A blog post is often pressing home a particular point. But reality is often more complex. More balanced.
My recent post on worship and entertainment is a case in point. I was arguing the dangers of becoming entertainment-focused. Well-known John Michael Talbot sent me this tweet in response: “Worship that doesn’t entertain a bit is boring, and entertainment without worship has no soul. The balance is good liturgy.”
He is, of course, quite right. There is nothing intrinsically good about boring worship!
There is an old joke (not so common in our smoking-is-not-PC world) about a Franciscan, a Dominican, and a Jesuit. The Franciscan and the Dominican asked their superiors if they could smoke while they were praying. Both superiors were outraged: “No, that would be a sin!” The Jesuit asked his superior if he could pray while he was smoking. His superior was delighted: “What a great idea!” [Those who understand Ignatian spirituality will realise deeper truths in this joke].
Please don’t use my blog post as an excuse for continuing leading tedious, dull, dreary, mind-numbing, tiresome, lackluster, unexciting, humdrum, uninspiring worship.
The prayer at the heart of the Liturgy of the Eucharist is the Great Thanksgiving/Eucharistic Prayer. The prayer at the heart of the Liturgy of the Word is the collect/opening prayer. Both of these prayers plunge us deeper into the life of God the Holy Trinity. They are led by the presider, addressed to God, the First Person of the Trinity, as we, together as Christ’s body, pray in the power of the Spirit.
The collect/opening prayer has a bidding (invitation to pray), the community prays together in deep silent prayer, then the collect is proclaimed, and the now-gathered community affirms/ratifies the prayer by a resounding “Amen.” (”So be it”).
The collect (like haiku or sonnet) has its own particular, recognisable structure. In the five-fold structure, three parts are always present (marked *):
*You– Address
Who – Amplification (& motive)
*Do – Petition
To – Purpose (& motive)
*Through Jesus Christ…
Collects, like Eucharistic Prayers, are to be general. Inclusive. We should all be able to find ourselves in them. We should all be able to assent with the “Amen”. We live in a RCL/3YearLectionary, post-tight-little-themed-Sunday-services church. Where pebbles are cast and we hope the ripples somehow touch all – or nearly all. Collects, hence, are mostly general prayers, not too tightly setting a them.
Prayers for an Inclusive Church is mostly a collection of collects – about a hundred and fifty of them across the three years of the RCL. Unfortunately the collects are not supplied with a particular bidding. They are mostly linked to the gospel reading. Other than that, they essentially fulfil the requirements of my criteria above [each has the shorter ending, eg. "through Jesus Christ the Way, the Truth, and the Life." rather than the normal Trinitarian ending, which in any case the presider could continue with, "...with you... and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever."]. About half a dozen of them are addressed to the Second or Third Person of the Trinity, creating that oddity of praying to the Second Person of the Trinity “through Jesus Christ”. But Steven Shakespeare is clearly aware of these issues and his Introduction sets out an understanding of inclusiveness and the place of prayer which articulates insightfully the contribution of René Girard. For those who think inclusiveness is “a shapeless tolerance for anything and everything”, Steven Shakespeare highlights from his previous book that “the inclusiveness of the church is precisely what makes it a demanding, counter-cultural presence in the world.”
Mostly the prayers here are pretty-much usable as given. Occasionally I would alter a word here or there. I am possibly not as comfortable as the author to use an image in prayer for the purpose of what I might call “shock tactics”. Here are prayers that allow us to see scriptural passages afresh. There are also confessions, introductions to the Peace, and Eucharistic Prayers which would need their own review. Because of this book I have already ordered his book The Inclusive God: Reclaiming Theology for an Inclusive Church. Out of five stars, this collection gets four and a half from me.
Collect for this coming Sunday:
Holy Trinity,
you are neither monarch nor monologue
but an eternal harmony
of gift and response:
through the Uncreated Word
and the Spirit of Truth
include us and all creation
in your extravagant love;
through the Wisdom of God,
who raises her voice
to call us to life.
Amen.
Today is brought to you … by the numbers fifty and twenty-five
A couple of posts ago I wrote about the number 8.
8 = 7+1, so it is about abundance, fresh start, resurrection.
