eCrozier #44

On June 16, 2010, in discernment, discipleship, by bishopbenhase

This is the sixth in a series of Ecroziers on the practices of the Christian Faith

Discernment

Discernment is the practice of seeking to identify God’s will and then moving with spiritual openness towards it. I have found the Ignatian approach to discernment quite helpful as a spiritual practice. What follows is a brief summary of that practice. I invite you to use this yourself and share it with others.

First, we seek to clarify the discernment. To do that we need to state the issue as clearly as possible, e.g., I don’t like my current job. The Acme Company has offered me a job in Starbridge. I do not know if I should take it. I do not want to live in Starbridge, but it is a great job offer. Clarify the issue even further, e.g., I don’t know whether to accept the new job in Starbridge or not.”)  Faithful discernment comes as we get clear on what the real issue is.

Second, we begin to pray for the grace of objectivity, what Ignatius called detachment.  We want to be able to say: Thy will not mine be done and mean it.  We want to avoid having a preference for a particular outcome and wanting God to agree with it.  Here we seek openness to the new thing God may be doing.

Third, write the discernment as a choice on a legal pad in two vertical columns: I’ll take the job in Starbridge or I won’t take the job in Starbridge. Over the next few days, write under each column thoughts, feelings, and beliefs that occur to you about the two choices. It might help by asking yourself: What will be gained in choosing one of these?  What will be lost in that choice?  How could each choice benefit others? How could each disrupt the lives of others? What excites you about each? Next, pray over what you have written and then wait without trying to rush to discernment.

Fourth, bring in others in your church whom you trust that they may pray with you. Ask them to share what they discern for you. Then begin to watch for possible signs of God’s response in the people, things, and circumstances of your life.

Fifth, live for a couple of days as though you had made one choice, then live a couple of days as though you had made the other choice. In each instance, prayerfully ask God for confirmation of the choice. As you pray, pay attention to experiences of fluctuating peace and agitation and do not allow any anxiety you experience to force the discernment. Take note if moving toward a particular conclusion brings a sense of peace, consolation, and rightness. This is a strong indicator it is of God.

No process of discernment is perfect, so we must work through such discernment always with less than perfect clarity. The above practice works toward faithfulness even, as St Paul reminds us: “we look through a glass darkly.”

+Scott

 
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eCrozier #42

On June 9, 2010, in discipleship, prayer, by bishopbenhase

This is the fourth in a series of Ecroziers on the practices of the Christian Faith

Prayer

Two-thousand years ago Christ’s disciples gave voice to a request that echoes through the ages and is heard by clergy today more often, perhaps, than any other: “Teach us to pray.” Nothing is more fundamental and yet less understood in the Christian life than the practice of prayer. Simply put, prayer is about being in relationship with God. God created us out of God’s love and so that we might love one another as a response to that love. The Biblical narrative is this love story and it reflects God’s desire is to be in relationship with us. Prayer is our response to God’s loving relationship with us. And like our human loving relationships, prayer takes time, commitment, good communication, and helps us become who God intends we become.

There is no one way to pray, but over the centuries the Church has learned prayer disciplines: keeping a regular, realistic time to pray, preparing ourselves for prayer both internally and externally, and sticking with it. The practice of prayer takes practice. We shouldn’t bounce from one type to another. When we find something that works for us it’s best to stay with it. Any Christian who prays knows that in order for the exercise to become a daily one, s/he has to find a regular time for it and then s/he has to order it into a routine. Variety is the last thing we need. The Church has pursued disciplines like this for centuries. Jesus and his disciples were accustomed to such routines from their Jewish roots. We need a daily time and place to pray. Then we can hear God and see what God has done and is doing in the life of the world. This is basic to the Christian life because we must first hear and see clearly, before we can act faithfully.

