Pentecost: End of the Law, Beginning of Judgement
June 12, 2011
Moses and the Israelites received the Law on the fiery mount. Israel was bound to it by covenant and its violation meant judgement upon them. This Law governed all aspects of life from agricultural to sexual policy and marked the people as God’s own. But the Law itself and the prophets too understood that the Law itself would one day be transcended (Rom 3.21).
The Church received the Spirit in the fiery upper room. She was bound together by another covenant; and it was a covenant that has no Law but Judgement. The Feast celebrated the giving of Torah, but in Jerusalem was given no new law, rather unfettered possibility of human and divine reconciliation under the one Lord in one Spirit. John 20.19-23 means the book of Acts. To bind and loose, to forgive and retain, these are not self-grounded proclamations of a new authoritative community – No! There is no authority handed over to the Church to make a new Law; rather Judgement is the necessary way of living beyond the Law, and all judgements are provisional as even the apostolic ‘Council of Jerusalem’ is. The Spirit blows now where She wills and perpetually gives Judgement, which the Church tries to discern. The Spirit can fall before baptism; She can proclaim clean what was formerly unclean.
The Spirit is not bound by any Law whatsoever.
12 Propositions…#10-12
January 14, 2010
I promise that I didn’t forget about the last three. But everybody started posting stuff and I didn’t want to overwhelm all you readers. So here are the final three Propositions, mostly more reflections on the Christian calendar, which I have been meditating on a lot lately.
#10) Advent and Pentecost are both perpetual seasons that in some form or another can and should frame or inform our celebrations and fasts for the other seasons.
#11) The Calendar is a living Catechism both on the text of the Gospels and on the Christian life
#12) Sufjan Stevens is the second greatest artist of the last decade and a paradigm shifter on how music will be made and performed in the future
Pentecost Reflection: A Good Day To Be Anglican
May 31, 2009
A few of us theophiliacs attend Messiah Episcopal in St. Paul, MN where a number of Anglican Karen attend.
Part of our Pentecost celebration today involved baptisms. There aren’t many Anglican Karen Priests in the USA, so when Father Samuel came to visit Messiah this morning, it was no surprise that our Karen parishioners showed up in force (they made up more than a third of our 9 o’clock service.)
The Baptism service was conducted in both English and Karen. It was a beautiful experience and one of my favorite mornings at Messiah in recent memory. I got goosebumps when I renewed my Baptismal vows in my language and then the Karen echoed the creed in theirs. It was moving to celebrate the birth of the Church at Pentecost by welcoming so many more into this Body through the Sacrament. I was once again flush with the notion of commonality in Christian faith around world. God lovingly reminded me that my Karen brothers and sisters are no mere “mission field” but equal participants in this Kingdom of God (how easy that harmful distinction can creep into my mind).
It was a good day to be Anglican. Christian.
Tony Hunt
jstambaugh
Shawn Wamsley