50 has similarities, it is 7×7 +1
49 is a sabbath of sabbaths – 50 is the start of a new cycle of those
50 is the number of the Jubilee (Leviticus 25:8-55; 27:14-34; Numbers 36:1-9)
Pentecost πεντηκοστή ἡμέρα, pentekostē hēmera is the fiftieth day
In the early church the season of Pentecost was not the period following the Day of Pentecost, it was the 50 day season from Easter Day until the Day of Pentecost.
50 is approximately a seventh of the year – the 50 day season of Easter is celebrated as if it is one day – it is the Great Sunday of the year.
There is a connection with 8. There are 8 Sundays in the Easter Season. It has been suggested that the English expression “Whitsunday” derives from the French huit (eight), Pentecost being le huitième dimanche, the eighth Sunday of Easter.
Today is the 25th day of Easter, we are half way through the Easter Season.
You can join the facebook “event” Easter is 50 days here.
Place the above story alongside the banning of a nurse in the UK from wearing a cross around her neck (as she has been for the last 30 years). I understand that in the same context Muslim workers are exempt from hygiene rules which stipulate their forearms must not be covered.
And we all know stories of the crosses being absent from Hot Cross Buns, I mean Easter Buns, I mean Holiday Buns…
The Quenya translation is by J.R.R. Tolkien (published in Vinyar Tengwar #43).
Átaremma i ëa han ëa,
na aire esselya,
aranielya na tuluva,
na care indómelya
cemende tambe Erumande.
Ámen anta síra ilaurëa massamma,
ar ámen apsene úcaremmar
sív’ emme apsenet tien i úcarer emmen.
Álame tulya úsahtienna
mal áme etelehta ulcullo.
Násie.
It is always fascinating to pore over church service advertisements. Especially the way a community perceives itself, what it thinks it is important, and how it expresses itself to visitors and seekers:
a devotional service
Family service
Festival Eucharist with Easter Hymns
Traditional Holy Communion (BCP) with hymns
Informal lively service with communion
But the prize in Holy week’s advertising goes to:
“Sung Festival Eucharist with incense”
A council spokeswoman said: “The investigation carried out by our team concluded that there is insufficient evidence to show that the occasional burning of incense, within St Paul’s Church, represents any significant hazard to health.” The church was large and airy; so the smoke would be “significantly dispersed”, it was well ventilated, and the blown-air heating system would “dilute” any smoke.
An interesting doctoral thesis (please credit me): correlating incense health issues and theological/liturgical perspectives. Remembering incense has been shown to cause antidepressive behaviour in mice. It also activates the poorly understood ion channels in the brain alleviating anxiety and depression.
When asked: what is incense for? The answer is: for the nose.
Remember in the afterlife the Bible speaks of there being two alternative smells: one is incense, the other… which do you prefer getting used to?
The webcounter (at the bottom of each page) has just clicked over the 1,000,000th visitor to this site! (The millionth visitor was from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States). Four years ago I had the digital version of my book Celebrating Eucharist which I thought I could make more accessible by purchasing a domain and placing it on there. I had just been asked to give a lecture on worship developments since the publication of the NZ Prayer Book, and, in researching for this, had been horrified at some of what I discovered. Placing the book online was a small step, I hoped, to improve things.
I was very surprised when what I thought then were a lot of people started coming to the site. So I started adding a few more resources. And more people came. After a while I had built up a significant website – but I had done it without really knowing what I was doing. Here is an image of the first page recorded by the internet archive a couple of months after starting the site. After a while the site was growing so much and interest also growing, that I realised I had made a complete messy tangle. I bought new software and took six months to rebuild the site from scratch. Then people started suggesting I add a blog to the website, which I did. But I feared adding a comments facility because I have seen so many sites with fights – including a really good site which in the end closed down because the host could not take the ongoing nastiness. Nearly a couple of years ago I cautiously opened comments. I have been thrilled by the positive culture and community that has built around the site (the spam filter has filtered out 15,737 spam comments in that time!)
The number of visitors continues to grow: 61,330 in the first year 13 April 2006- 13 April 2007. 168,855 in the second year. 270,355 in the third year. 499,460 in this fourth year. I remember discussing visits with internet experts who were enthused when I was heading towards a hundred visits a day. That, they thought, was a good maximum to aim for – there just, they thought, wouldn’t be more interest than that on the internet for this “niche”. Well now there are days with around 4,000 visits.
