Vol 9 Issue 30
Lent - Easter 2016 A.D.
Stay with us Lord For it is nearly evening and the day is far spent
Editorial
“SPOTLIGHT”
Dear Readers, The Season of Lent focuses on combating sin through fasting and
prayer with our eyes on the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Sin is deadly in as much it severs our relationship with God. Yet through the story of redemption--the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus, we are assured of Divine forgiveness. During this season, two movies tell tales of sin. One is “Spotlight.” The duty of Spotlight (the Boston Globe’s investigative arm) is to expose cover ups of preying priests of a Catholic diocese who robbed the innocence of many children, over decades. The movie speaks of the shocking discovery of the pervasiveness of this sin and the church authorities constant effort in concealing the shame. When a church fails to protect its innocents, the cry of the innocents reaches the heavens. Eternal damnation is a sure thing for those who fail to protect them. In Jesus’ own words: It would be better for those who scandalize one of these little ones…. On the other hand, the story of Risen focuses on the story of a nonbeliever’s search for the missing body of the Risen Jesus, the Son of the Living God. Believing in Him and surrendering our lives to Him would mean acknowledging one’s offenses and beg God’s forgiveness and mercy which is so readily available - rich and free. Articles include Fr. Andrew’s story on ‘sin as refusal to love and be loved’, Brother Rod Umlauf ’s article on Sacrament of Baptism through which we are dead to sin and alive in Christ, Canon Patrick Comerford’s “Samuel Johnson the lay Anglican” and T.T. Carter’s excerpt on the gift of Priesthood communicating the salvific grace of God through the Holy Mass. Enjoy the story of our church family as we continue to focus on God’s mercy and bring people home to the heart of Christ. Grace & Peace of the Risen Lord,
+Leo & Holly Michael
Holy Trinity Anglican Seminary welcomes you! Holy Trinity Anglican Seminary (HTAS) is owned and administrated by the Holy Catholic Church Anglican Rite of the diocese of Holy Trinity and Great Plains. It’s location in Kansas City, mid-America makes travel easy to meet the campus schedule. It forms part of a long tradition of the Holy Catholic Church of Anglican Rite and continues this important work of evangelization of the Kingdom of Christ in the United States of America and beyond its mission territories. With the advancement of communications, Holy Trinity Anglican Seminary will offer online and on campus training for its students. Holy Trinity Anglican Seminary firmly believes that Good Formation will ensure FRUITFUL Ministry. Keeping in mind the Great Commission of the Lord, HTAS will train its candidates in strong Scriptural foundation, Sacramental worship in the Apostolic Tradition as enunciated in the conservative Anglican Tradition. With qualified faculty and commitment to the cause of priestly formation, Holy Trinity Anglican Seminary is set to impart the traditional Anglican orthodoxy even in the emerging social and pastoral challenges. The seminary will also offer courses for lay students as well. The Seminary primarily serves the Holy Catholic Church Anglican Rite while students belonging to other denominations are welcome to participate in our program of study and reflection. The Holy Trinity Anglican Seminary will soon be accredited with a view to conferring the Bachelor’s Degree in Theology. Holy Catholic Church pays special attention to the formation of her ministers. Church directives require that candidate to the priesthood undergo a minimum of three years devoted to an intense and specifically priestly formation. These directives are implemented at this seminary, with particular emphasis on the Anglican traditions of the Holy Catholic Church.
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on SIN & REDEMPTION
SPOTLIGHT tells the riveting true story of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Boston Globe investigation that would rock the city and cause a crisis in one of the world’s oldest and most trusted institutions. When the newspaper’s tenacious “Spotlight” team of reporters delves into allegations of abuse in the Catholic Church, their year-long investigation uncovers a decades-long cover-up at the highest levels of Boston’s religious, legal, and government establishment, touching off a wave of revelations around the world. Directed by Academy Award-nominee Tom McCarthy, SPOTLIGHT is a tense investigative dramatic-thriller, tracing the steps to one of the biggest coverups in modern times. (rottentomatoes.com) RISEN: Risen is the epic Biblical story of the Resurrection, as told through the eyes of a non-believer. Clavius (Joseph Fiennes), a powerful Roman military tribune, and his aide, Lucius (Tom Felton), are tasked with solving the mystery of what happened to Jesus in the weeks following the crucifixion, in order to disprove the rumors of a risen Messiah and prevent an uprising in Jerusalem. (http:// www.risen-movie.com/)
Join the Morning and Evening Prayer Wake up with God. You can join the prayer conference in the rhythm of daily morning and evening prayer. We have dedicated clergy and postulants faithfully hosting the prayer call daily at 7:00 am and 7:00 pm central time. Ask your clergy for the phone number.
In the Koinonia masthead, the circle with the cross in the center symbolizes the paten and the diverse elements which form a whole. The Mosaic represents the great cloud of witnesses and the church tradition. The red in the letters represents the blood of Christ with the font comprised of individual pieces of letters that are not joined until the blood unifies them. Koinonia is the official publication of the Anglican Province of the Holy Catholic Church-Anglican Rite (HCCAR) aka Anglican Rite Catholic Church. It is published quarterly at St. James Anglican Church, 8107 S. Holmes Road, Kansas City, MO 64131. Phone: 816.361.7242 Fax: 816.361.2144. Editors: The Rt. Rev. Leo Michael & Holly Michael, Koinonia header: Phil Gilbreath; email: koinonia@holycatholicanglican.org or visit us on the web at: www.holycatholicanglican.org Cover picture: Photo of the painting of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, The Supper at Emmaus, 1601, oil on canvas, National Art Gallery London by Bishop Leo Michael.
“Father,forgive them; for they know not what they do.� Rt. Rev. Kenneth Kinner HCCAR
Photo Courtesy: http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/OnlineLibrary/photos/images/h97000/h97320.jpg
A
convoy of four U.S. Navy ships, screened by destroyers, zigzagged across the Pacific Ocean from California to Eniwetok Atoll, a sea mount some 1500 miles S. W. of Hawaii. It was the Spring of 1948, Operation Sandstone was to detonate three atomic bombs for scientific study. Ken Kinner was an Aerographers Mate 3rd Class (weatherman) in a division on the CVE 115, U.S.S. Bairoko, an escort aircraft carrier. The Lord was about to reveal to me, two examples of the ongoing results of human sin. In 1947, President Harry Truman issued an 'executive order' racially integrating the U. S. military. Accordingly, ship's company included about 150 black sailors who were no longer restricted to being 'stewards', but were engaged in all of the occupations of naval operations. The 'spirit of evil' infected a number of both white and black sailors to engage in anger, jealousy, fear, name calling and occasional fist fighting. The efficient operation of the ship was compromised. While the ships were anchored in the atoll,
preparations were being made on land for the explosions. Racial hatred exploded on the Bairoko. The captain made a decision that would be politically incorrect today; he had an idea to teach all of ship's company the logical extension of these sins. The airplane elevator was lowered from the flight deck to the hangar deck; two lines (ropes) were placed around the elevator making a type of large boxing ring. Black sailors could select ten volunteers to fight; white sailors could select ten as well. These twenty men were called to fight out the hatred; there were no boxing gloves; no time limit, no rules. The entire ship's company was required to watch the contest. What happened then was one of the most vicious, ugly displays of humanity that I have ever seen. Punching, kicking, gouging, banging heads on the deck. In a few minutes, perhaps ten or fifteen, the Master At Arms blew a whistle to stop the fight. All twenty men needed medical attention; a few were in life threatening condition. Bleeding from nose and eyes, crippled over by pain, unable to stand, crawling in agony on the deck, many incoherent. Over the PA system the captain then challenged the entire crew to
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think carefully about what they had witnessed. This, he said, is the extreme result of unbridled hatred; the result of imagined racial superiority, the demeaning of human beings different from yourself. The further conclusion, he said, would be the physical death of these men. “Before this spectacle you did not know what you were doing to each other. Now you have seen the logical result of your prejudiced attitudes. Is this the way to live your lives?” Then a small miracle took place. Black and white sailors were shaking hands, some crying, many apologizing. For all the time that I remained on this carrier the entire crew acted with dignity and respect. “Father,forgive them; for they know not what they do.” There was now more to learn. We were nine miles from the atomic explosions With our upper atmospheric weather data, wind direction and speed, we believed we would escape the radioactivity. Not so! The first 'bomb', on 14 April, yielded 37 kilotons of power. It was detonated in the darkness before dawn. We wore dark glasses taped to our faces, so black that we could not see a 200 watt light bulb in front of us. Yet the intense light made it appear to be daytime. Our task was to measure and record the rate of climb and extension of the dust cloud. When the dust cleared an unbelievable sight was before us. All trees, vegetation, and buildings on the island had totally disappeared - they were literally atomized out of existence. Even the surface sand was 'glazed' into weird forms. With two more explosions of 49 kilotons and 19 kilotons ending in May, I realized that mankind now had enough power to destroy all that exists on this beautiful plant Earth. Humans could blow up the Garden of Eden. I could not accept this view without acting. My decision to seek Holy Orders was now confirmed. Following Jesus Christ is the only answer! “Father, forgive us, we know not what we do.” Fast forward to the 21st Century. In this grand ‘Garden of Eden’ we see all around logical results of falling into the temptations of Satan. The seven deadly sins result in the suffering and deaths of so many of the Lord’s Images. Lord, reveal to us the long range results of what we think and do. Witnessing drug and alcohol addicts seeking recovery through the “CR = Celebrate Recovery” a program totally based upon the Beatitudes from Mat
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thew. I learned that the long range result of addiction has three possible outcomes: 1.- you destroy yourself {death}, 2.- you destroy other people, { they die} 3.- you submit to Jesus Christ and Recover. Father, forgive me, I had no idea what I was doing. Given all of the above, here is a Lenten discipline: I pray to you Lord to show me the long range results of my sins.
For my PRIDE - give me a vision of the discouraged souls that I have damaged. For my ANGER - show me the people fallen by my hatred. For my COVETOUSNESS - let me see the poor that I have not helped. For my LUST- reveal to me an injured spouse, a confused and broken son or daughter.
For my ENVY - show me my selfish, self imposed misery. For my SLOTH- give me a view of what good I could have done For my GLUTTONY - help me realize how I am destroying my health. Where do I go with these considerations; these revelations?
ONE PLACE! THE FOOT OF THE CROSS ! LISTEN TO HIS WORD ! Look up at this MAN!
-- - -- You PUT HIM THERE! “Father forgive him/her, for they know not what they do.” Where do I then go? To the Upper Room in Jerusalem on Sunday evening!
SEE THE RISEN LORD
“WE have our advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, who is just; he is the sacrifice that takes our sins away, and not only ours, but the whole worlds.” I John 2:2 Jerusalem Bible. WELCOME TO THE VICTORY! <><
SIN: REFUSAL TO LOVE AND TO BE LOVED Excerpts from “FROM A SPIRITUAL PERSPECTIVE: LIFE IS MEANINGFUL”
by Fr. Andrew Amirtharaj Ph D.
