A Reflection for 4th
Sunday of Easter All Saints’ Church, Southern Shores, NC
April
22, 2018 Thomas E. Wilson, Rector
God
Listen To Us!
One
of the things that I see in the lessons for today is a demonstration
of leadership. It flows out of the imagery of the 23rd
Psalm. In the Acts lesson, Peter becomes the Spiritual Father of the
Jesus Movement, standing up for its healing ministry against those
forces that seek to destroy it; he is the good Shepherd standing in
the presence of the enemy so his Community will have no fear. The
lesson from the Elder John is a reminder of what is expected of the
Spiritual Teacher of the Community of Believers regarding how to
behave with and care for each other, as the good shepherd who is
anointing with oil and making sure the cup is filled for all. The
Gospel lesson has the original model, Jesus, speaking of what is
required of leaders following him, which is walking through the
Valley of the Shadow of Death.
Some
commentators believe the 23rd
Psalm began as a poetic song of David, the King and the Ruler of
Israel. David was a man with a checkered history of good and bad
judgment during his reign, and he had cause to look at all the people
he let down and the disastrous consequences of some his actions. One
of the best things about failure is that it gives us a chance to
learn from our mistakes. I think he wrote this song to remind himself
how much he needed God in his life, and he passed it on to be a
mirror for future kings who confuse their role as king with being
independent of the Power greater than themselves. Good rulers need to
know that just because you have the title doesn’t mean that every
idea is a good idea.
In
the Episcopal Church the title “Rector” comes from a word meaning
“ruler”. I cannot tell you how many times I was in a clergy
support group with a group of clergy who kept taking themselves so
seriously with the “Rector” title that we had to warn them that a
certain planned action was a result of their own ego instead of
listening to God. Rectors, rulers, need to understand that they are
vicars of Christ, serving vicariously in a parish as the Good
Shepherd’s - Christ’s - Lamb to assist the ministry of Christ in
that congregation.
The
title “Pastor” comes from the Latin word for shepherd, the one
who leads people, guides sheep into pasture and defends them from all
enemies, which is what Jesus is talking about in the Gospel lesson
for today using the imagery of the 23rd
Psalm. But how we interpret the Shepherd image has a variety of
options. I had a classmate from Australia in seminary whose image of
a Shepherd was a yelling man on horseback cracking a whip accompanied
by dogs snapping at the heels of the sheep to keep the herd in line.
That image of a tough, sometimes brutal, taskmaster is not only to be
found Down Under. Part of the history of the church had Warrior
Popes, Bishops, and Priests keeping order for the sake of the concept
of Christendom, as they defined it, by being strong advocates of
political and societal viewpoints even to the point of war to kill
the “enemies” of the church as heretics and infidels.
In
the Episcopal Church as an example of that view of Pastor, we have
the Rt. Reverend Leonidas Polk. He was born in Raleigh, educated at
West Point Military Academy, and then attended Virginia Seminary.
Upon graduation it was found he had never been confirmed, and
therefore he was confirmed and ordained the next day in Fayetteville.
He became a Bishop of Mississippi and was one of the founders of the
University of the South at Sewanee, Tennessee where I attended
Seminary. Polk resigned his Bishop’s office in order to become a
general in the Confederate Army in the American Civil War for his
friend and West Point classmate Jefferson Davis. The Leonidas Polk
Memorial Society wrote in 2014: “When asked in Richmond if he was
putting off the gown of an Episcopal bishop to take up the sword of a
Confederate general, to which he replied, 'No, Sir, I am buckling the
sword over the gown,'" indicating that he saw it was his duty as
a bishop to take up arms.”
Davis
continued to support Polk who was a popular general among the ranks
of the Confederate Army, but was viewed by many of his fellow
generals as genial but pompous, incompetent, refusing to take orders,
and slow in implementing them. General Bragg called Polk “an old
woman, utterly worthless”. In one battle, one of Polk’s
subordinate generals urged his soldiers on by yelling, “Give ‘em
hell, boys!” To which the Bishop/General, aware of his dignity,
called out “Give it to ‘em boys, give ‘em what General Cheatham
says”. Polk was killed in battle during the Atlanta Campaign on
June 10, 1864.
