This is the new introduction to the ICCC canons:

The Faith of the Independent Catholic Christian Church

by Timothy W. Cravens

Being an Independent Catholic, or Independent Sacramental Christian, means a number of things. 

Our understanding of what it means to be “Catholic” is very similar to the basis for ecumenical dialogue put forth by the Anglican Communion in the Chicago-Lambeth quadrilateral in the nineteenth century.  The quadrilateral identifies the Scriptures, the Creeds, the Sacraments, and the apostolic ministry of the historic episcopate as the irreducible elements of Catholic faith and practice which must be maintained at all costs.

First, as Independent Catholics, we accept the historic creeds of the church – the Nicene Creed and the Apostles’ Creed – which teach the basic truths of the Christian faith.  God exists as One God in Three Persons from eternity to eternity.  God created the universe and all that is.  God created humanity in God’s image, and when humanity sinned, provided redemption by becoming a human being in the person of Jesus Christ, who was fully God and fully human.  Jesus died on the cross and then rose again from the dead, and by that death and resurrection, we are saved and restored to full and right relationship with God.  God continues to be with us as the Holy Spirit, and continues the saving work of Christ through the Church, through its proclamation of the Word and celebration of the Sacraments.

We also accept the word of God expressed in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments.  We read the Bible in community as the Church.  We interpret it in the light of the Tradition of the Church.  We bring to bear upon our study the best use of Reason.  And we use the lens of our Experience to understand the movement of the Spirit among the people of God in the Scriptures and what it has to say to us in our own day.  We do not attribute to the Bible infallibility – only God is infallible, and to attribute that to a creature is idolatry.  We hear the Spirit speak words of life and truth through Scripture – and any use of the Bible as a weapon to hurt others is a misuse, and not an expression of the word of God.

We rejoice in the sacramental life of grace, in which God uses created things to convey grace to us.  There are two great sacraments of the Gospel, Holy Baptism and the Holy Eucharist, in which all Christians share.  We are baptized in water, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, through which our sins are forgiven and we are made members of Christ’s Body, the Church.  In the Eucharist, we receive the consecrated bread and wine which have become the Body and Blood of Christ, and are strengthened in our relationship with Christ and with one another and are sent out to do the work of Christ in the world.  There are also five other sacraments which give us grace in time of need.  The sacrament of Reconciliation gives us absolution and forgiveness of sins, reconciling us with God, one another, and ourselves.  The sacrament of Anointing of the Sick brings healing of body and soul.  The sacrament of Confirmation brings an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our lives, giving us new strength for the service of God.  The sacrament of Marriage brings God’s grace to the lifelong covenant between two people committed to one another as spouses.  The sacrament of Ordination gives grace to deacons, priests, and bishops to carry out particular ministries in the Church.

We believe that there are certain ministries that are necessary for the Church to function in its fullness.  While all Christians share in these ministries, as well as other ministries, some Christians are called to these ministries in sacramental ways.  Some Christians are called to a life of sacramental servanthood, sharing also in the proclamation of the Gospel and assisting in the celebration of the sacraments.  They are called to be deacons.  Some deacons, in addition to sacramental servanthood, are called to a life of sacramental sacrifice, proclaiming the Gospel and sharing in the sacrificial ministry of Jesus Christ by offering the Eucharist and other sacraments and blessing the people.  They are called to be priests.  Some priests, in addition to sacramental sacrifice, are called to share in the pastoral oversight and governance of the church, and in ordaining others to be deacons, priests, and bishops.  They are called to be bishops.  We believe that bishops share in the ministry of the apostles and are brought into that ministry by a laying on of hands that has been passed down from the apostles.

