Comfortable Christianity

As I was reading chapter five of Lumen Gentium, I was stuck by this passage, “Since Jesus, the Son of God, manifested His charity by laying down His life for us, so too no one has greater love that he who lays down his life for Christ and His brothers” (42).  Continuing on just a few sentences later I read, “The Church, then, considers martyrdom as an exceptional gift and as the fullest proof of love…Though few are presented such and opportunity, nevertheless all must be prepared to confess Christ before men” (42).   

My mind suddenly raced back to the recent news of the 21 Coptic Christians killed by Islamic militants in Libya http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2015/02/17/pope-francis-hails-murdered-coptic-christians-as-martyrs/.  I guess it was close to my mind because of our church's decision to keep their families in our prayers each Sunday as we finally woke up to the fact that there are Christians who live out their faith on a daily basis not from the comfort of a church pew, but from the excruciating awareness that their Christian faith may very well be the cause of their untimely deaths.

This got me to thinking, are we too comfortable in our Christian faith?  With evangelist preachers proclaiming prosperity theology http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosperity_theology, have we gone too far away from the gospel message of Matthew 10:38-39, “Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.  Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.”  Have we forgotten martyrs like Perpetua and Felicity http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perpetua_and_Felicity?  Do we have the same sincerity of faith that Christians who live in persecuted places have?

I wondered to myself, do we take our church communities seriously enough?  Do we take those who we sit shoulder to shoulder with each Sunday for granted?  Do we choose to care more for those that we have relationships with or have more in common with than the people in our congregations who don’t look like us, smell like us, or act like us? 

Our Christian faith is eschatological.  As it is Paul writes in I Thessalonians 5:1-2, “Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.”  If we proclaim a faith that’s eschatological, do we treat our daily lives in such a way?  Do we live a life of humble service to the Lord daily?  Has the expanse of two thousand years sent us to our couches in a safe slumber?

I like many other Christians often take my faith for granted.  I often take the ability to profess my faith freely for granted.  I believe I am just as guilty as others of resting on the couch of safety and security that this country affords Christians like me and in theory, other people of other faiths as well.   

As I pray for those who are persecuted because of their faith, as I think of my Coptic and Palestinian Christian brothers and sisters, my Christian brothers and sisters in dangerous places around this world, I am reminded to take my faith seriously.  I ask myself, would I, if given the choice between life or confessing Christ as King, would I have the faith and courage to proclaim Christ is King right before having my throat cut.  I hope I would. 

 Listen to the interview by Andrew Summerson on Coptic Christians via Vatican Radio http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2015/02/18/coptic_martyrs_were_poor_but_near_to_god_/1124305

Reading the Joy of the Gospel I cannot help but wonder, has Pope Francis has seen us in action?  American Catholics manage to stand before what we believe is God’s actual presence and recite in a serious monotone “Glory to God in the highest….” Only when it is sung does the Gloria sound closer to the to the hymn of praise it really is.

In Evangelii Gaudium I find encouragement. The pope speaks of the gospel with complete confidence in all it brings from God to us. His hope is clear--that the message carries the power to touch and transform lives, institutions and our world. He sketches out that we can be imperfect carriers of what God has given us, and that we walk through a challenging and troubled world.  The power of the message, with its divine love and mercy, means there must be a way to offer others the gift of what Jesus came to give us. To Pope Francis the Gospel is “good news” in every meaning of the words.

I am sure I am extra receptive to what he says right now. There is a deeper reflective thread running through my own life about my own “mission” in life and where I stand with it before Him. As I look at where I am effective as well as faithful, I am refreshed by the words and the actions of the Holy Father. He seems to say that nothing that we do is too small when done in faith. The Gospel here is big enough to back up our well- meant attempts if we are willing to carry it, touch with it and learn from our efforts. “What counts above all else is ‘faith working through love’ (Gal 5:6). Works of love directed to one’s neighbour are the most perfect external manifestation of the interior grace of the Spirit” (EG 37).  Look what this man does with a touch, a smile or a hug….

