Deep Salvation

November 30, 2015

After mentioning a few historical facts of Jesus' life (his virgin birth, crucifixion, death, burial), the Creed suddenly takes on a different tone, moving to aspects of our faith that strictly speaking, are not historical in the normal sense of the word. After all, for most of us, except for whatever legacy we leave behind us, when we are buried, our human history comes to an end. Not so with Jesus; his story begins before Creation and continues through eternity. His human history has a beginning in the Virgin Birth, but it doesn't end with his death. The Creed continues with a somewhat controversial phrase: "He descended into hell." Controversial in that not every tradition recites this statement.

It's inclusion in the Creed has its origins in a couple of somewhat cryptic Scriptures: 1 Peter 3:13-21 and Ephesians 4:9. In the first, it says Jesus after his death "preached to the spirits in prison...who were disobedient in the days of Noah...," and the in the second, "He who ascended into heaven first descended into the depths of the earth." It is easy to misunderstand this. The term "hell" here isn't the place of damnation and torment which usually comes to mind. It simply means 'the place of the dead.' The significance of this short statement is in affirming the totality of Jesus' human experience; he not only died and was buried, but entered the place of the dead. But it is what Jesus did while there that is the focus of faith: "He preached to the spirits imprisoned there."

The catechism of the Catholic Church puts it this way: "The frequent New Testament affirmations that Jesus was "raised from the dead" presuppose that the crucified one sojourned in the realm of the dead prior to his resurrection. This was the first meaning given in the apostolic preaching to Christ's descent into hell: that Jesus, like all men, experienced death and in his soul joined the others in the realm of the dead. But he descended there as Savior, proclaiming the Good News to the spirits imprisoned there." Those believers who died prior to the Resurrection had no first hand knowledge of Jesus or of the fullness of the salvation he procured through his death and resurrection. After all, according to Scripture, Jesus is the firstborn from among the dead, and it was his descent and proclamation of salvation to those there that enabled him to lead them to eternal life as we understand it.

This short sentence is the Creed's way of assuring us of the fullness of our salvation. As the old Gospel song puts it, "The love of God is greater far than pen or tongue can ever tell; It goes beyond the highest star, and reaches to the lowest hell." I am grateful tonight that there is no place in all creation left untouched by Christ's redemption. And if it reaches to the lowest hell, it surely reaches me.

History Matters

November 28, 2015

"Jesus...was crucified, dead, and buried." History is a funny discipline. Unlike scientific proof which requires that an experiment be reproducible, history is always unique. Whatever happens, happens only once; it is not repeatable. It is however, always open to interpretation, which can be good when it opens our eyes to dimensions of experience we would otherwise miss, such as we learn when we see our national history from the perspective of a Native American. Various interpretations of events can however, distort reality and do us a great disservice, as when Islamic clerics (among others) declare that the Holocaust never happened. Josef Goebbels understood this aspect of history well when he declared that if you tell a lie big enough and often enough, people will believe it.

There are those who would dispute this part of the Creed, declaring that there is no solid evidence outside the Bible that the man Jesus Christ ever lived. It's not as if evidence is absent; Josephus wrote about him, and there is reference to Jesus in the writings of Tacitus and Suetonius. It's admittedly scant, but no more so than evidence for the existence of Plato, whose writings are preserved in a single early copy dating centuries after his death. Yet no one denies that he lived. It is understandable, after all, no one ever accused Plato of being divine.

Nevertheless, the historical foundation of our faith is there, and it is important. We don't believe in a philosophical system that is self-sustaining. Our faith is not a self-help  program. We believe God intervened in human history in the person of Jesus Christ, and that this history is important because we have both a past, and a future. If Christianity is divorced from historical fact, our future is in jeopardy.

Here however, history and faith intersect. Crucifixion, death, and burial were common enough back then, but don't become tenets of faith. Only here, only because this crucifixion, death, and burial have unique meaning. When I see other peoples' lives unraveling instead of unfolding, I am grateful that the historically physical death of this man has made a difference in history, and because I believe, in my history, too.