W
hat really is sin? The Bible uses different terms while speaking of sin: Hattah (missing the mark), Pesha (rebellion), Awon(iniquity/guilt), Hamartia(rejection of God’s norms/condition of enmity to God). Through the use of these terms, the intention of the biblical au-
thors is not to present a deep systematic and theological knowledge of sin, but rather to present a list of different kinds and degrees of sins that are in essence, a rejection of God and God’s laws. Sin in the Bible is seen as a power active in the individual and the universe at large, a power that is in rebellion against God. The different and
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various sins are an expression of that rebellious power against God. Thus, for example, sin in the Old Testament is perceived as revolting against the precept of God (Gen 3:3-6), as alienation from God, others, themselves, and nature (Gen 3:8-24), as rebellion against God (Num 14:9, Deut 28:15, Is 1:2), a contemptuous spurning of God (2 Sam 12:10, Is 1:4; 43:24;), foolishness (Deut 3 2:6; Proverb 1: 7), abomination (Lev 16: 16; 18: 26; Jdg 20:6), and abuse of God’s gift of freedom (Sir 15:11-20); from the point of the covenant, sin is unfaithfulness and adultery (Is 24:5; 48:8; )Jer 3:20; 9: 1-2; Ez: 16:59; Hos 3: 1) ... In the New Testament, sin is rejection of Jesus and his Kingdom (Mt 10:33; 12:30; Jn 15:23-25; Mt 4:17); it is turning away from God (Mk 1:4; 15; Mt: 3:7-10; Lk 3:7), disobedience to God (Lk 15:21), lawlessness (Mt 7:23; 13:41), rejection of God’s offer of love and forgiveness through Jesus Christ, and refusal to enter into relationship with God; it is refusal to repent, believe, refusal to live by the Spirit of God On 16:9; Mk 3;29,); for St. Paul, sin is a universal force that is hostile to God and his Kingdom, it is a human condition (Rom 3:9); for St. John, sin: is a refusal to believe in Christ and to listen to his word On 16:9, Jn 15:22; I Jn 4: 15-16), it is lawlessness (I Jn 3:4), rejection of God’s will and life outside Christ (I Jn 3:6) and refusal to love and be loved (I Jn4:16) ... While the Bible presents different kinds and degrees of sin, theology, divorced from spirituality, developed the act-centered, juridical, and legalistic approach to moral life that in turn gave rise to a comprehension of sin as breaking God-given laws. Such an understanding of sin finds its classical expression in St. Augustine, for whom sin is “anything said, done, or desired contrary to the eternal law” and “turning away from God and a turning toward the creature.” It is in returning to the Scriptures as “the soul of theology” that sin also began to be understood in the context of Christian anthropology, which perceives the human person as the image of God. Today, with the renewed call for integration of theology and spirituality, sin, at its core, is understood as a
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refusal to enter into a relationship with God, a negative response to the invitation of God’s offer of love - a refusal to be loved and to love. It is only in this relationship with God that we find the meaning and realization of the ‘image of God’ in us. Sin is defacing the image of God in us. ‘No’ to God is to find one’s identity, purpose, and meaning on one’s own. Sin is to search for the meaning of self apart from God, solely relying on oneself and the externals. Since the focus of this book is on the spiritual nature of life, this chapter, which focuses on the understanding of sin from a spiritual perspective, will not elaborate on the theological nature of sin, but it does presuppose and is based on the theological understanding of sin as espoused by the Church. Our interest in this chapter will be to understand the meaning of sin mostly from a spiritual point of view. For this let us turn to the parable of the Prodigal Son. Sin is First Committed in the Heart Because of the relational dimension of the human person, sin is first committed in the heart. Both the Old and the New Testaments point to the need to go beyond the letter of the law and to focus on the heart, where sin is first committed. Sin is associated with the heart because it is a failure to love God. God does not look at the externals but at the heart of the person (I Sam 16: 7). Sin is to harden one’s heart to God’s love (Is 29: 13 ). The Psalmist prays for a clean heart (Ps 51:10). For Jeremiah and Ezekiel, the new law will be written on the hearts of the people Jer 31:33-34; Ez 11: 19; 36:25-27). Jesus places emphasis on the need to go beyond the external acts to the heart, where the seeds of actions are rooted (Lk 6:45). Physical act, which is breaking of the law, is the extension of the thought that occurs in the heart. It is in the heart that the person chooses sin. Sin, which is already committed in the heart, is manifested in the external act. Thus, for Jesus, murder and adultery are extensions of anger and lust in one’s heart: You have heard that it was said to the men of old, ‘You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that every one who
is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; ... You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Mt 5:21-2 7). While the commandments are on the level of acts (dos and don’ts), the Beatitudes are on the level of the interiority of the person. The Sermon on the Mount is an invitation to go beyond external commandments and focus on the thoughts that arise in the heart of the person. When sin is committed in the heart, we fail to be what we are meant to be: a reflection of God’s image in us. Sin defaces the ‘image of God’ in us. Sin is a reversal of what we are called to be. Sin is a failure to return to the center and live from the center. Sin is Refusal to be the Image of God in Us God has created us in God’s own image and likeness (Gen 1:27), breathing into the nostrils of the human person the very breath of God’s life. The Hebrew word for breath (ruah) is the same as Spirit, i.e., God has breathed His very Spirit into the human person. Hence, it can be affirmed that the core of our existence is constituted by the very presence of God within us because God is the ultimate ground of our existence. Paul Tillich is right when he says that God is the depth of life, the ultimate concern, the source of being and the ground of all being. God is not an existence alongside other existences, but is the ground of all existence. In the words of Karl Ralmer, God is the ultimate depth and radical essence of every human experience. These human experiences that serve as ‘signals of transcendence’ point to the mystical center within us, and the deepest human experience enables us to acknowledge the presence of God within us, God who is the core, the center, and the ground of our existence. It is only in God, as the Bible says, “ ... we live and move and have our being’(Acts 17:28). It is impossible to conceive of a meaningful and fulfilling existence and life apart from God. Christian vision holds the different kinds and degrees of sin are a result and consequence of darkening the image of God in us. When God’s image in us is defaced, then racism, discrimination, caste, religious fanaticism and fundamentalism, violence, homicide, domination, manipulation and exploitation, abuse of power and authority, arrogance, domestic violence, sexism, rape, torture, sex trade, genocide, human trafficking, malnutrition and poverty, etc., not only abound, but are also justified and accepted. Is it possible to live the image of God in us? Yes,
Christ through his incarnation has shown that in freedom, it is possible to raise what is human to a supreme degree of spiritualization. Christ has given human nature a new dimension, a transcendent humanism that allows the human person to reach the fullness of that the human person is totally oriented towards God and is inseparable from the ultimate end for which the human person is created. God has absolute sway over the self because it is rooted in the Transcendental principle. Drawn out of nothing, the self is nothing by itself, is only capable of being filled up by the presence of God. Being a ‘representation of the absolute’ the self is drawn to the absolute. The self is called to an intimacy with God, which is its eternal destiny. Therefore, the real challenge is to move from perceiving the self as the center of its own reality, knowledge, and value and to see it essentially as the image and likeness of God, called to experience oneness, intimacy, and union with God. If it is only in the realization of the image of God within us that we find the ultimate meaning of our life then the human person can be understood only in the light of what God is: God is love (I Jn 4:8). God, who is love, creates everything out of love and for love. As Bede Griffiths points out, we are an effect of the Trinitarian love: “Also each person’s creation is a movement of love. The Father wills us, loves us into existence. He conceives us in the Word and wills us in the Spirit, and he expresses his love in bringing forth. We are an effect of that divine love.” If God is love and we are an effect of the divine love then as St. John says, “No one born of God commits sin; for God’s nature abides in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God” (I Jn 3:9). The human person is the image of God on account of his/her capacity to love and to know God in the measure in which he/she is able to realize his/her ability to love. It is only through love that the human person becomes capable of realizing himself/herself in the relationship of love. It is not a pious or a sentimental exhortation to recognize the divine in the human person, but a spiritual imperative to realize that God has created the human person through love and for love. Therefore, sin is refusal to be loved by God and to love God. It is a negative response to God’s invitation to enter into a relationship with God. Sin is rebellion of what we are meant to be - children in the image of the Father who is love. Sin is refusal to live by the relational dimension, which is the image of God in us. In the words of Maximus Confessor: Although the Fathers understood humankind to be made in the image of God, sin was believed to have the effect of obscuring and darkening that image. The effect of
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sin, therefore, was to disrupt theoria - the contemplation and knowledge of God. As a result, all these aforementioned ‘disharmonies’ - be they cosmic, social or anthropological - were in the end only a reflection of the primary disorder which wounded the parresia, the relationships between human beings and God. The different kinds and degrees of sin are a result and consequence of darkening the image of God in us. When God’s image in us is defaced, then racism, discrimination, caste, religious fanaticism and fundamentalism, violence, homicide, domination, manipulation and exploitation, abuse of power and authority, arrogance, domestic violence, sexism, rape, torture, sex trade, genocide, human trafficking, malnutrition and poverty, etc., not only abound, but are also justified and accepted. Is it possible to live the image of God in us? Yes, Christ through his incarnation has shown that in freedom, it is possible to raise what is human to a supreme degree of spiritualization. Christ has given human nature a new dimension, a transcendent humanism that allows the human person to reach the fullness of being. It is through Jesus Christ that God has fully revealed Himself to humankind and through Christ’s incarnation that God has not only united himself with the human person, but also raised human dignity to a higher level. Yes, it is possible to say ‘yes’ to God, because Christ has shown us the way. The Meaning of Sin in the Parable of the Prodigal Son This wonderful parable, known as the gospel within the gospel, is indeed ‘good news’ in a nutshell in the Book of ‘Good News.’ The parable unfolds the various elements of salvation: the meaning of sin, the consequence of sin, repentance, conversion, confession of sins, reconciliation, and celebration. Jesus said: There was a man who had two sons; and the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that falls to me.’ And he divided his living between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took his journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in loose living. And when he had spent everything, a great famine arose in that country, and he began to be in want. So he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have fed on the pods that the swine ate; and no one gave him anything (Lk 15:11-16). When the younger son asks for his share of the property, he was not just demanding his share of the material property, but in fact, he was wanting and desiring to break off his relationship with his father and
