Bargaining Doesn't Work Here

I have a good friend who has been trying to convert me to his form of Christianity for 52 years. In his words, he wants me to repent of my sins and welcome Jesus Christ into my heart as my personal Savior.

During the Sacrament of Holy Communion Episcopalians ask forgiveness of their sins and repeat the tenets of faith in the Nicene Creed. Although these are consistent with his faith, that's not good enough for my friend.

To be fair, he is well aware that he and I each have chronic illnesses that will shorten our lives, and he is anxious for me to use his methods for the sake of my immortal soul. (Pascal's Wager comes to mind, i.e., give your all to saving a soul in this world because the reward of salvation is infinite.)

Leo Tolstoy (Zuma/WSJ)

This line of reasoning makes me increasingly uncomfortable, i.e., perform a set of actions in order to get into heaven. Konstantin Levin, the co-protagonist of Tolstoy's “Anna Karenina,” rejects this transactional philosophy. [bold added]

Levin realizes that our fundamental knowledge of right and wrong isn’t derived from theory but is simply “given.” “I and all men have one firm, incontestable knowledge, and that knowledge cannot be explained by reason—it is outside it, and has no causes and can have no effects.”

In saying goodness has no causes, Levin means that why we have come to think certain things are good—say, the way some evolutionary biologists explain altruism as good for group survival—is a different question. What is good is good regardless of why we’re able to think so. By the same token, “effects” are beside the point because to do something good to be rewarded, in this life or the next, would simply be an economic bargain, like saving for retirement.

Do good as much as you can when you can, and expect nothing in return.

For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.----Matthew 16:25

Christian Teacher

Fr. Lehrer prepares for Communion

Today was the Rev. Christian Lehrer's last Sunday as our supply priest.

("Lehrer" means teacher in German, and I doubt that there has ever been a person's name--Christian teacher--more suited to his or her eventual profession.)

During the coffee hour Father Lehrer spent quite a bit of time talking to us about the search for a new Bishop in the Diocese. The field has been winnowed to three candidates and the vote will be taken next month. Our smallish church will have two voting delegates, while larger ones have many more.

Christian was an active member of St. Luke's in San Francisco before he was accepted to seminary. As a lay delegate he participated in past elections. It took only three rounds of voting to select the current Bishop, but the previous incumbent was elected after 19 ballots. IMHO, the previous guy was better; the difficulty in deciding a winner is not necessarily indicative of his excellence or effectiveness.

The ability to upend expectations both positively and negatively has always been a characteristic of human beings, and as humanity enters the age of predictive analytics, genetic determinism, and algorithmic predestination (dare we call it psychohistory?), long may we continue to surprise.

Saturday Celebration

The wardens affirm to the Bishop that the new minister is "well qualified."

The rite had not been conducted for 25 years in the local Episcopal church. Yesterday the new minister was formally installed in the Celebration of a New Ministry. The Bishop was there, of course, as well as a dozen clergy.

With 70 people present, the service hit a post-pandemic attendance record, and on a Saturday no less.

After the service, there was a reception marked by some poignancy because the Bishop will retire next year, and this was likely his last official visit to our parish.

{Prior to the service, it had been arranged that the plate offering would go to the Bishop's Discretionary Fund, but he announced that it would be re-directed to our new Rector's Discretionary Fund. If he had announced that earlier, maybe "you would have given more," he joked.) A small act of grace that should not go unnoticed.

I thanked Bishop Marc and Sheila for their service. The 16 years had passed in the wink of an eye, like an evening gone.

Signs of Life

With the church about 75 percent filled, the services on Easter Sunday were almost back to normal. Almost, because everyone still wore a mask, and for communion they still went single file up to the altar and received the Host spaced six feet apart. After partaking the bread sans wine, they went back to their seat.

In the courtyard there was an Easter Egg hunt. The Sunday Schoolers were joined by families from the pre-school. There were hundreds of eggs, candies, and tchotchkes to be found, and the children scampered about while the grown-ups lunched and drank coffee.

On Resurrection Sunday the church is showing signs of life.

Visitation

One of the principal responsibilities of priests in all Christian denominations is the visitation of the sick. In the Episcopal Church

It may include one or more of the following: ministry of the word, laying on of hands and anointing, and Holy Communion. These parts are used in the order indicated if two or more are used together. The Lord's Prayer is always included.

