found that helpful at the time, seeing that those commandments framed the expectations for all my spiritual and natural relationships. I also found it helpful for seeing the heart of God - that my relationship with God and God’s with me had a kind priority over other relationships, that God’s heart desires that, but also that those other relationships were pretty important as well, and not just to me but also to God. They are so important, in fact, that God thought we needed commandments to guide and protect them, and even more commandments than given for our spiritual relationship with God. I continue to find truth in that sense of a God-first priority because I have found so many times that my relationship with others is affected by how much I give toward my relationship with God. If I am facing a challenging situation that requires extra grace and love, it matters that I have first spent time in relationship with God who is the source of all grace and love. As I have said publicly before, “You cannot give away what you do not have.” Making that daily or more check in with God and keeping that the priority is key not just to keeping those first four commandments, but to being prepared to keep the next six and for all our dealings with others. 

As Christians, we often seek the pre-incarnate Christ in the Hebrew Scriptures, and so in this God-us/us-other framework of the Ten Commandments we see both the vertical dimension and horizontal dimension of his cross. We recall that in Christ, God came down to earth, and taking on human form joined with our humanity, lifting us up and making of children of God and
co-heirs of the Kingdom. God is God and we are not, but we are now joined through Christ with God and others at the vertical center of the cross. We also remember the words and life of Jesus. He taught that the law is summarized as loving God and loving our neighbor as our self. Loving
our neighbor is like loving God. There should be no reservation and no distinction in loving a neighbor or in loving one neighbor over another. In so many ways he taught that status differences and all things that divide us would be overturned in God’s Kingdom. On the horizontal dimension that represents our relationships with others, there is no one on the left of us, no one on the right, no one who is to us “other.” On the cross, it is not just the vertical dimension that collapses to the center, but the horizontal does as well. All are the same in God’s eyes and so it should be all for all who are Christians. Finding our center means that we journey daily to the center of the cross through prayer and it means that we treat others with the God-given love we receive in our daily prayers. It means embracing what God has done for us in Christ and our co-equal identity as children and heirs of all that is our Father’s Kingdom, and that we in turn love and share without distinction. 

Blessed be our God,
Fr Bill+ 

How Well Do You Know the Bible?

Fr. Bill Breedlove

On my recent trip to Honduras, the children and staff of the children’s home put on an end of week performance of skits and dances and music. This time, we the North Americans were involved in several of the parts including one activity that involved balloons filled with flour. This was a Bible trivia game where the winning team got to pick out a member of the losing team a burst a balloon over some poor soul’s head. Oh, the good fortune to have a priest on your team, or at least someone who knows their Bible. Here is what is was like. Imagine being told the consequence of winning and losing, and then being told the question in Spanish knowing that some members of the other team understand Spanish and that others like me had to wait for the English interpretation. Get competitive, get anxious, and Go! “Name 5 disciples.” Members of the other team and some of mine jump on “Matthew, Mark, Luke, John ...Uh?” How about “Peter, James, John, Andrew and Philip?” It is good to be a priest. So I am wondering how we would do? 

According to Genesis, in how many days did God create the heavens and the earth and all things? How many sons did Adam and Eve have? How old was Moses when he led the Israelites into the promised land? Was King David was the first, second, or third king of Israel? Now a couple true or false questions. True or false: “God helps those who help themselves” is found in the Old Testament book Third Hezekiah? True or false: “Jesus’ mom Mary had a sister named Martha who lived in Bethany.” Here is one on the ministry of Jesus. In the miracle of multiplying the loaves and fish, were there seven or twelve baskets of leftovers? Last one. “What kind of car did all the disciples ride in to the Pentecost gathering?”

So, how did you do? I have much still to learn about the Bible and the more I learn the more I realize I still do not know. Fortunately for me, that just encourages me to keep learning. Perhaps on these warm summer days, when it sometimes gets too hot to do much else, you will take time to read and study a part of the Bible with which you are not that familiar. I know God will honor that with some revelation to gladden your spirit. 

Blessed be those who read and study the word of God,

Fr Bill+ 

Answers: 6 days; 3 sons; 2nd king; false - not in the bible and there is no book 3rd Hezekiah; false; both 7 and 12 are correct; the King James version says they were “all in one accord.” 

What Would Jesus Tweet?

