Palm Sunday

 
St Clement's Church, Philadelphia

by Fr Robert Hart

We enter into drama of the Gospel this week. No more powerful expression of the feeling of this week has ever been produced than the opening chorus of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. The very sound of it evokes deep emotion, as music paints a picture of something beyond suffering. It is the willingness of love to embrace suffering, to own it, and in so doing to give the great gift of charity. It is our sorrow at Christ’s pain and death, but a sorrow of gratitude producing in us the love we could not have without His sorrow, His gift to us.

The heart of the drama, as Bach put it into music, as Grunewold painted it, as countless poets have hymned it, and now as Mel Gibson has put it on the screen, is not the drama of a tragic figure whose life is wrongly taken in a Kafkaesque trial, a mockery of justice. It is the drama of the One Who loved us unto death, and gave that life which no man could take from Him.

This strikes us in our hearts and moves us to love Him, and it awakens our consciences from their slumber. Not because we feel guilty, though it is popular to say that our sins crucified Him. But in truth, our sins had no power over Him. In answer to the question, "Why did He have to suffer and die?" we answer that He had to have done nothing. Indeed, He owed us nothing. He did not die because He had to, or because we made Him do so. Pilate had no power over Him, the priests and Sanhedrin had no power over Him, the soldiers of Rome who beat, mocked and crucified Him, had no power over Him.

Hear the words Christ had spoken a while before ascending to Jerusalem:
"Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life that I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of My Father (John 10: 17, 18)."

Remember, as we will read on Friday the Gospel of John, that when they came to arrest Him, they all fell backward, and could not stand up until He spoke again and allowed them to do so. And, as St. Matthew tells us, He spoke these words to Peter:
"Put up thy sword into his place...thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He shall presently give Me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be (Mat. 26: 53, 54)?"

The One Who prayed "Not as I will, but as Thou wilt" and said "greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down His life for His friends" would show greater love than is possible for human strength, as He would die for His friends and His enemies. "God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8)." He set His face as a flint; His face was set toward Jerusalem. No man could make Him go there; no man could send Him to the cross.

So our consciences are stricken, and our hearts afflicted, by something more profound than guilt; we are brought low, and moved, by this true drama, to gratitude, to give thanks with tears, moved to love, all of which restores to us hope, and faith, and charity for all men. Our consciences are cleansed by His death, and made new. They are made active, they stir to holy living. No longer is our life a matter of rules for the sake of rules, laws for the sake of laws. The Law is written on our hearts by the Holy Ghost along with the deepest recognition that we could not give enough thanks to our Redeemer had we a thousand tongues to sing, and that we will never stop giving thanks for eternity, unto ages of ages, or world without end.It is now personal. "We love Him because He first loved us."

We are moved beyond the power of words to tell, not because the cross of Christ makes us guilty in forcing Him to bear our sins; but, rather, because the cross removes our guilt, we are moved to gratitude and to love. It is because He bore our sins in His body on the Tree. "He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bare the sin of the many, and made intercession for the transgressors (Isa. 53: 12)." This was the Divine plan, about which we had no say, in which we had no input. Like life itself, it is the free gift of the Triune God to creatures dependent upon His grace, grace to live, and now grace to be restored to His favor. Think upon the words we have read from that famous passage of St. Paul to the Philippians, that He "was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."

What can that mean if not that the death of the cross was the Divine plan? This is a profound mystery. We can understand the principle that the death of the One Who was without sin, Who never deserved the wages of sin, reverses death and brings eternal life. That His death is, therefore, the sacrifice offered to God by the Righteous One of Himself for all sinners is plain enough as a theological principle, and is itself demonstration of the love of God for the fallen children of Adam. But, the death of the cross, the death of severe pain and humiliation, involving the worst physical suffering man can feel, coupled with all of the shame and torment of cruel mocking and scourging. Why was this the Divine plan? What does each stripe mean? What means the piercing of thorns and nails, the contempt and anger, the beating over the head with a reed? Why the derision of heartless enemies added to the pain of crucifixion? What is all of this about?

Perhaps the answer is that what He bore on the tree was, as is written in the Epistle to the Hebrews, our own sins in His body. We are proud, are we not, of our minds? Can we not out think all creatures on earth? But, how does God view the vain and selfish use of our minds? He crowns our proud intellects with thorns. We are proud, are we not, of the work of our hands? Have we not made things greater than the Tower of Babel itself? But, what thinks the righteous God of the selfishness with which we labor? Our hands deserve only the piercing of nails. We are proud, are we not, of how we walk before God and men? We know we are not like other men, and are just humble enough to render proud thanks as we pray thus to ourselves, "God, I thank thee." But, in the eyes of God our own standard of righteousness tends to self flattery. What says He of our walk, but that nails should be driven through our feet?