Associated with this site there is an RSS feed, an occasional email newsletter (see bottom right of that linked page), a facebook page, and a twitter. This website is the most visited Christian site served from New Zealand. And the twitter is the second most followed twitter located in New Zealand. There is clearly a strong interest in worship, liturgy, and spirituality.
I produce all this in my “spare” time and thank you all who visit here for your support and encouragement. Let us continue to pray for each other, and all who visit here.
Another way to look at the interest:
ps. I could see that the counter was going to turn in the middle of the (NZ) night, so I called on some help through twitter and facebook to encourage some more visitors and waited up for it to turn a million. Thanks everyone for your help. And sorry to those whose advice to go to bed I ignored
The Exsultet (Exultet) can be a good source of reflection during the Easter Season. The Exsultet originates from some time between the fifth and seventh centuries and is the traditional Western Rite hymn of praise intoned by the deacon during the Easter Vigil after the procession with the Paschal Candle.
Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing, choirs of angels!
Exult, all creation around God’s throne!
Jesus Christ, our King, is risen!
Sound the trumpet of salvation!
Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendor,
radiant in the brightness of your King!
Christ has conquered! Glory fills you!
Darkness vanishes for ever!
Rejoice, O Mother Church! Exult in glory!
The risen Savior shines upon you!
Let this place resound with joy,
echoing the mighty song of all God’s people!
My dearest friends,
standing with me in this holy light,
join me in asking God for mercy,
that he may give his unworthy minister
grace to sing his Easter praises.
Deacon: The Lord be with you.
People: And also with you.
Deacon: Lift up your hearts.
People: We lift them up to the Lord.
Deacon: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
People: It is right to give him thanks and praise.
It is truly right
that with full hearts and minds and voices
we should praise the unseen God, the all-powerful Father,
and his only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
For Christ has ransomed us with his blood,
and paid for us the price of Adam’s sin to our eternal Father!
This is our passover feast,
when Christ, the true Lamb, is slain,
whose blood consecrates the homes of all believers.
This is the night
when first you saved our fathers:
you freed the people of Israel from their slavery
and led them dry-shod through the sea.
This is the night
when the pillar of fire destroyed the darkness of sin!
This is the night
when Christians everywhere,
washed clean of sin and freed from all defilement,
are restored to grace and grow together in holiness.
This is the night
when Jesus Christ broke the chains of death
and rose triumphant from the grave.
What good would life have been to us,
had Christ not come as our Redeemer?
Father, how wonderful your care for us!
How boundless your merciful love!
To ransom a slave you gave away your Son.
O happy fault,
O necessary sin of Adam,
which gained for us so great a Redeemer!
Most blessed of all nights,
chosen by God to see Christ rising from the dead!
Of this night scripture says:
“The night will be as clear as day:
it will become my light, my joy.”
The power of this holy night dispels all evil,
washes guilt away, restores lost innocence,
brings mourners joy;
it casts out hatred, brings us peace,
and humbles earthly pride.
Night truly blessed when heaven is wedded to earth
and man is reconciled with God!
Therefore, heavenly Father,
in the joy of this night,
receive our evening sacrifice of praise,
your Church’s solemn offering.
Accept this Easter candle,
a flame divided but undimmed,
a pillar of fire that glows to the honor of God.
(For it is fed by the melting wax,
which the mother bee brought forth
to make this precious candle.)
Let it mingle with the lights of heaven
and continue bravely burning
to dispel the darkness of this night!
May the Morning Star which never sets
find this flame still burning:
Christ, that Morning Star,
who came back from the dead,
and shed his peaceful light on all mankind,
your Son, who lives and reigns for ever and ever.
Amen.
Exsúltet iam angélica turba cælórum:
exsúltent divína mystéria:
et pro tanti Regis victória tuba ínsonet salutáris.
Gáudeat et tellus, tantis irradiáta fulgóribus:
et ætérni Regis splendóre illustráta,
tótius orbis se séntiat amisísse calíginem.
Lætétur et mater Ecclésia,
tanti lúminis adornáta fulgóribus:
et magnis populórum vócibus hæc aula resúltet.