We should also acknowledge that learning to pray is no easy matter. It requires much training. It does no one any good to have faith in Jesus, unless they learn to pray as he taught. In other words, we don’t believe in God, then become humble, and then learn to pray. It really occurs the other way around. By learning to pray, we humbly discover that we can’t do anything else other than believe in God. What we do when we pray is to take part in the ongoing life of the Church. We’ll find that our lives become less self-oriented as we move into that life. The promise of prayer is that we’ll discover the freedom to listen to God. The discipline of prayer will gather up our lives and transform them.

When his disciples asked him how to pray, Jesus didn’t answer: “Go off to some place quiet until something spiritual comes to mind.” He didn’t even ask them for their particular feelings about God. Rather, he said, pray this way: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

+Scott

 
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eCrozier #41

On June 4, 2010, in discipleship, sacramental, by bishopbenhase

This is the third in a series of Ecroziers on the practices of the Christian Faith

Eucharistic Living

Our Catechism states (BCP p. 859): “The Holy Eucharist is the sacrament commanded by Christ for the continual remembrance of his life, death, and resurrection, until his coming again.” It is the “Church’s sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving” and it “is the way by which the sacrifice of Christ is made present, and in which he unites us to his one offering of himself.” The Eucharist isn’t a nostalgic look back on Maundy Thursday, but rather it’s making present the redeeming sacrifice of Jesus. The Eucharist provides us with a sacramental center that brings us to the truth of our lives. The bread and the wine are common elements of life made holy by Jesus restoring us in God’s creation. In the Eucharist, God’s future breaks into the present and then that one past, unrepeatable sacrifice catches up with us. The Eucharist shapes our present, common life and this practice strongly points us to the future.

The Eucharistic life is a life in relationship with God in Christ consecrated to others. It is life in the pattern of Jesus, a life represented at the altar, and experienced by all Christians. It is a life of being taken by God, blessed with identity, purpose and destiny; broken in our daily life of repentance; and given in the power of a renewed life as we seek to be instruments of God’s love. As Evelyn Underhill writes: the fully Christian life is a Eucharistic life: that is, a natural life conformed to the pattern of Jesus, given in its wholeness to God, laid on His altar as a sacrifice of love, and consecrated, transformed by His inpouring life, to be used to give life and food to other souls.

We live the Eucharist in our lives by taking our experience of being blessed, loved, forgiven, and fed and living out such practices. We are called to this individually in our work, homes, and community and corporately as the Church. Living the Eucharist in our lives helps us develop a congruity between our worship of God on Sunday and our daily practices on weekdays. Without such congruity there is an obvious disconnect from the practice of worship and the practice of living. Eucharistic living helps remind us of our need for such congruity between worship and life. As Bishop Frank Weston preached: [We] cannot claim to worship Jesus in the tabernacle if [we] do not pity Jesus in the slum. It is madness to suppose that [we] can worship Jesus in the Sacrament and Jesus on the throne of glory, when [we] are sweating Him in the bodies and souls of His children.

Eucharistic living helps us connect the dots of our lives. As we experience God’s gifts of acceptance, love, forgiveness, and spiritual food, we take those gifts into the world and incarnate them in the people and circumstances of our lives. Such Eucharistic living calls us to wholeness. It helps defragment our lives: to accept others as God has accepted us; to love others as God has loved us; to forgive as we have been forgiven; and, to feed others as we have been fed.

+Scott

 
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eCrozier #40

On June 2, 2010, in Community, discipleship, stewardship, by bishopbenhase

This is the second in a series of Ecroziers on the practices of the Christian Faith

Household Economics

When considering household economics, we may think of the old high school home economics class – baking, sewing, & cleaning (yes, I took such a course). The word economics actually comes from the Greek word oikos meaning household. In Scripture oikos refers both to a place where people live (Mk 2:11; Lk 1:23) and to the people of a particular household (Lk 10:5; Lk 11:17). In the Bible, to be part of a household was to know that you belonged and that you had responsibilities in your belonging. Household economics today is still about the same thing. Who belongs in the household? How do we provide for those who belong? How does the oikos use its resources?

