Showing items filed under “April 2018”

Anselm of Canterbury

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Daughters of the King  

Dallas Assembly

Anselm of Canterbury 4/21/2018

Sometimes it feels as if we live in two worlds.  We hear the news, or talk to friends who don’t feel the need for God, then we go to church and listen to the Scripture. How do we put the two together?  Sometimes they feel as if they were close. That neighbor has yearnings for the meaning of it all, or senses there is some higher power. Sometimes it seems as the world pursuing power, the world bounded by death, is the opposite of the world of the bible. Which is it? How do they fit together? 

Anselm of Canterbury was born and lived in the 11th Century, a Frenchman who eventually moved to England, and served as the Archbishop of Canterbury.  He was a great theologian, writing some of the most famous reflections on God’s word in history.  But he was also what we would call an "administrator," running the growing monastery of Bec. In his career he was a priest, thinker, man of prayer, administrator, and politician.  How did he hold all that together?   Along the way he was very interested in relating human thought, on its own, with God’s word - do they clash or do they fit, or both? He served the church in an era in which the king thought that he should have the power to make decisions for the Church. How does the kingdom of this world related to the kingdom of God?  You can see that Anselm was a man who lived in at least two worlds. 

Let me share with you two of his greatest ideas, at least in outline.  Anselm wondered about the idea of God which He has planted in our minds. The very idea of Him is wonderful and mysterious. It raises its own question - is it really so? What kind of animal could think such a thought, and who made such a creature? Anselm called it the thought of "that which nothing greater could be thought?" either you say yes or else it nags at you all your days….God means it so! The earlier theologian Augustine said God made our hearts restless till they rest in Him…Anselm is following in his tracks.  You can see that God made us to struggle between our world and the truth he offers to us - the two worlds are not disconnected, but they are not the same. He doesn’t mean for people to be at peace without Him, but He wants thought to lead on to the challenge of faith!

At this point we need to consider our Gospel passage from Matthew.  There is wisdom of this world, and it is often valuable.  But there is a deeper wisdom which we cannot achieve or control on our own. I am thinking of how C.S. Lewis said that there was a deep magic of the world, we might call it the law of nature, and a deeper magic, a deeper law, of mercy, creation, freedom in service, salvation, eternity. Of God. The deeper one seems simpler, because is a door that has to be entered with the childlike trust we call faith. But when you walk through, you see the everyday world in a truer and deeper way.  It is not as if the eggheads understand everything better, but rather only when you build on the rock of faith can you build a real house of wisdom. It lets you see the real world more really.  So Jesus thanks his Father for revealing the deeper wisdom to the ones he calls ‘babes,’ the trusting, the believers.

Now I want to go on to the second great thought of Anselm for today. We say "Jesus died on the cross." And we acknowledge that as an example of God’s love for us.  But what did it actually do so as to change my situation and to restore my relation to God which was blocked?  Anselm answers this question.  He asks us - would you want a God who just said "whatever" in response to sin? Wouldn’t you want him to be a God for whom justice mattered? Then in the face of wrong there has to be a consequence, a penalty? And since we are in the wrong, only we can pay…but as sinners we can’t.  The only one fit to do so is God….but he has no sin.  But if there were one who could stand up for us, who is the holy God, but also a human, yet without sin, then his sacrifice  would fit the bill.   And we Christians believe there is one such.  This does not prove faith, but it shows it to make good sense, if you start from the relationship of faith.

Love the Lord God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Anselm had to do that given all the different hats he wore. But we are all commanded to do that. We have to think and read about our faith, so we can admire how the two worlds become one as both God’s. but it starts with faith, and it is warmed by prayer and by feeling, and it has to lead to action, to will, to suffering, to perseverance.  As these all come together, as they fit, we slowly come round right. And of this too blessed Anselm is a encouraging example. Amen.  

