Open Communion

aka, Communion for those not baptized.

After our brief discussion on Sunday, I thought I would point to excellent articles on this subject (pdf format):

The opening of the eucharistic table to the unbaptized is a practice inspired by the radical hospitality of Jesus. Too often, however, the practice of open communion is adopted casually, without the systematic theological reflection called for by something so central to ecclesial identity and mission. Among the issues the practice raises are (1) its reliance on the claim that Jesus would not have shared a ritual meal with his disciples alone, (2) its departure from the paschal ecclesiology at the heart of contemporary liturgical renewal, which links baptism and eucharist to a post-Constantinian understanding of mission, (3) its failure both to appreciate the pastoral value of longing, and to avoid a modernist commitment to the immediate gratification of individual desire, (4) its naive assumption that boundaries are necessarily inhospitable, and (5) its taking the place of genuine evangelism and public ecclesial witness. This first essay, while not an exhaustive argument against open communion, addresses these critical issues.

Baptism, Eucharist, and the Hospitality of Jesus: On the Practice of “Open Communion” by James Farwell

This second essay engages in an extended dialogue with James Farwell's essay,  rebutting many of his arguments against open communion and suggesting a number of theological considerations that might lend support to the practice of inviting unbaptized persons to take communion. The logic of the relationship between baptism and eucharist is discussed in light of the reference of both to the kingdom, and tied to the various forms of Jesus' meal ministry in the gospels. The essay also speculates about what in the present context of Episcopal church life might be driving the trend toward open communion. Finally, there is a review of factors to be taken into account in deciding whether the consequences of open communion for Christian life are acceptable.

In Praise of Open Communion: A Rejoinder to James Farwell by Kathryn Tanner


Here is an essay by one community that practices "open communion" and the rationale behind it.


Come to the Table: a reflection on the practice of open communion at saint benedict’s table by Jamie Howison

an article by Rick Fabian on "First The Table, Then The Font" that also gives a rationale for such open communion.

and a blog post by Tobias Haller on "communion before baptism" in which he argues against such open communion and the devaluing of baptism.

Do you tithe?

Insightful analysis is here:

To Tithe or Not to Tithe ... (NY Times)

(Oh, and I think you should!)

Oscar Romero Poem/Prayer

A Future Not Our Own

It helps now and then to step back and take a long view.
The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of
saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith. No confession
brings perfection, no pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the Church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives include everything.

This is what we are about. We plant the seeds that one
day will grow. We water the seeds already planted
knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects
far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of
liberation in realizing this.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning,
a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord's
grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the
difference between the master builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders, ministers, not
messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own.

Final Prayer on Sunday

This was the final prayer used at our Annual Meeting:

O GOD of all the ages, the God of our fathers and mothers, we thank you for the heritage and witness of all who have gone before us in this parish of St. Peter’s.  Keep us, we pray, faithful to their vision, and eager for the promises of your call to service in our time.  In the swift and uncertain changes of life today, let us not draw back into contentment with things that have been, for fear of things that may be. Reveal to us in the face of all people the image of our Savior Christ, that by the guidance of your Spirit, we may help them to grow with us into the full measure and maturity of his humanity, in truth, in freedom, and in peace; Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

(Adapted from a prayer by the Rev. Massey Shepherd (1978))

210th Annual Parish Meeting

To find the Rector's Address and the Reports, you can find them here:

http://www.stpetersonthegreen.com/id6.html

January 22 Sermon

A long time parishioner and a newcomer were discussing the new priest at coffee hour just after his first sermon.

"Oh, thank God the last one is gone!" the veteran parishioner went on. "He always preached that if we didn't mend our ways and reform our lives we would all go straight to hell."

"But isn't that just what the new reverend said today?" the newcomer observed.

"Yes but our old pastor seemed happy about it."

Jonah would have been happy if the Ninevites were going to hell. He hated them.

The Ninevites, a neighbour to the north, were an enemy of Israel. God was looking for a prophet to send to them to have them repent of their evil ways.

God called Jonah. Twice! When God first sent him to the Ninevites, Jonah ran the other way as fast as he could go.

Eventually a big fish brought Jonah back and as we heard this morning, God called Jonah a second time and sent him to the Ninevites. He proclaimed what God asked of him and the people of Nineveh listened.

God did not destroy them because they repented of their evil ways. Jonah, though, was angry. He knew God might forgive. And now the hated Ninevites were saved.

God said to Jonah the reluctant prophet, "can’t I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than one hundred twenty thousand people who can’t tell their right hand from their left, and also many animals?" (Jonah 4:11 CEB)

Jonah could only see the hated enemy, but God saw his creation, a people who have erred and strayed like lost sheep.

And yet God called Jonah anyway…

Jesus called his first disciples... Nathaniel who doubted anything good came from Nazareth, and this week, the fisherman, Simon and Andrew, James and John. He called them to fish for people. He called the doubters, he called the zealots, and…

It is Jesus who calls each of us even in the rush of our lives today he calls us to come follow him.

And how we follow could be as simple as how we love, and a mom learns about the power of a mother’s kiss:

“My youngest daughter always had me kissing her boo-boos. I did it because, as every mother knows, it makes it feel better. What I never understood was the thought process behind the action.