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brother. Normally, children inherit parental property following the death of their parents. The younger son, by asking for his share of property while his father was still alive, is effectively saying to his father, “I cannot wait for you to die to have my share of the property.” By demanding his share of the property, he seeks and desires to sever his relationship as a son to his father. Henri J.M. Nouwen, in his The Return of the Prodigal Son, citing the work of Kenneth Bailey, points out: For over fifteen years I have been asking people of all walks of life from Morocco to India and from Turkey to the Sudan about the implications of a son’s request for his inheritance while the father is still living. The answer has always been emphatically the same ... the conversation runs as follows: Has anyone ever made such a request in your village? Never! Could anyone ever make such a request? Impossible! If anyone ever did, what would happen? His father would beat him, of course! Why? The request means-he wants his father to die. The younger son’s request for the share of his property is not just about material wealth, but a deliberate decision to sever his relationship with his father. In effect, it is saying to his father, ‘I am not your son and you are no longer my father.’ It is the relationship with his father that is put to death. It is the younger son choosing to be on his own and preferring to find his identity independent of the father - son relationship. He wants to opt for his own path to self realization and selffulfillment with no reference to his relationship with his father. Taking his property and moving away to a distant country is not just about physical distance from his father, but even emotionally and psychologically distancing himself from his father and choosing to live life and find the meaning of life on his own terms. He is not only turning away from his father, but he has selfassurance that desires to seek self-worth and independence. It is in the opening scene of the parable of the Prodigal Son that we find the meaning of sin as Jesus portrays. Sin is saying ‘no’ to God. Sin is refusal to enter into a relationship with God. Sin is a negative response to God’s free offer of love. Sin consists of being independent of God. Sin is seeking one’s identity apart from one’s relationship with God. It is a decision to live and find meaning and purpose in life without God. Sin is the refusal to be the image of God in us - our true self. It is rejection of our relationship as sons and daughters
of God. Sin, in its spiritual nature, is a refusal to acknowledge our dependence on God. Citing the parable of the Prodigal Son, Josef Fuchs says: The prodigal son withdraws himself as a whole from the charity and the love of his father. Why? He wishes to be perfectly autonomous before his father and to be independent of his charity. Likewise sin is not only an act refusing something to my Father; rather it is the basic withdrawing of myself from my Father, God, and from his charity. I do not want to depend on his charity. I desire to be autonomous. Here we have the true character of sin. Sin: ‘No’ to Relationship with God The understanding of sin as portrayed by Jesus becomes clearer when we understand it compared to Jesus’ own baptism in Jordan and his temptations in the desert. The temptations that occupy an important place in the desert experience of Jesus make complete sense only in the context of his baptism. At his baptism, God, his Father, publicly declared, “ ... This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Mt 3: 17). The Father openly acknowledges His relationship with Jesus, His Son. This declaration, at the baptism of Jesus, is not only a public manifestation of their unique relationship to each other, but also an invitation to Jesus to live his life as a result of his relationship with his Father. Soon after this declaration, Jesus is led to the desert to be tempted. The core of the three temptations of Jesus is a call to deny his identity as the Son of God, to say ‘no’ to his relationship with the Father and to reject the way that God had chosen for him. Jesus rejects the devil and all of the devil’s empty promises and reaffirms his faith and trust in God as his Father, and commits himself to walk the path that God has chosen for him, knowing that God will always be with him. Jesus’ saying ‘no’ to the devil is a reaffirmation of his relationship as a Son to his Father and his willingness to live and accept God’s will for him as a result of his relationship to his Father. Jesus came out of the desert victorious over his own inner battles with the clarity of his mission, and a renewed commitment to his relationship as a Son to the Father. The gospel goes on to point out that the devil
left him for a time being, but often returned during his public ministry, tempting him to deny his unique and special relationship with the Father. But Jesus remained faithful to his true nature, that is, to continue to live as the Son of his Father. In the Transfiguration scene, the voice from the cloud proclaimed re-echoing the declaration heard at his baptism, “ ... This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him” (Mt 17: 5). Jesus remained faithful to his true nature, true self, and identity as the Son of God; nay, it is in his relationship with his Father that he finds the meaning of his true self. For Jesus, all that he shared and did was a result of what he had witnessed his Father saying and doing. His ministry was an extension of his relationship with his Father. The moments he spent in prayer were an invitation to be renewed and to be strengthened in his relationship with the Father. Even as he was dying, the call to come down from the cross was to deny his relationship with the Father. Jesus never succumbed to the temptations of the devil; he remained faithful in his relationship to his Father. From the first public declaration at his baptism to his final moment on the cross, Jesus remained faithful to his relationship with his Father.
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For Jesus, the only sin is the refusal to be with God and saying ‘no’ to God’s invitation to enter into relationship with God. The sin of the younger son is precisely in saying ‘no’ to his relationship with his father, deciding to lead his own life and realize his identity on his own terms. Turning away from the father, the younger son turns toward himself and to the things of this world to find meaning in life. Again in the words of Henri Nouwen: Leaving home is, then, much more than an historical event bound to time and place. It is a denial of the spiritual reality that I belong to God with every part of my being, that God holds me safe in an eternal embrace, that I am indeed carved in the palms of God’s hands and hidden in their shadows. Leaving home means ignoring the truth that God has “fashioned me in secret, moulded me in the depths of the earth and knitted me together in my mother’s womb.” Leaving home is living as though I do not yet have a home and must look far and wide to find one. This is the human paradox. We feel that our home is ‘out there’ and that to find the true meaning of life we need to accomplish a lot, achieve a great many things, climb the ladder of success, accumulate material possessions ... but the simple truth is that only by entering into a loving and living relationship with God will we find our true home. The self, only in relationship with God, realizes itself and finds its worth, because the one and only purpose for our being on earth is God realization; all else that we do in our life flows from this central truth of our life. The deepest core of our existence is grounded by the presence of God, and only in giving ourselves to this divine presence within us is that we are able to truly find the meaning of life.
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The Consequences of Sin Physical and Psychological Pain In the parable of the Prodigal Son, the younger son was the lord and master of the house. He did not have to accomplish many great things to prove his worth. His worth, identity, respect, and honor came from the fact that he was the son of his father. In the comfort of his father’s mansion, he had everything, with servants at his beck and call. But his journey into a life of his own, independent of his relationship with his father, robs him of everything, reduces him to nothing, and brings him to the level of pigs, to a dehumanizing condition. Sin eventually brought him to a life of misfortune, misery, and - both at the physical and psychological levels. At the physical level, he has nothing to claim as his own. All that he has is utter poverty and misery. He has no place of his own. Sin robs him of everything and leaves him without an identity. At the psychological level, he is reduced to nothing, with no identity of his own. He is confronted with loneliness, brokenness, emptiness, anxiety, fear, insecurity, shame, pain, sadness, alienation, and selfdestruction. He is all alone. He has become a nobody, with no identity, and with no place to go to. From the mansion to a pigsty - what a turnaround! Sin is to Choose the Apparent Good The younger son chose sin because the life promised by sin appeared to be good. Sin is an apparent good. It appears to be pleasing to the senses and the mind. The fruit from the tree at the center of the garden appeared to be good and tasty to Adam and Eve. The younger son chooses a life on his own terms because it appears to be pleasing and wonderful. Little did he realize that what appeared to be true and beautiful at the beginning turned out to be false and unreal. This is the story of every sin. Sin, in its initial stages, is a life full
of blissful promises but soon the apparent glittering life of gold leads us to a life of emptiness, misery, despair and takes us away from our true home; being with God and living in God. As St. Thomas Aquinas points out, no one chooses evil purely for the sake of evil. If the will, as George Lobo points out, necessarily tends to good, then why do we choose evil? He responds: The sinner does not seek evil for its own sake ... What the sinner does is to seek an evil under the guise of a good. If he thought it was the only good in the context, there would be no sin; at the most, it would be an error. But, often, a person is confronted with two goods: one apprehended as the real good, and the other as a partial good but looking more attractive. Sin consists in deliberately choosing the latter, in not resisting certain forms of covetousness despite the awareness that they are disordered. Sin Hurts the Sinner Does sin really hurt God? No, it destroys the sinner. For St. Thomas, “For we do not offend God except by doing something contrary to our own good ...” Again in the words of George Lobo, “It is not so much that God punishes as that the sinful state itself becomes a punishment to the sinner. As the Bible emphasizes, sin is the worst form of slavery. To be “children of wrath” (Eph 2:3) means to suffer the consequences of rebellion or brokenness in our relationship with God and neighbor.” Our greatest good is God, and there is nothing more fulflling than entering into a personal loving relationship with God, but sin is a negative response to God’s invitation of love, and it defaces the image of God in us (ls 59: 1-2). God is sad, if we can use an anthromorphic term to speak of God, because we deliberately choose evil and suffering over good and happiness. The Horizontal Dimension: Sin is Refusal to Love Others Being in the image and likeness of God is a call to a life of relationship and love with God. It is only in relationship with God that we realize our true self. Sin, besides being a negative response to God, is also a refusal to live the true self in us - what we are meant to be; the image and likeness of God. But the call to love God is at the same time a call to love others as well. One does not exist without the other, one leads to the other. It is only in entering into relationships with others that we actualize our uniqueness and are capable of becoming human persons. For example, in the Trinity, Jesus and the Father relate to each other, and the flow of love between the Father and the Son is the Spirit. The Holy Trinity is a wonderful model of three persons in love
and in communion with each other. In the Trinity, it is their relationship and love for each other that enables them to realize their identities, and yet at the same time maintain their own individual natures. Love is the basis of their communion with each other. For human beings created in the image and likeness of God, “the fundamental fact of human existence is man with man.” The individual person becomes a fact of existence only in so far as he enters into a loving relationship with others; for in relationship between persons, one’s life opens up to another so that one experiences the mystery of the other’s being in the mystery of one’s own. According to Martin Buber, Kant’s question of ‘what is man?’ can be answered only if we are willing to begin with the human person, the actual human being in the wholeness of his essential relationship to all that is. For Buber, “Only the man who realizes in his whole life with his being the relations possible to him helps to know man truly.” Through sin we refuse to love others, sin not only separates us from God, but also from others (Ez 18:5-18; 22:4-13). The younger son’s ‘no’ was not only a ‘no’ to his father but also to his elder brother and to the rest of the family as well. A ‘no’ to God results in disharmony in human relationships. The Bible portrays the different types and degrees of sin not only as rebellion against God but also against each other. For example, Adam and Eve not only betrayed God but also each other, jealousy creeps in between Cain and Abel... Sin, as St. Paul says, brings about a ‘division within us’ (Rom 7: 19). For him, “None of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself ’ (Rom 14: 7). John Paul II affirms: Wounded in this way, man almost inevitably causes damage to the fabric of his relationship with others and with the created world. This is an objective law and an objective reality, verified in so many ways in the human psyche and in the spiritual life, as well as in society, where it is easy to see the signs and effects of internal disorder.”. Sin turns the human person inward to a life of selfishness and makes the human person incapable of opening himself in love to others. Sin is a destruction of all that the person is meant to be. <>< Fr. Andrew Amritharaj has been involved in philosophical and theological education. Born in India and the U.S. since 1995 at undergraduate and graduate levels. He has an M.A. in Philosophy from the Pontifical Athenaeum, Pune, India and a Ph.D. in Moral Theology from the Academia Alfonsiana, Rome. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. Besides teaching he also offers lectures and conferences on themes related to Moral Theology, Spirituality, Scripture, and Contemplative Prayer.
