Evangelism Today Part Two

Last week I wrote about Evangelism in our multicultural, multifaith and secular world and how Christians and particularly Anglicans should approach evangelism.  The Anglican Church of Canada supports and encourages an ecumenical and multifaith approach and I proposed that we should focus on our actions to show the world “we are Christians by our love” of others as our neighbours, whether or not they are neighbours that we are comfortable with.

I noted that this week I want to explore one way which is very helpful on the approach we can use in interfaith dialogue; work done by the Snowmass Conference.  I was not aware of this organization before hearing about it a few weeks ago from Richard Rohr. 

In 1984 Father Thomas Keating invited a small group of contemplatives from eight different religious traditions—Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Islamic, Native American, Russian Orthodox, Protestant, and Roman Catholic—to gather at St. Benedict’s Monastery in Snowmass, Colorado, to engage in what he called “a big experiment.”

The Snowmass Conference Eight Points of Agreement

1.      The world religions bear witness to the experience of Ultimate Reality, to which they give various names.
 

2.      Ultimate Reality cannot be limited by any name or concept.
 

3.      Ultimate Reality is the ground of infinite potentiality and actualization.
 

4.      Faith is opening, accepting, and responding to Ultimate Reality. Faith in this sense precedes every belief system.
 

5.      The potential for human wholeness—or, in other frames of reference, enlightenment, salvation, transcendence, transformation, blessedness—is present in every human being.
 

6.      Ultimate Reality may be experienced not only through religious practices but also through nature, art, human relationships, and service to others.
 

7.      As long as the human condition is experienced as separate from Ultimate Reality, it is subject to ignorance and illusion, weakness and suffering.
 

8.      Disciplined practice is essential to the spiritual life; yet spiritual attainment is not the result of one’s own efforts, but the result of the experience of oneness with Ultimate Reality.

In closing, I would point our that throughout Human history, God has been given many names which have attempted to capture the ineffable nature of God.  This has been true within our Judaeo-Christian history from El to YHWH (Yahweh which was transcribed as Jehovah), to Our Heavenly Father.  This might make an interesting subject to write abut another time. 

However, Ultimate Reality is, I believe, as good an expression of the ineffable nature of God as any.  The eight points of agreement are a good way to begin conversations on an  interfaith and ecumenical basis.

Blessings on your journey.

Evangelism Today Part One

Some time ago, I went into a new store that had opened in my home town of Parkhill, Ontario and engaged the owners who I didn’t know.  When they found out I was an Anglican Priest one of them asked what the “official” position of the Anglican Church was on Islam.  I asked why they were interested in knowing this and was asked in return if I knew what “Islam” meant.  I admitted that I didn’t know and was informed that it meant “surrender”. 

The woman I was speaking to was emphatic that she believed this meant that non-Muslims should surrender to the rule of Islam.  That is not her exact words but it my recollection of the conversation. I responded to the effect that I thought that it meant that Muslims should surrender to the will of God and that similarly Christians are called to live their lives following Jesus Christ. Looking back, I wish that I had engaged her more constructively but I was caught somewhat by surprize with Muslims not being a significant presence in and around Parkhill to say the least.  Also, I must confess I hadn’t thought much about the position of my church on other religions.  I was not actually aware of what the Anglican Church position on this issue.  Anglicans are, course, part of the Christian Church that has had a long and difficult history in holding that it was the one true faith and the only way to salvation was through Jesus Christ.  It has had a checkered history of forcefully converting people to Christianity with checkered results.

However, in a multi-cultural country such as Canada and a world that is much smaller that when the church was sending out missionaries to convert the natives – with the best of intentions i.e. the belief that they were saving their souls – how are we to relate to our neighbours of other religions or people of no religions? 

Well, I decided to actually investigate and educate myself on this subject.  I had been aware that the issue of the Anglican Church has dealt with one aspect of the its relations to the Jewish faith at our recent General Synod - our national governing body.  There was approval to delete an invocation calling for the conversion of Jews from the Book of Common Prayer, and replace it with a prayer entitled “For Reconciliation with the Jews.”  Certainly, this is a positive step forward, if not something that should have happened many years ago. 