But, I think I only scratch the surface of this mystery. Certainly, nothing that happened to the Son of God was an accident. He allowed it all, so it all has meaning, and the mystery is more profound than I can say, of what it means that "He bore our own sins in His body on the tree." The cross shows us the Divine sentence upon our sins, and yet, remember, that we had no power to crucify Him.

On this Palm Sunday, let us look at the determination with which He fulfilled His mission. Nothing could keep Him from the purpose for which He came as a Man, and took upon Himself our nature. In the movie The Passion of the Christ, the "bad" thief, the one who does not fear God even while dying, is filled with anger at the sight of the Lord embracing His cross. "Fool!" he yells, "Why do you embrace your cross?!" He entered Jerusalem, unmoved by the praise of the crowds, for He had not come to be their King, not yet. He had come to be priest and sacrifice. The great drama of this coming week, the drama Bach expressed so powerfully through music, the drama we feel this day, and which will break our hearts on Thursday night and Friday, is the drama of His love, which produces our love, our thanks; and that afflicts our hearts with both pain and comfort at once. We, though undeserving, are loved.
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Jesus Walked on ... Ice?

I really shouldn't be breaking my Lenten silence, but this was just too much.

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/04/04/jesus.science.reut/index.html

This is so lame, I am almost inclined to think it is a joke.

Any child who reads the account in John(6.1-22) will see right through Nof's hypothesis, beginning with Verse 3.


Comments?

St Skip

Fr Robert Hart On True Humility

In 1976, when I was eighteen and voting for the first time, a friend of mine the same age told me to vote for Jerry Brown because “if he is President, he won’t live in the White House. He’ll just be a regular guy.” That seemed wrong to me then, and at my current age I see that it is because Mr. Brown was letting his own self-importance diminish the dignity of the office he sought.

Oh yes, his seemed like down-to-earth, “regular guy” humility. But it was a statement of egotism beyond simple pride or vanity. Mr. Brown was making himself more important than the office of President of the United States, to the point where he would change the customs and traditions of the American people. Not respecting the people or honoring those who had served before him, he would belittle the office itself.

How much worse is it, then, when one is speaking of a higher and nobler office than the Presidency? Yet a kind of priest exists who does this very thing. “You don’t have to call me Father. All my friends call me Skip.” This is said with the characteristic humility of which he is characteristically proud.

A Regular Guy

Yes, he is just a regular guy and is always very quick to say so. It was this sort who once inflicted clown Masses on innocent people. It is terrible conceit to pretend that one is being very lowly by putting down his office rather than by humbling himself. In sermons and conversations he will remind everyone just how much he really is only a regular guy. He will downplay the significance of theological education and of ordination.

He lets them know that the office he holds does not make him all that special -- the office, that is. His “humility” extends to reminding the people that he is not any smarter or holier than they are, whether they need such reminding or not. By this he means, by all that can be observed of his actions, that he has no special calling or authority by virtue of ordination to the sacred ministry.

Perhaps this seems at first glance like the real article, genuine humility, so much so that in the minds of some people, he deserves canonization for it. To them he is St Skip, and they will not hear a bad word about him.

There can be no genuine “in your face” humility, because true humility requires that one take the attitude of a servant. We cannot help but think of the great Christological passage in St. Paul’s Epistle to the Philippians, and that he began the passage with the words, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” The humility of a servant, in the Christian mind, is not self-centered and abrasive, but obedient to the Father’s will; and it includes the death of the cross.

On the other hand, the conceited version of “humility” is a challenge, by which a man hopes to assert himself in a contest of who can be the greatest at being the least. And in true 1960s style, anyone who can win that contest will have succeeded in toppling the powers that be, redesigning the social order, and becoming great at being insignificant.

So we must ask just what St. Skip is really doing by humbling the ministry and thereby exalting himself. What he is doing is promoting egalitarianism and diminishing Christ. He reverses John the Baptist’s statement and says (by his actions and sometimes in his words), “He must decrease, and I must increase. I’m the one in touch with the feelings and needs of today.”

Earthen Vessels

He does not believe the church’s teaching—throughout all of its ages -- that the ministry is not a human institution but a divine one. The gifts given in ordination do not come from the men who ordain but from the Holy Spirit working through them. The ordained ministry is (in Catholic terms) an icon of Jesus Christ himself, a living sacrament. No wonder St. Paul asks, “And who is sufficient for such a task?” He also says, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.”

