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Holy Week and Transformation

I'm in a nostalgic mood this morning thinking about Holy Week services of my past. 

I grew up in a Presbyterian church in San Antonio where the tradition was that the youth were confirmed as part of the Maundy Thursday service. In those days children and youth did not participate in communion until after confirmation so I took my first communion on a Maundy Thursday at the same time I was confirmed as a member of the church. Little did I know at that time how important a step that would be for my journey in life!

One Good Friday when I was in college the service consisted entirely of listening to the sound track of Jesus Christ Superstar which was then a mega-hit on the Broadway stage. The congregation departed into the bright sunny day in silence at the conclusion of the presentation with the refrain "Jesus Christ Superstar, do you think you're who we say you are?" Now I am sure: yes, He does.

Many years later I took a small group of young adults from our church to view The Passion of the Christ on Good Friday. This graphic depiction of the crucifixion and resurrection made a powerful impression on all of us. As Protestants we weren't used to thinking about the suffering of Christ as our church emphasized the joy and triumph of the resurrection. Afterwards we went to dinner together and unpacked the experience over margaritas and nachos with an intimate, meaningful conversation about how the experience deepened our understanding of the atonement of Christ.

A couple of years ago at the end of the Good Friday service the pastor brought in a live lamb and held it in his arms at the close of the service. He invited the congregation to come forward, lay their hands on the lamb and turn over to Jesus, the Lamb of God, all of their grief and sin. 

Last week at Bible study one of those who participated in doing so told us that she went up that day and turned over her grief about the tragic death of her young adult daughter from cancer. She said that she felt enveloped in light and heard her daughter's voice telling her "Mom, I'm okay." Now she continues to grieve, but not without hope and confidence in the promise of the resurrection of Christ.

As Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter observances are celebrated this week lives will be touched and transformed. Maybe even your life and mine. 

Alleluia.

Book Review: Revelations by Elaine Pagels

Yes, sharp-eyed Gentle Readers, the title of this book is Revelations not Revelation. In this short book, Princeton professor of religion Elaine Pagels  explores the question of why John of Patmos' book was included in the Biblical canon and explains why Revelation retains a powerful hold on the Christian imagination today despite the controversy that surrounded it historically.

Revelations is a secular, academic analysis of the historical interpretations of the book of Revelation. Those looking for faith-based study of the book will be disappointed. With that caveat, here's my review.

I'm a self-confessed Revelation fan. As a young teenager I remember browsing through it when bored by the sermons in church. I recognized the many phrases and passages that appeared in the hymns we sang but never heard any explanation of this book from the pulpit in our Presbyterian church. In 2000, I led a study of Revelation in an adult class at church, using Bruce Metzger's book, Breaking the Code. So I was interested in reading Pagels' book on the subject, especially since I have read a couple of her other books.

Apocalyptic literature takes its name from the Greek word for "unveiling" or "revelation". It focuses on prophesies relating to God's plan for the end of this world. Although the book of Revelation is the only book of the New Testament that is wholly apocalyptic, there are apocalyptic passages found in the four gospels as well, notably the "little Apocalypse" of Matthew. The Old Testament book of Daniel is full of apocalyptic style prophesies as are many of the books of the prophets. The first chapter of Revelations contains an excellent summary of the content of the book of Revelation for those who are not familiar with it.

The apocalyptic books and passages of the Bible are difficult enough, but the apocalypses found at Nag Hammadi written in the first few centuries after Christ are almost impenetrable (and I've tried to read a few of them).   Pagels has a gift for making these arcane and obscure writings understandable to the interested reader and deftly brings excerpts from several of them into her text.

An important distinction between the Biblical canon and the Nag Hammadi texts is their differing view of the relationship between God and self. As the author observes:

Orthodox adherents of monotheistic traditions draw clear boundaries between themselves and God...Yet...many of the sources found at Nag Hammadi do encourage spiritual seekers to seek union with God, or to identify with Christ in ways that fourth century "orthodox" Christians would censor".

In other words, you can become one with God through your own spiritual knowledge. Although Pagels notes that this viewpoint would eliminate the need for clergy and thus was rejected by the early Church fathers, for those of us coming from a traditional Christian theological perspective, it also eliminates the need for Christ as the intermediary, intercessor and redeemer of mankind.

Pagels is writing from an academic and historical point of view, not a theological one. The book covers an interpretive history of Revelation over the first few centuries of the church and finds parallels between the time of Roman persecution of Christians when the enemies of the church were identified as Rome to the time when Christianity became accepted by Constantine after which the enemies of the church depicted in Revelation were more identified with those holding heretical, non-orthodox theological views. It also discusses the controversy surrounding its adoption into the Biblical canon.

I agree with the author that Revelation has an enduring appeal because its metaphors and symbolism are powerfully  relevant to everyone in every age on both a metaphorical and personal levels.  It "appeals not only to fear but to hope" as Pagels rightly concludes, because it contains the promise of justice.