[Quaprópter astántes vos, fratres caríssimi,
ad tam miram huius sancti lúminis claritátem,
una mecum, quæso,
Dei omnipoténtis misericórdiam invocáte.
Ut, qui me non meis méritis
intra Levitárum númerum dignátus est aggregáre,
lúminis sui claritátem infúndens,
cérei huius laudem implére perfíciat.]
[Vers. Dóminus vobíscum.
Resp. Et cum spíritu tuo.]
Vers. Sursum corda.
Resp. Habémus ad Dóminum.
Vers. Grátias agámus Dómino Deo nostro.
Resp. Dignum et iustum est.
Vere dignum et iustum est,
invisíbilem Deum Patrem omnipoténtem
Filiúmque eius unigénitum,
Dóminum nostrum Iesum Christum,
toto cordis ac mentis afféctu et vocis ministério personáre.
Qui pro nobis ætérno Patri Adæ débitum solvit,
et véteris piáculi cautiónem pio cruóre detérsit.
Hæc sunt enim festa paschália,
in quibus verus ille Agnus occíditur,
cuius sánguine postes fidélium consecrántur.
Hæc nox est,
in qua primum patres nostros, fílios Israel
edúctos de Ægypto,
Mare Rubrum sicco vestígio transíre fecísti.
Hæc ígitur nox est,
quæ peccatórum ténebras colúmnæ illuminatióne purgávit.
Hæc nox est,
quæ hódie per univérsum mundum in Christo credéntes,
a vítiis sæculi et calígine peccatórum segregátos,
reddit grátiæ, sóciat sanctitáti.
Hæc nox est,
in qua, destrúctis vínculis mortis,
Christus ab ínferis victor ascéndit.
Nihil enim nobis nasci prófuit,
nisi rédimi profuísset.
O mira circa nos tuæ pietátis dignátio!
O inæstimábilis diléctio caritátis:
ut servum redímeres, Fílium tradidísti!
O certe necessárium Adæ peccátum,
quod Christi morte delétum est!
O felix culpa,
quæ talem ac tantum méruit habére Redemptórem!
O vere beáta nox,
quæ sola méruit scire tempus et horam,
in qua Christus ab ínferis resurréxit!
Hæc nox est, de qua scriptum est:
Et nox sicut dies illuminábitur:
et nox illuminátio mea in delíciis meis.
Huius ígitur sanctificátio noctis fugat scélera, culpas lavat:
et reddit innocéntiam lapsis
et mæstis lætítiam.
Fugat ódia, concórdiam parat
et curvat impéria.
O vere beáta nox,
in qua terrénis cæléstia, humánis divína iungúntur!¹
In huius ígitur noctis grátia, súscipe, sancte Pater,
laudis huius sacrifícium vespertínum,
quod tibi in hac cérei oblatióne solémni,
per ministrórum manus
de opéribus apum, sacrosáncta reddit Ecclésia.
Sed iam colúmnæ huius præcónia nóvimus,
quam in honórem Dei rútilans ignis accéndit.
Qui, lícet sit divísus in partes,
mutuáti tamen lúminis detrimenta non novit.
Alitur enim liquántibus ceris,
quas in substántiam pretiósæ huius lámpadis
apis mater edúxit.²
Orámus ergo te, Dómine,
ut céreus iste in honórem tui nóminis consecrátus,
ad noctis huius calíginem destruéndam,
indefíciens persevéret.
Et in odórem suavitátis accéptus,
supérnis lumináribus misceátur.
Flammas eius lúcifer matutínus invéniat:
ille, inquam, Lúcifer, qui nescit occásum.
Christus Fílius tuus,
qui, regréssus ab ínferis, humáno géneri serénus illúxit,
et vivit et regnat in sæcula sæculórum.
Amen.
Easter Vigil Exultet (cathedral of Nice in France, 2008)
Rejoice, all creation!
Let the heavenly chorus sing!
Jesus Christ, our light, is risen! Sound the trumpet of salvation!
Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendour, the light of Christ will warm our autumn night. Christ has conquered!
Glory fills you! Darkness will vanish for ever!
Rejoice, O church of God! Exult in glory! The risen Saviour shines upon you!
Let this place resound with joy. Echoing the mighty song of all God’s people!