"One day my daughter asked me to kiss her boo-boo when I was pressed for time, so I hurriedly obliged. She cried, telling me it wasn’t any good because my kiss didn’t have any love in it. I realized that kissing boo-boos was really about loving the pain away.

“This simple truth, along with the value of mindfulness my daughter taught me, has encouraged me to slow down, to become more aware and present in the moment. Slowing down is a conscious decision to live at a gentler pace and to make the most of the time I have.

“When my own mother passed away, I did not forget the love she gave me; it will live on in my heart forever. She gave me life, but beyond that, she gave me love . . .

“With that errant kiss, I realized it was my responsibility as a mother to watch over my child’s spiritual growth . . . By simply showing my child kindness through listening, I believe I have satisfied my child’s earliest spiritual needs. By being genuine — that is, personally connected and physically present — I have satisfied my child’s developing spirit.” [Mary Ann Rollano, writing in Spirituality & Health, November/December 2005.]

It is Jesus who entrusts to each one of us — whether we are a fisherman or a mom or even reluctant like Jonah — the work of discipleship: to extend, in whatever our circumstances, the love of God to all; to proclaim, in our own homes and communities, the compassion, the forgiveness, the love that is bound in the life of Jesus.

As God is present to us in the person of Jesus, we are called to be present to one another in our love and care. To be the “fishers” that Christ calls us to become and to “cast the net” of God’s love that we have experienced upon the waters of our time and place, to reach out and grasp the hand of those who struggle and stumble, to “love” away the hurt and pain and fear in ourselves and others.

Jesus calls you and me, today, to come follow him, will you answer or will you run the other way? Amen.

January 15 Sermon

All things are lawful for me, but not all things are beneficial. Is how our second reading puts it this morning (NRSV). I have the freedom to do anything, but not everything is helpful. Is how another translation puts that same line (CEB).

St. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians, was reminding his flock in Corinth that just because they could do something, doesn’t mean they should. Not everything benefits us. Not everything is helpful or good.

He was particularly concerned about those who gave their bodies away to sexual immorality, which seemed to be an issue for the Corinthians, as it is for our society today!

Many in the Corinthian Church struggled with how to live, earlier in the letter Paul tells the wealthier members of the congregation have to treat the poorer members with more respect. Paul reminds them that to honor God, it all begins with the understanding that their body, not only the gathered body of the faithful, but each of them is a temple of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit is in each of them.

The Holy Spirit that descended upon Jesus like a dove at his baptism is the same Spirit who was in the Corinthians and who we each were given at our baptism. We were sealed by the Spirit and Paul appeals to this understanding in how we treat and use our bodies.

It would not take a great leap to go from the sin of Paul’s day to the indulgent appetites of today in our culture. We are bombarded with images from TV to the internet and beyond that tell us to crave sex, food, wealth, the latest and greatest gadgets… and our lives are so busy, we don’t take the time to treat ourselves right – to eat the right food, to exercise properly, no matter what our age, to quit those bad habits like smoking that make our lives shorter.

“Don’t you know, St. Paul asks, that you have the Holy Spirit from God, and you don’t belong to yourselves?”

Our ethics lies in how we treat our body because Paul reminds us, it is connected with who we are, with everything about ourselves.

But even more than that, St. Paul was trying to get those in Corinth and those in our day, to see beyond our individual selves, to see beyond the cravings and lusts we have, and to remember that God is in each of us, the God who knows us each by name, the ground of our being, and that we no longer live for ourselves alone, but for Jesus who died for us so that we would truly live.

What might this look like today? An incident observed and reported in The New York Times' "Metropolitan Diary" [July 12, 2010] comes to my mind:

On a rainy afternoon, a woman finished lunch at the cafe at the Museum of Modern Art. She then gathers up her oversize pocketbook and large bag of gifts she has purchased in the museum shop and then steps onto the escalator to the museum lobby. As she steps off and onto the hardwood floor, the heel of her boot hits a damp spot and she slides forward. She loses her balance and falls flat on her face in front of a tour group, her packages and pocketbook scattered all over the lobby - a lobby packed with people waiting out the storm.

A man in his mid-20s rushes over and helps the woman to her feet.

"OK?" he asks, and then, quietly, "But you're embarrassed, aren't you?" He smiles, winks - and suddenly he falls to the floor. He fakes a tumble that closely resembles the woman's genuine fall.

His fall diverts the attention of onlookers from her clumsiness. "Boy, that floor is slippery - someone should mop it up before someone gets hurt," someone in the crowd says.

The young man scrambles to his feet. He makes sure the woman is OK. And she is - thanks to the sensitivity and creativity of a kind stranger, both her balance and dignity are restored as she retreats unnoticed into a nearby gallery.

It was a simple act of kindness from a stranger, but it truly mirrors the love of God in how he used his body to help another!

Consider that God became one of us in Jesus, taking on our humanity in all its messiness, clumsiness, embarrassments and disappointments and he showed us how to deal with it all with generosity, compassion and grace. St. Paul tells us to follow Jesus and honor God with our body, to turn our attention away from ourselves, but to what God has given to us to use for others.

And on this MLK, Jr. weekend, to put it in the words of MLK, Jr. “The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?" But... the good Samaritan reversed the question: "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?"

I have the freedom to do anything I want, but not everything is helpful to me or to this world. So what will you do with God’s spirit today? Amen.