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Pittsburg-area residents buy ‘ God Bless America’ signs after post offIce takes banner down
Sarah Okeson sokeson@joplinglobe.com Jan 29, 2016 PITTSBURG, Kan. — Residents of Pittsburg are buying banners and signs proclaiming “God Bless America” after the U.S. post office took its banner down because of objections from a private foundation. Martin Dickinson, an owner at Jayhawk Signs & Graphics, said he and his wife, Patti, decided to cut prices on signs and banners saying “God Bless America” on Wednesday night, just hours after the banner was removed at the post office. “We’re not doing it for the business,” said Dickinson, who is also a priest at All Saints Anglican in Chicopee. “We’re doing this to promote America.”... (Above Photo courtesy: http://media.graytvinc.com/images/800*450/pittsburg+sign1.jpg)
God Bless America Banner Fr. Martin Dickinson , All Saints Anglican Church, Pittsburg,KS
A “God Bless America” banner was installed on an exterior wall of the US Post Office Building in Pittsburg, Kansas after the terrorist attacks on 9/11/2001. The banner was removed 1/27/2016 from it's position after 15 years when one person complained to a group “Freedom From Religion Foundation,” headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin about the banner. The complaint ultimately made it to Washington before the Postal Service ordered it removed – not on the grounds of separation of Church and State, but because it was not US Postal Service issue and therefore did not meet the requirements of being “posted” at the post office. Interestingly they did not “officially” remove it because of the complaint. I had initially seen the report on the removal of this banner as I was preparing for Wednesday Evening Service. Patti and I decided then that we would print a banner to be installed on our business property, and if anyone wanted to buy one we would reduced the price – to help others display this banner. As Patti and I were out of town the following morning we were contacted by our office. They were receiving call for banners after seeing our banner. We were giving away bumper stickers at no charge and as of last week people are still calling for banners. Another local international business also offered free banners and yard signs, approximately 2000 pieces total. The funny thing is the person that made the original complaint now has many more “God Bless America”. banners and yard signs to view all across Pittsburg. This “banner” made the national FOX news along with several articles in Pittsburg and Joplin, Missouri newspapers. I was also contacted by the Associated Press to verify the story from the Pittsburg Morning Sun newspaper. On Friday 2/19/16 we (Jayhawk Signs & Graphics) installed the original banner from the Post Office at the Pittsburg office of US Representative Lynn Jenkins <>< Fr. Martin & Patti Dickinson celebrated their 40th anniversary on February 14th. They continue to serve God and Country. Fr. Martin Dickinson very faithfully plants the American Flags every year on Memorial Day and Veterans Day. Kudos to the Dickinsons.
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Above, entrance of the church building, (Photos: geting the bricks for the building of the parish complex, bricks to be used in the construction, the Committee for Construction of the parish complex, a campaign to provide school kits to children of Afro-descendant community of Barrio Nueva Colombia, dinner with older adults)
FROM BISHOP LUIS CARLOS OF COLOMBIA
Help from Church of the Holy Family reaches out to help improve church in Baranquilla, Colombia in the ministry of Bishop Luis Carlos. Thanks to all the kind-hearted folks of the Church of the Holy Family. Koinonia 13
Canonical Visitation to Ecuador
According to the Rule and Life of the Order , and in compliance with our General Constitutions , the canonical visit to the Province of Our Lady of the Angels , in the Republic of Ecuador , was accomplished from 22 to 31 October 2015 , where we had the opportunity to visit each of the homes of the community, the various works in development and share with the faithful and benefactors. The following is the schedule of our visit: • Jueves 22 de octubre (Thursday October 22) -
16:00 horas: Recepción y bienvenida en el aeropuerto de Quito. - 18:30 horas: Saludo de bienvenida en Sangolqui - 19:30 horas: Ágape familiar: frailes de Quito y familias. - 21:30 horas: Descanso del Ministro General • Viernes 23 de octubre:(Friday October 23) -07:00 horas: Celebración comunitaria y desayuno -09:00 horas: Visita al centro histórico de Quito y saludo al Ministro Provincial de la Orden de Frailes Menores, de la Iglesia Católica Romana en Quito. -13:00 horas: Almuerzo familiar -15:30 horas: Celebración de la toma de hábito y recepción al noviciado de dos nuevos hermanos: Fray Luis Torres y Fray Welington Sánchez. -19:00 horas: Rezo de oración vespertina solemnes en honor de la Virgen de la Merced, patrona de la Vaquería. -21:00 horas: Descanso. • Sábado 24 de octubre (Saturday October 24th) - 07:00 horas: Desayuno con el Ministro General -08:30 horas: Ceremonia de ordenación y subsanaciones de órdenes: Fray Patricio Peña, ofdc. – subsanación Fray Luis Torres, ofdc. – subsanación Fray Wellington Sánchez, ofdc. –subsanación Fray Luis Apolo Narváez, ofdc. – ordenación diaconal -10:30 horas: Bautismo de las hijas de Fray Luis Apolo Narváez, ofdc.
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-11h00 horas: Erección de la Parroquia de San Francisco de Asís y consagración del en la Vaquería, Quito. -11:30 horas: Eucaristía solemne en honor de la Virgen del Quinche, patrona de la Vaquería – Quito. -13:00 horas: Almuerzo general a cargo priostes (servidores) de la Vaquería -15:00 horas: Descanso del Ministro General -22:00 horas: Viaje a Guayaquil • Domingo 25 de octubre (Sunday 25th October ) -07:00 horas: Llegada a Guayaquil -08:00 horas: Desayuno con los hermanos de Guayaquil, el Ministro General y Ministro Provincial. -09:30 horas: Descanso -10:30 horas: Visita a los sitios de la misión San Pedro de Alcántara. - 13:00 horas : Almuerzo comunitario - 14:30 horas: Descanso - 16:00 horas: Visita al templo de San Francisco y al Convento de la Orden de Frailes Menores, de la Iglesia Católica Romana. - 19:00 horas Celebración de Erección de la Parroquia San Pedro de Alcántara y consagración del Altar, en la ciudad de Guayaquil. - 19:30 horas: Ceremonia de subsanación de órdenes de los hermanos presbíteros de la Misión en Guayaquil. • Lunes 26 de octubre (Monday 26th October) - 08:00 horas: Rezo de Matutina y desayuno fraterno - 09:30 horas: Capítulo Local con el Ministro General y entrega de informes. - 13:00 horas: Almuerzo fraterno - 14:30 horas: Visita a la catedral y al Arzobispo Católico Romano de Guayaquil - 16:30 horas: Continuación del Capítulo Local - 19:00 horas: Cena fraterna • Martes 27 de octubre (Tuesday 27th October) - 08:00 horas: Rezo de Matutina y desayuno fraterno - 09:30 horas: Encuentro con las familias de los frailes de Guayaquil. - 13:00 horas: Almuerzo fraterno - 14:30 horas: Visita a la ciudad y recorrido por lugares históricos. - 19:00 horas: Cena fraterna y despedida de los hermanos de Guayaquil. - 22:30 horas: Viaje de regreso a Quito • Miércoles 28 de octubre -(Wednesday 28th October): - 08:00 horas: Llegada a Quito y desayuno - 09:30 horas: Visita a la mitad del mundo - 16:30 horas: Encuentro con la familia de Fray Luis Torres, ofdc. - 19:30 Regreso al Valle de los Chillos. • Jueves 29 de octubre (Thursday 29th October) - 08:00 horas: Rezo de Matutina y desayuno - 09:30 horas: Visita a El Panecillo (Convento más antiguo de la Orden de Frailes Menores, de la Iglesia Católica Romana, en Quito.) - 13:00 horas: Almuerzo en el Centro Histórico de Quito. - 16:30 horas: Encuentro con la familia de Fray Luis René
Apolo, ofdc. - 19:30 horas: Regreso al Valle de los Chillos-descanso • Viernes 30 de octubre (Friday October 30th) - 08:00 horas: Rezo de Matutina y desayuno - 09:30 horas: Visita al hogar de Ancianos Vilcabamba, el Tingo-la Merced - 13:00 horas: Almuerzo con el Ministro Provincial Fray Ángel Garzón y su esposa. - 16:30 horas: Encuentro con la familia de Fray Patricio Peña, ofdc. - 20h30 descanso • Sábado 31 de octubre (Saturday October 31) - 07:00 horas: Rezo de Matutina y desayuno - 08:00 horas: Salida al aeropuerto de Quito y despedida de la Comunidad. - 10:55 horas: Salida a Bogotá – Colombia. CONCLUSIONES DE LA VISITA: Luego de la Visita Canónica se establecieron: • Two Parishes: San Francisco de Asís en la Ciudad de Quito San Pedro de Alcántara en la Ciudad de Guayaquil One Foundation: Fundación Nuestra Niñez, para toda la Orden en Quito. • Two Houses of Conventuals: Convento de San Francisco de Asís, en Quito. Convento de San Pedro de Alcántara en Guayaquil
Two Parishes: Fray Patricio Peña, ofdc., para la Parroquia de San Francisco en Quito. Fray Julio César Sánchez, ofdc., para la Parroquia de San Pedro de Alcántara, en la ciudad de Guayaquil. • Two Vocation Promoters and Formation Masters: Fray Luis René Apolo, ofdc. Fray Luis Alberto Almache, ofdc. •
Two Fraternities of Conventual Friars: San Francisco de Asís en Quito: Fray Ángel Abdón Garzón Viteri, ofdc. (Provincial Minsister & Father Guardian) Fray Patricio Peña, ofdc., (Parish Priest & Conventual)
Fray Luis René Apolo, ofdc., (Vocation Promotor & Conventual) Fray Luis Torres, ofdc., (Novice) Fray Welington Sánchez, ofdc. (Novice) Fray Francisco Ayluardo, ofdc. (Vicar & Conventual)
• San Pedro de Alcántara en Guayaquil: Fray Antonio Avilés, ofdc. (Vicar Provincial & Guardián) Fray Julio César Sánchez, ofdc., (Párroco &Conventual) Fray Luis Almache, ofdc., (Vocation Promotor & Conventual) Fray José Miguel Rojas, ofdc.,(Asesor Jurídico & Conven tual) Fray Vicente Robalino, ofdc., (Vicar & y Conventual) Fray Erwin Galarza, ofdc., (Novice) The visit to the Ministry of Justice and the Office of Religious Affairs, which has been officially granted us agreement 1158 on December 17, 2015. It has been a very fruitful visit in vocations and the great missionary and pastoral work that the brothers in each of the fraternities. It remains as a task for all Franciscan brothers to strengthen the aspects of our Anglican liturgy, forming collaborators and catechists for parishes, and focus their attention to the most vulnerable in the streets and marginal areas of each city according to our own Franciscan charisma. The meeting with the faithful, too, was a great blessing. Men and women and committed to children, to missionary work, willing to form best to serve the poorest and walk with our religious in a strong commitment to the care and support of those suffering brothers and sisters in the streets, the elderly they are alone and poor or sick children. We thank God because he has given us new vocations, and beg you to gradually strengthen us even more, to serve more joy and commitment to our poorest brothers Ecuador.