These beliefs are common to a number of churches – Orthodox (both Chalcedonian and non-Chalcedonian), Roman Catholic, Anglican, Old Catholic, and Independent Catholic.  But there are certain things which distinguish us from other churches.  First, unlike both Orthodox and Roman Catholic denominations, we do not believe that the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church is to be identified with a single denomination.  We believe that all the churches which hold the Creeds, Scripture, Sacraments, and Apostolic Succession of bishops, priests, and deacons are Catholic and are real churches, part of the one Church.  Furthermore, just as we reject the notion that the Bible is infallible, so we also reject the idea that the Church, or any part of it, or any individual office within it, is or can be infallible or indefectible.  The commitment of Jesus Christ to the Church is infallible – but to assign infallibility to a creature rather than the Creator is idolatrous.  We also reject the belief that dogmas outside of the Creeds which some have proclaimed to be “infallible” can be so regarded, or required as beliefs.  So, for example, while the doctrines of the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption are certainly permissible beliefs, they cannot be required as a doctrinal test for any member of the Church.

We share the belief that the Church is fully present in a number of denominations as well as the rejection of infallibility with our Anglican and Old Catholic (Union of Utrecht) sisters and brothers.  

There are three characteristics which distinguish us from them.

First, these churches believe that, ideally, the church should be one organizational entity divided geographically so that there is only one diocese in a given location.  While they may be in full communion with other churches that have dioceses in the same locale, they see this as an interim measure until organizational merger and unity can be accomplished.  As Independent Catholics, however, we reject the idea that there should be one organization worldwide with only one diocese in an area, because we have seen, historically, how this leads to corruption.  We instead hold to the early church model of independent local churches that cooperate with one another.  The only universal Church is the invisible fellowship of all the baptized.  We also accept that, in this age of greater mobility and electronic communication, local churches may be formed by networks of those who have a particular charism of ministry rather than a particular geographical location.

Second, Independent Catholics, unlike mainstream churches, do not typically own church property, and therefore meet in rented spaces or homes.  This usually means that local communities are smaller, and gives them opportunities as well as imposing restrictions which do not exist when a church has its own building.  This means that the traditional territorial parish paradigm does not exist for Independent Catholics.  Also, it means that we integrate sacred space into our lives in ways not possible in most mainstream churches.  We reserve the Blessed Sacrament in our homes, and like the early church, this is not restricted to clergy or religious, but is open to the laity who wish to do so as well.  We integrate liturgy, celebrated in our homes, into our daily lives, so that the boundary between prayer and daily life becomes much more permeable.

Finally, Independent Catholics, with very, very few exceptions, rely on volunteer clergy who are not paid for their ministry.  This has a number of implications.  First, this goes hand in hand with the smaller communities that are typical of Independent Catholic churches, since the clergy only have limited time to devote to pastoral ministry, and the communities can exist without paying a clergy salary.  In mainstream churches, often small churches are forced to close if they cannot pay for the maintenance of a building or the salary of clergy – these are not concerns of Independent Catholic churches.  Second, while in mainstream churches (in particular the Episcopal Church), there are limits to the number of candidates who can be accepted into the ordination process because the church can only support a finite number of clergy with salary, benefits, and often housing, in Independent Catholic churches, anyone who is able to meet the requirements of the ordination process and who shows signs of a genuine vocation may be ordained.

The Independent Catholic Christian Church, in addition to sharing the above-mentioned characteristics with other Independent Catholic jurisdictions, has a number of characteristics of its own, shared by some but not all other jurisdictions.

We are fully inclusive of women and lgbt folk in all aspects of church life, and in particular in ordination and marriage.  While many mainstream churches are moving in this direction, there is controversy about both and issues as to whether and how inclusion can happen in particular local contexts.  In the ICCC, full inclusion of women and lgbt Christians is a settled issue – those unwilling to accept it do not find a church home in our jurisdiction.

Another characteristic that we have that distinguishes us from some is that we embrace not only the Roman Catholic heritage, but also the Orthodox and Anglican heritage that we have as a result of drawing apostolic succession from all three streams.  One particular way in which this manifests itself is in our worship, as we embrace liturgical diversity, drawing from the Byzantine, Roman, and Anglican liturgical traditions – and from both traditional and modern versions of these traditions.  While each local community determines for itself exactly how this will be expressed in its own rites, we give mutual respect and embrace for those who may pray in a different liturgical rite than the one to which we are accustomed.