It’s not that he says we can solve all problems or that anything can be immediately fixed. He works with a long term view of time.  It is just that everything matters: the Gospel, the people, faith, worship, hard work, study, preparation, dialogue between us and God, and between each other.  There are parts of Evangelii Gaudium that I want to gather up. Then they can be unwrapped for those times when things do not seem to be working, and there is no visible help to be found.                                                                                                                                                                                             image from: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Gloria_5_(init).png

The Church as Pilgrim

The Church as Pilgrim

Church, Sacraments, and Liturgy

February 24, 2015

      I am having a difficult time reading the assignments for this week. My high school girl friend, Anne, is paralyzed from her nose down to her toes. She communicates with her eyes and the use of an alphabet chart. She can hear and is cognitively functional. The medical experts have explored diagnoses of myasthenia gravis and botulism following a trip she took to Brazil to visit John of God, a spiritual healer of whom I am not aware. I have since researched his “ministry” and am confounded by the thought that my friend travelled so far to have been struck with some unknown illness that has rendered her immobile. I am questioning God’s relationship with the world and his creation. I believed that God is all-powerful, all knowing and all loving. I am no longer sure that “He” is all-powerful. It is more important right now for me to believe that God is with us in our suffering; Jesus did not pull Himself down from the cross. There are circumstances that happen in life that are not understandable. I am drawn to the little girl asking Pope Francis to explain why there is suffering among the most vulnerable in the world. I believe that God created all with the desire for Him. I accept that I need God in my life. Now I wonder if God needs me/us. Thinking about whether God needs me changes my relationship with Him. Will the Kingdom of God only be realized when we all acknowledge that God needs us? Is that the only way the Kingdom is realized? Is God the most vulnerable speck on Earth that needs to be held and nurtured? Is the most vulnerable the most powerful? Is that what the paradigm shift of thinking of the first shall be last and the last shall be first about? Will the Body of Christ ever be whole until all care and nurture and “sync” their prayers and actions with the feelings and life situations of others who hold the divine within (Sockey, 98)? Sockey writes that “[w]e are to be spiritually bonded to one another, with Christ as our head” (99). Our prayer and Samaritan actions bond with that of others to communicate the hope and trust reflected in the Christian Church that nothing else matters once we believe that “God created us. He redeemed us. He promises eternal life” (Sockey 99).

     Persevering in faith in the midst of suffering is an intellectual challenge. With the grace of God, I ask that my intellect rest, suspend reality and embrace the mystery of my catholic life through hope and trust in God’s mercy and love of His creation.

Lawyer’s Blog

Lawyer’s Blog:

Week 7:

In all of the readings from all of the weekly reading assignments, I am continuously fascinated by the content of the LUMEN GENTIUM. I never fully knew or realized the value and the consistency of the depth of inspirational train of thought flowing continuously from the LUMEN GENTIUM. I must admit the lack of my familiarity with the document is mainly due to a lifetime of functioning as a Baptist. I have no regrets about not being a Catholic but I feel highly blessed for the opportunity to study and consume the insightfulness beauty of the writings; and although I enjoy all of the weekly readings, I give the highest compliment to the LUMEN GENTIUM. Sometimes when I am reading it, I feel overwhelmed comprehending the appearance of what the mind of man can produce when the human mind is inspired by the Spirit of God. It is awesome and I am delighted.