The Lord is here. God’s Spirit is with us.
Lift up your hearts. We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to God. It is right to offer thanks and praise.
It is truly right that with full hearts and minds and voices we should praise you the eternal God, and your First-born, our Saviour Jesus Christ.
For Christ is the true passover lamb who at this feast has set your faithful people free.
This is the night when you saved the people of Israel from their slavery in Egypt and led them through the Red Sea on dry land.
This is the night, when the pillar of fire brought light to your wandering people.
This is the night when all who believe in Christ are delivered from gloom, and are restored to grace, and grow together in fullness of life.
This is the night when Jesus Christ broke the chains of death and rose triumphant from the grave.
Night truly blessed when heaven is wedded to earth and we are reconciled with God!
Therefore, Holy God, in the joy of this night, accept our evening sacrifice of praise, your church’s solemn offering.
Accept this Easter candle, a flame divided but undimmed, a pillar of fire that glows to your honour, O God.
Let it mingle with the lights of heaven and continue burning to lighten the darkness of this night!
May the Morning Star find this flame still burning among us. Christ is that Morning Star, who rises to shed your peaceful light on all creation.
Christ is now alive and glorified with you for ever and ever. Amen.
Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing, choirs of angels!
O Universe, dance around God’s throne!
Jesus Christ, our King, is risen!
Sound the victorious trumpet of salvation!
Rejoice, O earth, in glory, revealing the splendour of your creation,
radiant in the brightness of your triumphant King!
Christ has conquered! Now his life and glory fill you!
Darkness vanishes for ever!
Rejoice,O Mother Church! Exult in glory!
The risen Saviour, our Lord of life, shines upon you!
Let all God’s people sing and shout for joy.
Or Alternatively, the Introduction could be sung by the whole congregation to a tune of the metre 10.10.10.10 using the following form. Note: not all tunes of 10.10.10.10 metre are suitable.
All Sing, choirs of heaven! Let saints and angels sing!
Around God’s throne exult in harmony!
Now Jesus Christ is risen from the grave!
Salute your King in glorious symphony!
Sing, choirs of earth! Behold, your light has come!
The glory of the Lord shines radiantly!
Lift up your hearts, for Christ has conquered death!
The night is past, the day of life is here!
Sing, Church of God! Exult with joy outpoured!
The gospel trumpets tell of victory won!
Your Saviour lives; he’s with you evermore!
Let all God’s people sound the long Amen!
The minister continues
The Lord be with you All and also with you.
Lift up your hearts. All We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. All It is right to give thanks and praise.
It is right and good that with hearts and minds and voices
we should praise you, Father almighty, the unseen God,
through your only Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,
who has saved us by his death,
paid the price of Adam’s sin,
and reconciled us once again to you. All [Glory to you for ever.]
For this is the Passover feast,
when Christ, the true Lamb of God, is slain
whose blood consecrates the homes of all the faithful. All [Glory to you for ever.]
This is the night when you first saved our ancestors,
freeing Israel from her slavery
and leading her safely through the sea. All [Glory to you for ever.]
This is the night when Jesus Christ vanquished hell,
broke the chains of death
and rose triumphant from the grave. All [Glory to you for ever.]
This is the night when all who believe in him are freed from sin,
restored to grace and holiness,
and share the victory of Christ. All [Glory to you for ever.]
This is the night that gave us back what we had lost;
beyond our deepest dreams
you made even our sin a happy fault. All [Glory to you for ever.]
Most blessed of all nights!
Evil and hatred are put to flight and sin is washed away,
lost innocence regained, and mourning turned to joy. All [Glory to you for ever.]
Night truly blessed, when hatred is cast out,
peace and justice find a home, and heaven is joined to earth
and all creation reconciled to you. All [Glory to you for ever.]
Therefore, heavenly Father, in this our Easter joy
accept our sacrifice of praise, your Church’s solemn offering.
Grant that this Easter Candle may make our darkness light.
For Christ the morning star has risen in glory;
Christ is risen from the dead and his flame of love still burns within us!
Christ sheds his peaceful light on all the world!
Christ lives and reigns for ever and ever! All Amen.
The four marks of the church’s mission were formulated and presented as part of the report of a meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council which took place in Nigeria in 1984.