Thus, Independent Catholics are a group of churches that are rooted in ancient tradition, proclaiming the faith of Christ crucified, risen, and returning, celebrating the sacraments, living together in love – but willing to find new ways to minister to an ever-changing world.  We invite you to join us in the Independent Catholic Christian Church, to share with us in proclaiming the Gospel and living its demands.

Sermon for the Feast of Christ the King

And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.  – Ephesians 1:23

It is difficult for us, as Americans, to understand what it means to live in a monarchy.  We live in a democratic republic, where we elect representatives to make laws for us.  If we are unhappy with the job they are doing, we can vote them out and replace them with new representatives.  Even our principal interaction with a monarchy is a constitutional monarchy, where Queen Elizabeth is merely a symbol of national power, with the actual governance left up to a democratically elected parliament, with its prime minister and cabinet.  Her role as queen is largely reduced to waving to crowds and cutting ribbons and being saddened by the scandals of her offspring.

It’s interesting that, although the concept of Christ’s kingship is a biblical one, the feast itself was only instituted in 1925 by Pius XI to be observed on the last Sunday of October, as a way of trying to reassert the Roman denomination’s secular political power against a rising tide of secularism and nationalism.  Given the atrocities that have been committed in the name of Christ by those denominations which have been established as “state churches”, I find myself rooting for the secularists this feast was instituted to oppose.  The political power amassed by the churches is in stark contrast to the life of Jesus, born in a stable, who ate and drank with outcasts, and who was executed as a common criminal.

Nonetheless, as the church, we must acknowledge Jesus Christ as our King.  And he is not a constitutional monarch who is content to cut ribbons and wave to crowds (although he undoubtedly shakes his head over the actions of many Christians as Queen Elizabeth does over the actions of her children and grandchildren).  He is an absolute monarch whose authority over the church is so complete that the church is described as his “body”.  We, as the church, are to carry out his commands as seamlessly as our hands do what our brains tell it to.

But what does that actually mean in practice?

Jesus Christ, in everything he did while on earth, acted in full union with God’s purposes on earth.  God created the universe, and us, as an expression of God’s love.  We sinned, and fell short of that expression.  God acted in revelation to the people of Israel, giving the Torah at Sinai and speaking through the prophets.  We, as Christians, believe that the fullness of revelation occurred in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, revealing to us God’s love.  God acted to redeem us.  God redeemed the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt, and as Christians, we believe that Christ’s death and resurrection redeems all of humanity from the slavery of sin.  Forty days after his resurrection, Christ ascended into heaven, leaving us to carry out his mission on earth.  On the day of Pentecost, the church was born, being given the gift of the Holy Spirit, God’s presence on earth, to empower us to carry out that mission.

And the mission is the same – to honor God’s creation, to act in such a way that our lives also serve as revelation of God – that God becomes known through us, and that we bring others to the redeeming love and power found in Christ, reconciling them with God, humanity, and all of creation.  Anything we do that participates in this mission is in accordance with the Kingship of Christ.  Anything that does not carry out that mission is extraneous and is an act of rebellion against the Kingship of Christ.

St. Augustine wrote, in his Rule, that “pride lurks even in good works in order to destroy them”.  The regular activities of the church – that which we are called to do – can be carried out in such a way as to glorify Christ and further his kingdom on earth, or they can be distorted and come to harm the cause of Christ.

We gather for worship to offer our prayers, to hear the Word of God in scripture, and to share in the Body and Blood of Christ.  Both the Word and the Sacrament are meant to transform us so that we are empowered to do Christ’s work in the world.  But if we come to worship, not looking for transformation, but merely for comfort and to feel good about ourselves, we risk turning worship into idolatry, with ourselves as the object of worship rather than God.

We are also called to be a community – but, again, the purpose of community is transformation and service.  If we engage with our church community merely to meet our social needs and not to be transformed into citizens of the kingdom of heaven, then we become a social club rather than the body of Christ.

As this church year draws to a close, and we prepare to begin a new year next Sunday on the First Sunday of Advent, let us take time to reflect on our lives, as Christians and as the church, and offer ourselves anew to Christ our King.  We give thanks for those ways we have been faithful, and we ask for grace to repent of the areas in which we have fallen short.