+ Fray Juan de Jesus Torres -
The Franciscan Bishop in Colombia - Holy Catholic Church Anglican Rite
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Fish, Creation, Noah’s Flood, and Being “Born Again” Art & Article by Bro. Rodd Umlauf TOF
“Blessed are they who, placing their trust in the cross, have gone down into the water....We indeed descend into the water full of sins and defilement. However, we come up, bearing fruit from our heart, having the fear of God and trust in Jesus in our spirit.” (Epistle of Barnabas 70-100 AD) We are all familiar with the Christian fish symbol that Christians put on the back of their cars. Maybe you have a Jesus fish on your car. I wonder, however, how many Christians realize that the fish symbol is a picture of Baptismal Regeneration in Christian Baptism. The fish symbol that we all recognize was a sign used by the Early Christians to identify church meeting places and themselves. The word “fish” in Greek ΙΧΘΥΣ (Ichthus) is an acronym which translates into English as “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.” Tertullian, writing a bit more than a hundred years after the Apostles, said, “ We, little fishes, after the example of our fish, Jesus Christ, are born of water.” Jesus said, “ Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:5 RSV). Jesus told the disciples that he would make them “fishers of men”. In this statement, Jesus may have been
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referring to a prophecy of the giving of the Holy Spirit to the world in Ezekiel 47, in which the Holy Spirit is pictured as a great river flowing from the temple and flows to the sea and makes all the waters fresh. Wherever the river goes, all the creatures in the water will live. Fishermen stand by the sea that has now become fresh living water, and spreading their nets, catch fish of many kinds from the Great Sea. The picture here is of fishermen casting their nets into the Great Sea and bringing in great catches of a variety of fish; a symbolic image of the Apostles fishing for converts from all the nations and peoples of the earth, and bringing the converts up out of the baptismal waters in their nets unto Salvation, being born of water and the Spirit. This is an ancient meaning behind that simple little sign of the Christian fish on the back of the car in front of you in traffic, or in the parking lot--and maybe on your car. Regarding the River of Water, which is the Holy Spirit, flowing out of the side of the temple in Ezekiel 47 and giving life to the world, Dr. John Bergsma, a professor at Franciscan University, comments further as to the deeper meaning of John 19:34-35:“But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. He who saw it has borne witness — his testimony is true, and he knows that he
tells the truth — that you also may believe.” This “river” that flows out from the side of Christ is understood in the Church’s spiritual tradition as a river of mercy, but there is also a rich biblical background to this passage of John. Ezekiel 47 and other passages from the OT prophets foresaw a river of life which one day would flow from the heart of the New Temple in the age to come. Our Lord identifies himself as the New Temple (John 2:20-21) and as the one from whom the river of life will flow (John 7:38). John 19:34 is a sign of the fulfillment of that promise. Ancient Jewish readers would have recognized the significance of the bloody flow from the side of Christ as Temple imagery. During festival seasons prior to the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in AD 70, huge amounts of animal blood were generated by the Temple sacrifices. The blood was ducted out of the Temple precincts by a plumbing system which emptied out of the side of the Temple Mount, creating a stream of blood that flowed down and joined the Brook Kidron that flowed along the ravine between the Temple Mount and the Mount of Olives. This bloody brook had to be crossed if one entered Jerusalem near the Pool of Siloam. So a “stream of blood and water” would evoke the image of the Temple and the Temple city to the ancient Jewish reader. This phenomenon helped identify the body of Jesus as the New Temple Of course, the physical flow from Christ’s side is not the ultimate point. It is a sign of a deeper reality, the true “river of life” that flows from him, which is the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, throughout the Gospel of John, water is employed with reference to Baptism, and blood is only discussed in the Eucharistic discourse of John 6. So the Fathers were right to see in the bloody flow from the side of Christ the River of the Spirit, which comes to us through the sacraments, Baptismal Water and Eucharistic Blood. The sacraments are efficacious signs of God’s mercy and the communication of the Spirit to us.1 As there are many types of Christ Jesus in the Old Testament Scriptures, so are there also many types of the Holy Spirit and water baptism found in the pages of the Old Testament. Once such depiction of the Holy Spirit and Baptism is found in the early chapters of Genesis, particularly in the Creation narrative and the story of Noah’s Ark and the flood. Tradition holds that the primary author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible) was Moses, and I agree. There are many good arguments to be made for the case that Moses was the substantial authorship of the Pentateuch, although much of modern scholarship rejects this view. Actually, the word “Pentateuch” comes to us from when the Old Testament was translated into
Greek and called the “Septuagint”, a couple hundred years before Christ. It was at this time that the that the Septuagint translation was made that the writing attributed to Moses was divided into five books -- thus the names Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy; all names derived from Greek, and not Hebrew. Scholars have discovered an interesting literary pattern surfacing in Genesis; that it was written according to an ancient literary style involving “redactional structuring” involving repeating cyclical patterns and cycles in which individual stories are assembled to create a literary whole. 2
To see what this cyclical literary pattern looks like, I have outlined some major points from Genesis chapters 1-11 in two columns. The Creation Week narrative up until God decides to destroy His creation because it was fallen into gross sin and has become completely evil in chapter 6, is in column #1. The Flood narrative with Noah and the Ark up until the recording of the 10 generations from Noah to Terah, is in column #2. If you examine the two outlines in each column you will see the cyclical parallels. Column One Outline A. Creation out of watery chaos (Gen
Column Two Outline
A’. Re-Creation out of watery chaos (Gen 6:9-8:22) 1:1-25) 1. “Wind/Spirit from God moves 1. “Wind/Spirit” from God over the waters (Gen 8:1) moves over the waters (Gen 1:2) 2. “The Land” emerges from the 2. “The Land” emerges from the waters (Gen 8:1-14) waters (Gen 1:9-10) 3. Birds, animals, insects “be 3. Birds and sea creatures,”be fruitful, multiply (Gen 8:17) fruitful and multiply” (Gen 1:22) 4. God says to Noah and family, 4. God says to man and “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth” woman,”be fruitful and ( Gen 9:1,7) multiply”(Gen 1:28) 5. Because “man is made in His 5. God makes Adam “in His own own image” -Prohibition of murder image”(Gen 1:27) (Gen 9:6) 6. God “rests” on the seventh day 6. Ark comes to “rest” ( Gen 8:4)(Gen 2:1-2) 7. Sabbath: Sign of the Covenant 7 days, dove returns (Gen 8:10-11) 7. Rainbow: Sign of Renewed (Gen 2:3) Covenant (Gen 9:12-13) B. Covenant with Adam/Creation B’. Re-Newed Covenant with Noah (Gen 1-26-2:24) and (Re)Creation (Gen 9:1-17) 1. Family relationship God as 1. filial relationship Father of His Creation Household 2. seven clean animals, covenant 2. God as Father uses personal oath covenant name “YAHWEH” C’. Fall into sin involving a C. Fall into sin, involving garden, vineyard,fruit, nakedness,shame, fruit, nakedness, shame, curse( Gen curse (Gen 9:18-29) 3) D’. Spreading out of Noah’s descenD. Spreading out of Adam’s descendants (Gen 10) dants (Gen 4) - Ethnic development (Gen - Technological development 10:1-32) (Gen 4:17-26) E’. Massive downfall into sin-Tower of E. Genealogy of 10 generations Babel ( Gen 11:1-9) -Adam -Noah (Gen 5) F’. Genealogy of 10 generations F. Massive downfall into sin (Gen -Noah to Terah ( Gen 11:10-26)* 6:1-8) - Sons of God with daughters of men (nephilim)
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* The two series of individual units parallel each other in the same order. The episodes, A,B,C,D,E,F, are followed by parallel episodes, A’,B’,C’, D’, E’, F’, though the order of the last two are switched. The order of the last two are reversed so that the genealogy of the ten generations leads the reader directly to Abraham in Genesis 12. 3 What we can see here in these in these outlines, among other things, is the major theme of creation and re-creation. In both we find water and God’s Spirit, and a creation which is born and then “born again” by the Spirit through water. Because of the sinful evil of the first creation, it had to die, the creation was washed with the flood waters, and the rebirth of the creation came up out of the waters again. Only righteous Noah and his family were spared. If you read the narratives closely, as you to go back and read from your Bibles, we notice so interesting facts that the general outlines do not show. For example, in the first Creation Week, God “works” for six days. At the end of the first creation period, Lamech, the father of Noah makes this statement as he chooses a name for his son: When Lamech had lived a hundred and eightytwo years, he became the father of Noah, saying, “Out of the ground which the LORD has cursed this one shall bring us relief [rest] from the work and from the toil of our hands”(Gen 5:28,29). How old was Noah when the flood waters came upon the earth ? He was six hundred years old -- six hundred years of working and toiling with his hands upon the earth (Gen 7:7). But why did Noah’s father give him the name he did? Because his son would bring rest from laboring. What does the name “Noah” mean? If you look in a concordance, you will find that Noah means “Rest.” After the end of the six hundred year period of Noah’s life on the earth, the Ark came to “rest” upon the mountain; and when had the flood waters dried? It was at the beginning of the seventh one hundred year period of Noah’s life (Gen 8:13). Jesus said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”(Matthew 28:28-29) Another interesting observation that the Early Church Fathers make, although maybe somewhat speculative to the modern mind. God said to Noah, “Make yourself an ark of gopher wood.... This is how you are to make it: the ark length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits.” (Genesis 6:14-15). In the Greek alphabet, each letter has a numerical value. The number 300 is represented by the letter T, called “tau”. Origen, reading the Greek Septuagint, explains how the ark is the raft prefiguring the cross of redemption, since 300 is equal to TAU. So, it can be imagined that the wood