Indeed, the apostle was a truly humble man. He never imagined that he himself was anything but a servant, and in that mind he was able to speak of the exalted office and the glorious gifts God had given to him. In that mind he could surrender to the death of martyrdom, entrusting the Church to God. He never diminished his apostolic office or spoke of it with less than great respect, for he never confused that office and its gifts with himself, the “chief of sinners.”

But our buddy St. Skip is of a different mind altogether. He wants to teach old stick-in-the-mud traditionalists a lesson. Our priorities are wrong and centered on having power. Is it any wonder that we oppress women and homosexuals? That we cannot change with the times? It is obvious, is it not, that we are guarding our position and privilege quite jealously.

But not him. He doesn’t want power. He doesn’t want to tell other people what to do. He is the one giving everybody a break. He is allowed to change all the rules himself and tear down every tradition that stands in the way of progress. He has the right to challenge God’s commandments and reject any of the church’s teachings that make people feel oppressed and unaffirmed. He can disregard the Bible and the ecumenical councils, spurn canon law, and despise the plain meaning of the Creeds if he feels he needs to for “pastoral” reasons.

He is a very, very “humble” man who wants no power for himself -- except that of completely rewriting the Christian Tradition. No pope ever claimed such power, but of course the popes were all guarding the position and privilege. St. Skip’s brand of “humility” gives him the right to hold ultimate power, even over God. It is only out of “humility” that he relaxes the laws and commandments when his pastoral wisdom gives him sufficient cause to be soft and flexible, for he is too “humble” to speak and act dogmatically, in a firm and authoritative manner. He that humbleth the ministry exalteth himself.


If He Were Humble

If he were truly humble, he would not reject the dignity of the priestly office, for he would know that it is not about him, but about Christ. He would be glad when people called him Father, for it is God they are honoring by “saluting the uniform” he is so unworthy to wear.

He would know that people, when entering a church, are saying, in effect, “Sirs, we would see Jesus,” and would stop saying, “Look at me,” through his immoderately extroverted behavior. He would faithfully preach the message of Christ, handed down by the Church over her generations, instead of a message of his own, no matter how much more popular and in line with the current trends his own message may be.

He would celebrate the sacraments and preach the Word by subsuming his own personality into the larger world of Christ and his ministry, and without theatrical interpretation. If he were humble, the ministry would retain its full majesty, against which he himself is ever inadequate, and into which he is willing to disappear that Christ may appear to all.


Originally published in Touchstone, a Journal of Mere Christianity.

http://touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=16-03-019-v

Lenten Quiet

I am emotionally, physically and spiritually tired, so have decided to do what I should have done several weeks ago and begin to observe Lent in a proper way.

I shan't be posting anymore until after Easter. Here in Cyprus, interestingly, the Roman Catholic Church follows the Orthdox dates for Easter as a courtesy to its faithful, whose holidays are regulated by the Greek calendar. So that will make it April 23 this year.

Hopefully I shall be more focused an active when I return.

A fruitful Lent and Blessed Easter to all of you.

Kalo Pascha

юрóдивый

 

From today, I propose that all Christians proclaim themselves to be God's fools in solidarity with our Afghan brother, Abdul Rahman, who is charged with apostasy from Islam and threatened with death.

CNN carried a piece this morning, quoting former Supreme Court judge Waheed Mudja, who said President Karzai "has two choices: he has to either choose Afghanistan or the international community.

"Karzai, as the leader of an Islamic country, is not authorised to change the Sharia ... The only way out of it is to prove the man is mad or will come back
to Islam."

So Abdul Rahman, who has chosen Christ as his Lord and Saviour, could be adjudged to be mad as a result.


Wikipedia tells us that the "yurodivy (юродивый) is the Russian version of the holy fool. The role can be traced at least as far back as the medieval period.

"The yurodivy is traditionally an eccentric figure who is outside conventional society. The madness of the yurodivy is ambiguous, and can be real or simulated. He (or she) is believed to be divinely inspired, and is therefore able to say truths which others cannot, normally in the form of indirect allusions or parables. He had a particular status in regard to the Tsars, as a figure not subject to earthly control or judgment.

"The Russian Orthodox Church numbers 36 yurodivys among its saints, most prominently Saint Basil. Originally an apprentice shoemaker in Moscow, he adopted an eccentric lifestyle of shoplifting and giving to the poor. He went naked and weighed himself down with chains. He rebuked Ivan the Terrible for not paying attention in church. He is buried in St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow, which was commissioned by Ivan and is named after the saint.


1 Cor 1:18-25

For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

Where [is] the wise? where [is] the scribe? where [is] the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:

But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness;

But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

1 Cor 3: 18-19

Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. 

