email: whitpresby@mindspring.com
Spiritual readings "Greetings from Whittier Presbyterian Church"
Dec. 2000 Emails
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Augustine on Bible & God. |
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Singing |
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Anthony Bloom, Beginning to Pray |
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Bonhoeffer on music. |
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Healing |
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Singing Twice |
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Ann Weems poem from Kneeling In Bethlehem |
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Another Weems poem from Kneeling in Bethlehem. |
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Gordon Bock, Quaker Blessing |
Darrell J. Fasching is Chair of the Religious Studies Department at the University of south Florida, in Tampa. Here are the titles of two of his early books, “Narrative Theology after Auschwitz” and “The Ethical Challenge of Auschwitz and Hiroshima.” In 1996 he put out a small book titled “The Coming of the Millennium” wherein he talks about how the church might go about its existence in a different way, one that would make the church more hospitable and less hostile to non-believers. Recalling that Fasching’s specialty has been Holocaust studies, he has some background in how Christians could have allowed the deaths of millions in death camps. It is a question that continues begging an answer, but one of the ways to approach it is to look at the way we Christians interpret the Bible and what kind of god it is we worship. Do we worship a vindictive tyrannical god, or one who forgives and welcomes us no matter how different we may seem from whatever norm a particular culture sets for itself. Which kind of god does Jesus represent?
Fasching has a quote from St. Augustine, the great thinker of the early centuries of the Christian church, that refers to the way we interpret the bible. I’ve not been able to find the quote among my selections of material by Augustine and if anyone knows where it comes from, please let me know. Fasching says:
“After Auschwitz, nothing in the Gospels can be considered the word of God that does not teach hospitality to the stranger, beginning with the Jews. Or, as Augustine would put it, if we find something in the Scriptures that is ‘not worthy of God,’ we must realize that its literal meaning is not its true meaning and must therefore delve deeper in order to discover its ethical and spiritual meanings.”
How do you see God? How does that view of God effect your reading of scripture? As we enter the season of Advent, we have ample opportunity to consider the meanings of the gospel as we see many references to it in the world and decorations around us. May you find God’s hospitality in your heart and extend that hospitality to others this Advent.
Grace & peace,
Geoff
Advent Devotions with Kathleen Norris: www.pcusa.org/today/features/Adcal00/00-lo01.htm.
Singing is much a part of our Advent & Christmas observances, especially if we are church attenders. Last week I quoted from David F. Ford, in his book “Self & Salvation,” as he spoke about the role of music in our acts of gratitude. He has lots of good things to day about singing and I will be sharing them with you over the next few weeks as a tribute to the role of music in our holiday and Advent celebrations.
In regards to singing together he says this about the relation of space to song:
“Sounds do not have exclusive boundaries—they can blend, harmonize, resonate with each other in endless ways. In singing there can be a filling of space with sound in ways that draw more and more voices to take part, yet with no sense of crowding. It is a performance of abundance, as new voices join in with their own distinctive tones. There is an ‘edgeless expansion,’ an overflow of music, in which participants have their boundaries transformed. The music is both outside and within them and it creates a new vocal, social space of community in song.”
This has great implications for worship together. The next time you sing in some group, think about how the act of singing can transform both you and the group with whom you sing. As you sing your way through Advent and Christmas, may God’s song be sung in you ever more deeply.
Grace & Peace
Geoff
Advent Devotions with Kathleen Norris: www.pcusa.org/today/features/Adcal00/00-lo01.htm
Anthony Bloom, in his wonderful small book, “Beginning to Pray” (Paulist Press, 1970), in an interview at the beginning of the book says,
“…(a) Christian is like someone who lives in three dimensions in a world in which the majority of people live in two. People who live freely and within a dimension of eternity will always find that something is wrong, they will always find themselves being the odd man (sic) out. The same problem was faced by the early Christians when they said that their only king was God. People turned round to them and said, ‘If you say that you are disloyal to our king’ and often persecuted them. But the only true way of being loyal to this two-dimensional world, is to be loyal to the three dimensional one because in reality the world is three dimensional. If you really live in three dimensions and do not simply live in two and imagine the third, then life will be full and meaningful. The early Christians were able to do it and Christians today are also able to do that.”
At this time of year, so pierced by the third dimension, yet so laden with the first two, may you find some of the fullness of life and the meaning of the season.
Grace & peace to you all
Geoff
Advent Devotions with Kathleen Norris: www.pcusa.org/today/features/Adcal00/00-lo01.htm
For Tuesdays during Advent, we are looking at the gift of singing, since singing is such a part of our holiday activities. I’m using David F. Ford, in his book “Self & Salvation,” as the source of my material. He has a chapter on Dietrich Bonhoeffer entitled “Polyphonic Living.” In it he quotes from Bonhoeffer’s “Letters and Papers from Prison” where he is speaking about the baptism of a baby, itself an act of faith in end-of-the-war Germany. Bonhoeffer says:
“Music, as your parents understand and practice it, will help to dissolve your perplexities and purify your character and sensibility, and in times of care and sorrow, will keep a ground-bass of joy alive in you."