Lord God, deliver us from the presumption of coming to this Table for solace only, and not for strength; for pardon only, and not for renewal.  Let the grace of this Holy Communion make us one body, one spirit in Christ, that we may worthily serve the world in Christ’s name.  We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our great High Priest.  Amen.  (Adapted from Eucharistic Prayer C, Holy Eucharist Rite II, 1979 Book of Common Prayer)

SERMON FOR ASH WEDNESDAY, 2014

Mathew 6:1-6, 16-21

Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.  Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the congregations and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.  But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:  That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.  And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.  But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.  Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.  But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;  That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.  Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:  But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

The true test of a man’s character is what he does when no one is watching. – Basketball coach John Wooden

I have worked in fundraising for nonprofits for many years.  One of the things that is vitally important to a successful fundraising program is donor recognition.  Some donors do not care about public recognition – but for many others, it is a very important component to their giving.  One organization for which I worked had a different piece of jewelry for each level of giving, and the size of your gift determined the size of the type on the incision in stone at one of the hospitals or schools the organization ran.  Many colleges, universities, and hospitals name buildings or wings after significant donors.  The college I attended my freshman year even had plaques on some of the trees commemorating donors!

But Jesus, in tonight’s Gospel, tells us to do things differently.  When we give alms, we are to give them secretly – even our left hand is not to know what our right hand is doing!  Bad advice for a charity, to keep donors’ identities secret – but great advice for the givers themselves.  If we are seen by others as being magnanimous, we can feel some pride in what we are doing.  We can feel superior to those we help, to those we think could be giving more but aren’t, to the uncharitable.  But in truth, nothing we have is our own – it’s all God’s gift to us – and so if we are able to give, it is only through God’s grace, and those who receive do so through God’s grace through our actions. 

It’s the same thing with prayer.  We are exhorted to gather together for worship – so certainly we should be praying in public.  We are called to be prayerful people.  But how many of us like the notion of being seen as prayerful people?  Do we pray because we need God, and cannot live good lives without it – or are we praying because we like the idea of ourselves as holy, pious people? 

And then there’s fasting.  We are told to be cheerful, and not to disfigure our faces, so that others know we are fasting.  Which is an odd saying of Jesus to hear moments before we come up to have ashes put on our foreheads!  Would we give up Diet Coke, or chocolate, or Facebook, if we didn’t get the joy of telling everyone that we’re giving those things up?  Would giving up meat on Fridays be as much fun if we couldn’t complain about the fact that we were giving up meat on Fridays? 

Perhaps the worst thing, though, about doing these things for the praise of others – or for our own praise – is that they obscure our ability to know ourselves.  We begin to believe the carefully constructed images of ourselves that we have spent time cultivating.  We find our self-worth in it.  And we lose the ability to see who we really are.  Creatures made in the image of God, with the potential to act with the full creativity and love with which God acts.  Creatures who have rebelled against God as Satan did, with the ability to act with the full malevolence and evil with which Satan acts.  Broken creatures unable to put these disparate pieces of ourselves back together in a redeemed whole, no matter how much we give to charity, how much we pray, how much we fast and engage in acts of self-denial.  Dust which will return to dust.

During this Lent, by all means, let us increase our almsgiving, our praying, our fasting – the three traditional penitential practices that can lead us to repentance and conversion.  But let’s also spend time really looking at ourselves, going into our inner rooms and taking a look at ourselves in the mirror and learning who we are.  Not who we think we are.  Not who we want others to think we are.  Who are we when no one is watching?

Once we know and accept that, we will make room for the grace of Christ to come in, redeem us, and make us into the person God created us to be.

Let Us See the Statue Inside the Marble

Hebrews 11:1-16

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Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  For by it the elders obtained a good report.  Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.  By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.  By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.  But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.  By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.   By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:  For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.  Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.  Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.  These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.  For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.  And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.  But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.

Michelangelo was perhaps the greatest sculptor the world has ever known.  His “David” and “Pieta” continue to inspire millions even today.  He is reputed to have said that “every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.”