There's another reason for its appeal that Pagels doesn't discuss but that I picked up from Metzger. Revelation is a uniquely visual book. It was written to be read aloud (and it wouldn't take as long as you might imagine) in worship in the house churches of the day as encouragement and admonition to the faithful. Its imagery and metaphors are vivid and linger in the imagination. That's one reason why, next to the Psalms, more hymns are written using texts from Revelation than any other book of the Bible.

I personally believe that Revelation became part of scripture because of the Providence and plan of God and not merely because of the result of the success of those holding to "orthodox" Christian theology. But again, readers should remember that this viewpoint is outside the perspective of Pagels' book. I recommend Revelations to anyone with some knowledge and interest in early Christian history and the Bible.

Book Review: Behind the Beautiful Forevers

Behind the Beautiful Forevers is the most disturbing book I have read in a long time.

Although it reads like a well-written novel, it is the non-fictional account of the lives of several families living in the Annawadi slum at the edge of the Mumbai airport. The slum is located behind a sign that advertises tile flooring with the motto: Beautiful Forever. That's where the title comes from.

The author, Katherine Boo, is a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist. She spent three years in Annawadi where she developed relationships with several families and followed their stories. She did extensive interviews and other research for the book which is subtitled "Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity."

Residents of Annawadi are mostly refugees from rural areas who were unable to sustain themselves there and were drawn to the bustling, emergent economy of Mumbai. They literally live on the cast-aways of the more affluent as they pick through garbage daily looking for re-cyclables they can sell. Annawadi itself is likely to be recycled into middle class housing and other projects deemed more appropriate for the area around the international airport by city officials.

The families Boo follows include the good, the corrupt, the selfish, the intelligent, the greedy, the disabled, the beautiful, and the despised. Although the caste system of India is breaking down as it evolves into a modern state, the barriers are still there. Corruption infects every aspect of  their lives in ways that those of us blessed to live in America cannot begin to imagine.

In her concluding chapter, Boo writes "Poor people didn't unite; they competed ferociously amongst themselves for gains as slender as they were provisional...It is easy from a safe distance, to overlook the fact that in under-cities governed by corruption where exhausted people vie on scant terrain for very little, it is blisteringly hard to be good. The astonishment is that some people are good and that many people try to be...." 

This is the message that is so disturbing that at one point in the narrative I set the book aside for a few days. Without providing a spoiler, I will only say that when I returned to finish the book I was relieved to find that my worst fears about the outcome of a tragic situation for one of the families was not realized and a small bit of hope revealed.

Beyond the Beautiful Forevers reveals the hidden and marginalized society living beneath the glittering facade of the new Mumbai. By implication, similar "under-cities" exist wherever the global economy is emerging and changing traditional cultures.

Boo concludes, "If the house is crooked and crumbling, and the land on which it sits uneven, is it possible to make anything straight?"  This is not a hopeful message, but it is an enlightening and important one.

El Jefe Presents "The Brains of the Confederacy"

Judah P. Benjamin

Some of you long-time Gentle Readers of QG will recall that in those rare times when El Jefe is not dazzling his clients in his alter ego as "Dr. Debt", he is an avid amateur historian with a particular interest in the Civil War. He writes regular book reviews for the Civil War Times and has a couple of published articles to his credit.

So from time to time he is tapped as a speaker by local groups interested in the history of the Civil War. Last night he spoke to one of them on the subject of Judah P. Benjamin, the brilliant Jewish lawyer from Louisiana known as "The Brains of the Confederacy." I went along because I always enjoy his lectures and love hearing all the praise he gets for them.

Here's the story about how El Jefe became interested in Benjamin in the first place. 

As a student at Yale, El Jefe worked in the rare books library for an elderly professor. Upon his graduation, the professor, who was Jewish, gave him as a memento of their time together a two dollar Confederate bill which had the picture of Judah P. Benjamin on it. He told him that this was the only piece of American currency that featured a picture of a Jew and he thought El Jefe would be interested because he was from the South and Benjamin had studied at Yale prior to the Civil War.

My job at the lecture was to pass that two dollar bill around the audience.

Benjamin, a little-known but fascinating historical character, is particularly interesting to attorneys because he was one of the leading lawyers of his day. Before the war he was a senator from Louisiana, twice turned down appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court,  and served in Jefferson Davis' cabinet as Attorney General, Secretary of War and Secretary of State.  

When accused by another Senator of being "a Hebrew with Egyptian principles" because he owned slaves, Benjamin replied: "It is true that I am a Jew and when my ancestors were receiving the Ten Commandments from the immediate Deity, amidst the thundering and lightnings on Mt. Sinai, the ancestors of my opponent were herding swine in the forests of Great Britain." 

