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Reverend Rita's Reflections
The season of Lent and Easter has a number of strange names to mark various days and events. We're so used to them that we take them for granted, but really, what does "maundy" mean in Maundy Thursday? For that matter, what does "Lent" have to do with lending? I don't know all of these answers myself, so I decided to investigate a dictionary of Easter. The day before Lent begins is known as Mardi Gras, associated with wild parties in New Orleans. Mardi Gras literally translates as Fat Tuesday, meaning that people used up all the foods that they were forbidden to use during the Lenten fast, including sugar, eggs, and fats. Any good baker knows that those ingredients make for some very tasty treats, including pancakes. So began the tradition of making and eating pancakes on that day. The day is also sometimes known in the English-speaking world as Shrove Tuesday. Shrove is the past tense of the old English word "shrive," which means absolution of sins, certainly an appropriate theme for the season. The season itself is called Lent simply meaning spring. In Latin, the season was called quadragesima, meaning "fortieth day." In the Middle Ages, though, many churches began using terms derived from the local language, and so in English the word "Lent" became widespread. Ash Wednesday is the most self-explanatory. The name derives from the ashes that are placed on the forehead on that day. Ashes have long been associated with repentance, evoking both our origins as descended from Adam, the man formed from dirt, and our ultimate ending as we die and return to the earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Maundy Thursday is another old English term. I have long understood that the term "Maundy" derives from the Latin mandatum, meaning commandment, and refers to the verse in which Jesus says, "A new commandment I give you, that you love one another." However, my research revealed another theory, that it comes from another Latin word, mendicare, meaning to beg, and referred to the common practice of the king handing out alms to the poor on that day, in what were called "maundy baskets." No one knows for certain what the origin of the word is. And that goes for the name of the big day itself, Easter. The name is first explained by the 7th century English monk known as the Venerable Bede, who says it comes from Eostur-monath, the month named for a Germanic goddess named Eostre and corresponding roughly with the month of April in which Easter usually falls. The name Eostre is related to the Germanic word to shine, austro, from which we get words like "Austria" and "east." It seems strange to have our greatest Christian holy day named for a pagan goddess, and some scholars are skeptical of the truth of Bede's claims. In most other languages, Easter is known by some variation of the Greek word pascha, which itself is just a transliteration of the Hebrew word pesach, meaning Passover. The fact that we don't even really know how some of these names originated just shows how ancient and deeply rooted these observances are. But whatever words we use, the meaning of these days and the season is what is important. Wishing you a spiritual and holy Lenten season! February 2010 Our Nation's Birth Defect We'd like to think we are past the whole problem of racism. After all, drinking fountains are no longer segregated. Schools are integrated. Discriminatory laws have been abolished. We even have a black president! But recently, the head of Harvard's African-American Studies Department was arrested for "breaking into" his own home. A week before that, a group of black and Hispanic day campers was kicked out of an all-white swimming pool in Philadelphia. Yes, we've come a long way from the days of slavery and Jim Crow, but the ills of that era linger on. Former secretary of state Condoleeza Rice calls racism "our nation's birth defect." These recent incidents only scratch the surface of a reality that many Americans, particularly whites, are unaware of. Racism continues to be a problem, but it rarely comes dressed in white sheets. It lingers on in a 400-year-old habit of how we see one another. How else could a 5 ft 5 elderly black man with a cane and Harry Potter glasses be seen as dangerous enough to warrant being arrested in his own home? Confronting this racism and rooting it out means taking an honest and extremely painful look at ourselves and our society. I myself never truly understood this until I became the mother of a black son. In this church, everyone sees him as a human being. But outside our church, he has already been labeled a troublemaker on one occasion solely because of his race, by a person who I'm sure had no idea that's what she had done. Sometimes we feel powerless against the problem of ongoing racism. But what is impossible for human beings is not impossible for God. With God's help, we can combat racism, even in our own hearts. But it takes courage, honesty, and a willingness to change. God has the power. Do we have the will? August 2009 Summer Reading List During the slower months of summer when many committees and other meetings go on hiatus, I tend to do a lot of theological reading that ends up fueling my sermons. This summer I have already read several books that are the equivalent of a seven-course meal when it comes to food for thought! I thought I'd share some of these with you. First is Crowned with Glory and Honor, by Christopher D. Marshall. The book was written