Request for Prayers

This coming weekend, the Independent Catholic Christian Church will be having its first jurisdictional Gathering. On Saturday, God willing, I will be ordaining our seminarians Michael and Carol to the minor order of Doorkeeper and our seminarian Marian to the minor order of Acolyte. Please pray that the Gathering is a time of grace for our community, and please especially pray for those being ordained.

Feast of the Chair of St. Peter at Antioch

Chris Tessone, a priest of the jurisdiction of which I'm a part, has an excellent post about today's feast, and the issues of church polity it raises. I would just add one thought, about infallibility.

The essence of idolatry is to attribute to a creature attributes that properly belong to God. Only God is infinite -- we as humans are by definition finite in every respect. God is omniscient -- we are not. God is omnipresent -- we are not. God is eternal -- we are not, and only know eternal life through God's gift.

Infallibility belongs in this category. No human being, regardless of the office he or she holds, can ever make any statement that is infallible. Nor can any book or institution claim infallibility or inerrancy. The belief that was promulgated by the Roman Catholic denomination at its first Vatican council, that the bishop of Rome is infallible when speaking ex cathedra, is an attempt to claim for a human being something that properly belongs only to God. Similarly, the teaching of the Southern Baptist Convention and others that the Bible cannot contain error is an attempt to claim for a book something that properly belongs only to God.

The Scriptures are a great gift to us, and through them we come to know God's self-revelation through Jesus Christ, fully God (and therefore genuinely infallible) and fully human, and our great redemption through Christ's death and resurrection. We believe that bishops and other church leaders are given grace to lead the church. But to attribute infallibility to either the Bible or church leaders is to distort their roles and put them in the place of the God to whom both are meant to point.

Friday Cat Blogging

First, here is a picture from a couple of weeks ago of Allie peeking out from behind the refrigerator -- it came out very surrealistic:
Next, here is a picture from a couple of nights ago of both cats on the couch -- I've created a little cubbyhole for Allie, which she finds comforting -- I've concluded that she's somewhat agoraphobic:
Charles is not shy at all -- when friends were over for Vespers on Wednesday, he jumped up by one of them and promptly rolled over and demanded that she give him a bellyrub (a demand with which she happily complied).

Book Meme

Chris tagged me with a book meme that is going around (Grab the nearest book that is at least 123 pages long, open to p. 123, go down to the 5th sentence, type in the following 3 sentences.) My book is Cyril of Jerusalem's Catechetical Lectures.

"The Son of Man shall come to the Father, according to the Scripture which was just now read, on the clouds of heaven, drawn by a stream of fire, which is to make trial of men. Then if any man's works are of gold, he shall be made brighter; if any man's course of life be like stubble, and unsubstantial, it shall be burnt up by the fire. And the Father shall sit, having His garment white as snow, and the hair of His head like pure wool Daniel 7:9."

Ember Friday Prayer and Cat Blogging Post

First, an Embertide prayer all bishops should pray fervently, from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer:

ALMIGHTY God, our heavenly Father, who hast purchased to thyself an universal Church by the precious blood of thy dear Son; Mercifully look upon the same, and at this time so guide and govern the minds of thy servants the Bishops and Pastors of thy flock, that they may lay hands suddenly on no one, but faithfully and wisely make choice of fit persons, to serve in the sacred Ministry of thy Church, And to those who shall be ordained to any holy function, give thy grace and heavenly benediction; that both by their life and doctrine they may show forth thy glory, and set forward the salvation of all men; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Sadly, Charles has picked up an additional bad habit:


And I am happy to report that Allie is beginning to feel comfortable, at least some of the time, socializing with the rest of us rather than hiding under bed, couch, bookcase, or behind refrigerator:

Friday Cat Blogging

I am happy to report that last Saturday, I adopted two cats -- Charles and Allie.