Although he did own slaves, Benjamin was not a die-hard defender of the institution of slavery. He tried, in vain, to persuade the confederacy to recruit slaves into the army by promising them freedom in return for their service.

With the fall of the confederacy, he fled to London (he was able to claim British citizenship because he was born in the West Indes) and achieved great success as a barrister and Queen's Counsel. Benjamin was a man who enjoyed an optimistic outlook on life that enabled him to overcome obstacles and tragedies that crushed others.

Before last night's talk, El Jefe shared his presentation with several of his Jewish law partners who were fascinated with it. He was asked by several folks afterwards for copies for other friends. It may also make its way into a Jewish-interest publication.

If you are interested in reading more about Judah P. Benjamin than you can find in Wikipedia, I recommend this book which was used by El Jefe as his primary resource and which I also read and enjoyed.

Book Review: Below Stairs by Margaret Powell

This one's for all you Downtown Abbey fans out there!

Below Stairs by Margaret Powell, originally published in 1968, is the classic memoir of a woman who worked her way up in service from kitchen maid to cook before retiring after her marriage to a milkman.

The book has been re-issued (even in e-book format!) because it is one of the sources used by the writers of the popular PBS/BBC series Downton Abbey. And yes, we are big fans Chez QG. Apparently the book was wildly popular in the UK when first published and created something of a sensation.

Margaret Powell vividly illustrates the division in the great houses between the wealthy noble families and their large staffs of servants. The houses themselves were physically divided with front and service stairs so that some servants seldom entered the part of the house used by the family. Class lines were rigid and mutually enforced on both sides.

Margaret was something of a rebel and always tried to make something of herself. She was an avid reader and one of the most poignant passages in the book relates her request to the mistress of the house she worked in to borrow books from its library. "Of course, Margaret," was the reply," but I didn't know that you read!"

Margaret not only read but later in life completed her education and got a college degree. She is a good writer but not always a fluid one. The book is a personal memoir, not an attempt at social history, and succeeds on those terms.

Readers will not find any of the plot lines of the television series but will better understand the world of its "downstairs" characters.

A Cautionary Tale from the Episcopal Church Wars

I had the great privilege of attending the Fellowship of Presbyterians(FOP) meeting in Orlando last week along with several other members of my church. I was moved and inspired by the incredible worship and amazed at the progress made towards birthing the new denomination: Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians (ECO).

The meeting answered a lot of the questions I had before attending and raised more questions as the details of the FOP and ECO are taking shape.

At the same time I am pondering the meaning of a cautionary tale that one of my relatives (let’s call him Calvin) has been relating to me regarding his experience of leaving the Episcopal church over doctrinal differences.

Here’s the story. A couple of years ago Calvin was a member of the vestry (lay governing board) of his church. The bishop of the diocese visited the vestry meeting and issued an ultimatum: either find a way to accept the changes in the denomination or leave, but quit complaining. The next week the vestry met again and more than half of them declared their intention to leave.

This is a very large Episcopal church. Several hundred families left, including Calvin and family, but a couple thousand members remained. The breakaway group established a new church that eventually affiliated with the Anglican Mission in America (AMiA).

In due course a new rector was hired with AMiA credentials. However, Calvin became concerned about the way the new church was developing. So he sat down with the new rector for a frank discussion. To his shock he learned that the AMiA does not ordain women, permit women to serve in leadership, or teach the Bible to men, and there are no elections only appointments by the rector. Calvin says he and many other members of the new church are dismayed that these policies were not revealed at the time when they voted to affiliate with this denomination.

Now the new church faces further division as those who disagree with these positions ponder leaving yet again. Calvin is deeply grieved and prayerfully seeking guidance about what to do next. He cannot return to TEC and finds AMiA equally uncomfortable. 

"I may suggest women and men sit on opposite side of aisle, force the women to wear burkas and call it a day." he said." Good grief, AMiA makes me feel like a screaming liberal! "

Since Calvin was also raised in the Presbyterian church, he visited one a couple of weeks ago and was encouraged by what he found. Until he asked me about the state of the PCUSA and discovered he could be jumping from the fire back into the frying pan.

 

What does this mean for us fractious Presbyterians?

Here’s my conclusion: for those of us who drawn to the FOP and perhaps pondering dismissal to ECO, thorough vetting of alternatives is imperative. Calvin's experience illustrates some of the pitfalls awaiting those who act precipitously.

For those in the PCUSA who embrace the recent change in  ordination standards and continue to press for change in the definition of marriage: beware the cost of divisive actions that will leave a remnant isolated from most  other Christian churches around the country and the world and drain resources away from the Great Ends of the Church. 

The Episcopal Church is intolerant of dissent from its progressive theology, takes a hard line on church ownership of property, and, as a result, is beset by numerous lawsuits across the country. Many progressives, moderates and evangelicals in the PCUSA recognize the danger of following this path and seek to avoid it. We must do better.

Separated at Birth?

Just sayin'.......