Two meetings later, in Wales in 1990, they wrote in a report called Mission, Culture and Human Development “There has been a consistent view of mission … in recent years, which defines mission in a four-fold way . . . We now feel that our understanding of the ecological crisis, and indeed of the threats to the unity of all creation, mean that we have to add a fifth affirmation: to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.”
Lent is about being honest with ourselves. And Lent is about saying sorry – and doing something about it. It took Christians until 1990 to articulate responsibility for nature, for the environment, for the life of this planet. Why did it take so long? Why in 1984, when the church was working out its mission statement did it just stop at four? Why did it take six more years and two more meetings before the church realized we are responsible to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth?
Part of it comes from a mentality that believes Jesus is coming again soon. If Jesus is coming again soon, then we don’t need to worry about the environment – in fact, we can help history along and encourage Jesus to return soon by just getting those wars going that we think the Bible is talking about.
And there’s a second, maybe even deeper problem. We see it in Psalm 8:
You, God, have made us human beings a little lower than God, and crowned us with glory and honor.
You, O God, have given us dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under our feet,
all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
We read this idea in Genesis 1:26
26 Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”
27 So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”
The idea that has been drawn from Genesis 1 and from Psalm 8 is that the rest of creation was made for us humans. We are the top of the pile and it’s all specifically made by God for us. And we can do with creation absolutely whatever we like. God gives it to us so that we have dominion over it and subdue it. God puts it under our feet.
Recently we’ve been growing to realise that we humans may be sitting on the top of the pile but if we destroy what we are sitting on – then… there’s actually nothing else to sit on. We are totally dependent on the creation Genesis 1 and Psalm 8 appear to be giving to us to have dominion over and to subdue. We have begun to realise that we are fouling, we are soiling, we are messing up our own nests.
Before moving on, let us acknowledge that Christians have been terrible at caring for creation and that we need to seek forgiveness for that and repent of our attitude and to start implementing the fifth mark of mission: to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.
We are becoming more careful in reading the Bible. The post-modern world in which we live takes much greater care about context including the context of the person who wrote this text. Post-modernism pays more attention to power – we ask the question: who is benefiting from this? Who is losing through this? Post-modernism also says: where you stand determines what you see – step out of your own way of reading the text, try and read it from a different perspective, if you’ve been reading the text to bolster your position, what might be another reading that challenges your position?
“Dominion,” is a translation from the Hebrew verb radah. This grants humans the right and responsibility to rule, to govern the rest of creation. That is the way radah is used in the Bible. Kavash “subdue” is even stronger than radah. There is no question that subdue and have dominion is what is meant.
Now look at the context. In Genesis 1, God brings all life into existence, declares it is all good, and puts it in a harmonious ecosystem. Humans are God’s representatives, made in God’s image, and are called to act the same way. [I don’t know if you noticed in the next couple of verses in Genesis humans are not given the right to kill and eat animals!]
In Genesis 1 we humans are God’s deputy, God’s stewards.
Read further into the Bible and one finds that the dominion that God seeks is regularly one that protects the defenseless and gives justice to the oppressed. Dominion over creation implies the vocation to protect it.
Now think of the context of the writer and early readers: they live in a land where most are subsistence farmers, eking out a living on land with rocky soil, and often little rainfall. They are subduing an often seemingly hostile environment. If you are examining power relationships, it is nature that they experienced as having power. That power-dynamic has been very much reversed. We have technology and nuclear capability that completely turns the power dynamics upside down. Take care then when we read “subdue it; and have dominion over it” – that means something quite different in our technological, post-industrial context than in an iron age context.
Don’t stop at reading in Genesis 1, however. Remember Genesis 2 isn’t simply a continuation of the Genesis 1 story. Genesis 2 is a quite different creation story. In Genesis 2 humans aren’t made in God’s image, aren’t made to subdue and have dominion. In Genesis 2 humans are made like the plants and animals, humans, plants, and animals are all made out of adamah – the arable topsoil of the hillcountry. And when Genesis 2 says the human is to avad it that is translated as “till it” – but better translate it as “serve” it.
Thankfully Christians are becoming more aware of our responsibility to be God’s deputy, God’s steward, and to serve creation. In the last 25 years Christians have started praying:
Awaken in us a sense of wonder for the earth and all that is in it.