on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, and will be making an appearance in a pulpit near you with an upcoming sermon series. We tend to think of human rights as a secular, but even though the phrase "human rights" does not appear in the Bible, Marshall looks at how the basic themes and concept of human rights is present in scripture, both in the inherent worth and dignity of human beings, and of the protections necessary to safeguard the welfare of those most vulnerable in society, including slaves, widows, orphans, and "strangers." Marshall also explores how a religious perspective provides a balance and a critique to a secular view of human rights, in the themes of covenant, and of responsibilities as well as rights. Next up is Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? by Beverly Daniel Tatum. Now that Obama is president, some people have declared that we live in a post-racial society. But the reality is much more complicated. Tatum lays out what exactly "race" is, how we develop our racial identity, and how all of us, regardless of our identification, can come together, share our experiences, and work toward overcoming divisions. This is still such a touchy, difficult subject, but Tatum spells out the issues very clearly and offers specific ways that we can make progress. I used this book for my workshop on "How to Talk About Race," which I taught at the conference annual meeting, and which I'll be teaching as a three part series with the SoL Center this fall. Finally, I've just completed The Evolution of a UCC Style, by Randi Jones Walker, which is a history but also an exploration of who we are as the UCC. Most such books tend to focus on our predecessor denominations, and while they continue to be important, we as the United Church of Christ have moved beyond them into something quite new that is still in the process of becoming. This book isn't as readable as the other two, but I felt it really clarified who we are as the UCC, as well as presenting the challenges and questions that we need to address as we move into the future. Most importantly, this book made me love the UCC even more! I expect to rely heavily on this book as I (hopefully) will be teaching a class on UCC History and Polity. Lest you think I only read brainy stuff, let me add that I am also reading Clone Wars: Wild Space, a Star Wars novel, and The Borrowers, a children's book about a race of tiny people who live among the big "human beans." Sometimes you need fun stuff, too! So what are YOU reading this summer? July 2009 And Many More! Pentecost: the day the Holy Spirit descended on a group of Christian believers, empowering them to go out into the world and share the Gospel. It's the day that is considered the birthday of the church. It's the day that we in the United Church of Christ receive our "Strengthen the Church" offering, which goes to support new church starts. Ever since the "God Is Still Speaking" campaign began several years ago, the UCC has experienced a rebirth. As more people have been learning about our denomination, they have been joining our congregations and even starting new ones. But we are still not very good at helping those new churches start. Sometimes we literally don't know what to do with these new folks! The conference Committee for New and Renewing Churches, of which I am the chair, recognized that we have a lot to learn, so we have been calling upon the Rev. Cameron Trimble on the national staff to help us. She has met with the committee several times to train us, and while the learning curve is steep, the committee is eager to get to work. At our latest meeting, we set ourselves a modest yet challenging goal: We want to start three new churches by 2011. Modest, in that it's not a lot. Challenging, in that it's more than we've ever done before! We are also expanding our approach to the task. While in the past we have focused on traditional new church starts, where a leader parachutes into a new location and gathers people together, we are also now learning about affiliating churches, in which existing congregations that are not part of a denomination join the UCC. This is where most of the growth in the UCC is coming. Often these churches started on their own because they didn't know a place like the UCC existed. When they learn about it, they want to become a part of it. Another exciting approach is church multiplication, where an existing church starts a new one. Statistically this model enjoys the most success, and it is woefully undertapped in the UCC. But that's going to change! Finally, there is a fourth category that is open to all the variety of ways in which the Spirit moves and people gather. Some may look like house churches, some like Bible studies, some like mission groups, or like something else altogether! These groups may or may not ever become what we think of as a church, but we want to embrace and encourage them as well. So we are calling them UCC Communities in Connection. With all these methods at our disposal, surely we can start three churches in two years! As we progress, I'll continue to share our progress with you. Meanwhile, let us all pray for the new things God will do in South Central Conference. June 2009 Question Marks and Commas The other day I was driving on Loop 410 when I saw a truck with a bumper sticker plastered on its window: "Never place a question mark where God has placed a period." I'd heard about bumper stickers that countered our UCC slogan (which we borrowed from George Burns' wife), but I had never seen one