Charles was named after a basketball player, Charles Barkley, who must have made of lot of touchdowns or RBI's or the like, but I have renamed him Charles Borromeo-w, as is more suitable for a cat living in a religious household. Sadly, he is a vandal and a user of recreational drugs -- he chewed open a bag of catnip his aunts Carol and Lyngine gave him and got high while I was at work one day, and has chewed holes in his food bag (despite there being food in his bowl) and a treat bag (all safely in cabinets now). But he is very sweet and affectionate, and follows me around hoping for a treat or a bellyrub, both of which he frequently gets. Here is a picture of him on one of the couches (he has taken naps on all four couches):

Allie is cloistered, observing strict enclosure. She spent the first day under a bookcase using the Lutheran Family Bible Game as a pillow (an ELCA pastor friend gave this to me some years ago), hiding behind the stacked Grove's Dictionary of Music (Third Edition). The second day, she spent under the one couch with flaps at the bottom that can hide her. The third day, she was under my bed, before finding the tiny area behind the refrigerator, where she spends most of her time now. I had a nice picture of her peering out from behind the refrigerator, but my cameraphone was full and it didn't save -- I'll try to take another one. In the meantime, here is a picture of her under the bookcase next to the Lutheran game -- which you can see much better than her face:
I hope to have better pictures next Friday!

Ash Wednesday

A parishioner wrote to Fr. Joseph and me and asked how we personally observe Ash Wednesday. Here is what I wrote back:

One thing I always do is take Ash Wednesday off from work. I try to use the day as a day of reflection. The words that are traditionally used when ashes are placed on Christians' heads are "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return", and it is a day to reflect on our mortality, and where our life is going, in the knowledge that, sooner or later, it is going to end. It is easy to become so busy that we don't take the time to stop and think about the larger picture in our life (and being clergy, it is easy for me to even become too busy with church to do this!) , and Lent in general and Ash Wednesday in particular, gives us that opportunity to do that.

Often, funerals are a time when people, in the shock of grief, and realization that since life is short, they are not necessarily living as they wish they were. It might be helpful to think of Ash Wednesday as our own "funeral", where we come face to face with our mortality, mourn it, and come to terms with how it will affect our living. Of course, baptism is our "dying with Christ so that we might rise with Christ", and Lent was traditionally the time of preparation for baptism, ending in the Three Days when we celebrate Christ's death and resurrection. So as we contemplate our deaths on Ash Wednesday, we also look forward to the celebration of the Resurrection of Christ at Easter, which is a promise of our own resurrection.

Friday Cat-Blogging -- February 1, 2008

I have a momentous announcement to make -- tomorrow, I will be adopting two six-year old cats, Charles and Allie (although they may be given additional names in due course). I will be posting photos of them once I have them, but in the meantime, in honor of their imminent arrival and in honor of St. Ignatius of Antioch whose feast those of us using the traditional Western calendar celebrate today, I offer this icon of cats:

(Don't they look more like they're playing than like they're attacking and eating good St. Ignatius?)

Basking in the Light of Christ

Today, in the old calendar, we celebrate the Octave Day of Epiphany, and in the new calendar, we celebrate the Baptism of Christ. The lesson read for the Epistle for the former is "Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." For the latter, we celebrate our illumination in Christ in our own baptism, as we are joined with Christ's baptism. I had the great privilege of attending the baptism of a parishioner yesterday (who was born just before Christmas), and the lighting of the baptismal candle from the Paschal candle is a moving part of the ritual. Truly, at this time, we should take the time to bask in the light of Christ.

Here is a picture of what that basking in Christ's light looks like:

We should be as eager to soak up the light of Christ as Clem (my feline houseguest) is to soak up the sunlight.

Friday Feline Houseguest Posting

A coworker is out of town for several weeks, and so from St. Stephen's Day until January 21, her cat is staying with me. The cat is very affectionate, although perhaps not the most energetic cat I've ever met. Here are some pictures.

The first week she stayed with me, here was her favorite spot to sleep:



Here she is modeling some jewelry:



And here is a pose that expresses her personality quite well (my finger over part of the lens expresses my photographic expertise equally well):

Quaker Plain Speech and Independent Catholic Clergy

John Plummer has an interesting post, which I heartily recommend reading, criticizing the excess of clericalism in our movement, particularly all of the grand titles which people insist on using.

I work for a Quaker organization, and Quakers have a tradition of "plain speech" in which, among other things, they refuse to use titles of any kind, even to the point of children addressing their parents as "John" or "Mary" rather than "Dad" or "Mom". When we send out fundraising letters, they go to "John Smith" or "Mary Jones", not "Mr. John Smith" or "Dr. Mary Jones" or "The Right Reverend Anastasia Beaverhausen" (which begs the question of who might be the Wrong Reverend . . . ). The envelope will include a middle initial, with the salutation being the first and last names.