When she visited Mom at the assisted living facility, the lady minister asked if I wanted to join the Communion service. Sure. During the service the People have formal responses, and Mom needed a backup voice. More importantly we would receive wine, which had been absent from Holy Communion for two years because of COVID protocols. It still is omitted from church services, by the way.

Communion took only twenty minutes, but the lady minister spent two hours chatting with Mom about goings-on in the church and the extended-family members who attend. My maternal grandparents each had over ten siblings, some of whom were church members. There are numerous second cousins whose branch of the family tree is often unclear to me, but Mom loves talking about them, and the minister kept up. When she left, Mom was tired and happy.

Much of the work that priests do is out of the sight of the congregation at large. And it is undoubtedly true that some priests take advantage of the fact that no person is watching when they are out of the office 3-4 days a week. Nevertheless they are accountable to a strict taskmaster.

That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.----Matthew 6:4

Mass at Home

Preparing for communion.

The ministers from the church paid a visit to my parents this week. The ladies didn't wear their collars, but a lifetime of spirituality makes the raiments unnecessary; churchgoers know they have it, just as informed listeners know that a musician is talented after a few measures.

Mom and Dad are going through the changes that are inevitable with aging. Soon they will move from a home they have lived in for over half a century to a place that will provide the help they need.

One of the oldest traditions of Christianity is pastoral care, part of which is bringing communion to the home. Much as it has changed over the millennia, I like to think that Peter and Paul still see something recognizable in the church they founded.

Communion: Does Everyone Get to Go?

The Virgin Mary adoring the Eucharist (WSJ)

The Catholic Church has been roiled by an issue that most Protestants had resolved:

Should Catholics be allowed to share Communion, one of their church’s most sacred rites, with their Protestant spouses?

(Obviously from the Protestant perspective the above designations are flipped.)

There are two principal views of the Eucharist: the banquet ("a welcoming meal, often linking it with Gospel accounts of Jesus’ willingness to eat with outcasts and sinners") versus a sacrament for believers ("the traditional requirement of moral worthiness to receive Communion"). Some conservative Catholics want to screen out those who, for example, advocate abortion or remarriage after divorce, both of which are legal but contrary to official teaching.

The Episcopal Church opted for inclusion decades ago ("All baptized Christians are most welcome to receive Communion with us."), but before Episcopalians go all high-and-mighty over the retrograde Catholics, we have to ask ourselves, are there any circumstances under which we would refuse Communion to anyone? The Episcopal Church defines Excommunication as [bold added]

The disciplinary exclusion of a person from receiving communion by competent religious authority. It represents exclusion from the corporate life of the church. Excommunication was intended to encourage repentance and not meant to be a punishment. The Prayer Book Disciplinary Rubrics for the Holy Eucharist provide that if the priest "knows that a person who is living a notoriously evil life intends to come to Communion," the priest shall tell the person not to come to communion until the person "has given clear proof of repentance and amendment of life."

The key word here is "repentance," and most branches of Christianity would agree: the wayward person would be welcomed back if he or she repents of the "sin" and promises (tries?) not to commit the sin again, whatever it may be. So, my sympathies are with the Catholic Church as it struggles with the lines that its members may not cross; everyone has lines, though they may not want to admit it.

Note: the pre-1970 Episcopal Church would not allow me, who was baptized at one, to take Communion until I was confirmed at the age of 12. Also, tardy worshippers were not to supposed to take Communion if they arrived after the confession--yes, it's all about repentance--midway through the service.

Here's the 1928 General Confession, which I once committed to memory and is rarely used any more (I do like the cadences of the old-timey language):

ALMIGHTY God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Maker of all things, Judge of all men; We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness, Which we, from time to time, most grievously have committed, By thought, word, and deed, Against thy Divine Majesty, Provoking most justly thy wrath and indignation against us. We do earnestly repent, And are heartily sorry for these our misdoings; The remembrance of them is grievous unto us; The burden of them is intolerable. Have mercy upon us, Have mercy upon us, most merciful Father; For thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, Forgive us all that is past; And grant that we may ever hereafter Serve and please thee In newness of life, To the honour and glory of thy Name; Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.