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of the ark, the tau cross, is rising higher and higher on the flood waters and comes to rest on a mountain top as the waters recede. “For even in the beginning, when arrogant giants were perishing, the hope of the world took refuge on a raft, and guided by thy hand left to the world the seed of a new generation. For blessed is the wood by which righteousness comes”(Wisdom of Solomon 14:6-7 RSV). Calvary comes to mind. To summarize the types of Spirit and baptism prefigured in the Creation and Flood account, we note that Christians find an image of baptism at the very beginning of the Book of Genesis. Creation begins with with water and the Spirit (Gen 1:2), just as the new creation begins in baptism. Another new creation begins with the flood, which cleansed the world of evil and corruption while, “a few, that is eight persons were saved through water.”(1 Peter 3:20) “Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you.” (1 Peter 3:21) as it likewise washes away sin (Acts 22:16), and people can be created anew. The dove which Noah sent out, returned after soaring and hovering over the waters, finding an olive leaf on the dry ground, a sign that the floodwaters had subsided. The dove is a sign of the Holy Spirit. 4 Again, water and Spirit (Gen 8:1; 8:8-11). Fast forward to the Gospel of St. John, at Jesus’ baptism. John presents to us a New Creation week. During that week Jesus comes to John the Baptist to be baptized. As Jesus comes up out of the water as the Firstborn of the New Creation, the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove descends upon Him from heaven. And John bore witness, “I saw the Spirit descend as a dove from heaven, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him; but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit’” (John 1:32-33). A third time, water and Spirit. Later in that same week, Jesus is at the wedding of Cana where He turns water into wine. Six stone jars were standing there for Jewish purification rites, each holding 20-30 gallons of water (John 2:6). The only place in the Old Testament where this purification rite is spoken of in detail is Numbers 19:11-22. Ritual defilement required ritual washing. The purification laws of Israel specified washing and sprinkling water for impurity to cleanse one who had become ritually unclean. Here we have baptismal waters prefigured and anticipated which washes away the impurity of sin. 5 What is curious is that this ritual washing described in Numbers was to take place on the 3rd day, and the 7th day. Taking a close look at how John structures the days of the week in the beginning chapters of his Gospel, we see that the wedding of Cana occurs on the “third day”, but if you count all the days, it is the seventh day as well-- and Jesus provides the “best wine” which points
forward to His blood which He shed at “His hour” on the cross and flowed from His side, a river of water and blood; baptism and the Eucharist, of which His Bride the Church is born and nourished. Finally, we come to the famous discussion of Nicodemus and Jesus in the third chapter of John’s Gospel. One of the most famous verses in Scripture is spoken by Jesus to Nicodemus, “Truly, truly, I say to you unless one is born anew [or from above], he cannot see the kingdom of God.”(John 3:3 RSV). The King James renders “born anew” or “ born from above” as “born again”, which is the most common terminology in Evangelical circles. Nicodemus replies, showing his carnal and earthly understanding, “How can a man be born when he is old ? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born ?” Jesus explains His previous statement and answers, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God “(John 3:5). Once again, water and Spirit; a clear reference to water baptism and Spirit, given the context and flow of John’s Gospel (Baptism is also the subject immediately following Jesus’ proclamation of being born of water and the Spirit -John 3:22-30). Our Baptismal liturgy of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer states this truth so beautifully: DEARLY beloved, forasmuch as our Saviour Christ saith, None can enter into the Kingdom of God, except he be regenerate and born anew of Water and of the Holy Ghost; I beseech you to call upon God the Father, through our Lord Jesus Christ, that of his bounteous mercy he will grant to this Child (or Person) that which by nature he cannot have; that he may be baptized with Water and the Holy Ghost, and received into Christ’s holy Church, and be made a living member of the same. ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who of thy great mercy didst save Noah and his family in the ark from perishing by water; and also didst safely lead the children of Israel thy people through the Red Sea, figuring thereby thy holy Baptism; and by the Baptism of thy well-beloved Son Jesus Christ in the river Jordan, didst sanctify Water to the mystical washing away of sin; We beseech thee for thine infinite mercies, that thou wilt mercifully look upon this Child (or this thy servant) ; wash him and sanctify him with the Holy Ghost; that he, being delivered from thy wrath, may be received into the ark of Christ’s Church; and being steadfast in faith, joyful through hope, and rooted in charity, may so pass the waves of this troublesome world, that finally he may come to the land of everlasting life, there to reign with thee, world without end; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. THERE was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: the same came to Jesus by
night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Unfortunately, nowadays, when we hear Christians speak of being “born again”, it usually does not mean the same thing as Jesus intended in His talk with Nicodemus. To many Christians, being born again means having a spiritual experience whereby they have “accepted Jesus into their hearts as Lord and Savior”, having a “personal relationship with Jesus”, or making a heartfelt commitment to live for Christ. All this is fine and true, but its not the whole picture. A young woman can fall in love with a young man and get all emotional and daydream about him all the time. She can even write love letters to him, and he to her, and even go out on dates. That young women might even make that handsome guy the king of her heart, and that could go on for a long time. But now matter how much they love each other and no matter how many romantic dates the couple go on, or even how much they believe in each other, it doesn’t really matter before the Lord, unless they eventually enter into the Covenant of Marriage and swear a vow before Almighty God in Holy Matrimony. An unbaptized Christian could be compared to a couple who live together and claim that they are committed to each other but who have never actually been married. I can have a personal relationship with the owner of the local gas station or the next door neighbor....so what! A personal relationship with my fishing buddy does not make him a true blooded family member. What I need is a covenantal union with Christ by a Sacramental Oath . The Sacramental Oath whereby I am washed and forgiven of my sin and become a new born child of the Household of God is through the ceremony of Holy Baptism; the outward sign of an invisible grace, and a work of grace that is accomplished by God through the Holy Spirit. We believe in One Baptism for the forgiveness of sins , as the Nicene Creed states. Baptism is the marital bath we receive, as the Bride of Christ, when we are wed to the Bridegroom Messiah. The Danger of Rejecting Traditional Teaching on Baptism What we find in contemporary Christianity, especially in the Evangelical branch, is that there is a tendency to separate the spiritual world from the material world. Again, this is evident when we hear the
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term being “born again” completely separated from the faith which is expressed in baptismal vows and the “bath of regeneration”. St. Paul writes to Titus, “He saved us, not because of deeds done by us in righteousness, but in virtue of his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit, which he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our savior”(Titus 3:5). Some will argue that to require baptism is to make a human works necessary for salvation. But baptism is not a human work performed according to Mosaic Law or any law code. It is a work of grace by the Father, by the Spirit, and through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Baptism is no more a human work than presenting oneself at an “altar call” to receive Christ. The danger of rejecting the traditional historic teaching on baptism is to slide into a neo-gnostic Christianity which separates the spiritual from the material. Baptismal Regeneration was the universal teaching of the Early Church. The only so called “Christians” who denied this doctrine were the Gnostics. Speaking against the Gnostics, Irenaeus writes: “When we come to refute them[the Gnostics], we will show in its proper place that this class of men have been instigated by Satan to a denial of that baptism which is regeneration to God. Thus, they have renounced the whole faith....For the baptism instituted by the visible Jesus was for the remission of sins.....But there are some of them [the Gnostics] who assert that it is unnecessary to bring people to the water.” 6(Irenaeus was the Bishop of Lyons, modern day France, and was a native of Smyrna where he was instructed by Polycarp, who was taught by St. John) We need to commend our Evangelical brothers and sisters for their high regard for evangelism and strong desire to preach the Gospel, but we need to encourage them to place a stronger importance on the place of water baptism by helping them to return to a more orthodox view of this Sacrament. For “before a man bears the name of the Son of God, he is dead. But when he receives the seal he lays aside his deadness and obtains life. The seal, then, is the water. They descend into the water dead, and they arise alive.” Hermas 150 AD The Effects of Being Born From Above for the Person of Faith When a person turns in repentance and comes to faith in Jesus Christ “they must be admitted into the Church. No one can make himself a member of Christ or of the Church; our salvation is not our work, but God’s. The means by which God makes us members is the sacrament of holy baptism....In all God’s sacramental dealings with us a real spiritual grace accompanies the the outward act. The gift of grace which God gives by baptism is called Regeneration, which means new birth. Except a man be born anew, said our Lord, except a
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man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God”, writes George Carleton in his book, The King’s Highway. Carleton continues, “From our first parent Adam we received natural life:from Jesus Christ we receive supernatural life by the new birth of baptism.... Baptism was for each of us a new beginning, a death to our old life and a birth into heavenly life. We were buried with Christ through baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised from the dead, so we also might walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:4; Col 2;12). God requires of those who come to be baptized the same disposition that he requires for the reception of every sacrament namely, faith and repentance. These are necessary, not only for the profitable receiving of a sacrament, but also at all times. They are the permanent disposition of the soul in which we need always to live, in response to the grace that is continually given to us. God’s sacraments do not benefit us without our consent and co-operation.” 7 Through baptism the believer puts on Christ (Gal 3:27). Baptized into Christ, the Christian receives the Holy Spirit (Rom 5:5). is washed in water and the word (Eph 5:26), is granted adoption and sonship, and receives the power to call upon the Father as Abba (Rom 8:15,17:Gal 3:16,4:4-7). The baptized are coheirs with Christ, the Son of God (1 Cor 6:15; 12:27; Rom 8:17) Baptism also brings incorporation into the body of Christ: “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body (1 Cor 12:13), and “we are members of one another” (Eph 4:25) 8 In Conclusion, if you happen to see the recent movie “Risen”, there is a scene at the end where the disciples are on the shore of the sea. Simon Peter tells the other disciples that he is going fishing. They agree to go fishing with him. They fished all night and caught nothing. As the new day is breaking, the risen Jesus is on the beach and calls to them, “Children, have you caught any fish? They answer Him, “No”. Jesus says to them, “Cast your nets on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” We all know how the story goes....they catch a ton of fish ! So many fish that they were barely able to haul them in. If you see the film, imagine yourself as one of those fish whom Christ has saved in His net, brought up out of the waters of baptism as a New Creation and placed in His saving Ark, the Church.<>< Footnotes: 1. The Sacred Page Blog; “How Precious is the Flow”, Dr. John Bergsma (Friday, April 13, 2012) 2. The Book of Genesis: Course Guidebook; Professor Gary A. Rendsburg, Rutgers University; The Teaching Company, pg 66. 3. Ibid; pg 70. 4. Catholic Bible Dictionary, Doubleday Religion; General Editor Scott Hahn, 2009, pg 92 5.Ibid; pg 92 6. A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs; Hendrickson Publishers 1998, pg 51 7.The King’s Highway; George Careton, The Orthodox Anglican Church, 2004, pg45-47. 8. Catholic Bible Dictionary, Doubleday Religion; general editor Scott Hahn, 2009, pg 94.
ON THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING A PRIEST
EXCERPT FROM “THE DOCTRINE OF THE PRIESTHOOD” BY REV. T.T. CARTER C.1863 A.D.