The practice has much to commend it. Although there is a time and a place for titles, I wonder what would happen if more Independent clergy would introduce themselves without titles most of the time, and let their ministry speak for itself, than insisting on being called "Father Zophar the Nephite" or "His Beatitude Alexander the Coppersmith, Patriarch of Sodom and Gomorrah and All Canaan"? Perhaps we could add this to John Plummer's Advent discipline.

Very Silly Post on what to call the Independent Movement

Some prefer Old Catholic or Independent Catholic or IC/OC, to use both. Some prefer Independent Sacramental Movement, ISM for short. I propose a new abbreviation to use:

E I E I O

Here's why:

Arnold Mathew had a church E I E I O
And in that church he made many bishops E I E I O
With a schism here with a schism there
Here a schism there a schism
Everywhere a schism schism
Arnold Mathew had a church E I E I O

Please feel free to submit additional verses in the comments.

Places and People

Because I’m the worst blogger in the Independent Sacramental Movement, I only today discovered a very interesting conversation in the comments to my last post between Rev. Sharon and Lyngine. There are two particular issues which Rev. Sharon raises that I would like to raise up – the issue of where churches meet and the issue of “treading gently and compassionately” and of “bad priests”.

+Alexis Tancibok has addressed the issue of church buildings on his blog Boze, and I want to throw my two cents in as well – which is to proclaim the not such good news that there is no perfect situation for a church community. Here is a very partial list of pluses and minuses:

House church – pluses: warmth, intimacy, a chance to build very close ties of community, the integration of spirituality and daily life (as Lyngine mentioned about the Christmas Day mass), and the similarity to the first Eucharist celebrated by our Lord
minuses: intimidating to newcomers, risk of becoming a cozy inbred community without a sense of mission to the world, may be hard on the host to constantly host (or, if there is rotation, lack of stability), “ownership” of the community by the host, risk of losing a place to meet if schism occurs and host is on one side and others on the other side (I know of one local community that disbanded in just such a case)

Renting space – pluses: advantages of church space without obligation to assume all of cost and risk, flexibility to move if circumstances change, possibility of collaboration with host community
minuses: conflict with host community leading to sudden need to move, being “bumped” from space to space given [understandable] needs of host community, must conform service times to needs of host community, may be need to conform to policies of host community (e.g., lgbt-friendly congregation renting from United Methodist church – which may not permit any same-sex couple blessings on premises, regardless of local UM congregation’s views)

Owning space – pluses: space available for needs of one’s own community, ownership and pride and stability, ease of recognition by potential newcomers to get them in the door minuses: very high costs, lack of flexibility to change, possible need to rent to outside communities (leading to some of “renting space” problems), danger of “maintenance” taking precedence over “mission”

So, there is no “perfect” situation, because we have not here an abiding city. Every community has to determine what space situations will best suit its needs at any given time, and take special care to avoid falling into the particular traps inherent in its particular situation.

As for the issue of “treading gently and compassionately” – it is important to realize two things – first, NO ONE enters ministry for purely healthy reasons. All of us who are ordained have dysfunctional and unhealthy aspects to our vocation. The real key is to both recognize one’s own “besetting sins” and to help candidates and new clergy to develop the tools to look at themselves and assess what is healthy and what is not and take steps to address that which is dysfunctional. The real danger is from clergy who do not recognize the unhealthy parts of themselves, or worse yet, don’t realize they have any. And the reason I specifically raised issues of gender and sexual orientation is to point out that often it is not the noticeably unhealthy things that get us down – adultery, etc. – but rather dealing with a broken church in ways that are broken ourselves. In other words, to use myself as an example, as a gay man, I must be careful about not attributing everything that goes wrong with my ministry to “homophobia” – just because I’m gay and believe there is nothing wrong with being gay doesn’t mean that I am not still a sinner, or that I am immune from expressing my God-given gay sexuality in a broken and sinful way.