In today’s Epistle, we hear that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  We are called, as Christians, to see not merely with our outward eyes, but to see with the eyes of faith.  Where others may see only a rough block of stone, we are called to see a beautiful statue waiting to be set free. 

We live in a world filled with evil – war, poverty, violence, discrimination.  Pick up a newspaper any day, and you will read many terrible things.  But by faith, we are called to see a world created by God – a world in which God’s peace and justice reign.  We are called to see in each human being not only the sinner, but a creature of God, with the potential to lead a holy life and to do great things.

It’s hard to see with that faith – and I would suggest that even if we can’t see the statue inside the block of stone, that we trust that God can see what we cannot.  In time, we can trust that God will open our eyes so that we, too, can see the magnificent work of art.

But it is not enough to see with faith, or trust that God can – we are called to act on our faith, and take up hammer and chisel to start revealing the statue trapped in the marble – even if we cannot yet see it ourselves.

Abraham was called to journey to the Promised Land from the city he lived in, and did so without having seen it.  Even when he arrived, he lived in tents and did not see the promise fully revealed.

God calls us to see the statue trapped in the big, ugly rock – but God also calls us to be a co-creator by putting our faith into action.  We are called to work for a more just world – working to end injustice, working for the recognition of the dignity of every human being, working to bring healing to the sick, comfort to prisoners, justice to the oppressed.

But is it not enough to see with the eyes of faith, and to take up chisel and hammer to act on our faith – we are also called to persevere in our faith, even when we cannot see the results.

As it says in our Epistle, “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”  So we, too, are called to persevere in our service to God and humankind, even though the full reign of God’s peace and justice is not likely to come to fruition in our lifetime.  Just as we are called to set out in our journey of faith when we cannot see the statue in the marble, so we are called to continue our faith in God even if we cannot see the statue emerge as a result of our labors.  We trust that God will take our efforts, and those of others called by God, some perhaps not even born, and use them to bring forth a statue even more magnificent than anything created by Michelangelo.

It is easy to become weary – to find it difficult to keep our faith and hope alive as we work to spread the Gospel.  But we are called to persevere.  Even when we find it hardest to trust, God is working to release the statue from the stone.

So let us see with the eyes of faith.  Let us take up chisel and hammer, and act on that faith.  And let us persevere in serving God, confident that one day we will reach that heavenly city prepared for all of God’s people, and behold the beautiful works God has brought forth from the rock.  Amen.

The bishop of Rome and the Gays

I try not to comment on the internal affairs of other denominations, but given the widespread confusion over the recent remarks of Francis, the bishop of Rome, on gay priests, I think it would be good to offer a reality check. He is talking about refraining from judgment of homosexual priests who have repented of the "sin" of gay sexuality and agreed to be celibate. He is not addressing openly gay people, including married same-sex couples. Just a few weeks ago, in France, he condemned the French legislators for passing same-sex marriage. The American bishops of his denomination are stridently opposing same-sex civil marriage in this country.

What members of the Roman Catholic denomination believe and practice in their own houses of worship is up to them, just as the Independent Catholic Christian Church to which I belong does offer marriage to all committed couples making a life-long covenant, regardless of the sex and gender makeup of the couple (and refuses to be in communion with churches that do otherwise, or that withhold ordination from women or lgbt Christians). But when they actively try to deny MY church, and the many other Christian churches and other faith communities who practice same-sex marriage, the right to practice our religion, with our marriages denied recognition by the state, as both bishop Francis and the bishops that answer to him have done, he has become an enemy of freedom of conscience.

MY REVIEW OF "SOUTHERN BAPTIST SISSIES"

As the son of a Southern Baptist minister, I looked forward to seeing the movie “Southern Baptist Sissies”, based on the play by Del Shores, at this year’s Q-Fest, Philadelphia’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender film festival.  Mr. Shores was on hand afterward, as was the star, for a question and answer session.  While many in the audience seemed to love the movie, I found myself left unsatisfied and empty by the film.