Fr. T.T. Carter one of the eminent Anglican Priest of the 18th Century Church in England, defines the characteristics of the priest based on the commissioning of a priest,thus: The Priest’s commission runs in those awful words, which, being but an enlargement of the original words of institution, seem to prolong the accents of His Voice, Who breathed the grace of ordination on His Apostles. “ Receive the Holy Ghost for the Office and Work of a Priest in the “Church of God, now committed unto thee by the Imposition of our hands. Whose sins thou dost forgive, they are forgiven; and whose sins thou dost retain, they are retained. And be thou a faithful Dispenser of the Word of God, and of His holy Sacraments ; In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.” A Priest is one who teaches the Word of God with authority; receives confessions, absolves and guides souls; consecrates the Symbol of the Passion; offers the commemorative sacrifice; dispenses the Sacred Food of the Sacrifice, even the Blessed Body and Blood of the Lord; blesses in the Name of the Most Holy Trinity; and administers all offices in which either offerings or special intercessions are made to God or Divine benedictions are bestowed. Three separate acts of ministry follow : (1) the consecration of the elements ; (2) the oblation of the consecrated elements ; (3) the administration. Consecration does not here mean setting apart, or dedicating to God : this has been already done. The gifts of bread and wine were dedicated and set apart when they were presented on the altar, and in prayer offered to the Divine Majesty. The object now is to effect, through the power of the Holy Ghost, that further end which our Lord effected at the first institution, viz., to connect “ the inward, invisible grace,” with “ the outward and visible sign,” and thus make the Sacrament. Every fresh act of consecration is commanded to be for the same end, and with the same intention, which characterized our Lord’s own act when He “blessed,” “gave thanks,” and said, “This is My Body,” “This is My Blood ;” for He commanded us to do as He had done. The act is based on the belief that the inanimate creatures lying on the altar are capable, through God’s power, of being changed from their natural state, and becoming, after some supernatural manner, yet without losing their own substance or properties, the veils and organs of a true, substantial Presence of the Body and Blood of Christ. How it can be that a real, substantial Presence of Christ is possible on our altars, while yet He abides in the natural substance of His Flesh and Blood at the Right Hand of His Father ; or how bread and wine, remaining in their natural substances, become associated with a new and Divine Substance, is not given to us to know. Both are true. The elements are real bread and wine ; and they are the Flesh and Blood of Christ truly, but in a mystery. All that we know is, that the Presence of the Lord in the Sacrament is not effected by His moving from one place to another, nor is It after such a manner as is proper to material substances ; but spiritually, — i.e., after a manner proper to spiritual substances. We believe that His Body and His Blood are, through ineffable union with His Divinity, capable of being made present elsewhere than in the heavens ; and present not merely by virtue and effect, Himself being absent, but Himself present, and by reason of His Presence imparting
that virtue and effect. Human sense recognizes the reality of the consecrated symbols. Divine faith pierces the veil, and recognizes within it the Real Presence of Him Who is invisible. This is no explanation of the mystery ; it is a mystery, and we cannot explain it. For we know nothing of the manner in which spiritual substances are present in any place; or how that mode of presence which is proper to spiritual substances can become the property of material substances; or how our Blessed Lord’s sacred Body, being material, is, through union with His Divinity, capable of such a Presence on earth, as we believe. Of the change, therefore, which passes on the natural substances of bread and wine, or of the Presence of Christ under the forms of the sacred symbols on the altar, we can give no account or sensible proof. “ We believe it, because the Truth has spoken it ; because the shadows of the Law have passed away, and the Body is come, even the Body of Christ ; and there are no more empty forms, and the Holy Ghost abides with us, and is able to change nature into grace.” The bread which we see, and hold, and eat, is the Figure of His Body, but of His Body present, not absent ; for He tells us, “ This is My Body;” and in simplicity of faith we believe the words, believing that He is able to effect what He says, “ without doing any violence to the natural laws of material substances, or to the conclusions of the human understanding.” The whole order of the Institution implies that the elements acquire their new properties by God’s act, through the instrumentality of the Priest by consecration, and not through the faith of the communicant at a subsequent part of the service, or by the effect of the whole service generally. For until the prayer of consecration the elements are simply bread and wine. In that portion of the consecration prayer, which commences, “Hear us, O Almighty God, we most humbly beseech Thee, and grant,” the Priest prays that receiving the bread and wine may be the same as receiving the Body and Blood of Christ; and by the repetition of the words of institution, “In the same night that He was betrayed He took bread,” our Lord’s own act is renewed. Immediately afterwards the Sacrament is administered, and what is administered is not mere bread and wine, but as the Catechism declares, “the Body and Blood of Christ, which are verily and indeed taken and received ;” and the Article more strongly still, “The Body of Christ is given, taken, and eaten.” If the Body and Blood of Christ are “ given, taken, and received,” they must have been made present before the communicant approaches. <>< Now what Christ does in heaven, He hath commanded us to do on earth, — that is, to represent His Death, to commemorate His Sacrifice, by humble prayer and thankful record ; and by faithful manifestation and joyful Eucharist, to lay it before the eyes of our Heavenly Father, so ministering in His Priesthood, and doing according to His commandment and example : the Church being the image of heaven ; the priest the minister of Christ ; the holy table being a copy of the celestial altar ; and the Eternal Sacrifice of ‘ the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world’ being always the same. It bleeds no more after the finishing of it on the Cross; but it is wonderfully represented in heaven, and graciously represented here ; by Christ’s action there, by His commandment here. And the event of it is plainly this, — that as Christ, in virtue of His Sacrifice on the Cross, intercedes for us with His Father, so does the minister of Christ’s Priesthood here; that the virtue of the Eternal Sacrifice may be salutary and effectual to all the needs of the Church, both for things temporal and eternal. And therefore it was not without great mystery and clear signification that our Blessed Lord was pleased to command the representation of His Death and Sacrifice on the Cross should be made by breaking bread and effusion of wine.” - Bis/top Taylor. Worthy Communicant, ch. i. sect. 4
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Samuel Johnson: A literary giant and a pious Anglican layman By Rev. Canon Patric Comerford
“All the performances of human art, at which we look with praise or wonder, are instances of the resistless force of perseverance; it is by this that the quarry becomes a pyramid, and that distant countries are united with canals”
T
hroughout Lent this year, I have been blogging each morning with daily reflections on thoughts from the great 18th century writer, Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), who is one of the great literary figures in the English language and who is often regarded as an Anglican saint. Samuel Johnson is commemorated on 13 December in the calendar of Common Worship in the Church of England as “Samuel Johnson, Moralist,” and in the Calendar of the Episcopal Church. He is best known as a writer of dictionaries and a literary editor. Apart from his connections with Lichfield – where he was born and where I have both lived and worked – I suppose I also like him because he too began his career as a journalist, working on ‘Grub Street’ – a term for hack journalism that he immortalised in his Dictionary. Yet in his lifetime he was renowned for his religious beliefs and as a firm supporter of the traditions of the Church of England. He had been deeply influenced as young man by reading William Law’s A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life and the writings of the Caroline divine, Jeremy Taylor. For the rest of his life, Johnson was unstinting in his support of the High Church party. Johnson’s essays entitled ‘The Rambler,’ which were published twice-weekly between 1750 and 1752, earned him the nickname ‘The Great Moralist,’ then a term of affection and honour.
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Johnson was a key figure in shaping the English language as we use it today. Indeed, he has been described as “arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history” and his biography by his friend James Boswell has been described as “the most famous single work of biographical art in the whole of literature.” Although he began his literary career as a ‘Grub Street’ journalist, he made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, novelist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. Throughout his life he was a devout Anglican, and while he was a failed teacher who never completed his degree at Oxford, this important literary figure is known and loved universally as Doctor Johnson because of the honorary doctorate he received from Trinity College Dublin, where I am an adjunct assistant professor. A child prodigy Samuel Johnson was born within sight of the three spires of Lichfield Cathedral on 18 September 1709 in the family home above his father’s bookshop in Breadmarket Street, Lichfield – a house on the corner of the Market Square, opposite Saint Mary’s, the guild and civic parish church. A number of Reformation martyrs had been burned at the stake the Market Square in front of the Johnson family home. Because his mother Sarah was 40 at the time of his birth, George Hector, a “man-midwife” and surgeon, was
Lichfield, an angry headmaster refused to allow him to continue at the grammar school. Later, Johnson began working for his father, stitching and binding books. This work gave him time to read widely and to deepen his literary knowledge.
brought in to help with the birth. The family feared the baby might die and the Vicar of Saint Mary’s was called in hurriedly to baptise him at home. The sickly child later contracted scrofula, known then as the “King’s Evil” because it was thought only the touch of royalty could cure it, and he received the “royal touch” from Queen Anne in 1712. His education began at the age of three, when his mother taught him to memorise and recite passages from The Book of Common Prayer. At the age of four, he was sent to a nearby school in Dam Street run by Dame Anne Oliver, and at seven he was sent to Lichfield Grammar School (now King Edward VI School), where he excelled in Latin and was promoted to the upper school at the age of nine.
At 16, Johnson spent six months with his cousins, the Ford family, in Pedmore, Worcestershire, where Cornelius Ford tutored Johnson in the classics. When Samuel returned to
Christmas at Oxford ... and disappointment In October 1728, at the age of 19, Johnson entered Pembroke College, Oxford. Two months later, as a Christmas exercise, he was asked by his tutor to produce a translation of a Latin poem Messiah by Alexander Pope (1688-1744). This was 13 years before Handel composed his Messiah in 1741, and 14 years before its first performance, in Dublin in 1742. So Pope and Johnson were original in their choice of a title for this work. Although Johnson thought that prayer was too high and holy for poetry, he completed half of his translation of Messiah in one afternoon and the rest the following morning. The poem was finished quickly because Johnson was hoping for patronage that would help him overcome the financial difficulties he was suffering as an undergraduate at Pembroke. After he finished the poem, it was sent to his home in Lichfield, where his father Michael Johnson, a bookseller, immediately printed the work. Michael had already published the translation before his son ever sent a copy to Pope, and it is said Samuel become “very angry” and said “if it had not been his Father [who had done this] he would have cut his throat.” However, according to one of Johnson’s early biographers, Sir John Hawkins, Pope praised the work when he claimed that he could not tell if it was “the original” or not. But, while the poem brought praise to Johnson, it never brought him the material benefit he hoped for. Poverty brought about by his father’s failing business meant Johnson could not pay his fees. After 13 months, he left Oxford without a degree and returned to Lichfield, leaving behind many books he had borrowed from his father but could not afford to transport home. The poem later appeared in a Miscellany of Poems (1731), edited by John Husbands, a Pembroke tutor, and this is the earliest surviving publication of
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Johnson still hoped to work as a teacher, but all efforts to secure a post in grammar schools were rejected because he did not have an MA from Oxford or Cambridge. Alexander Pope persuaded Lord Gower to petition Oxford for an honorary degree for him, but was told that it was “too much to be asked.” Gower then asked a friend of Jonathan Swift, Dean of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, to have an MA awarded by Trinity College Dublin in the hope that this could be used to gain an MA from Oxford. However, Dean Swift also refused to act on Johnson’s behalf. Feeling guilty about living on Tetty’s money, Johnson stopped living with her. Inany of Johnson’s writings. stead, he stayed in taverns or Meanwhile, after his failure to get a job as a teacher slept in “night-cellars,” and at Stourbridge Grammar School and an unhappy experion some nights he was seen ence at a school in Market Bosworth, Samuel Johnson reroaming the streets of Lonturned home to Lichfield once again in 1732. While he was don. still hoping to get work as a teacher, he started writing for the Birmingham Journal, and after proposing a translation of Jeronimo Lobo’s account of the Abyssinians, he went on Commission for Dictionary to publish A Voyage to Abyssinia. Johnson’s fortunes took a dramatic turn in 1746 Back in Lichfield in 1734, he befriended Elizabeth when a publisher commissioned him to compile a diction(“Tetty”) Jervis Porter, a 45-year-old widow and mother of ary of the English language – a contract that was worth three who was 21 years older than him. Despite opposition 1,500 guineas. Johnson claimed he could finish the projfrom her family, they were married in Derby in 1735 – he ect in three years. In comparison, the Académie Française was then 25 and she was 46. had 40 scholars who would spend 40 years completing its In the following autumn, Johnson opened Edial French dictionary. Eventually, he took nine years to comHall School as a private academy near Lichfield. He had plete his Dictionary of the English Language. only three pupils – including the 18-year-old David Gar- Johnson’s Dictionary was not the first, nor was it rick, who later became one of the most famous actors of unique. But it remained the standard, definitive and prehis day. But the school was a failure, costing Tetty a sub- eminent English dictionary for 150 years, until the Oxford stantial portion of her fortune. English Dictionary was published in 1928. His Dictionary Move to London Instead of trying to keep the failing school going, Johnson began to write his first major work, the historical tragedy Irene. He left Lichfield for London with David Garrick on 2 March 1737. He completed Irene in London, and Tetty joined him there at the end of the year. He soon found work with The Gentleman’s Magazine, working as a journalist on ‘Grub Street.’ In his first major literary work, the poem London, published anonymously in May 1738, Johnson portrays London as a place of crime, corruption, and neglect of the poor. Other early works in London included the biography The Life of Richard Savage and the poem The Vanity of Human Wishes, which TS Eliot regarded as one of the greatest poems in the English language.