Such questions can make us uneasy because they refer in part to how we use money. In the Bible, we hear stories like the rich young man where Jesus tells him to sell all his possessions if he wants to be his disciple. This story hits us hard. Plus, there’s the biblical standard of giving, the tithe (2 Chronicles 31: 4-10). Giving everything away, or just giving ten percent, can be daunting in our consumer culture. Our anxiety implicitly shows just how attached we are to money and other material things.

Household economics, however, is about more than money. Household economics is how we order our households. Who is welcome? Who makes the decisions? Who and what is considered when making those decisions? Does our household stand alone or is it connected to others? Our individual households are part of a larger household, our planet. How we care for this larger household will directly effect how we care for own household. So, our individual practice of household economics impacts the larger household, the earth.

The Bible tells us that in God’s oikos, God has reordered things. As Jesus teaches us about God’s oikos, we learn the first will be last and the last will be first. We learn that the poor, the lame, the tax collectors, and others on the margins of society eat at the same table with everyone else. Jesus tells us that in God’s oikos lepers, orphans, and aliens are especially welcome. We learn in the Biblical witness that in God’s oikos gifts are given so they can be shared, not hoarded. The household economics of God call for a spirit of giving and a practice of hospitality. God’s economy is one in which there is enough for all of God’s creatures. God’s household is not just livable, but hospitable – a place in which all of God’s creatures can truly dwell. Thus, our practice of faith calls us to be intentional about the stewardship of our oikos that it may reflect the oikos of God.

+Scott

 
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eCrozier #39

On May 28, 2010, in discipleship, forgiveness, by bishopbenhase

This is first in a series of Ecroziers on the practices of the Christian Faith

Forgiveness

Christian virtues are not values we hold. Values are changeable because they represent commitments we hold in relationship to other commitments. For example, we might say we value time with our family more than we value time at work. Values have a price tag on them and we daily weigh the cost of holding one value in relationship to another. Virtues, however, are ways of being we hold to be immutable. Virtues like truthfulness, compassion, and mercy cannot be values we hold. They are ways of being and acting in the world. For example, we cannot value compassion. We either live compassionately or we do not. Christianity is less a set of beliefs we hold as it is a way of being we embody. The Creeds of the Church are not set before us so we can be challenged to believe them. Rather, they are a summary of the faith Christians practice.

In Galatians 5, St. Paul writes: the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. St. Paul is listing some of the virtues that disciples of Jesus are to incarnate in their lives. When he writes: there is no law against such things, he acknowledges that these are virtues that cannot be commanded, but ways of being each disciple must cultivate in her/his life. Such cultivation of virtue is a lifelong discipline.

Probably the most challenging of all the Christian virtues is forgiveness. It is also the virtue Jesus addresses most often. He makes it a central part of what we now call The Lord’s Prayer (forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who sins against us. – Luke 11:4). Jesus clearly saw forgiveness as being the cornerstone that enabled all other virtues. Without the capacity to forgive, incarnating other virtues simply could not be possible. Yet, forgiving others is clearly one of the hardest virtues for us to incarnate. The hurt can be so deep. The desire for vengeance can be so powerful. But we should remember. This is not a minor teaching by Jesus or one that can be open to several interpretations. Jesus is clear – we must forgive.

The Church teaches us much about forgiveness. She teaches us that our primary identity is as a child of God. Such an identity cannot be lost in our interaction with others, even if those others sin against us or we sin against them. That is why Jesus calls us to seek reconciliation: So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift (Mt 5:23-24). Jesus knows that our lack of forgiveness prevents us from finding our identity in a God whose very nature is forgiveness. Our call is to embody forgiveness as the central virtue of our life as we practice the Christian faith.

+Scott

 
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eCrozier #36

On May 14, 2010, in discipleship, by bishopbenhase

The place God calls you is the place where your deep passion and the world’s hunger meet. – Frederick Buechner

I know many of us have trouble with what Buechner wrote. Some of us were schooled to believe that if we were passionate about anything and did something about it, then we would no doubt have to confess it to a priest before receiving the sacrament! This view of our humanity is certainly supported by both the Scriptures and our experience. Our passions can lead us to sin, to be sure.