Del Shores, like me, is the son of a Southern Baptist minister.  He has done a reasonably decent job of communicating many aspects of the Southern Baptist experience, in particular the single-minded focus most have on whether or not someone is “saved”, since one’s eternal destiny is based on whether or not one has had this emotional experience of conversion, and the opposition to homosexuality (although in my experience, it is even more rabid than he portrays).  The discussion the star has with his mother upon discovering his favorite teacher is Jewish, and therefore bound for hell since she has not accepted Jesus as her “personal Lord and Savior”, despite being a nice, good person, since being nice or good is unrelated to salvation in the Southern Baptist theology, was a very good window into this doctrine and how it plays out in the lives of Southern Baptists.  The music was for the most part well-done – I found myself singing along to many of the hymns.  And the quoting of scripture, with chapter and verse, was certainly something all Southern Baptists and former Southern Baptists can relate to.

The play is really two plays – one about four gay young men who grow up in a Southern Baptist church, and the other about two aging ex-Southern Baptist alcoholics who become drinking buddies in a gay bar, one a gay man and one the sister of a gay man.  Apart from sharing a pianist, who seems to double as the pianist in the bar and in the local Southern Baptist congregation, and a couple of tangential connections to the young men which seem forced to me, the two plays have little in common other than an attempt to comment on the damage that the Southern Baptist religion wreaks on people.  The alcoholics, played brilliantly by Leslie Jordan and Dale Dickey, were complex, layered individuals, with much witty dialogue, as well as much depth of insight.  Most of the best lines in the play were spoken by one of these characters. 

But the two plays, although meant to work together, didn’t.  The film was too long as a result.  And I’m sure the bar scenes were meant to illumine the scenes focused on the church, but the only illumination I experienced was a spotlight on the cardboard clichés that were the four boys and others in the Baptist congregation.  And I was particularly troubled by two aspects of the play.

First, one major doctrinal difference between Southern Baptists on the one hand and Roman Catholics and Mormons on the other is that, while the latter two denominations each hold themselves out to be the “One True Church”, outside of which there can be no real hope of salvation (I realize Roman Catholics have softened this doctrine in recent decades, but only for those who have never been RC), the Southern Baptists, while emphasizing the necessity of church, nonetheless do not regard themselves as the “One True Church”.  The preacher and the church are not infallible – it is the Bible which is infallible for Southern Baptists, and leaving a church that is insufficiently “biblical” for one that is more so is a time-honored tradition.  So while it is very difficult for Roman Catholics or Mormons to find a new church, even while abandoning their old one, because of their deeply held belief that theirs is the only one, many gay Southern Baptists find their way to Episcopal churches, or the MCC, or other more progressive churches.  Shores’ failure to explore the quite common phenomenon of people finding ways of reconciling their sexuality and their Christian faith distorts the gay Southern Baptist experience.

More deeply troubling was the suicide.  Andrew is shown as always feeling alone and unloved, but when he commits suicide, he finally finds peace in the arms of a lover who is revealed to be God.  I worry that this, however unintentionally, glorifies suicide, particularly when compared with the bleak lives of the other characters.  That is NOT a message we want to communicate at all.

None of the other gay men in the play end up with a male partner, or even, seemingly, a circle of close friends, but are all alone and leading broken lives.  One marries a woman and is filled with rage as an “ex-gay” preacher.  Another is the aging, sad alcoholic from the bar (played by Leslie Jordan), who tells Andrew, in the only interaction between the bar play and the church play, not to become like him on the very night Andre kills himself.  There is the sad pianist, almost completely silent, except for a couple of throwaway lines put in for comic relief.  There is the vapid and shallow drag queen (played very well by RuPaul Drag Race veteran Willem, but with the character bearing no resemblance to the strong and powerful RuPaul, who would have lovingly but firmly snapped Andrew into shape as a proud gay man).  And finally, there is the star, whose rage prevents him from creating a life for himself, only imagining a different world.  He does in the end find a vague love-based spirituality (unsurprisingly, the agnosticShores, in the Q&A session, holds this up as “spirituality” vs. “religion”).  While the last hymn and his spiritual awakening are meant to communicate hope and acceptance, there is no actualization of that hope in his real life, only in his imagination, and so it rang quite hollow for me.