Teach us to care creatively for its resources (NZPB p413)
We remember with gratititude your many gifts to us in creation and the rich heritage of these islands.
Help us and people everywhere to share with justice and peace the resources of the earth. (NZPB p416)
We thank you for your gifts in creation – for our world, the heavens tell of your glory; for our land, its beauty and its resources, for the rich heritage we enjoy. We pray for those who make decisions about the resources of the earth, that we may use your gifts responsibly; for those who work on the land and sea, in city and in industry, that all may enjoy the fruits of their labours and marvel at your creation; for artists, scientists and visionaries, that through their work we may see creation afresh. (NZPB p463)
[Such prayers are absent from New Zealand's 1966 and 1970 revisions, and only begin to appear in the 1984 revision. Even the 1989 Prayer Book Eucharistic Liturgy Thanksgiving for Creation and Redemption was not built on that perspective "from the ground up", but had creation words patched onto previous revisions]
Christians conscious of our responsibility to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth may wish to explore A Rocha: “A Rocha is a Christian nature conservation organisation, our name coming from the Portuguese for “the Rock,” as the first initiative was a field study centre in Portugal. A Rocha projects are frequently cross-cultural in character, and share a community emphasis, with a focus on science and research, practical conservation and environmental education.”
A recent comment asked why Lent 5 (this coming Sunday), the Sunday before Palm Sunday, was previously called “Passion Sunday”. Was there at some stage of Christian history a reading of the Passion on this day? The Church of England continues to call this “Passion Sunday”. The NZ Lectionary also calls this “Passion Sunday” and the (now-nearly-never-used- does-anyone-at-all-still-us-it?) NZ home-grown “Two Year Series” of readings also calls Lent 5 “Passion Sunday” (with the theme “the cross”) NZPB page 579. I have looked in some books, looked around online, and tweeted the question, but have not received what I regard as a sufficient explanation. Personally, I’m with the renewed lectionary that sees Palm Sunday as Passion Sunday and each year has a different reading of the passion story on Palm/Passion Sunday. This aside, in this post I’m more interested in the history of calling Lent 5 “Passion Sunday”. Please add in the comments what you know.
It is regularly said now that Eastern and Western Christianity form two lungs of Christianity. We might also refer to head and heart, etc. needing to work in balance. Western theology is regularly connected to philosophy, arguing about words – words, words, more words. While Western theologians are often philosophers, Eastern theologians are often artists, poets, musicians, etc. Eastern theology is generally more at home with symbolism, ritual, liturgy… Maybe we in the Western Christian tradition might take some time this Lent fasting from words, words, and more words – and give over more time to art, symbol, music, liturgy, mystery… What do you think?
I have created this chart to help clarify how the Lent and Easter Seasons fit into the year. This period forms a quarter of the year. The forty days of Lent is an approximate tenth or tithe of the year. The fifty days of the Easter Season is approximately a seventh of the year – it forms the great Sunday of the year. It is concluded by the Day of Pentecost – from the Greek word for fifty. Also called Whitsunday – possibly from the French word for eighth Sunday (Whitsunday is the eighth Sunday of the great Season of Easter).
All days in my table are inclusive.
This period effectively of 96 days moves around a certain section of our calendar year by year.
The three days (inclusive) here refers to the “three days” Christ is in the tomb. The Triduum celebration is now more generally a reference to the Maundy Thursday until the Easter Vigil celebration.
The 40 days fast is preparing for the 50 days feast. You can accept the invitation to the 50 days here. Invite others.
Central to this film (spoilers warning) is a scene with Jim Miller (Danny McBride) in a Sunday school classroom reading the classic The Velveteen Rabbit. The story of The Velveteen Rabbit is a story of a toy rabbit who becomes real by being loved – loved so much that his fur is rubbed off in the process.
In the scene I mention, Jim explains his thoughts about what his life is going to be like: house, children, jobs, losing his hair, and then dying. He wonders what the point of life is. IMO it is a key moment in the movie.