As your Bishop, I am mindful of what Gregory the Great wrote: “All who are superiors should consider in themselves not the authority of their rank but the equality of their condition, and to rejoice not to be over persons but to do them good.” I in truth share the same condition with all of you: a sinner. There is no debate about that for any of us. It is simply the God’s-honest-truth, as my Granddaddy used to say.

But we are more than our sin. As we wear grace and as St Thomas Aquinas would call it, put on the Habitus of Grace, we are better able to live into God’s dream for our lives and for the life of the world. As we wear the habit of grace we can come to understand that God can use our passions, longings, and interests to further the work of the Kingdom. Rather than always seeing our passions as avenues for sin, we can also see them as opportunities to serve God more deeply. Here is just one example of what I am getting at: a friend of mine in North Carolina was an avid deer hunter. He also knew there were hungry people in Durham. So he organized it so his fellow hunters would donate their venison to our local soup kitchen. A passion for hunting brought forth the feeding of hungry people.

Archbishop of Canterbury, Michael Ramsey, said of the priesthood that it was “to be with God, with the people on your heart.” As leaders of our congregations, we should know our people’s passions, those that can lead them astray, to be sure, but also those that if focused could accomplish great things for the Kingdom. I urge you to find some way (appropriate to your context) to discover the passions of your people. In so doing, you may discover new avenues for living the Gospel in your congregation.

+Scott

 
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eCrozier #28

On April 14, 2010, in Benedictine, discipleship, by bishopbenhase

“The new person is like a garment made to cover the individual believer…It is impossible to become a new person as a solitary individual. The new person is not the individual believer after he has been justified and sanctified, but the Christian community, the Body of Christ, Christ himself.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

To be a disciple of Jesus is to be committed to Conversion of Life, or said another way, to the transformation of our lives. Our vows in baptism give us identity and purpose; so that our lives, our relationships, Christ’s church, indeed the very culture in which we live, may be transformed. By practicing stability and obedience we are confronted with ourselves as we seek faithfulness to the Lord. The struggle in the world and the struggle in our souls is one struggle. In that work of conversion, we discover God’s kingdom.

Daily Conversion of Life is the practice of seeking God’s presence in the new, which is every next moment in our lives. Our bodies change, the Church is different, a friend moves – we face continuous change and constant conversion. We must then pray for an openness to the work of the Holy Spirit in ourselves, which, based on the truth of Scripture, is an openness to joy. In that joy we “press on for what lies ahead” (Philippians 3:13). We live trusting that God is in the next moment of our lives.

Here is how we might open ourselves to this daily transformation:

· Giving ourselves to today’s demands and possibilities; striving to take practical action here and now;

· Living with our own death before us (Benedict wrote: “keep your own death before your eyes each day.”) by learning to depend radically on God alone.

· Committing ourselves to maturity in our faith, in our emotional life, and by accepting responsibility for ourselves so that we might love others rather than blame them when we are dissatisfied with our lives;

· Praying that the Lord will use us as we are with the gifts, skills, and shortcomings we have. We’re called to offer what we have in the real context of our lives; and,

· Relieving ourselves of anxious attempts to ensure our future. It is God’s business to decide how long God will use us.

Thus, our daily Conversion of Life will always require our openness and vulnerability to the other and to the new thing that God is doing in our lives. As leaders it takes discipline on our part to maintain such openness and vulnerability. It does not always come easily or naturally to us. If we are able to maintain such discipline, however, we will discover that our leadership will become less about us and more about what God is up to in the world through us.

+Scott

 
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eCrozier #26

On April 7, 2010, in Benedictine, discipleship, by bishopbenhase

My next three Ecroziers will reflect of the Benedictine promise of Stability, Obedience, and Conversion of Life. In reflecting on this promise, I do not suggest we go “monastic” (although we all must discern God’s call). Rather, I hope we can see how the Benedictine promise can inform and shape our congregational leadership in healthy and vital ways.