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offers insights into the 18th century, providing “a faithful record of the language people used.” It has been described as “one of the greatest single achievements of scholarship.” As a work of literature, it has had a far-reaching impact on modern English. The first edition of Johnson’s Dictionary is a huge book. The pages are almost 18 inches tall, and the book is 20 inches wide when opened. It contains 42,773 entries, and sold for £4 10s, the equivalent of about £350 today. An important innovation was his use of around 114,000 literary quotations to illustrate meanings. The authors most frequently cited include Shakespeare, Milton and Dryden. Johnson’s Dictionary stands alongside the collected works of Chaucer and Shakespeare, the King James Version of the Bible and The Book of Common Prayer as one of the works that shaped and formed the words we
write and speak to this day. As his Dictionary was going to publication, Johnson eventually received the degree he had long desired – Oxford University made him a Master of Arts in 1755. Meanwhile, Tetty Johnson, who had been ill for most of her time in London, decided to return to the countryside while he was busy working on his Dictionary and she died on 17 March 1752. Johnson blamed himself for her death, and seems never to have forgiven himself. Literary productivity Besides working on the Dictionary, Johnson also wrote essays, sermons, and poems during these nine years. His widely-read novel Rasselas (1759) is a “little story book,” as he described it, telling the life of Prince Rasselas
and his sister Nekayah, who are kept in a place called the Happy Valley in the land of Abyssinia. Rasselas was written in a week to pay for his mother’s funeral and to settle her debts. It was so popular that a new edition was published almost every year, and it was soon translated into 14 other languages. In 1763, Johnson befriended James Boswell, who later became his biographer. Together they travelled to Scotland, and Johnson recorded their experiences in A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland. Johnson’s longawaited edition of Shakespeare was published in eight volumes in 1765. Towards the end of his life, he produced his influential Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets.
Honours and friends Eventually, despite Swift’s refusal, Trinity College Dublin awarded Johnson an honorary doctorate (LL.D.) in 1765. Later, in his Life of Samuel Johnson, Boswell referred so often to him as Dr Johnson that he has been known as Dr Johnson ever since. When he returned to Oxford, he was accompanied by Boswell and toured Pembroke College with the Master, the Revd Dr William Adams, who had once been his tutor. Johnson formed “The Club,” whose members included the painter Joshua Reynolds, the actor David Garrick, the Irish politician Edmund Burke, the Irish poet Oliver Goldsmith, the Irish actor, Arthur Murphy, and the Church of Ireland (Anglican) Bishop of Killaloe, Thomas Barnard. Reynolds said Johnson was “almost the only man whom I call a friend.” Burke thought that if Johnson were elected to Parliament he “certainly would have been the greatest speaker that ever was there.” Johnson relied on a unique form of rhetoric, and is known for his “refutation” of Bishop George Berkeley’s immaterialism and the Irish bishop’s claim that matter did not actually exist but only seemed to exist. In a conversation with Boswell, Johnson powerfully stomped on a nearby stone and proclaimed of Berkeley’s theory: “I refute it thus!” Devout Anglican, dying prayers Johnson was a devout Anglican and a compassionate man whose works are permeated with his morality. His faith did not prejudice him against others, and he respected members of other churches who demonstrated a commitment to the teachings of Christ. He admired John Milton’s poetry but could not tolerate his Puritan and Republican beliefs. He
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was a Tory, yet he opposed slavery and once proposed a toast to the “next rebellion of the negroes in the West Indies.” He would write on moral topics with such authority and in such a trusting manner that one biographer said: “No other moralist in history excels or even begins to rival him.” Shortly before his death, Johnson composed an inscription for a floor slab in the centre of the nave in Saint Michael’s Church, Lichfield, to commemorate his father, Michael Johnson (died 1731), his mother, Sarah Johnson (died 1759), and his brother, Nathaniel Johnson (died 1737), who were all buried in the church. The original stone was removed when Saint Michael’s was repaved in the late 1790s, but it was replaced with the same inscription in 1884 to mark the centenary of Samuel Johnson’s death. On his last visit to church, the walk strained Johnson. However, while there he wrote a prayer for his friends, the Thrale family: “To thy fatherly protection, O Lord, I commend this family. Bless, guide, and defend them, that they may pass through this world, as finally to enjoy in thy presence everlasting happiness, for Jesus Christ’s sake. Amen.” In his last prayer, on 5 December 1784, before receiving Holy Communion and eight days before he died, Samuel Johnson prayed: Almighty and most merciful Father, I am now, as to human eyes it seems, about to commemorate, for the last time, the death of thy Son Jesus Christ our Saviour and Redeemer. Grant, O Lord, that my whole hope and confidence may be in his merits, and his mercy; enforce and accept my imperfect repentance; make this commemoration available to the confirmation of my faith, the establishment of my hope, and the enlargement of my charity; and make the death of thy Son Jesus Christ effec-
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tual to my redemption. Have mercy on me, and pardon the multitude of my offences. Bless my friends; have mercy upon all men. Support me, by the grace of thy Holy Spirit, in the days of weakness, and at the hour of death; and receive me, at my death, to everlasting happiness, for the sake of Jesus Christ. Amen. As he lay dying, Samuel Johnson’s final words were: “Iam Moriturus” (“I who am about to die”). He fell into a coma and died at 7 p.m. on 13 December 1784. He was buried in Westminster Abbey a week later. Johnson’s life and work are celebrated in a stained glass window in Southwark Cathedral, he has monuments in We s t m i n s t e r Abbey, Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London, and Lichfield Cathedral, and he is named in the calendar of the Church of England as a modern Anglican saint. (Revd Canon Professor) Patrick Comerford is Lecturer in Anglicanism, Liturgy and Church History, the Church of Ireland Theological Institute, and a Canon of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin. Captions: 1, Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) ... a portrait by Joshua Reynolds 2, Samuel Johnson’s birthplace in Breadmarket Street, now the Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum ... Johnson was born here in 1709, and his father ran a bookshop from the house (Photograph: Patrick Comerford) 3, Samuel Johnson was born within sight of the spires of Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford) 4, Samuel Johnson first went to school at Dame Oliver’s School in Dam Street, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford) 5, Lichfield’s Market Square and Johnson’s statue viewed from Johnson’s house in Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford) 6, The former Lichfield Grammar School in Lower Saint John Street where Johnson went to school ... now the offices of Lichfield District Council (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2012) 7, The widowed Elizabeth (“Tetty”) Jervis Porter married Samuel Johnson in 1735 – when he was then 25 and she was 46 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford) 8, Dr Johnson’s house in Johnson Court, off Fleet Street, London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford) 9, Johnson’s ‘Dictionary of the English Language’ remained the standard English dictionary for 150 years (Photograph: Patrick Comerford) 10, Samuel Johnson’s statue in the Market Square, Lichfield, facing his birthplace in Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford) 11, A wall mural in Lichfield commemorates the cathedral city’s favourite son (Photograph: Patrick Comerford) 12, Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford) 13, Advice from Dr Johnson outside the Queen’s Head in Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Corpus Christi Anglican Church aka Northwest Arkansas Anglican recently had the reception of new members. Corpus Christi has been making strides in bringing the Anglo Catholic ambience to the church’s interior. These are the new windows we installed in our sanctuary. Those who volunteered to help were Bill and Jane Graves, Richard Apfel. Erica Rice, and Fr. Jason. We all worked hard together and got them done in one day. The beauty they add to the sanctuary is something wonderful. This has helped us to truly convert a building once used for a protestant worship service into something that truly reflects our Anglo Catholic faith and traditions. Here are some photos of the progress in getting the stained glass film on the windows. Fr. Jason Rice
Corpus Christi Holy Catholic Church Anglican Rite Everything Traditional: As the Lord taught, As the Apostles Preached & As the Fathers of the Church Preserved
1700 Prairie Creek DR, Rogers AR, 72756 Phone: 501-425-4754 www.nwaanglican.org
CHURCH OF THE HOLY FAMILY, CASPER , WYOMING February in Holy Family Parish – 4100 S. E. Wyoming Blvd. Casper, WY (no US Mail) Every Sunday – 9:00 am. Holy Eucharist/Holy Communion and Christian Bible class for children. *Dogmatic Theology Class – Proceeded by a soup supper – every Wednesday at 6:00 pm.‘The basic teaching of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.’ *Club 50 – Men’s Club – Breakfast at 7:00 am. on Ember Saturday, February 20th. Sunday, February 28th, after the 9 a.m. Eucharist – a chili brunch followed at 10:30 a.m. an open presentation : “Suicide Prevention is Everyone’s Business – You Can Help” Our community continues to be impacted by suicide. This open presentation is in collaboration with the Natrona County Suicide Prevention Task Force. Recognize the warning signs of a Suicide Crisis and how to Question, Persuade and Refer someone to help. All interested people are welcome without obligation. Arrive at 10:30 am. if it fits your schedule. {For the chili brunch-please RSVP to Fr. Jim Dean}.
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Faith As the Lord Taught, As the Apostles Preached As the Fathers of the Church Preserved
www.HolyCatholicAnglican.org
Publication of the Anglican Province of the Holy Catholic Church Anglican Rite St.. James Anglican Church 8107 S. Holmes Road Kansas City, MO 64131