Hijas del Rey

Asamblea Diócesis de Dallas

Anselmo de Canterbury 21/04/2018

A veces se siente como si viviéramos en dos mundos. Escuchamos las noticias, o hablamos con amigos que no sienten la necesidad de Dios, luego vamos a la iglesia y escuchamos las Escrituras. ¿Cómo ponemos las dos cosas juntas? A veces parece como si estuvieran cerca. Ese vecino tiene anhelos por el significado de todo, o siente que hay un poder superior. A veces parece que el mundo persigue el poder, el mundo limitado por la muerte, es lo opuesto al mundo de la Biblia. ¿Cuál es? ¿Cómo encajan?

Anselmo de Canterbury nació y vivió en el siglo XI, un Francés que eventualmente se mudó a Inglaterra y se desempeñó como Arzobispo de Canterbury. Fue un gran teólogo, escribiendo algunas de las reflexiones más famosas sobre la Palabra de Dios en la historia. Pero también era lo que llamaríamos un 'administrador', dirigiendo el creciente monasterio de Bec. En su carrera fue sacerdote, pensador, hombre de oración, administrador y político. ¿Cómo mantuvo todo eso unido? En el camino, estaba muy interesado en relacionar el pensamiento humano, por sí mismo, con la Palabra de Dios: ¿chocan o encajan, o ambas cosas? Anselmo sirvió a la iglesia en una era en la que el rey pensó que debería tener el poder de tomar decisiones por la Iglesia. ¿Cómo se relaciona el reino de este mundo con el Reino de Dios? Como puede ver Anselmo era un hombre que vivía en al menos dos mundos.

Permítanme compartir con ustedes dos de sus mejores ideas, al menos en líneas generales. Anselmo se preguntó acerca de la idea de Dios que Él plantó en nuestras mentes. La sola idea de ÉL es maravillosa y misteriosa.  Y plantea su propia pregunta: ¿es realmente así? ¿Qué clase de animal podría tener semejante pensamiento, y quién hizo semejante criatura? Anselmo lo llamó la idea de "lo que nada más grande podría ser pensado", o bien usted dice que sí o de lo contrario le molesta todos sus días ... ¡Dios significa esto y más! El teólogo anterior, Agustín, dijo que Dios hizo que nuestros corazones se inquietaran hasta que descansaran en Él ... Anselmo lo sigue en seco. Usted puede ver que Dios nos hace luchar entre nuestro mundo y la verdad que ÉL nos ofrece: los dos mundos no están desconectados, pero no son lo mismo. Él no quiere que las personas estén en paz sin Él, ¡sino que quiere que el pensamiento conduzca al desafío de la fe!      

En este punto, debemos considerar nuestro pasaje del Evangelio de San Mateo. Existe la sabiduría de este mundo, y a menudo es valiosa. Pero hay una sabiduría más profunda que no podemos lograr o controlar por nuestra cuenta. Estoy pensando en lo que dijo CS Lewis que había una magia profunda del mundo, podríamos llamarla la ley de la naturaleza, y una magia más profunda, una ley más profunda, de misericordia, creación, libertad en el servicio, salvación, eternidad. De Dios. El más profundo parece más simple, porque es una puerta que debe ser ingresada con la confianza infantil que llamamos fe. Pero cuando entras, ves el mundo cotidiano de una manera más verdadera y profunda. No es como si los intelectuales entendieran todo mejor, sino que solo cuando construyes sobre la roca de la fe puedes construir una verdadera casa de sabiduría. Te permite ver el mundo real más efectivamente. Así que Jesús agradece a su Padre por revelar la sabiduría más profunda a los que ÉL llama 'niños', los confiados, los creyentes.