Fr. Bill Breedlove

I may be in the minority opinion on this, but it seems to me that what we call social media is misnamed. To be social media, one might think that whatever that media are, they should have the effect of enhancing our connectivity and deepening our relationships, not making ourselves and our relationship more disconnected and shallow. Unfortunately, that is what appears to be true and it is getting ugly. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, to name a few, have become battlegrounds to sharing propaganda, lies, smears, and whatever else might be useful for attacking and diminishing others. The shouting and vitriol, the hyperbole, the partisanship, and the celebrity culture that characterize our 24 hours “news” have infected our social media. Contrary to the headlines, that particular opinion piece by some partisan with weak “facts” did not “completely destroy” or “eviscerate” anything or anyone. So, hold that endzone victory dance and don’t click that like or share button. Would it not be better for people to sit down together and have civil face-to-face conversations about public issues and leave social media for videos of cute animals and vacation photos? I think we made some progress in the past breaking down walls that separated us. Much of that came through direct encounters, face-toface meetings, and efforts at integrating people who were different. I guess it is both harder to be ugly to others when you are looking into their eyes and harder to maintain stereotypes and prejudices when you find out that you are not so different after all. But, when we retreat into social media and we do not have to deal directly with others, we seem to forget our better selves and our manners, and it becomes just too easy to demean others and ourselves. Imagine what things might have been like had social media been around in the first century. Internet memes questioning Jesus’ parentage, a tweet from Caiaphas about how he completely destroyed Jesus one night, and Facebook posts about heartless Pharisees might have been common but not the worst of it. I wonder what Jesus would have Tweeted. No, I don’t. “Love your enemies” “Break bread and remember” #Savior #Yahweh1 #Princeofpeace #Lovewins. If we really are people who claim to be Christian, we should be that everywhere. Even on social media. While I can imagine Jesus posting lots of selfies, like with lepers and demoniacs and Cleveland Browns fans, I cannot imagine him abusing others to make his point or responding unlovingly to someone else’s bad information. He met with people where they were, shared a meal with them, and taught some of them God’s way of loving all. For those who got it, they got it. And those who did not, he loved them too. Be like Jesus and let a shared meal, a glass of wine, or a cup of coffee be the social media that connects us the way he connected with people.

Grace and peace,

Fr Bill+ 

Grace and Hope

The long process of electing the next bishop for our diocese is coming toward its conclusion which will happen with the election on June 25. As part of that process, the final four candidates have been in the diocese for a series of talks called “walkabouts.” These are held throughout the diocese and provide a chance for members of the diocese to see and hear from the candidates. For this election, at least, questions were taken in advance. In brief, what one would see and hear at a walkabout are first the four candidates together with all those attending for a short personal introduction from each candidate. Following are four breakout sessions, where each candidate appears individually to answer randomly selected questions from those previously submitted. After maybe fifteen minutes, time is called and candidates rotate to the next breakout session. Within the sixty to eighty minutes they are speaking to those four breakout groups, candidates average answering thirty or more questions in total. All this is without knowing beforehand what might be asked, without much chance at all to establish rapport with their audience, and without a break. I feel for and pray for these candidates. To get to this point has already been a long journey for them and even if they, as they do, speak of the blessing in the journey, this is a physically, mentally, and spiritually taxing experience. These public performances, done not just once, but multiple times and more than once a day in geographically distance locations. So I feel for and I pray for them.

I went to two of the walkabout gatherings: at Christ School in Arden on the opening night and the next day at noon in Waynesville at Grace Episcopal. Again, I feel for and I pray for these folks. Some were impressive, very impressive, on the opening night. Others struggled, maybe because of weariness, maybe because the format did not bring out their strengths. Regardless, all of them brought to these meetings cause for hope for our Episcopal church and the mission of God in the world. Good and creative things are happening in the parishes and dioceses where our candidates are from. The Gospel is being proclaimed in word and deed, the ministries of the church are bringing us into contact with groups historically underserved, and new ways of being the church are thriving along with the continuing vitality of our traditional ways of being. The energy, ideas, passion and love of Jesus shown by all our candidates were simply uplifting. I went the next day hoping that those who did not show their best at Arden would have a better day in Waynesville. In golf, a bad shot is sometimes forgiven and the person is given another try. We call that a mulligan. I play bad golf and know about mulligans. They are a form of grace and I believe God gives us plenty of those so we should extend them as well as receive them. I feel for and pray for our candidates and offer them grace - a holy mulligan, for all, but especially for those I thought struggled at bit at the walkabouts I attended. The Lord knows I need one and maybe you do as well. I have my favorite candidate and I encourage you to visit the diocesan website and review all their written materials, and that you do so with thanksgiving in your heart and with eyes full of grace for these folks who have been faithful in listening to the Holy Spirit.

Blessed be our God in his angels and his saints,

Fr Bill+ 

Honduras 2017

“As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

— John 20:21b

It’s a new world. That is fundamentally the message of Easter. In the resurrection, Jesus is the victory of God and has established the reign of God in God’s new creation. The old creation has become the new creation and we along with it are made new. In the reading for the second Sunday of Easter, we hear that Jesus comes among his friends and speaks peace to them. Although the doors are closed and locked, Jesus shows them that there will be no place in the new creation where doors of any kind will be closed and locked to his presence. Then, in what some call John’s account of the Pentecost moment, he breathes the Holy Spirit onto them as he commissions them to do the work opening closed and locked doors and to carry the good news into the world.

In the summer of 2015, a group from Good Shepherd was so sent to work with the people at the LAMB Institute in Honduras. Speaking for the group, I think I am accurate in saying it was a transforming experience. How could it have been otherwise? “As the Father sent me, so I send you.” Something of the old will necessarily die, and something of the new will come to life. It is death and resurrection experienced in this life as part of God’s kingdom now present. Doors that are closed will be opened and new life will be found. This is true for us as well as for those we meet and those we serve.

A second mission team is now in formation for our February 4-11, 2017 return trip to Honduras. If you are interested in going, speak to the members of our first mission team to get a better idea of the joys and challenges of the experience: Susan Morgan, Jane Oliver, Amy and Gil Nicolson, Kanute Rarey, Suzi Herbert, and Jim Reynolds. A first meeting for all interested in learning more about the mission trip will be held in the undercroft on June 5 following the 10:45 service.

Grace, peace, and Easter blessings to you,

Fr Bill+