I also found some information of the Web site for the Anglican Church which enlightened me on the subject.  Under the heading of Ecumenical Relationships was this statement which is addresses the issue, “As members of the Anglican Church of Canada we believe that we are called to continue the ecumenical faith journey, in which we discover in sign, symbol, and practice God’s presence in ourselves and in others, at the same time learning afresh from the living heritage of our Anglican identity.”

Under the heading of Interfaith Dialogue there is a quote from Hans Kung, a Roman Catholic theologian, “There will be no peace among the nations without peace among the religions. There will be no peace among the religions without dialogue among the religions.”  This is followed by a statement on the position of the church.

The Anglican Church of Canada pursues formal dialogue with people of other faiths together with the other member churches of the Canadian Council of Churches. We also participate in the Canadian Interfaith Conversation, which gathers representatives of different religious groups who believe that people of faith can contribute positively to the benefit of all people in Canadian society.

There are no statements, thank God, about conversion of others.  Evangelism today must take the form of demonstrating the love of Christ to others as Jesus Commanded us. As the early Christian hymn stated they will know we are Christians by our love.  That is the best way to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ to the world.

Next week I will continue on this theme with some very positive information that I became aware of recently that is very helpful on the approach we can use in interfaith dialogue; work done by the Snowmass Conference. 

Blessings on your journey.

The Paradox of Parables

One of the distinctive features of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ as recounted in the Gospels is the parable.  They are, in effect, stories that teach a lesson.  The parable is not unique to Jesus as noted by one source, “In all times in their history the Jews were familiar with teaching by means of parables and a number of parables also exist in the Old Testament.” 

Jesus used parables extensively as a method of teaching and can be considered the master of the form.  It has been calculated that one-third of the teachings of Jesus in the synoptic Gospels are in parables.  They are an effective way of making a point or teaching a lesson as people seem to be able to grasp them more easily that abstract concepts.  Indeed, everyone does like a good story and Jesus was a master story teller.  However, in some cases they do present difficulties in interpreting what exactly the lesson Jesus was trying to convey.

One of the most difficult is the parable of the dishonest manage.  This is the Gospel passage which I am blessed to have to preach on this Sunday and, I must say, is one that has challenged many preachers.  It is found in Luke 16: 1-13.  To summarize, a manager is dismissed for dishonesty.  He decides that he will discount the amount owed by his customers and falsifies the accounts to lesser give smaller amounts owing.  However, now comes the awkward twist.  When this is discovered he is praised by the owner because “he had acted with prudence”.  This is bad enough but to top it off Jesus adds the final coup de grace by apparently praising the actions of the manager by seeming to say that people who act this way will get their reward in heaven,  “And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome be you into the eternal homes.” 

I invite you to see what you can make of this rather unsettling, lesson which seems to turn the usual order in Jesus’ world upside down.  It is probably the best example of an some of the parables which are difficult to interpret.  Thankfully we have many which are, to our ears and eyes more straight-foreword such as The Prodigal Son or The Good Samaritan.

Turning back to the parable as a literary form utilized by Jesus, there has been extensive writing on this didactic form and how to appreciate it.  I find it is best to approach the parable as a story- one which has an unexpected turn:

Like many good stories, the parables of Jesus often include an unexpected turn of events in the plot. They do so to make a point. As Henry Virkler explains, “Frequently the unexpected shock appears for the purpose of catching the listeners’ attention and forcing them to reconsider their perspective.” For this reason, identifying this unexpected turn of events often helps the interpreter determine the main point of the parable as a whole.