The second thing is that, coming from a Sacramental/Catholic perspective, ordination is a sacrament that places an “indelible” mark on the soul and provides grace, regardless of the unworthiness of the person being ordained. And that is very good news, because the fact that someone who shouldn’t be ordained (perhaps ever, perhaps at a given time – and we all know that this happens far too often in the ISM) doesn’t mean that Christ’s redemptive work can’t come into play and transform a “bad priest” into “great priest” – so the key is to work for the transformation of the clergy into those clergy that can best serve Christ. (Of course, that does not mean that there are not sometimes situations in which a bishop/church community must remove a harmful clergyperson – but it does mean that, even in those cases, there can ultimately be redemption, if the person repents, and there can once again be a fruitful ministry, even if in some cases it may only be a private hidden one.)

Ordination: Consecration for Service, NOT Personal Validation

No one who is ordained enters ordained ministry for purely healthy reasons -- indeed, I doubt that any human being does anything for purely healthy reasons! But it is important to be aware of one's motives, and to live out the healthy ones in one's ministry and to take care not to let the unhealthy ones affect one's ministry adversely.

The proper motive for being ordained is consecration for the service of God and the people of God in particular ways, especially the ministries of Word and Sacrament. Unfortunately, many seek ordination instead as some form of personal validation. Wearing a collar and vestments gives them some sort of status so that they can feel important, or loved, or respected, or _____ (fill in the blank).

In particular, it has been my observation that some (certainly not all) who are members of groups historically denied access to ordination, especially women and openly gay and lesbian Christians, can sometimes see ordination as a validation that they are "as good as" men or heterosexuals. This is quite understandable, and as someone who unequivocally supports the ordination of women and openly gay/lesbian Christians and who am myself an openly gay man, I have certainly felt this way myself at times. And one unhealthy result is that many forget that no individual has a right to ordination -- I agree that it is an injustice to exclude women and lgbt folk from ordination, but there are individual women and individual gay people who should not be ordained (just as there are individual heterosexual men who should not be ordained).

For those of us who make our way to the Independent Sacramental Movement, we usually find that, to our dismay, most Christians don't really take us that seriously. Our churches don't usually fit the model of "brick and mortar" churches, and we lack the respectability of the mainstream. Many assume that because they haven't heard of us, we aren't "real". This problem is compounded by those of us who use the term "Independent Catholic", since most people accept the claims of the Roman Catholic denomination to be the only "Catholics". (While I would never want to give up the substance of being Catholic, as I see it, I do sometimes wish that we could let go of the word for just this reason.)

And in response to this, many of us in the ISM spend an inordinate amount of time trying to "prove" that we are legitimate, we are Catholic, we are real -- and for some of us, this gets wrapped up in issues of being female or gay. I've been there, so I am not criticizing something I myself haven't done. But, ultimately, this distracts from the reason we are clergy to begin with.

As long as we do the ministry God calls us to do, and minister to those (however few) God sends our way (and in some cases, priests may be called to a life of solitude and intercession for the world that won't involve much direct ministerial contact with others), we're doing the right thing. If everyone else laughs at us and refuses to see our minstry as valid -- that's okay. We're not priests to be recognized as such. If God sees our ministry as valid, who cares what others think? And if God doesn't see our ministry as valid, all of the people in the world calling us "Father" or "Mother" won't make a difference.

So I would exhort my fellow ISM clergy to stop worrying about what people think, and focus instead on the ministry tasks at hand. Until we move beyond the need for validation from others, we will never be effective priests.

Blogs -- Blessing and Curse

Sometimes, I feel guilty for not blogging more frequently. Some of the members of the parish where I preach every other week have kindly suggested that I post my sermons -- but my Baptist upbringing asserts itself in my preaching, which I prepare without writing a manuscript, so I must write the sermon down later, and the written version usually bears about as much resemblance to the original as the average Hollywood movie does to the books they bastardize.

However, in reading other blogs -- and particularly the comments sections attached to them -- I realize that perhaps it is better to err on the side of blogging too seldom. St. James says "for every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, but no one can tame the tongue -- a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God." (James 3:7-9)

If there is anything full of even deadlier poison than the tongue, it is the internet. Far easier to make a comment on a stranger's blog one has never met than to look them in the eye and say some of the things we say. And the very concept of the blog has further eroded the line between public and private. As a means of posting about current events and ideas, it is a wonderful medium -- but as a form of personal communication, it encourages us to make quite public matters best kept between family and friends. It can lead to both narcissism and voyeurism.