Salvation in Real Time

November 27, 2015

Tonight I am torn between continuing my reflections on the Apostles' Creed and regaling you with the story of Linda's garlic toast. Why not? I'll do both! Izzi came over to do her online homework, so Linda fixed dinner for one more, including her luscious garlic toast. Well, usually luscious. We were sitting at the table conversing and sharing our meal when suddenly Linda leapt to her feet and ran over to the stove. I turned around just in time to see smoke pouring out of the oven. She opened it up, reached inside and pulled out garlic toast flambé. Of course, it wasn't intended, but she sure looked funny frantically blowing on the flaming toast which then filled the kitchen with smoke. I'll have to get the smoke alarms tested. Like Sherlock Holmes questioning Watson about the curious matter of the dogs barking, they were strangely silent when they definitely should have sounded. Unfortunately, she was able to extinguish the fire before I could get a picture, but I do have Izzi as a witness.

Something very strange happens in the Creed after the mention of the virgin birth of Jesus. His entire life and ministry is passed over as if it never happened. There is no dearth of apocryphal gospels and fanciful accounts of the "hidden years" of Jesus, and we have the Biblical record of the Gospels that fill us in concerning the approximately three years of his public ministry, but all this is omitted in the Creed which jumps from the virgin birth to his suffering under Pontius Pilate. Since this creed is a recitation of that which was considered essential to Christian faith for the purposes of catechal teaching and baptism, the absence of any detail of Jesus' life is instructive. While not unimportant, by comparison with the assertion of Jesus divine origin safeguarded by the virgin birth and his sacrificial death at the hands of a Roman procurator, the ministry of Jesus definitely takes a back seat. It is his passion, death, and resurrection that provides the means of our salvation, not his ministry.

It is also important that our salvation is grounded in historical reality rather than mythical imagination. While there are mythic dimensions to our faith (mythic being understood as that which has universal application), our story has its roots in a definite time and place in history. It is not enough that we have eternal principles by which we live; it is in flesh and blood history that Jesus came, it is in flesh and blood history he works today, and it will be to flesh and blood history that he returns. We don't live by a set of rules or ideals, but by our allegiance to a Man who was born, lived, and died among people like Herod, Caesar Augustus, and Pontius Pilate. I am grateful tonight that my salvation is more than following certain principles, living out the seven habits of highly successful people, or working through the latest self-help book. Salvation is in the Name of Jesus Christ who didn't give us principles by which to order our lives, but gave us Life itself. And I'm thankful for the belly laugh I had tonight at Linda's expense.

Nothing is Impossible

November 26, 2015

Skeptics think we're hopelessly naive to believe it; even many who call themselves Christian scratch their heads at it. Radical feminists declare that it's a story designed to protect the reputation of a bad girl we want to claim as holy. The Virgin Birth stirs as much controversy today as when it actually happened. It is certainly inconvenient to the modern mind (although no more so than it was to Joseph), so why does the Creed specifically say Jesus was "born of the Virgin Mary?"

Well, in the first place, it's in the Creed because it's in the Bible. The story is quite clear about it: this baby did not have a biological father. But this is no story of pagan origin where gods regularly impregnated human women. There is no such coarseness here; Luke tells us that the Holy Spirit "came upon" Mary. There is no other, more detailed description; the statement is dropped into the narrative without explanation. It was just as inexplicable then as it is now. Joseph certainly had a hard time coming to grips with his fiancee's having gone for a three month visit to her cousin Elizabeth and coming home pregnant. In fact, he wouldn't have believed it apart from an angelic visitation in a dream. Which hints at something very important.

Our salvation is not irrational, but neither is it fully understandable, and it remains unintelligible until a person is convicted of their sin, confesses it as such, repents of it, and turns to faith in Christ for forgiveness. Until one has experienced the miracle of new birth, all other miracles in the Bible seem foolish and implausible. But once a person has experienced grace that has delivered them from lifelong addiction or that has freed them from guilt and despair, believing such things as the Virgin Birth are tame by comparison. At Park church for example, are many people who five, ten, or fifteen years ago would never have imagined they would be worshipping and praising God in a Methodist (or any other) church. They are living, breathing miracles who have no trouble believing in the Virgin Birth because they've experienced a New Birth of their own.

