Part XLIII Matthew - The Passion Narrative: Discovering the Liturgical Outline

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on 12 March 2015 2 Comments
Please login with your account to read this essay.
 

Question

I am a "fan," I suspect, eagerly looking forward to your weekly email. Your response concerning the Paleo-Indians touched on such a wide range of issues that I will have to re-read it often to plumb its depths.

I have a grave concern about the way it appears that current Christianity in all denominations is becoming irrelevant in modern culture. As an Episcopal priest, I try to use whatever insights I have in preaching a message true to the Scriptures and useful to my congregation. I sometimes fear that those insights are not consistent with the view of Jesus’ identity and importance that is proclaimed in the prayers of the Church. Do you have any suggestions of a way that Eucharistic people can proclaim a faith that suits modern understanding, at the same time doing justice to the ancient story?

 

Answer

Dear Don,

Thank you first for your letter and second for your ministry. I am delighted that I can serve the priesthood of my church with one as perceptive as you appear to be.

I know the tension in the practice of Christianity to which you refer. The scriptures we read in church were written between 1000 BCE and 135 CE and reflect the assumptions of that era: i.e. the earth is the center of a three-tiered universe, sickness is viewed as God’s punishment for sin and whatever cannot be understood is thought of as a “miracle.” The creeds we recite come out of the 4th century and reflect the dualistic mind of the Greek-speaking Mediterranean world that framed them. Most of our liturgical forms are rooted in the 13th century, a time obsessed with guilt and death, and which portray God as either an angry parent or as a hanging judge. So much of what goes on in church simply does not relate to the world in which we live. So, how can we be faithful to our religious roots and be relevant to the world in which we live is a problem we all must address. I wish I thought it was different in our theological seminaries which are supposed to be training clergy for tomorrow’s world. What most of them are doing, however, is training clergy for yesterday’s world.

The clue for me is to separate the Christ experience from the Christ explanations. All explanations are time-bound and time-warped, they are never eternal. The Bible, the creeds and all liturgical practices are explanations. Increasingly they are viewed by those who have left the church as dated and antiquated symbols of a world that no longer exists. Inside the church, however, they are viewed as the “essentials” for being a Christian. A Dean at one of our theological seminaries recently defended his seminary’s inability to engage the world by claiming the he based his theology on the “Incarnation.” He did not seem to recognize that the doctrine of the Incarnation was framed in the Fourth Century and reflects a dualistic view of God and the world, which no educated person holds today. He was content to be true to this symbol of yesterday’s world view, even when it made him incompetent to speak to the world in which his graduates will do ministry.

The experience behind that explanation will never be seen or heard until we dismiss that doctrine for what it is, an explanation of a truth rooted in a time that no longer is. Most of our doctrinal explanations have long passed their “sell by” shelf life signs. Preserving ancient traditions is not a pathway into the future. Churches dedicated to the traditions of the past will never transform tomorrow. Explanations always reflect the age in which they are formed. The experience these explanations seek to explain, however, can be timeless and eternal. So we need to cling to the Christ experience, but we must learn to sit loosely to the explanations. The problem with most religious traditions is that they invest their explanations with the reality of the experience. That will always end in failure and disillusionment. It is because we do not know what to do that I believe we are still trying to pump life into dead forms. The courageous Christian will try to develop new forms. That is hard work.

I am a committed Christian, but I see Christianity as an evolving explanation with few if any fixed parts. So the Christian life is a journey into the mystery of God. I enjoy the journey. I hope you do also.

John Shelby Spong

 

Comments

 

2 thoughts on “Part XLIII Matthew – The Passion Narrative: Discovering the Liturgical Outline

  1. WordPress › Error

    There has been a critical error on this website.

    Learn more about troubleshooting WordPress.