The
title “Priest” comes from the Old English and German Preost
from the Latin Presbyter
meaning the one appointed to act as an interpreter of the unknown
mysteries and as a leader presiding over rites and rituals in
ceremonies of connection with deities and spirits. They were
descended from the Shamans, medicine men and healers. Priests were
the ones who could confer and withhold blessing based on the
worthiness of a person. There were some preachers who made their
living with so-called “Crusades”, using hour-long sermons whose
aim was to drive the sinner down to his knees with guilt, God’s
condemnation, and visions of hell in the first 50 minutes in order to
raise him up with Grace in the last 10.
There
were others who were given a title of “Parson”, Old English for
the weird person with a deep spirituality who could see things with
different eyes and could speak God’s truth regardless of the
convenient party line. Parsons believed that God’s love is not a
reward for repentance from Original Sin, but that love is the
hallmark of the original blessing in Creation and the incarnation of
Jesus.
Many
people call me “Father”, as they called Margaret, the founding
Priest here, “Mother”. It is a title that is full of ambiguity.
Many priests have had to deal with parishioners with father or mother
complexes that were waiting for trapdoors to be sprung by “monstrous
mothers” or “seductive fathers”. On the other hand, it is a
name to be taken seriously by the person who wears the title. I
remember years ago, a couple of churches back, when I had a
parishioner who really did not like me, because he thought,
correctly, that I was full of myself. He would address me frostily as
“FAAAther”. I confronted him one day and said, “Why do call me
“FAAAther” when it is a title of relationship?” He put me in my
place by pointing out that, in the military, one salutes the uniform
and not the man. This is where Pat came in helpful; she softened me a
bit, and when I left the church, he still called me “FAAAther”,
but it was his accent and the warm tone that I heard instead of the
scorn I had imagined. We ended up seeing each other as beloved
brothers in Christ loved gracefully by God.
There
is also the title of “Preacher” in the role of teacher who have
documents of authority issued by Seminaries and Bishops. However,
true spiritual authority is not conferred by organizations, but
rather is granted by parishioners who have found true worth in the
relationship, allowing the Preacher to be a trusted soul friend.
In
a couple of weeks you will begin the task of prayer for a new Rector
for All Saints. It is important not to rush into making your decision
based on what you would like to remain the same. It is the journey,
not the destination, that is important. I know God has someone in
mind for you, but your task is to enter into a prayerful search for
the heart of God in this matter. I cannot be with you on this
journey, but my prayers will be.
God
Listen To Us!
Ruler,
either Rector or Regina, is wanted
by
us who we will choose over us to rule,
not
like as if over naughty ones in school,
but
will tackle our hard tasks undaunted.
We
want a Pastor, in the Shepherd mode,
who’ll
lay us down in soft green pastures,
keeping
us safe from all fearful disasters,
leading
us near where living water flowed.
We
want one to function as our new Priest,
speaking
God to us before we’d be scattered,
speaking
to God for us all together gathered,
doing
rituals for lives included and deceased.
We
want one be a Vicar of your healing love,
demonstrating
what forgiveness does look like,
oft
in a real world between people who’ll fight,
over
things that don’t matter; helps gets rid of!
We
want one to be our weird one as a Parson,
who
sees the divine in the overlooked ordinary,
feeling
breaths of God calling us to the visionary
tasks
of sharing grace with all and sundry person
We
want one to address as Father/Mother
to
turn to when things get somewhat rough,
assuring
that we will have strength enough
relying
on the Spirit’s strength and no other.
We
want one to be a Teacher of the right paths
to
inform us walking in faith of the ways of past
journeys
made by our ancestors in feast and fast
seeing
baptisms as commitments not just baths.
We
want one to be our true most trusted friend
keeping
all of our secrets, sharing joys and woes,
laughs
or tears of stories of All Saints s/he knows
in
our hearts, faithfully holding them to the end.