The Virgin Birth is in the Creed because it's in the Bible, but also because it states in rudimentary form that Christ had no sin (because sin was believed to be transmitted through the male). To say, "I believe in Jesus Christ...who was born of a virgin" is to recognize that God is doing something unique here to preserve and proclaim the ability of this Man to forgive sins because he has none of his own with which to contend. I am grateful tonight that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, insuring Christ's ability to secure my salvation, but also reminding me that with God, nothing is impossible. If it is possible for Jesus to be born of a virgin, it's possible for me to be born again into a new and more perfect life.

L' Chaim ,

November 25, 2015

Susan is due on Christmas Eve. She's a tiny woman, so there's no hiding the fact of her pregnancy. She and her husband Kevin are excited, as are my brother and sister-in-law, grandparents-to-be once more. In less than a month, a new baby will enter this world, the culmination of love and conception, the beginning of an adventure in life. It is tragic that so many precious lives have been thrown away in this country since 1973. I'm glad this won't be one of them. This thing we call life which we value so greatly and guard so jealously is not treasured by all. The genocide we call abortion has claimed nearly 60 million lives, legally I might add. It's impossible to turn on the news without hearing of someone whose life has been snuffed out by someone else who valued the high of a drug or the approval of friends more than life. There seems to be no shortage of young men and women who value jihad more than life, willing to kill indiscriminately, even blowing themselves up for the cause. Not everyone values life.

Seeing life as precious is really a Christian thing. We see it as the breath of God himself, something to be treasured because it is a gift from his hand. It is quite mysterious. I've watched the breath of life leave the body more times than I like to remember, and it never ceases to amaze me how one moment there is life, and the next, there is not. The difference between a person and a corpse is this fleeting thing we call life. We know when it's there and when it's not; we can prolong it or shorten it, but what is it, really? Is it merely electrical impulses in the brain, the heart pumping blood through arteries and veins, lungs inhaling and exhaling precious oxygen? Whatever we can explain medically or scientifically, life itself is still a mystery. One moment there are two cells-egg and sperm-the next, they unite and immediately something begins to happen as that newly fertilized egg begins to divide. At the other end, we stand around a hospital bed, anxious and fearful yet hopeful until that last exhalation. Something has happened, and we weep.

The Creed says "I believe in Jesus Christ...who was conceived by the Holy Spirit..." This is a theological as well as a biological statement, neither of which is fully amenable to explanation. Biologically, how do we explain normal conception, let alone this one? Theologically, it flows naturally from the Biblical understanding that sin infected all of humanity through Adam, the male. Being conceived by the Holy Spirit means that God bypassed the sin connection, so that Jesus didn't have the same flawed spiritual genetics that have been passed on to the rest of humankind. I cannot say I understand it, but I can say I understand what it means: God in Christ has entered this human life by the slenderest of threads-that of conception-in order to redeem mankind from the curse of sin.

This afternoon as we gathered around the table at my brother's home, I thought of the Fiddler on the Roof, as Tevye and Golde sing "Sunrise, Sunset," wondering how their daughters had grown to maturity so quickly. Four generations sat, prayed, and ate together, from my 93-year old mother to my eight month old great-niece, and one yet unborn. Where once there was not a family, one was gathered, a miracle of love and joy giving thanks for life itself. As the Jewish saying goes, "L' Chaim!" (To Life!)

