Tomorrow's sermon
Aug. 10th, 2013 11:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chrishansenhomeI have recently read the book Zealot: the Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, by Reza Aslan. I am still plowing through the notes, which are inconveniently not crossreferenced with footnotes from the text. Nothing in it is new to me, although the synthesis is new. He references approvingly two of my professors from Columbia and Dunwoodie Seminary: Morton Smith and Fr. John Meier. I refer to the book in the sermon, and I would urge anyone who is interested in the question of the "historical" Jesus to read the book. Fox News recently interviewed Aslan, and the interviewer was skeptical that a Muslim could write a book about Jesus. Aslan is a scholar of religion, and is as entitled to write a book on Scripture as anyone else is.
In any case, here is my sermon for tomorrow, behind a cut in case you aren't interested.
In the name of God, the one, the Undivided Trinity. AMEN.
As some of you know, in March and April this year I took a very long trip. I had never been south of the Equator, although I’d been around 24 miles north of it in Singapore many times. I went to Auckland and Wellington in New Zealand, to Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Hobart, and Adelaide in Australia, Singapore and Bali in Indonesia.
I went alone. I took 11 separate plane trips, spending around 48 hours in the air, two long train journeys, stayed in seven hotels, and was away from London for seven weeks.
During that time, I had to have faith. Faith that the pilots and crews of the planes on which I travelled were competent, awake, sober, and well trained—and so they were.
When I found that my mobile phone, previously prepared, did not work in Australia, I had faith that eventually I would figure it out and it would work—and so it did.
In many of the places to which I travelled, the transport systems were difficult to navigate, if not impossible. I had to have faith that eventually I’d end up where I wanted to go—and so I did.
Instead of travelling on petrol, and diesel, and foot, I was really travelling on faith alone.
The author of Hebrews speaks of another journey of faith. Abram, later Abraham, travelled on an amazing journey. He and Sarah were childless, and ended up with a son, who was the father of myriads in the tribes of Israel.
What kept Abraham, Isaac, and Sarah going was faith—faith that their journey would eventually end in the place where God wanted them to be.
On that journey of faith Abraham was required by God to journey up the mountain to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, whose birth Abraham had thought impossible. Saved by the sheep Abraham found in the brush, they continued on, going from strength to strength, powered by faith.
Now one of my difficulties, especially in Melbourne, was trying to navigate the tram system. It’s extensive, and the signage is not very good. Trying to figure out whether a tram was going in the same direction that I wanted to go was difficult, if not impossible. While I had faith that eventually I’d get to where I wanted to go, the signs that God gave me to guide me there were not as useful to a tourist as they could have been.
There are travellers who are extremely lucky. They travel around with faith (not religious faith, but just blind faith) that they will get to where they want to go. When they get lost, they ask everyone around how to get whence they are headed until they actually get there.
Faith is a necessary part of our journeys, there’s no doubt about that. But what happens when our faith is challenged?
I recently read a book called Zealot. It was written by a Biblical scholar who happens to be a Muslim. Fox News in the US interviewed the author, and the interviewer’s main idea was that it was not right for a Muslim scholar to write about Jesus.
The book discusses the historical Jesus in ways that might challenge some people’s faith. It certainly challenges the doctrine that the Bible is literrally true and inerrant.
Was Jesus tried before Pontius Pilate himself? The book demonstrates that it’s more likely that Pilate signed the warrant for execution but never actually saw Jesus. So Jesus still suffered under Pontius Pilate, just not personally.
Was John the Baptist beheaded at the behest of Salome, the daughter of Herod? Almost certainly not—and she wasn’t his daughter, and she didn’t get John’s head on a platter.
There are more assertions in this book that might challenge some people’s faith. I won’t go into all of them, or we’ll be here until long after lunch. Suffice it to say that the author cites two of my own professors either from university, or from seminary, and nothing that he says is new.
Faith is confident assurance concerning what we hope for, and conviction about things we do not see. The assertions of this book, however challenging they are to our received experience of the Scripture, didn’t challenge my faith.
My faith is confident in the dual nature of Jesus Christ. My faith is confident in the Resurrection and Ascension. My faith is confident in the traditions of the Church and the existence and personhood of God, who created the world and cares for it.
The faith that Abraham had in the care of God for him and his family is the same faith that I have in the care of God for me, my family, and my friends. You might ask yourselves about your own experience of faith. How can we strengthen our faith in the face of secularism, atheism, and the worldly comforts we enjoy.
We cannot see the historical Jesus of two thousand years ago. Is our faith in Jesus, alive and with the Father in heaven caring for us, just as strong as it would be if we knew the Jesus of history?
Therefore may we strengthen our faith in the God of history, and to Jesus Christ, historical and transcendent, be ascribed all might, majesty, dominion, and praise both now and evermore. AMEN.
In any case, here is my sermon for tomorrow, behind a cut in case you aren't interested.
August 11, 2013 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sermon delivered at St. John the Evangelist, 10AM.
First Reading: Wisdom 18:6-9
Epistle: Hebrews 11:1-2,8-19; Gospel: Luke 12:32-48
“…he went forth not knowing where he was going…”
Sermon delivered at St. John the Evangelist, 10AM.
First Reading: Wisdom 18:6-9
Epistle: Hebrews 11:1-2,8-19; Gospel: Luke 12:32-48
“…he went forth not knowing where he was going…”
In the name of God, the one, the Undivided Trinity. AMEN.
As some of you know, in March and April this year I took a very long trip. I had never been south of the Equator, although I’d been around 24 miles north of it in Singapore many times. I went to Auckland and Wellington in New Zealand, to Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Hobart, and Adelaide in Australia, Singapore and Bali in Indonesia.