I hope and pray that God may preserve us from the sinful havoc this technology can enable us to wreak so much more quickly and widely than before, and may instead inspire us to use it for the greater good.

Corpus Christi sermon

“For all who eat and drink without discerning the Lord’s body, eat and drink judgment against themselves.” (I Cor. 11:29)

What does it mean to “discern the Lord’s body”?

I. Incarnation and Resurrection

In the first place, to properly participate in the Eucharist, it is necessary to discern the Lord’s physical body in the incarnation of God in human flesh in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is both fully human and fully God. In Christ’s life, we are incorporated into the divine life – through faith in Christ, our life is caught up into God’s life, and God’s life becomes intimately entwined with ours. Through his death and resurrection, Christ won the victory over sin and death, and Christ’s victory has won salvation for humankind. The Eucharist makes these realities of the Incarnation and the Resurrection present in a vivid way in our midst, and to receive Holy Communion properly, we must discern the Lord’s body in the incarnate, crucified and risen body of Jesus Christ.

II. Real Presence

Next, it is necessary to recognize that in the Eucharist, Christ is really and truly present. There have been many volumes written about the exact manner in which Christ is present, and different denominations within the Church have embraced different interpretations. However, the precise method of Christ’s present is not the important thing – rather, the important thing is to recognize that when the Christian receives Holy Communion, she is encountering Jesus Christ in the most vivid and intimate way possible this side of heaven. There was a humorous parody book published several years ago spoofing Martha Stewart, and in one section, suggested that when entertaining a bishop, “host canapés” could be prepared. Unintentionally, the author of the book captured a very important aspect of the Eucharistic encounter with Christ – the Eucharist serves as hors d’oeuvres and cocktails in preparation for the heavenly banquet we will enjoy as a result of Christ’s saving work, when we will see Christ face to face.

III. The Church, the Body of Christ

The Church (the body of all baptized believers) is often referred to in Scripture as the Body of Christ, and the third discernment we must make is that as we hear the word proclaimed and meditate on the saving mysteries of the incarnation and resurrection, and as we receive the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist, we are transformed into the body of Christ on earth. We are called to continue Christ’s presence on earth. Liturgists often refer to two main parts of the Mass – the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist – but in reality, there is a third part as well, the Liturgy of Service, during which we take what we have received in Word and Sacrament and take it to a world in need.

IV. Christ in the Poor

Christ told us that whenever we feed the hungry, or clothe the naked, or visit the sick or needy – whenever we have done these things for the least of our brothers and sisters, we have done them for Christ. And when we recognize the Lord’s Body in the person of Jesus Christ, and encounter Christ in the Eucharist by receiving the Body and Blood of Christ, we are empowered as the Body of Christ, the Church, to minister in Christ’s name to the poor wherever we find them – be their poverty spiritual or material.

May we always have the grace to properly discern the Lord’s body whenever we approach these holy mysteries. Amen.

Please Don't Mess with the Psalms!

Many years ago, Reader's Digest, which puts out condensed versions of many books, put out a condensed version of the Bible, prompting many jokes about "which two Commandments will they cut out?" and the like, as well as a sense of outrage among many conservative Christians. While I agree that there are many parts of the Bible which are less than edifying, and even my fundamentalist Southern Baptist minister father told people to skip over the long genealogies of unpronounceable Hebrew names by just saying "and all God's children" and skipping ahead, I agree that the idea is a bit cringeworthy -- but am happy to refer people to the more edifying parts.