May our singing this Advent/Christmas season help us with the perplexities of our lives and purify us to serve Christ better in all we do.
Grace & peace to you all,
Geoff
Advent Devotions with Kathleen Norris: www.pcusa.org/today/features/Adcal00/00-lo01.htm
The cover of the latest “Presbyterians Today” magazine headlines “Healing Moves Out of the Hospital.” The article of that name talks about the ways churches are exploring new ways to seek healing, such as parish nurse programs, and reminds us that many missionary programs made the most progress when they brought medical services to people who had no such services. Healing has been a part of the Christian church since Jesus performed his first healing.
Larry Dossey is a physician who has written several books linking prayer and spirituality to healing. In his 1993 book “Healing Words” he opens the preface with these words:
“A few years ago, I was surprised to discover a single scientific study that strongly supported the power of prayer in getting well. Because I’d never heard of controlled experiments affirming prayer, I Assumed this study stood alone. But did it somehow I could not let the matter rest, and I began to probe the scientific literature for further proof of prayer’s efficacy. I found an enormous body of evidence: over one hundred experiments exhibiting the criteria of “good science,” many conducted under stringent laboratory conditions, over half of which showed that prayer brings about significant changes in a variety of living beings.”
Some of us know that prayer does things we cannot explain. Most of us do not rely enough upon prayer
Where do you seek healing in your life? Do you make sure to “count God in” on whatever healing processes you use? As one of our Christmas carols sings about Jesus Christ: “Light and life to all He brings, risen with healing in His wings….hark the herald angels sing, Glory to the new-born King.”
Grace and peace to you all
Geoff
Advent Devotions with Kathleen Norris: www.pcusa.org/today/features/Adcal00/00-lo01.htm
In the Dec. 4-11 issue of Presbyterian Outlook magazine, Melva Costen reviews a book on singing written by Brian Wren. Wren is professor of worship at Columbia Seminary near Atlanta GA, and a hymnist and theologian to boot. I look forward to reading his new book. In the introduction to her article she points out the depth of singing in our faith life. The title of Wren’s book is :”Praying Twice,” taken from the quote attributed to St. Augustine of Hippo, “Whoever sings (to God in worship) prays twice.” That expression has become one of my favorites over the last months. It hints at the power in song and the depths within us that singing reaches. Mrs. Costen goes on to quote two other sources dear to Presbyterians. She notes that John Calvin considered sacred song in worship an “act of prayer.” She also notes that the Directory for Worship in the Presbyterian Church Book of Order identifies congregational song as “a response which engages the whole self in prayer.”
All of this emphasizes the power of singing, as I have been stressing the last few weeks in the Tuesday emails. How much have you been singing this Advent season? Do you indeed find yourself “praying twice” as you sing?
I hope the particular focus on music and singing these last few weeks has been helpful for you all as you celebrate Advent and the approach of Christmas.
Grace & peace to you all
Geoff
Ann Weems, published a book of poetry in 1980 called “Kneeling in Bethlehem.” Here is one of my favorites from that book.
The whole world waits in December darkness
for a glimpse of the Light of God.
Even those who snarl “Humbug!”
and chase away the carolers
have been seen looking toward the skies.
The one who declared he never would forgive
has forgiven,
and those who left home
have returned,
and even ward are halted,
if briefly,
as the whole world looks starward.
In the December darkness
We peer from our windows
Watching for an angel with rainbow wings
To announce the Hope of the World.
May the blessings of Christmas be yours this year. At a time when pain and tragedy, doubt and fear, seem to be out of place, or particularly more painful than at other times in the year, may you find the good news of what God has done for the world in Christ. May that good news be ever more deeply rooted in your soul and seep out of you to touch the lives of those you know and meet.
The grace & peace of Christmas be with you all.
Geoff
For your post-Christmas meditation, another poem by Ann Weems, from her book “Kneeling in Bethlehem.” It is entitled “Had We Been There.”
Into the stable they straggled, poor and dirty,
Hardly suitably dressed for polite society.
Had we been Joseph
We would have feared robbery.
Had we been Mary
We would have feared germs around our newborn
Had we been God
These are not ones we would have chosen
To first come and see the Child.
After all, they showed a certain carelessness
About the rules of the church.
And yet, God-chosen, they came
To kneel and worship him
Whom we would later call the Good Shepherd.
Perhaps we could brush up on our humbleness.
May your holidays be rich in blessing, love and friendship. May God prepare you for the new year, a year where you and God might grow closer.
Grace & peace
Geoff
Gordon Bock is a folk singer about whom I know nothing, but I have a cassette tape with this little piece recited by him. It is called “Quaker Prayer”, and I thought it fit well with the post Christmas time we are in.
When the song of the angel is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home
and the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins,
To find the lost,
To heal the broken
To feed the hungry
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among brothers
To make music in the heart.
May you be blessed this season with a deeper sense of God’s presence in your life.
Grace & peace,
Geoff