Dear Mr Ambassador

The following is a copy of a letter that I wrote to the Afghan ambassador in the United States urging the release of Abdul Rahman. I would urge each of you to write to the Afghan representative in your country and do the same.


Dear Ambassador Farhadi,

I am an American citizen living in Cyprus, who is writing to you with regards to the charges of apostasy against Mr. Abdul Rahman.

I would respectfully request that you forward to President Karzai my request that all charges against Mr. Rahman be dropped and that he be freed to live his life as he chooses.

In doing so, I cite the constitution of Afghanistan, which states, in part:

Article Seven
Ch. 1, Art. 7
The state shall abide by the UN charter, international treaties, international conventions that Afghanistan has signed, and the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights.

Article 18 of the Universal Declaration states:

"Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance."

Hence, the detention and trial of Mr. Rahman is an offence against his constitutionally guaranteed rights.

Yours respectfully,

Albion Land (Mr)

Abdul Rahman and the Afghan Constitution

For considering the legal issues raised by the Abdul Rahman apostacy trial, I have scanned through the Afghan constitution and found the following items:

A. In its preamble, the constitution refers to "observing the United Nations Charter and respecting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights ..."

In the body of the constitution, the following is found:

Article Two
Ch. 1, Art. 2
The religion of the state of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is the sacred religion of Islam.

Followers of other religions are free to exercise their faith and perform their religious rites within the limits of the provisions of law.

Article Three
Ch. 1, Art. 3
In Afghanistan, no law can be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred
religion of Islam.

Article Seven
Ch. 1, Art. 7
The state shall abide by the UN charter, international treaties, international
conventions that Afghanistan has signed, and the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights.

-------------

A quick review would suggest that there are serious internal inconsistencies in the Afghan constitution. Article 2(2) guarantees freedom of religion for non-Muslims, but that would seem to be revoked by Article 3, as Islam considers apostacy a crime that can be punishable by death.

But then Article 7 would seem to conflict directly with Articles 2 and 3, as it stipulates abiding by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 18 of which states quite bluntly:

"Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance."

A Note from the Late Fr Tarsitano

This was forwarded by Fr Robert Hart


A Note to Some Friends

While I deeply sympathize with the disappointment felt by so many over the Robinson debacle, I'd also like to point out one of the main features of the Anglican Way that often goes unobserved or unrecognized.

At the heart of the Anglican Way is the freedom to say "no" to error, just as long as one is prepared to bear the costs of that freedom. The Archbishop of Canterbury is not a pope, and the primates are neither cardinals nor a legislature. While the support of our brethren in other countries is precious, the fact remains that one can continue to be an Anglican without permission for as long as he has the guts for it. One can't be a Roman catholic without the pope's permission, nor a canonical Orthodox church without the recognition of the other churches of that household. But it is an Anglican witness that makes an Anglican church, with or without anybody else's recognition. After all, the first American bishop was not consecrated by the Church of England, but by Scottish bishops not recognized at that time by the Archbishop of Canterbury, etc.

These observations may represent a new point of view for some of us, but those of us who could not, for example, live with the innovation of the ordination of women faced this problem a long time ago. We continued on as Anglicans, even when expelled from the ECUSA, and there are hundreds of parishes that have come into existence in the process. We had our property taken away from us, mostly for not accepting the ordination of women, sometimes by some of the very same people who are protesting Gene Robinson's blasphemous "consecration."

We said "no," we paid the price, and we are free. We still pay some, too, in the dislocations and sometimes petty controversies involved in starting over. Anyone who has ever moved his family from one house to another has experienced something like the same sorts of tensions in his own household. And we aren't done rebuilding. It's hard to rebuild in a generation what took centuries to build in an era without major doctrinal controversies. But, if the Lord tarries, the beauty of holiness will be raised up again in splendor, and without the burden of impaired, semi-, hemi-, whatever "communion."

This is not an "I told you so," or at least I don't mean it to be. It's just my witness that when my Episcopal parish was sued out of existence I thought at the time it was the worst thing that could ever happen. Almost twenty years of experience since those days has taught me that the only calamities are to lose the faith and to lose the will to say "no" when that is our duty. Call me crazy, but my kids have grown up in the traditional doctrine, discipline, and worship of the Anglican way, and while it is arguable that they've had an odd-ball or two among their bishops, they haven't had a bishop since our expulsion from the Episcopal Church who was a heretic, a feminist or homosexualist ideologue, a supporter of elective abortion, a Gaia worshipper, etc. Despite whatever regrets I may have about this or that, I think this has been a gift and an inheritance to them greater than rubies, and that's a lot to accomplish in one lifetime, especially in the circumstances of this time. The kids aren't bigots, but neither are they over-burdened with doubts about what is right and acceptable before the Lord.