So, first Stability:

John Keble referenced Benedictine stability in what he called “the trivial round, the common task.” It is in these things, Keble asserted, where the opportunity exists “to bring us daily nearer God.” Yet, our culture engenders in us an ethos that seeks the non-trivial and the uncommon, that if we were just somewhere or someone else we would be closer to God, that if our spouses, or friends, or parishioners, or co-workers, were just different, a little nicer and more like us, then our lives would be much better. This cultural ethos serves as our very own Uncle Screwtape, as C. S. Lewis would contend.

The truth is we find God’s presence more deeply when we make a conscious, intentional decision not to run away from ourselves, those closest to us, and the “givens” of our lives, but to seek God in those places and people. Such is the virtue of stability. Parker Palmer has written: “Community is that place where the person you least want to live with always lives…And when that person moves away, someone else arrives immediately to take his or her place.” Palmer is right. There will always be people in our lives who seem to make it their life’s ambition to make our lives difficult. The sooner we accept that truth, the sooner we will benefit from the virtue of stability.

The practice of stability helps us accept a particular community, friend, place, or time so we can attend to what is before us and open ourselves to what God is up to in the present. In so doing, we can become “at home” with a particular person, place, or event, not waiting for someone or something else to make us feel “at home.” Of course, for us to practice such “at home-ness” we need to be “at home” with ourselves. Seeking stability helps us to understand how and why we are tempted to run away from others and ourselves. This means we need to listen with grace to the grumbling of our own hearts so we might accept responsibility for why we so often seek to blame others for what is happening in our lives. This is also a nasty “gift” from Uncle Screwtape.

The implications of this for our congregational leadership are profound. Over time, leaders create the adjectives of the congregations they lead. Leaders have the opportunity to shape congregations as places that incarnate such adjectives like: non-anxious, grounded, prayerful, reflective (rather than reactive), intentional, and open to the leading of the Holy Spirit. If we as leaders incarnate such adjectives in ourselves, then they will over time become the adjectives of the community. We can never “fix” our congregations. What we can do is work on ourselves by practicing the virtue of stability. As we inculcate stability in our own lives, we will see it become present in others, even those with whom we find it difficult to be “at home.”

+Scott

 
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eCrozier #22

On March 19, 2010, in discipleship, sacramental, by bishopbenhase

I have received from a number of our clergy petitions for remarriage after divorce, for special permission around some particular issue relating to an upcoming marriage, and requests from clergy outside the Diocese of Georgia to preside at the sacrament of marriage somewhere in the confines of our diocese (usually on one of the islands, which is not surprising). Let me just say here that the system set up by Bishop Henry for granting petitions and requests for special permission around the sacrament of marriage is solid and will not change. His system followed precisely the canons of the Church and we will continue to do so.

I do, however, want to take some space here to focus not on the canons, but rather on the opportunity we have when we preside at the sacrament of marriage. We have the opportunity to be both a catechist and an evangelist. I hope we will make great use of that opportunity. Marriage in our culture, it seems, is an institution awaiting a truthful definition these days. Our theology of marriage as a Church has not been as clear and as strong as it should be. Nevertheless, you and I have the opportunity and the responsibility to preach and teach a sacramental theology of marriage grounded in our tradition as Anglicans.

Our marriage rite in the Book of Common Prayer differentiates our theology of marriage from traditional catholic and protestant ones. Catholics traditionally have focused on marriage primarily in procreative terms, that is, the purpose is first and foremost for child-bearing and child-raising. Protestant definitions historically have focused on marriage as a means for controlling and containing the lustful passions. Neither one of those is wrong, but they both fall short of completing our sacramental understanding.