Thanksgiving Must Be Given

November 24, 2015

Twice in his letters St. Paul asks a question that is often on my mind: "Who has known the mind of the Lord?" (Romans 11:34 and 1 Corinthians 2:16). Tonight as we sat at the table with our kids and grandkids, writing on the Thankful Tablecloth, my mind kept returning to friends whose lives are in turmoil tonight; one grieving the tragic death of his wife, another waiting for his family to return home, still another wondering what the surgeons are going to find when they operate on him in two weeks. Halfway around the world, refugees have left everything familiar in a desperate attempt to simply stay alive, while those remaining in their homeland huddle in fear because of the barbarity of ISIS. And though it doesn't make the news, North Korea is still one of the most oppressive places on the planet.

I don't understand the ways of God, nor the blessings I have received. What I do understand is that I don't deserve them. It was not my choice that placed me in this part of the world at this time in history in this particular family. What I do understand is that with greater blessings come greater responsibility. Blessings were never meant to be hoarded, but shared. So in retirement, the formal job description may have changed, but the moral and spiritual imperative remains. John Wesley said it as well as any:

“Do all the good you can,
by all the means you can,
in all the ways you can,
in all the places you can,
at all the times you can,
to all the people you can,
as long as ever you can.”

Actually, this never appears in Wesley's rather voluminous writings, so it's pretty certain he didn't say this, but the quote is still a pretty good summary of what as Christians we ought to be about. I can't change people's circumstances, but I can pray for them, and if through my prayers God doesn't change their circumstances, he changes me, which is almost as good. Prayer keeps me connected with people. When I pray for them, I think of them. When I think of them, I am more apt to actually do something to help them. Sometimes there's not much I can do, but sometimes it doesn't take a lot to make a big difference in someone's life.

So tonight as I give thanks to God for all I have received from his hand, I pray and look for ways to pass those blessings along. They are just too good to hold onto all by myself.

His Only Son

November 23, 2015

It is quite fitting that the bulk of the Apostles' Creed centers on the person and work of Jesus Christ; after all, it is (apart from the Scriptures themselves) one of the primary documents of the Christian faith. After distinguishing which god we worship (the Father Almighty), the Creed speaks of Jesus Christ as Lord, which designation as we noted two days ago, is far more demanding of us than any of the modern counterparts in contemporary government. But three little words slip in almost imperceptibly: "his only Son." It is a common error to associate this phrase with the words that follow concerning the conception and birth of Jesus, but when the Bible and the Creed speak of the Sonship of Jesus Christ, they are not speaking of something that happened in time, as if the Second Person of the Godhead became "the Son" upon his birth to the Virgin Mary. Not at all! Christ is eternally the Son of God. In Isaiah 9:6 we read, "Unto us a child is born, a Son is given." The wording is specific: the Son is not born; he is given. That is because the Son is eternally who he is; he didn't suddenly become the Son upon the birth of the child Jesus.

Sonship in Biblical time indicated primarily two things: identity and authoritative inheritance. Ancient Hebrew didn't have adjectives like ours. One didn't say for example, "That man is devilish." Instead it would be said that "he is a son of the devil." In the same way, a godly man would be called a "son of God." So when in John's Gospel Philip asks Jesus to show them the Father, Jesus replies, "he who has seen me has seen the Father." Why? Because Jesus is the Son of God, i.e., like his Father.

We tend to think of the terms "Son of God and Son of Man" in almost the reverse of their original intent. As Son of God, Jesus the man showed us in human flesh what God is like. "Son of Man" however, has its roots in Daniel where that designation refers to divinity. It only remains to examine that word his "only" Son. That is where we might say divinity kicks in. Jesus Christ in human flesh uniquely reveals the Father to us; no one else can even come close to the revelation we see in him. Again, as Jesus told Philip, "If you've seen me, you've seen the Father."

People have all kinds of ideas about God. Some are pretty imaginative, many are completely inaccurate, only one gets it right, and that's Jesus. For most of my adult life I lived under a cloud of guilt, some of it rightly deserved, some of it merely an overactive conscience. No matter what I read in the Bible, I felt as if God were mad at me. It took years for me to understand that Jesus' words to the woman caught in adultery (John 8) applied to me, too: "Neither do I condemn you." And if Jesus doesn't, neither does God, for which I am thankful tonight. And guess what? He doesn't condemn you, either.