However, it is really annoying that many of the liturgical churches -- even the conservative ones -- have done exactly that to the Psalms. The Episcopal Book of Common Prayer (1979) puts a few Psalms in brackets, with more verses in parentheses, as suggestions for omission. At least Episcopalians get a choice in the matter -- the Roman Catholic Liturgy of the Hours omits Psalms 58 and 109 and mangles many other Psalms. Also, while encouraging laity and religious to shorten the office by only reciting Morning and Evening Prayer, rather than coming up with a Psalter distribution that enables one to recite all of the Psalms in those two offices, they retained a distribution scheme that requires one to recite at least five offices in order to cover all of them (except the parts they threw away). It would have been much better had they created a scheme similar to the historic 30-day one used by Anglicans (and still printed in the text of the 1979 Psalter) or the 7-week scheme in the Daily Lectionary of the 1979 BCP. (I will absolve the Lutherans for past sins in this area since both the ELCA and the LCMS worship books just published contain all 150 Psalms. And I will be silent about the fact that our Jewish brothers and sisters omit NOTHING from the Psalms, including the titles and the word "Selah" -- I make a point at least once a year to read the Psalms from a Bible rather than from a BCP/Breviary/Diurnal just to read these.)

Mark Hoemmen, an ICCC member in San Francisco, has an outstanding post for April 26 on his blog, in which he recounts being startled by the violent ending of Psalm 139 (138 in the Septuagint/Vulgate numbering) put onto the bulk of the Psalm, which is a beautiful meditation on the comforting omnipresence of God. Mark goes on to reflect on how important it is to read even these disturbing parts of the Psalms -- because they teach honesty before God.

One of the reasons that the Church places the Psalms before us as the greater part of the liturgy each day is precisely because of this ability to lay bare our souls, not only to God but to ourselves. If we cannot face this soul-baring, we cannot truly enter into that relationship with ourselves that is required before we can healthily relate to God or others. I don't know that we can authentically pray Psalm 150 if we skipped Psalms 58, 109, and the horrifying last three verses of Psalm 137. Even if we don't see those Psalms reflected in our soul, they at least teach us about the potential we have within ourselves, so that we may safely "ground" these energies without having them express themselves in unhealthy ways in other parts of our lives.

So -- please -- put the scissors away, and read ALL of the Psalms!

Welcoming Fr. Joseph to the Blogosphere

A hearty welcome to Fr. Joseph Menna, AIHM, who has started a blog, A Restless Heart. He joins fellow ICCC bloggers Fr. Chris Tessone (Even the Devils Believe), Mother Laura Grimes (Junia's Daughter), and Mark Hoemmen (The Nerdiest of the Nerds).

I hope his blog follows their examples and not mine!

More about Mother Laura

For more information about Mother Laura, visit her wonderful blog Junia's Daughter.

Just to correct one inaccuracy in a recent post about me -- while it is true that my refrigerator has nothing but Dr Pepper in it, in fact the freezer does have more than Lean Cuisine's -- I do have icetrays to produce icecubes for the Dr Pepper. ;-) (And the kitchen cabinets are not empty -- I still have a few books that I haven't gotten around to shelving . . .)

Christ is Risen!

People are starting to bug me about the fact that the top entry on my blog says "Holy Week Announcement" -- so I will post this.

First, our parish Holy Week and Easter celebrations were magnificent. Michael Shirk, our seminarian from Missouri, visited, and his lovely chanting voice was a huge asset to our celebrations, and I had the privilege of tonsuring him as a cleric at our Maundy Thursday Eucharist. Fr. Joseph did a wonderful job planning the liturgies. I especially enjoyed chanting the Exsultet and the blessing of the font, and the high point was certainly baptizing Kim, one of our parishioners.

This weekend was also great -- Mother Laura Grimes was in town for the Order of St. Michael retreat, and she stayed with me both before and after the retreat. Thursday night, or should I say Friday morning, we were up until 3 talking. Sunday night, she celebrated and preached at the parish, which was a wonderful experience for all. I am very pleased that she has decided to incardinate with the Independent Catholic Christian Church -- she will be a real asset to us, with her exhaustive knowledge of theology. And it is good to have a female priest -- we have been very committed to the full inclusion of women from the beginning of our jurisdiction (2002), but until recently, no women had applied -- now, Carol Nickolai is preparing for ordination as a seminarian (she was tonsured in February), and Laura is our first female priest.

The other part of the weekend that was wonderful was doing nothing on Saturday -- I had not had a full day off in a month, and it was beginning to wear on me. One of the problems for all clergy, but especially for "tentmakers", is the necessity of taking time for personal rest and renewal even in the midst of many demands. And the day convinced me that I must be more proactive about scheduling time for rest into my schedule.