The film focuses on Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) who lives out of a suitcase, employed to travel around the country firing people. We see the reaction of people being “let go”. With a few exceptions of well-known actors, the scenes of people’s reactions are not with actors, but the reaction of actual people recently laid off. (And here’s an important movie-going rule: always stay through the credits. In one case a thriller’s conclusion changed completely after the credits. Often there is a humorous bit, or the hint of a sequel. This time there is a significant song).
Ryan Bingham is a commitment-phobe:
Ryan: How much does your life weigh? Imagine for a second that you’re carrying a backpack. … I want you to fill it with people. Start with casual acquaintances, friends of friends, folks around the office… and then you move into the people you trust with your most intimate secrets. Your brothers, your sisters, your children, your parents and finally your husband, your wife, your boyfriend, your girlfriend. You get them into that backpack, feel the weight of that bag. Make no mistake your relationships are the heaviest components in your life. All those negotiations and arguments and secrets, the compromises. The slower we move the faster we die. Make no mistake, moving is living. Some animals were meant to carry each other to live symbiotically over a lifetime. Star crossed lovers, monogamous swans. We are not swans. We are sharks.
Ryan’s one-night stands give way to a developing relationship with what he perceives to be a female version of himself, Alex (Vera Farmiga). There is an interesting reflection here on sex as sacrament. Some people may think that sex does not connect us as people – but here there is an argument that we can let that wall slip. Sex with Alex is where Ryan’s walls begin to crumble.
Ryan: I thought I was a part of your life.
Alex: I thought we signed up for the same thing… I thought our relationship was perfectly clear. You are an escape. You’re a break from our normal lives. You’re a parenthesis.
Ryan: I’m a parenthesis?
There is a memorable scene where Ryan is looking at the myriad of flight options on an airport screen. It is a metaphor of the commitment-phobe. In our culture in the past we used to tell lots of people we loved them, but only had sex with someone significant. Now our contemporary culture has reversed this totally to having sex with lots of people – and telling someone we love them is regarded as very significant (and saying “I love you” during the climax of sex doesn’t count!) Our culture has shifted, without much reflection, from focusing on the positive of marriage, allowing one to now “have and to hold”, to its negative – the realisation that in marriage one ends up “forsaking all others.” It is little wonder that divorce is so prevalent. With compassion towards those who have genuinely found their commitment impossible to maintain, one wonders at Christians, even clergy, moving through their third or more marriages. Anyway, when it comes to sex, Christianity has a pretty bad track record currently – riddled with scandals, obsessing about sex as a primary issue, and generally giving a negative impression about sex (why is the term “living in sin” associated with sex, and not, say, anger, or video piracy,…). It is understandable Christians cannot be heard about a positive attitude to sex. Maybe Christians need to be silent about sex for a generation. And after that slowly begin talking about sex again, but solely in a positive, encouraging way,… starting with the Song of Solomon. Visually illustrated…
At the start of the film Natalie (Anna Kendrick) looked like a younger version of Ryan. Turns out she is not:
Natalie: Don’t you think it’s worth giving it a chance?
Ryan: A chance to what?
Natalie: A chance to something real.
Ryan: You’re definition of real evolves as you get older.
Natalie: Can you stop being so condescending for one second or is that one of your principles of your bullshit philosophy? The isolation? Is that supposed to be charming?
Ryan: No, it’s simply a life choice.
Natalie: It’s a cocoon of self banishment.
There is a bit of a transformation for Ryan as he allows himself to make some real connections – but…
Relationships are messy. Love in real life isn’t neat, tidy, well-organised, in the way that Ryan’s flying life appears. Love is much more like the story of The Velveteen Rabbit. It wears our fur off. It also makes us real.
Book review of 
. Out of five stars, this collection gets four and a half from me.
Place the above story alongside the 
It is regularly said now that Eastern and Western Christianity form two lungs of Christianity. We might also refer to head and heart, etc. needing to work in balance. Western theology is regularly connected to philosophy, arguing about words – words, words, more words. While Western theologians are often philosophers, Eastern theologians are often artists, poets, musicians, etc. Eastern theology is generally more at home with symbolism, ritual, liturgy… Maybe we in the Western Christian tradition might take some time this Lent fasting from words, words, and more words – and give over more time to art, symbol, music, liturgy, mystery… What do you think?
Central to this film (spoilers warning) is a scene with Jim Miller (Danny McBride) in a Sunday school classroom reading the classic 
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