myself. Personally, I enjoy a good religious debate conducted through bumper stickers. How about all those spin-offs of the Christian fish? And the one I saw the other day has a point. It's saying that God's mind never changes, and we should not question it. As it's stated on another popular bumper sticker: "God said it; I believe it; that settles it." I totally understand where that view comes from. But we in the UCC see things a little differently. It's not that we believe that God's mind changes; it's that we realize that we understand God's mind imperfectly. Christians once believed that slavery must be according to God's plan, because after all there was slavery in the Bible. But over time, Christians began to see that they had understood God's plan wrong; that God created all people in the divine image, that owning slaves was a sin. Or the ordination of women. It wasn't too long ago when Christians just assumed that women should not be ordained. Yet now many of us believe that God does indeed call women to ordained ministry. Did God's mind change? Or did our understanding of it change? I can see how people might interpret our slogan to mean that we shift with the wind, that we don't believe God's will is unchangeable, that we pick and choose what parts of the Bible we believe in. They are entitled to their interpretation, but I see it differently. I think Gracie Allen's quote, "Never place a period where God has placed a comma," means that we trust more in God's grace than in our own imperfect understanding of it. Or as one of our hymns says, "We limit not the truth of God to our poor reach of mind." It means that we humans have a tendency to see things in final, complete terms, but that God has a much longer memory, and a much farther vision of the future than we ever can. It means that the final word for God will always be "HOPE." And that is definitely something I can trust! May 2009 Blessed The Beatitudes in Matthew's Sermon on the Mount are probably the most well-loved and least understood passages in all the gospels. The beauty of the poetry makes a lasting imprint on our hearts, making the truth of the words seem all the more true. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven…." But what exactly are we to make of the Beatitudes? Are they descriptive, talking about people as they are: meek, merciful, pure in heart? Or are they more like gently-phrased commandments, telling us how we ought to behave? Commentators over the centuries have read them in a variety of ways, from Robert Schuller, who called them "Be Happy Attitudes" and tried to make them into a practical application for everyday living, to others who have said the Beatitudes lift up a standard of Christian conduct that is impossible for us mortals to achieve. Perhaps, like all of Jesus' teachings, the simplicity of the Beatitudes is deceptive, and they contain far more meaning and depth than we could ever fully understand. During my sermon series during Lent this year, we will be taking a deeper look at these Beatitudes, to see what they tell us about who we are, and about what we are capable of becoming. We won't uncover all of their mysteries, but the discipline will be a good one as we journey with Jesus toward Jerusalem. March 2009 The God of Love St. Valentine's Day has long been associated with romantic love, and as such it at first appears to have nothing to do with a saint or anything religious. Indeed, of the three forms of love, eros (romantic), philia (friendship), and agape (selfless), Christianity has tended to value romantic love the least. Yet there is a strong testimony of love in the Bible itself, both between people, and between people and God. The Song of Songs is a passionate hymn sung between two unmarried people, with God scarcely mentioned. This book dripping with eroticism has often been seen as an allegory for God's love for us. At first glance this may seem to be absurd, with verses like, "How beautiful you are my darling. Your breasts are like twin fawns of a gazelle that browse among the lilies." Yet elsewhere in the Bible we find evidence of great passion of God for the people, and of the people for God. How else can we view Isaiah 43:4: "You are precious and honored in my sight, and I love you," or Hosea 2:16, 19, "'In that day,' declares the LORD, 'you will call me "my husband"…I will betroth you to me forever.'" The psalms contain all the stages of romantic love, from courtship to consummation, from adultery to reunion. For all that we vaunt agape, it's good to know that God is crazy in love with us. God adores us, both our virtues and our blemishes. God is so passionately in love with us, that God will do anything in order to be with us. There's nothing God wouldn't dare for us, no sacrifice God wouldn't make for us. Don't we all want to be loved like that? So for our part, do we feel that kind of passion for God? Do we hunger for God's attention? Do we eagerly anticipate spending time with God? Do we take delight in God? What would we do, what sacrifice would we make for God? Thoughts like these make me read the first letter of John a bit differently: "Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." (I Jn. 4:11) Maybe there's something to be said for romantic love after all. February, 2009 To read more of Rita's earlier reflections, please click on the following link: ARCHIVE of Reverend Rita's Reflections (before 2009) If you have comments or questions, please contact Reverend Rita Wilbur by phone (210-403-9084) or by E-mail (sopucc@sbcglobal.net). |