Ahora quiero pasar al segundo gran pensamiento de Anselmo para hoy. Decimos que 'Jesús murió en la cruz.' Y lo reconocemos como un ejemplo del amor de Dios por nosotros. Pero, ¿qué hizo realmente para cambiar mi situación y restablecer mi relación con Dios que estaba bloqueada? Anselmo responde esta pregunta. Él nos pregunta: ¿querrías un Dios que dice "lo que sea" en respuesta al pecado? ¿No querrías que fuera un Dios para quien la justicia importaba? Entonces, frente al mal, tiene que haber una consecuencia, ¿una penalización? Y dado que estamos equivocados, solo nosotros podemos pagar ... pero como pecadores no podemos. El único apto para hacerlo es Dios ... pero Dios no tiene pecado. Pero si hubiera alguien que pudiera defendernos, que fuese el Dios santo, y al mismo tiempo también un ser humano, pero sin pecado, entonces su sacrificio sería el adecuado. Y nosotros los cristianos creemos que hay uno. Esto no prueba la fe, pero muestra que tiene sentido, si parte de la relación de fe.

Ama al Señor Dios con todo tu corazón, alma, mente y fuerza. Anselmo tenía que hacer eso teniendo en cuenta todos los diferentes sombreros que llevaba. Pero a todos se nos ordena que hagamos eso. Tenemos que pensar y leer acerca de nuestra fe, para poder admirar cómo los dos mundos se funden en uno ambos en Dios.

Todo comienza con la fe, y se aviva con la oración y el sentimiento, y tiene que conducir a la acción, a la voluntad, al sufrimiento, a la perseverancia. Cuando todos se juntan, a medida que encajan, lentamente damos la vuelta a la derecha. Y de esto el bendito Anselmo es un ejemplo alentador. Amén.

Reading As Performance

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I am just back from our clergy conference, in which we were spiritually refreshed by the preaching of the Rev. Dr. Emma Ineson of Trinity, Bristol, and the teaching of Dr. Joe Mangina of Wycliffe College, Toronto.  The former brings a background in the study of linguistics to her study, and the latter developed the idea of “performance” to his reading of the Gospel of John.  What does such a term say to us?

The main idea comes from the word of the philosophy of language, and in particular a scholar named Austin, who spoke of performative speech acts.  By this he meant speech that changes something in the world.  The vicar says “I now pronounce…,” and the couple are married.  The umpire says “strike three,” and the batter returns sullen to the dugout. 

Mangina’s reflections offered answers to the question:  what does the very act of reading do, not only in how we think, but in who we are?  He suggested that the theme of sacrifice, of the Lamb of God and the Son opening a way to the Father, runs throughout John.  As we hear of Him as sacrifice, we are made into his Temple. Likewise, he spoke of the theme of the Word throughout the book from the very first verse.  The words of Jesus are themselves Word, Scripture, his utterance itself calling his friend Lazarus from the grave.  As we hear of Him as word, we become the hearer he made his creature to be in the beginning. 

Something similar happens when we truly hear preaching:  we become the place where the Spirit does the same work described in the Gospel story.  So Ineson spoke of John’s address to his flock, living as they were between love and truth, trying to see themselves as called to hospitality and sometimes capable of its opposite.  And in hearing her sermon we realize ourselves to be in the very same space as that described by John himself.  We are grateful for both, who opened our eyes to the divinely performative reality found in every election and every sermon in your own parish Sunday by Sunday.

Peace,

+GRS

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Complete the Race (II Timothy 4:17)

At the end of our vacation we find ourselves in Chicago for its Marathon weekend (the fastest, I have read this morning, perhaps because it is cool and relatively level). Marathons offer many good things. You can see world-class athletes from places like Ethiopia and Kenya. There is a feel of fiesta with signs by family members, getups by some for-fun runners, and food for sale.

But as I looked out my hotel window at 7:30 a.m., I watched the race of competitors who have lost legs or their use. Wheeling vehicles by arm for 26 miles means serious fitness and determination.

Those competitors were to me, this morning, a symbol of the Church too. For each is wounded. The larger family cheers them on. Each by grace has risen up to run the race. Ahead is the goal, the prize, the welcome home. We find the companionship of Jesus the Lord, there, and along the route too.

Amen.

GRS