And so rather than finding the message of the play to be one of hope, I found it to be bleak, and tragic, and sad.  And while my childhood was indeed bleak, tragic, and sad, in large part due to the Southern Baptist religions, my life got considerably better once I left, and I worry that that message is absent from this film.

Looking Evil in the Eye: Sermon Preached at the Ordination of Br. Shane Neese, AIHM, to the Order of Exorcist, August 11, 2012

Luke 7:11-17 (Gospel for the Feast of St. Monica, observed on the Saturday of the annual retreat of the Order of Augustinians of the Immaculate Heart of Mary)

And it came to pass the day after, that he went into a city called Nain; and many of his disciples went with him, and much people.  Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her.  And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.  And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.  And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother.  And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people.  And this rumour of him went forth throughout all Judaea, and throughout all the region round about.

A few years ago, when I went to visit my parents at their home in Missouri, I stopped to visit a friend from divinity school who is also a veterinarian.  She was teaching in a college, as were her two housemates, and the two housemates had a dog.  I went for a walk with one of the housemates and the dog, and the dog misbehaved very badly, and both she and I ended up tangled in the dog’s leash as the dog kept running and jumping, blissfully ignoring her owner’s commands.  The next day, my friend the veterinarian and I went for a walk with the dog.  The dog began to misbehave, and my friend shouted “No” very authoritatively, while yanking on the leash so that the dog went up in midair and yelped.  The dog was quite well-behaved after that.

At the end of the visit, my friend dropped the dog off at another professor’s house, and the dog visited with the two resident dogs as we waited for the professor to arrive home.  While we sat on his porch, a very bold cat (surely not related to my easily-frightened tabby cat Allie) walked up, and my friend’s housemate’s dog started barking at the cat, clearly relishing the prospect of frightening it away.  But the cat did not react in any way, and kept walking toward us.  The dog’s barking became increasingly upset and unhinged, and finally, as the cat approached, the dog rolled over and began whining, beaten into submission by the cat’s confidence and self-assurance.

In today’s Gospel, something very similar happens.  Jesus meets a funeral procession, in which a young man has died at an early age, and he doesn’t flinch.  He looks death, mourning, and loss straight in the eye – and he overcomes it.  He does not ignore it, he does not let himself be overcome by it – rather, he confronts it, and he is able to raise the young man to new life.

All of us will face sin, evil, sickness, death, mourning, and other things that are not the will of God in our lives.  Some of these will be within ourselves – our own sinfulness, our own weakness, our own failure to do the will of God.  Some of them will be due to external causes – sickness, mortality – our own and those of our loved ones – natural disaster, the sins of others.  But in all of these situations, we are called to be more than conquerors through our Lord Jesus Christ – who enables us to look these situations in the eye without flinching, because we know that Christ has won the victory over them, even if we cannot see it at the present time.  We do not deny their reality – we are broken people who live in a broken world, and only by recognizing the brokenness, can we open ourselves up to healing.  But neither do we flinch from confronting it, because Christ is greater than the brokenness.

Brother Shane Neese was just ordained an exorcist.  If the need to look evil in the eye without flinching is a necessary task for every Christian, it is even more so for the priest.  A priest must be able to see the brokenness in his or her congregants’ lives, and help those who are overcome by sin, or sickness, or grief, to look to Jesus and be healed.  If the priest cannot do that in his or her own life, how will the priest be able to help others to do so?  If a priest cannot look the evil that crucified Christ in the eye and know that the risen Christ will overcome it, then how is the priest to offer the Eucharist?

Mother Sandra Hutchinson, when preparing for her own ordination as an exorcist, said it very well:  “Of all the minor orders, this is the one that intimidates me the most.  Evil is real, and this is a direct challenge to it.  But God is real too, I know that.  And I’m looking forward to it as well.”

Shane, as you take on this ministry of exorcist in your journey to the priesthood, it is my prayer that, like Jesus, you will be able to look evil in the eye, not flinch, and know the power of Christ over sin, evil, and death.  Amen.