I went alone. I took 11 separate plane trips, spending around 48 hours in the air, two long train journeys, stayed in seven hotels, and was away from London for seven weeks.
During that time, I had to have faith. Faith that the pilots and crews of the planes on which I travelled were competent, awake, sober, and well trained—and so they were.
When I found that my mobile phone, previously prepared, did not work in Australia, I had faith that eventually I would figure it out and it would work—and so it did.
In many of the places to which I travelled, the transport systems were difficult to navigate, if not impossible. I had to have faith that eventually I’d end up where I wanted to go—and so I did.
Instead of travelling on petrol, and diesel, and foot, I was really travelling on faith alone.
The author of Hebrews speaks of another journey of faith. Abram, later Abraham, travelled on an amazing journey. He and Sarah were childless, and ended up with a son, who was the father of myriads in the tribes of Israel.
What kept Abraham, Isaac, and Sarah going was faith—faith that their journey would eventually end in the place where God wanted them to be.
On that journey of faith Abraham was required by God to journey up the mountain to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, whose birth Abraham had thought impossible. Saved by the sheep Abraham found in the brush, they continued on, going from strength to strength, powered by faith.
Now one of my difficulties, especially in Melbourne, was trying to navigate the tram system. It’s extensive, and the signage is not very good. Trying to figure out whether a tram was going in the same direction that I wanted to go was difficult, if not impossible. While I had faith that eventually I’d get to where I wanted to go, the signs that God gave me to guide me there were not as useful to a tourist as they could have been.
There are travellers who are extremely lucky. They travel around with faith (not religious faith, but just blind faith) that they will get to where they want to go. When they get lost, they ask everyone around how to get whence they are headed until they actually get there.
Faith is a necessary part of our journeys, there’s no doubt about that. But what happens when our faith is challenged?
I recently read a book called Zealot. It was written by a Biblical scholar who happens to be a Muslim. Fox News in the US interviewed the author, and the interviewer’s main idea was that it was not right for a Muslim scholar to write about Jesus.
The book discusses the historical Jesus in ways that might challenge some people’s faith. It certainly challenges the doctrine that the Bible is literrally true and inerrant.
Was Jesus tried before Pontius Pilate himself? The book demonstrates that it’s more likely that Pilate signed the warrant for execution but never actually saw Jesus. So Jesus still suffered under Pontius Pilate, just not personally.
Was John the Baptist beheaded at the behest of Salome, the daughter of Herod? Almost certainly not—and she wasn’t his daughter, and she didn’t get John’s head on a platter.
There are more assertions in this book that might challenge some people’s faith. I won’t go into all of them, or we’ll be here until long after lunch. Suffice it to say that the author cites two of my own professors either from university, or from seminary, and nothing that he says is new.
Faith is confident assurance concerning what we hope for, and conviction about things we do not see. The assertions of this book, however challenging they are to our received experience of the Scripture, didn’t challenge my faith.
My faith is confident in the dual nature of Jesus Christ. My faith is confident in the Resurrection and Ascension. My faith is confident in the traditions of the Church and the existence and personhood of God, who created the world and cares for it.
The faith that Abraham had in the care of God for him and his family is the same faith that I have in the care of God for me, my family, and my friends. You might ask yourselves about your own experience of faith. How can we strengthen our faith in the face of secularism, atheism, and the worldly comforts we enjoy.
We cannot see the historical Jesus of two thousand years ago. Is our faith in Jesus, alive and with the Father in heaven caring for us, just as strong as it would be if we knew the Jesus of history?
Therefore may we strengthen our faith in the God of history, and to Jesus Christ, historical and transcendent, be ascribed all might, majesty, dominion, and praise both now and evermore. AMEN.
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no subject
Date: 2013-08-10 12:31 pm (UTC)i haven't read Aslan's book but have certainly read a lot ABOUT it.
i was only recently introduced to the term "historical jesus." and very soon in that same discussion i was told in no uncertain terms the "historical jesus" died. (and remains dead, i guess, is the point.)
so help me out here. does that mean as a Christian I (we?) do not believe in a "historical Jesus". But rather a more mystical (mythical???) or Spiritual Jesus. Not a Jesus who is dead and buried, but one very much alive and active?
no subject
Date: 2013-08-10 02:47 pm (UTC)My opinion (and it's just my opinion) is that without the historical Jesus the "spiritual" Jesus would not exist or have existed. When Paul says that now we see "through a glass darkly" means that in this plane of existence we do not and cannot know everything about Jesus and his mission and message. We see hints of it, but not its entirety. The fact that Jesus was probably not born in Bethlehem, never was taken on a flight to Egypt, didn't get a hearing before Pilate, and was possibly bigged up by Paul in opposition to the party of James in Jerusalem, does not make the spiritual messages of the life and death of Jesus any less useful and true.
What it all means for us is that we have a repository of faith handed down from the 1st Century in a less than perfect way and we are bound to uphold it as part of our Christian faith. Those who believe that every word of the Scriptures is literally true would not be happy with this interpretation, but it makes it more useful and meaningful to us, not having to explain away the contradictions that seem to remain in them today.
Is that helpful? I don't know what denomination you belong to but I don't think that there is anything startlingly new in that.
no subject
Date: 2013-08-15 01:43 pm (UTC)i am RC, born and schooled and now catechising (for the past 20 odd years).
i went to a catholic boarding school in england but also sang in my UK college chapel choir so am familiar with C of E.
no subject
Date: 2013-08-15 09:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-08-16 01:42 am (UTC)and since they added girls (in my time the innovation was girls in the 6th form, with one lonely girl in the 5th) they have gone from strength to strength. it is the oldest continuously operating catholic school in the UK.
i believe the Jesuit run stonyhurst is still running too as it was an option considered by my friends to send their sons.