Last week I set the stage for a four-part series on the Episcopal Church and what it means to be called an Episcopalian. This is the second installment in that series.
The statement that I just read could have been written in the 16th century when our church was formed. Instead it was written by Saint Paul to the new church in Corinth. They too were in transition—transition to becoming a Christian community.
Some might say that our church was born out of wedlock. The Roman Catholic Church say that we excommunicated ourselves thanks to the whims of King Henry VIII.
It could be argued that we have never left the catholic church, but could be considered as protesting catholics. That is after all, where the word “protestant” comes from. And the word “catholic” means universal.
We are proud to be protesting catholics because we hold to a faith that is broad and yearns to be universal.
Our opening collects or prayers often speak of our desire that Jesus’ love and salvation reach to the ends of the earth. To that extent, we are catholics.
The Episcopal Church is a descendant of the Church of England. Reminders of our English heritage are all around us.
St. Thomas’ church edifice was designed by an Englishman named Henry Dudley. He was part of a movement that brought the revival of gothic architecture and worship to this country in the 19th century. Most Episcopal churches are dripping in Englishness, from our walls and windows to our worship and music.
But our heritage is even broader than that. And that broadness is apparent in the birth of the Church of England.
Contrary to popular belief, the church was not formed solely because Henry was angry with the Roman church over a divorce that he wanted.
Even before Henry came along, there had been a lot of strife between the English and their continental religious overlords. Henry’s marriages simply allowed the government to act on something that probably would have happened eventually.
In the early 1500’s, King Henry VIII and Parliament said they no longer wanted the Pope ruling England’s churches—or taking its money.
Know that the newly formed Church of England didn’t change its worship or theology. But, as the Protestants on the European continent gained power, the English church came under increasing pressure to change what it believed.
A succession of monarchs in England caused the new church to move either toward the Roman Catholic side of the spectrum or the Protestant side and during both Edward VI’s and Mary Tudor’s reigns hundreds of people were killed in the name of religion.
When Elizabeth I took the throne, England was a mess. She knew that she had to find a compromise, a middle way. Elizabeth saw to it that much of traditional Roman Catholic faith and practice stuck around. She sympathized with Protestants by making sure that English language Bibles were available in parishes. This was radical for the times and represents the new church’s belief that interpretation of scripture was not to be the domain of a few, but available to all.
While she made church membership mandatory, she also gave lots of latitude to individual conscience. She told Parliament, “The Church shall not build windows into men’s souls.”
I am fond of pointing out that our eucharistic prayer contains the quintessence of the types of compromises that she fostered. If you look on page 362, you’ll see where I say the words “This is my body, which is given for you.” which is a bow to the Roman Catholic understanding of the real presence of Christ in the bread and the wine. Right next door are the words “Do this for the remembrance of me.”
Now while these are words right out of the Gospel of Matthew, they were inserted to please the Protestants who viewed communion as purely symbolic, a memorial of that famous meal.
It is that showing of respect for the beliefs of others that has put us in the forefront of reconciliation efforts of all types. We Episcopalians are not prone to either/or but both/and. While some people say we’re indecisive and lukewarm, our inclusiveness and acceptance is something we really value.
Most of us see compromise and negotiation as a way to practice Christian charity. We also see it as vital to the work of advancing the Gospel.
How many of us have learned that the truth is rarely lying at the extremes, but is usually found somewhere in the middle. And that is who we are, not Roman Catholic nor Protestant, but Anglican.
We stand apart from our Christian sisters and brothers in believing and living out the belief that we do not own the altar. Christ’s altar is intended for everybody. No matter what our differences, we shall always come together around one altar.
A bishop once said, “We don’t gather around the Communion Table to escape the world’s problems, but to escape the world’s answers.” (Bishop Arthur Vogel)
Our church does not have much in the way of doctrine. Doctrine is the codified theology of a church and we prefer that we remain open to a living Spirit that will guide us as needed. I mentioned last week that we believe that all things need to be seen through the three lenses of scripture, reason and tradition.
And if we are known for nothing more, it would be that we take our worship very seriously. Every Sunday is Thanksgiving Sunday. We always use the best dishes, the best silver, the best linens, the best of everything! Our reverence for beauty is an expression of our gratitude for God.
Our worship is communal! At the end of a service where the bishop was the celebrant, an annoyed parishioner remarked that she didn’t like that last hymn. The bishop replied, “That’s OK, we didn’t pick it for you.”
And perhaps this is where we part company so sharply with our secular culture.
I am part of the Me-generation and thanks to my generation, our society is rife with narcissistic tendencies. There are a lot of churches that promote this and many have grown quite large. It’s all about Jesus and me?
But here, it’s not about you. It’s about us, the people of God. And from there, we realize that it’s all about God.
And we Episcopalians use all the senses in this quest to be with God and be found by God. We need to connect, spiritually, but especially physically. And that is why we get up and come up for communion. We bow and kneel, and stand and sit—a lot!
One Christmas Eve, I went to the Presbyterian Church with my mother. The service was pleasant enough, but when I left, I felt as though I hadn’t been to church! There was no communion, no parading around, no Episcopal calisthenics!
In our lessons this morning, we can see that our calisthenics, our choreography goes back a long way. Often when I lift the gospel book up high before reading from it, I think of Charlton Heston and the Ten Commandments.
Our worship is more Jewish that many of you know. If you were to go to a worship service in a synagogue, you would hear readings from the Bible just as we do. This is a rehearsing of our story.
But Jesus changed everything and nothing has been the same, just as those disciples were changed forever after seeing Jesus transfigured on that mountain top.