We Anglicans, because of our strong incarnational theology, would also add that the sacrament of marriage is a method of discipleship, which is missional in nature. Like the other sacraments, marriage calls those in it to a vocation that leads, as it is intended, to sanctification. Put another way, the sacrament of marriage is supposed to be, to a great extent, a school for developing Christian virtues. By living in this sacrament, married persons learn the disciplines necessary for Christian living. They learn what it means to forgive and be forgiven. They learn the habit of self-sacrifice and service. They come to participate in what it means to give your life to someone else and not hoard your life for yourself, thus they learn stewardship. This list of virtue schooling could go on. Of course, single folk can also learn these virtues through other means because such virtue is not limited to the married life.

I hope each time we prepare people for this sacrament and when we preach on the occasion of a sacrament of marriage (and please do not fail to do so), we will fulfill our responsibility and take the opportunity to teach this sacramental theology. Yes, people will not always listen to us (they may be dreaming of the food and drink at the reception), but that is not an excuse to ignore the opportunity. We never know who is listening and whose life our teaching might change.

+Scott

 
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eCrozier #21

On March 17, 2010, in discipleship, by bishopbenhase

A few years back I was teaching an adult education class in my parish. We were discussing the three great monotheistic faiths: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. I asked: “How can you tell a faithful Muslim?” The answers were pretty quick in coming: “Pray five times a day facing Mecca.” “Fast during the daylight hours during Ramadan.” “Make a pilgrimage to Mecca during one’s lifetime.” I asked a similar question about Judaism and the answers came just as quickly: “Keep the Sabbath from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.” “Keep kosher.” “Keep all 613 Mitzvot.” I then asked: “What about Christians?” There was some extended silence and then tentatively one person said: “Well, I guess, going to church and trying to live a good life.” Heads nodded. It seemed we had agreement.

I was not really surprised, but that does not mean I was not disappointed. The truth is Christianity does have particular practices that define us as much Islam and Judaism. Unfortunately, to some extent, over time, we have not understood them as being central to our discipleship. So, we get the common answer: “Going to church and trying to live a good life.” Some, but not all of these practices are:

· Participating in the Eucharist on the Lord’s Day.

· Offering Hospitality to others

· Forgiving sins against us

· Testifying to the faith that is in us

· Serving the poor

Of course, there are more, but the above are the ones that have been universally present in our tradition for 2000 years.

We ought to be clear with those we lead that the above practices are central to our common identity in Christ in the Church. Being faithful is more than just going to church and trying to live a good life. Our practices are more particular than that.

One way we can help our parishioners become more intentional in practicing our faith is to encourage them to establish a Rule of Life. This ancient discipline helps practitioners get intentionally focused on our Christian practices. Attached is a one-page over view of we might encourage our people to begin a Rule of Life.

+Scott

RULE OF LIFE

What are the basic elements to a Rule of Life? It needs to be:
1) Specific: should be able to say clearly what we are doing;
2) Realistic: should be something we can really manage;
3) Sacrificial: should demand something of us;
4) Flexible: should be appropriate to our life’s experience; and,
5) Responsive: should reflect the claims of Christ and His Church.

What does a Rule of Life need to contain? It should contain:
1) Daily Prayer – participating in the Sunday Eucharist with my sisters and brother in Christ and praying daily at the same time either alone or with someone else. This daily time must be guarded and defended or we will find excuses why we need not keep it. We can always come up with reasons why something else is more important.

2) Daily Study – participating in a weekly group Bible study and a daily personal Bible study using the many resources available from the Church. This is indispensable because we will not know what we are to pray for unless we are grounded in the Word of God.

3) Daily Action – giving attention to the people and circumstances in your life through your family, friends, work, community, and neighborhood, and, using the resources of the Church to find appropriate avenues for your action. Every day we must be intentional in doing our acts of discipleship. It may be as simple as a kind word to a co-worker who needs lifting up. But if this not on our mind and heart each day, it will pass us by. At the end of the day, we should ask ourselves: “what action did I take today that reflected the love of Jesus for someone else?”

The first list above should help us form of a Rule of Life that is easily definable and manageable, while being both responsive to the Church and a spiritual challenge to ourselves. The second list above should help us keep our Rule focused on the essentials of the Christian life (prayer, study, and action).
~1998, Scott A. Benhase

 
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