This week’s reading of Chapter 5 of the LUMEN GENTIUM involving the universality of the holiness and structure of the Church centered on the trifold purity of God’s love, Spirit, and power is a prime example of what I am trying to reiterate. The first paragraph perfectly establishes a summarized foundation for the substance of the main body of the chapter. The second paragraph appears to equate holiness with the quality of perfection comparable to the flawless quality of God. I interpret this point of the writing as though the writer intended to communicate to believers a projection of the highest standard humanly attainable for all Christian people. The proceeding paragraphs tend to clarify and build upon the meaningfulness of holiness as it applies to the different roles found within the structure of the Church. The writer left no stone un-turned. He speaks of the importance of God’s love and divine holiness as required of persons at all levels of the body of Christ. I really admire the way the methodical voice of the writer speaks evenhandedly when disseminating the peculiar significance of the quality of holiness.  It is not something I regularly see within the body of the Church but it is nonetheless reinvigorating that it is an expectation of God and in this instance I conclude He relied on the literary communication of man to remind us.

                                                                                                                                         

In his conclusion of chapter 8, Rausch maintains that “all the churches are being challenged today to strive for reconciliation and full communion” (166).  In order for this to happen there must be a spirit of oneness, a spirit of love that transcends our differences.  In striving for openness to freedom of expression in liturgies, openness to relaxing the “rules” and embracing the diversity of heritage, traditions, and social customs of our evolving global community, we become more like Jesus. 

Chapter V of Lumen Gentium states, “The followers of Christ, called by God not for what they had done but by his design and grace, and justified in the Lord Jesus, have been made sons and daughters of God…They must therefore hold on to and perfect in their lives that holiness which they have received from God.”

I have observed in my ministry that many people struggle in viewing themselves as children of God. The image of their human parents often superimposes over their image of God.  Many of our wounds, prejudices, and obstacles to becoming more holy, stem from our family of origin or our life experiences, giving us a distorted image of who God really is.  We can view God as someone ready to punish us for our weaknesses or infidelities, or someone writing down our failures in order to reckon with us at the moment of our death.  Most of us have moved beyond this kind of thought but not as much as we give ourselves credit for.  In some ways, though it may be unconsciously, we still think of God as petty or lacking compassion, hyper-serious, disappointed in us, and disappointed in the world.  My conservative friends see God as hung up on orthodoxy, dogma or morality; my liberal friends see God as hung up on social justice.  In neither circle of friends does God seem compassionate, understanding or joyous to the “other.”  If we are to truly assimilate the God that was incarnate in Jesus, then we must believe in the God of love.  Lumen Gentium affirms, “God has poured out his love in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (see Rom 5:5); therefore the first and most necessary gift is charity, by which we love God above all things and our neighbor because of him” (V-42).

Chapter 9 or Rausch’s book highlights the regionalism of our one catholic (universal) Church. This is easily seen today in our post-globalized world. Communities are no longer isolated from each other. The computer I am typing this on was likely made in China, the software developed in California, while I am sitting here in Louisiana. When describing the characteristics of African Christian churches, Rausch notes that rather than focusing on teachings such as original sin, they teach whatever contributes to good health, fertility, warding off evil, etc. (171).

Indeed middle class American Christian living looks very different from Christians in the developing world. Earlier this week, I decided to trade in my four-year-old flip phone that still worked perfectly for an iPhone. While at the Verizon store I learned that in addition to the phone, I could also get $100 off a new iPad. I did not need an iPad (nor did I need the new iPhone for that matter), but why not!

Rausch’s chapter forced me to compare this experience with my time in a predominantly Catholic Amerindian village in Guyana, South America. The schoolteachers were some of the highest paid residents in the village; they earned more that the subsistence farmers. I remember distinctly the excitement one of them had when she had finally saved enough money to buy her first computer, a Dell laptop that would probably sell for about $350 in the U.S.

While sitting at the dinner table in Guyana on Ash Wednesday a few years ago, I noticed that chicken and rice was being served. I looked at the local Jesuit priest with an inquisitive mind. He informed me that he has never concerned the local residents with the regulations regarding meat and lent. Growing up as a Catholic in America, I have studied the Church's teachings on original sin, fasting and abstaining from meat during lent, and other theological concepts (often through reading on the internet). In Africa and Guyana, the Christian people focus on the simplistic teachings if Christ. We are all a part of the same catholic Church, but I often wonder how we have become so different.