Just like in Jesus’ day, a sacred meal was shared in conjunction with religious rites. However, Jesus gave whole new meaning to both the bread and the wine.
And we continue to be shaped by our worship. Saying the same words over and over until we internalize them, helps our faith sink in…deep.
Lucky for us though, we can encounter God without our faces glowing! Although, I must say, our evangelistic efforts would be so much easier for us if we did glow in public. [sung-said] “Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our glow, by our glow; yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our glow.”
And now a few words about today’s Bible readings.
It is absolutely critical to remember that everyone in our scripture readings today is a Jew and everyone reading (or hearing) this passage back then was a Jew. It would have been so obvious for them that the Transfiguration of Jesus was a recalling of the Moses-on-the-mountain symbolism.
It was the custom in those days to seek the highest hill on which to pray. Praying on a high place was more efficient because it was closer to God. The Temple in Jerusalem was built on the highest hill.
Just like Moses and Elijah–the Bible’s number one and number two prophets, Jesus has had his mountaintop experiences. While on this mountaintop, the two prophets confer with Jesus on his impending exodus experience. Do you suppose they were reassuring him that the story will have a happy ending? After this point, Jesus turns toward Jerusalem and his ultimate exodus through a very harsh desert, crucifixion, and eventual resurrection on the other side of the mountain.
Before we have a chance to find out, one of those symbolic clouds rolls in and interrupts the disciples, just about the time they are considering boxing in their experience with booths for each of the transfigured beings.
How typically human to want to hang on to a mountain-top experience. But…God has other things in mind and that smoke-like cloud takes over.
By placing Jesus between the law and the prophets, his spiritual lineage is validated. Then, by leaving Jesus standing alone, after the cloud rolls away, I believe Jesus’ solitary power, his solitary authority is emphasized. To take this idea home, God once again utters that this is his son, the chosen one. God also commands that we “listen to him.”
Unlike at the baptism of Christ, this time the disciples actually hear the words of God and make no mistake, in that moment, Jesus wasn’t the only one who was transfigured.
Despite this the Disciples manage to keep this amazing scenario quiet and they ponder it in their hearts for another day–a day when it will all make sense to them.
While the scene of the Transfiguration hearkens back to Moses, you’ll notice that there isn’t any reference to a veil. Jesus isn’t wearing any kind of headgear. At least it’s not specifically mentioned as in the scripture reading from Exodus. His face does change and we are to assume that it becomes dazzling like his clothes.
But there’s no veil on Jesus. No need of a veil.
In our reading from Paul’s second letter to the church in Corinth, Paul makes a very big deal of this veil business.
Paul is never a man to mince words. Here he is telling us that there is no need for veils in the new church being formed. Veils are only for those old followers of Moses. And for a moment, Paul gets downright self-righteous about not being one of “those people” who still need their veils in order to read their scripture. He says, “Do you believe this?! To this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds.”
IF you substitute “blinders” for the word veil, then you get the real meaning of Paul’s jab at the followers of the law. Those stuck on only interpreting the world through rules and regulations, as set down in the Old Testament, the Law, are not seeing the whole world, but only part of it, because of the blinders they are wearing.
Paul goes on… “But when one turns to the Lord, the veil (the blinders) is removed. …where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”
And a little bit farther… “And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.”
I submit to you that Paul is an Episcopalian! More succinctly, Paul is modeling for us a theology that is at the heart of Anglicanism!
In this passage, it seems to me that Paul is saying that those Moses people, the people of the veil (or blinders) are relying strictly on their laws.
Paul says that Jesus came to abolish not the law, but the veil–the blinders. Jesus has given that all important peripheral vision that we all need to successfully navigate this complex world.
It’s a though Jesus has come into the world to rip the veils off of everyone’s face. He’s boldly proclaiming…take those blinders off…look around you and see God reflected in each other!
What do you see? You see ME!
My glory is YOU and little by little, degree of glory by degree of glory…you are becoming ME!
And, with that pep talk of all pep talks, we are emboldened to, as Paul says, “engage in this ministry. We do not lose heart. We have renounced the shameful things that one hides (off with those blinders); we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God’s word (we will not engage in proof-texting of scripture and we will not beat anyone over their head with our Bible!).
And… Paul concludes that “by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God.”
That means that we should always weigh any reading of scripture, any statement of faith, against our common experience of tradition and reason. And, we will value the ‘conscience of everyone…in the sight of God.” That is core of our identity as Anglicans.
These are both glorious statements of our faith and powerful words to reflect upon, especially in light of the current turmoil within our church.
It is perhaps particularly appropriate also to ponder these words as we stand on the cusp of the season of Lent.
As we approach the beginning of the Lenten season, a season of introspection, perhaps one of the following questions might be appropriate for your own Lenten journey:
- Are there issues or concerns that I have that might require some blinder removal?
- Am I just hoping for mountaintop experiences or am I adequately living into the valleys in my life?
- What parts of my life am I trying to hide from the Lord with smoke or mirrors?
- Is my prayer life vital, or, like those disciples on the mountain, am I too prone to sleeping through moments that could be time for prayer?
- Am I expecting a total make-over, a complete transfiguration, when it would be better to anticipate and appreciate the more modest degrees of glory in my journey?
If the word “Epiphany” means “showing forth,” and the word “Lent” comes from the word for lengthen, then during this Lenten season, how will you purpose to notice that you really are being transformed by the Spirit, day by day, act by act, degree by degree?
How will you let your face show forth the glory of God in Jesus Christ?
This little face of mine, I’m gonna let it shine. Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
Amen!
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