A good source for engaging with Jesus parables and delving into them more deeply can be found at http://www.biblicalexpositor.org/home/180007636/180007636/Audio/9-INTERPRETING%20PARABLES.pdf.  This gives a scholarly exploration of the parable and can be very helpful in getting a firmer grasp on Jesus’ mastery of the form.  Here are a few of these points which are developed to be most helpful in approaching the parables:

·          Each of the parables of Jesus was told in a context and was specifically aimed at addressing a particular need, question, problem, or situation… some parables were told in response to a specific question, a specific request, a specific complaint, or a specific misconception 

·         One of the most important steps in the process of determining the central point of the parable is to determine the specific points of correspondence. This involves taking the main characters/features of the parable and identifying the corresponding points of comparison in the spiritual realm.

·         Recognize that not every aspect in the parable has special significance. There is usually one main lesson to be learned.  The parable of the dishonest manager the final line is provides this for us, “You cannot serve God and wealth.“ 

Above all, I would invite you to explore the many parables of Jesus – there are fifty-five in the synoptic Gospels.  There is much wisdom contained in them which is valuable for us regardless of your religious or spiritual understanding of life.

Blessings on your journey.

Inspiration

Last week I wrote on what could be considered the ‘news’ in the News and Views.  This week is more in the category of views – one of my favourite topics – the Holy Spirit as a source of inspiration in the church. 

The power and work of the Holy Spirit is something which seems, at least in the part of the Christian Church that I am most familiar with, not to be given much authority.  The Holy Spirit seems to be the poor relation of the family of the Trinity.  Anglicanism rests on three pillars of Scripture, Tradition, and Reason.  The Holy Spirit does not I seem to enter into any of those in a prominent way.  Perhaps it is in the background of each of these pillars.  However, it has not taken the prominent role that I believe it should.  I guess I am drawing on, what can be considered the fourth pillar, faith, in this approach.

The Holy Spirit is, of course a part of scripture being the wind that blew over the waters at the creation up to and beyond the establishment of the church on Pentecost.  It does not, however, have a firm place in the tradition of Anglicanism.  Now, this may show a lack of a firm foundation in Anglican Church history on my part and I would truly like to be educated more on this.

The place of the Holy Spirit in the Christian church is founded on the passage of scripture, John 14:16-17:

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you for ever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.” 

The direct implication of this passage is that the world was and is not ready to accept what the Spirit has come to reveal to us.  This, too, seems to be born out in the between time which began when Jesus ascended.  However, if we are to follow what Jesus has told us, we need to pay more attention to the movement of the Holy Spirit in our lives and in the world. 

I believe that the church has not given the attention to the reality and authority of the Holy Spirit because those in authority do not like the possibility that the Holy Spirit may lead people to places that they do not approve of and do not have authority over.  If regular church goers are inspired by the Holy Spirit to be the church in new ways who knows what might happen.  Therefore, let’s not let get beyond the structure and strictures that are in place.

However, despite the attempts to maintain control over the all that is the church, the Holy Spirit cannot be contained and will break though in ways that are unpredictable and unavoidable.  An example of this was noted by Richard Rohr in the past week:

Jarena Lee (1783–1864) was the first authorized woman preacher in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. If then, to preach the gospel by the gift of heaven, comes by inspiration solely, is God straitened; must he take the man exclusively? May he not, did he not, and can he not inspire a female to preach the simple story of the birth, life, death and resurrection of our Lord? . . . As for me, I am fully persuaded that the Lord called me to labor according to what I have received, in his vineyard. 

There are many examples of the church moving to align itself with the Holy Spirit from translating the bible into language accessible to ordinary Christians, to the movement to emancipation of slaves, to the ordination of women.

There are, of course, problems with discerning the Holy Spirit.  People can easily believe that they are being led by the Holy Spirit but in truth are being mislead by other forces or just believing what they want is actually the devices and desires of their egos.  I don’t want to minimize this reality.  People have been misled, sometimes with disastrous consequences, into following what is not the work of God.  We have to use our God given ability of discernment to move carefully into new places and in new ways.  As Jesus has told us:

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? (Matthew 7: 14-16)

Unfortunately, it is sometimes more difficult to recognize whether it is grapes or thorns until we get to the source of them.  All we can do is to pray that God will give us ears to hear and eyes to see what is truly the will of God.

Blessings on your journey.