Just say "no" and be free.

The Reverend Dr Louis R Tarsitano died on Jan 15, 2005

Pray for Abdul Rahman

An Afghan man is being tried in a court in Kabul for his conversion from Islam to Christianity.

He could be sentenced to death for the act and his refusal to recant.

The trial of Abdul Rahman reflects the struggle between religious hardliners and reformists over what shape Islam will take in Afghanistan.

Read it all at:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4823874.stm

Where I Wasn't Kidnapped

 

I couldn't resist this one, which is posted outside one of the entrances to the hotel where I stayed in Gaza City. 

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

  

The Door

 

This is the famous door to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the keys to which have been held by the same Muslim family for centuries, because the Franciscans, Greek Orthodox and Armenian Orthodox who grudgingly share the church were always squabbling over who should have control. 

Calvary

 

Under this altar, in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, is the place where tradition holds that Christ was crucified. 

Christ's Tomb

 

No matter how much I edit this photo, it still looks like my image has been cut and pasted onto the background, but I was really there. 

Abu Ezzedine

 


As promised, here is a photo of Abu Ezzedine, the very charming and gracious father of a colleague of mine at AFP, who owns a shop in the souk in the Muslim quarter of Jerusalem's Old City. 

Happy St Patrick's Day

I'll be heading over to Finbarr's tonight for my annual pint of Guinness, and in a gesture of reconciliation may buy Ned Parker and Charlie Onians a pint too.

Hepworth on OW and Communion

The TAC primate, Archbishop John Hepworth, has written about divergence in the Anglican world over the question of ordaining women and its impact on the matter of communion.

Powerful Anglican forces have continued to attack the integrity of those Anglicans who remain opposed to the ordination of women to the Diaconate, Priesthood and Episcopate.

At the same time, an end to the debate (sometimes known as a “period of reception”) has been clearly signalled. Conservative Primates of the Anglican Communion have asserted more strongly than hitherto that the ordination of women is not a matter of faith, and therefore not “Communion-breaking”. Many of the Primates who form the “Global South” ordain women, or allow such ordinations within their Provinces. In several Provinces where the ordination of women has been long established, “conscience clauses” that permitted the survival of dissent have been revoked, and affirmation of the ordination of women is necessary for ordination, even of male candidates.

Read it all at The Messenger:

http://www.themessenger.com.au/news.htm

The Continuum and Real Presence

My good friend Rob Duncan has brought my attention to the following thread over at Spero and asked for my comments. Perhaps you might like to join in as well. I shall respond in due course. Like just about anything with Anglicanism, there is no clear-cut answer. Anglicans run the gamut of seeing the Eucharist as merely a memorial to full transsubstantion. As for myself, I defitely believe in the Real Presence, though probably in a more Lutheran sense. I'll leave you with the famous words attributed to Elizabeth I:

"'Twas GOD the Word that spake it,
He took the Bread and brake it,
And what the Word did make it,
That I believe and take it."

http://www.speroforum.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2951&whichpage=1

Pope Calls for Dialogue with Islam

Remarks by Pope Benedict XVI in an audience with a delegation from the American Jewish Committee provided by the Vatican Information Service.

"The recent celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Declaration of the Second Vatican Council Nostra Aetate has increased our shared desire to know each other better and to develop a dialogue characterised by mutual respect and love. Indeed, Jews and Christians have a rich common patrimony. In many ways this distinguishes our relationship as unique among the religions of the world. The Church can never forget that chosen people with whom God entered into a holy covenant (cf. Nostra Aetate, 4).

"Judaism, Christianity and Islam believe in the one God, Creator of heaven and earth. It follows, therefore, that all three monotheistic religions are called to cooperate with one another for the common good of humanity, serving the cause of justice and peace in the world. This is especially important today when particular attention must be given to teaching respect for God, for religions and their symbols, and for holy sites and places of worship. Religious leaders have a responsibility to work for reconciliation through genuine dialogue and acts of human solidarity.

"Dear friends, I pray that your visit today may confirm you in your endeavours to build bridges of understanding across all barriers. Upon all of you I invoke the divine gifts of strength and comfort."

Heading Home

Sadly, on this my last day in Jerusalem,I will not be able to get to church. I am having to work, as today is like a Monday in Israel, and two of my "anglo" colleagues are off.

I'll be at the keyboard right through till 5:00 o'clock, when I'll head for the airport in Tel Aviv and home to Nicosia, my own bed, my family and Jack the Dalmatian.

It has been a most enjoyable and educational experience, and I look forward to coming back.

Thanks for reading.