Pastor's Desk Archive (October 2006)

Reproductive Rights or Wrongs (10/08/06)
Stewardship of Treasure Renewal Coming Soon (10/15/06)
Public Service and the Political Process (10/22/06)
"Every Priest is Taken from Among Men" (10/29/06)

Reproductive Rights or Wrongs (10/08/06)

As we observe Celebrate Life month, I’m reminded of the frequent intercessory prayers for “the end of abortion”. Most people think that the only way that this could happen is if the Supreme Court overrules Roe v. Wade. Actually, the consequence of such a ruling would be to return all decision making about abortion to state legislatures. There’s no telling what the outcome would be even in more conservative states like our own.

I believe that there would continue to be at least hundreds of thousands of abortions each year because most Americans believe that sexual decisions are completely private matters. They speak of abortion as a fundamental reproductive right of women. What they really mean is that women have a right not to reproduce. The seven justices who ushered in the age of abortion in 1973 believed that women ought to be as free as men to be sexually irresponsible. Of course, those words are not found in their decision. Instead they spoke about a right of privacy which should leave women free from governmental interference in making a decision to terminate a pregnancy. That expression sounds so much better than ending the life of an unborn child, doesn’t it?

How did we ever get to such a point and why are we still such a long way off from ending such a lethal policy? We got there because so many people stopped believing that God gave us reproductive organs primarily so that we could participate with him in the work of creation. But since most people clearly know what causes conception, most of the time they take whatever measures are necessary to prevent conception. Then they wonder why so many young people are engaging in non-reproductive sex at earlier and earlier ages? Young people may well ask: isn’t sex primarily for pleasure? Romantics will jump in at this point and say “no, no, no….sex is for the expression of love. There’s no doubt that God intended it to be a beautiful expression of love for married couples who are open to welcoming new life, but if that’s what’s going on why do so many relationships fail? Why is sexual addiction rampant? Why are there so many abortions? And why are so few couples apparently not seeking God’s will in their decision to determine how open they should be to bringing new life into the world? I’m just asking the questions, I’m not pretending to have the answers.

The Church believes that sexual intimacy is a beautiful gift from God so that married couples can be generous co-creators and build up their love for one another. It seems to me that an awful lot of people appear not to believe this. Without this belief, however, it appears that anything goes.

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Stewardship of Treasure Renewal Coming Soon (10/15/06)

Stewardship is a word found frequently in the scriptures referring to the manner in which we take care of all the good things God has entrusted to us. Chief among those gifts are time, talent, and treasure. God alone stands completely outside of time for He had no beginning and will have no end. He has placed us here, however, for an indeterminate amount of time so we can know Him, love Him, and serve Him all the days of our lives. God empowers us to make the best use of our time and gives us plenty of signs that we should never take time for granted. Each Ash Wednesday, our members are invited to make a commitment of time for the purpose of growing in the knowledge and practice of the faith.

On each Pentecost Sunday, we are invited to assess our stewardship of talent in which we consider the ways in which we participate in parish service.

The First Sunday of Advent, the beginning of the Church’s New Year, is the day designated for our annual renewal of stewardship of treasure. Since that will be here before we know it, I thought I’d take this opportunity to begin our preparation for this renewal.

There are still a few people who bristle when the topic of money is brought up in church. They cling to the belief that money has nothing to do with our spiritual lives. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is no topic spoken of more frequently in the scriptures than money and finances. Why would God’s word address this topic so much? Because the proper use and care of money has everything to do with the way we love and serve the Lord.

Jesus taught that those who are attached to their possessions will not be able to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Detachment begins with an understanding that everything we have—including our material resources—belongs to God and is on loan to us. Becoming generous and cheerful givers identifies us as people who know that we have not here a lasting home. The Church is the Household or Family of God. Like any household it has material, as well as spiritual, needs. Each member is called upon to bear his share of responsibility so that the whole household may prosper as it seeks to accomplish its mission.

Our parish has become distinguished for its good stewardship across the board. With that in mind, let us look forward to renewing our stewardship of treasure.

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Public Service and the Political Process (10/22/2006)

In today’s Gospel passage we are reminded that vying for positions of power goes back a long way. Perhaps we can’t really blame the mother of James and John for wanting only the best for her boys, but neither she nor they had any idea of what Jesus was up to. They were thinking in terms of a political kingdom in which they could act as His chief lieutenants, and He was thinking of another kind of kingdom in which God’s will could be done on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus teaches The Twelve that if they want to be leaders they have to learn how to serve the people they would lead. He links authority and power with humble service as He tells them that “the Son of Man has come not to be served, but to serve.”

In stark, even comic, contrast to this teaching about governance and leadership we are treated everyday on TV and in the papers to how these themes are treated in the American political process. Each major political party spokesman and all the candidates run around accusing their opponents of all kinds of wrongdoing, bad character, fraud, and corruption. In the case of many congressional and senate candidates they are spending millions of dollars for positions that pay “less than” $200K a year. Those of us who have been watching this process for a long time have long since come to realize that many of them are trying to purchase power. They want to be in the best positions when the several trillion dollar budget is being allocated. Doesn’t much matter which party, there is very little evidence of true and humble public service. But, as they say, we have to vote for someone.

I’m in no position to tell anyone who to vote for, but I’m free to indicate what will guide me. I’m not going to vote for any candidate who just runs down an opponent without really saying what he or she stands for. I want to vote for candidates who have principles which come closest to matching my own. So, I won’t be voting for anyone who seems unwilling to defend us from all enemies, foreign and domestic. It seems to me that some folks are unprepared to make the difficult decisions that make the difference between victory and defeat in a time of global conflict. I certainly despise war, but when religious whackos seem bound and determined to make good on threats to destroy all people whom they regard as infidels, I say we need more than words and cheap sentiments to prevent this from happening. The Pope has recently reminded us that faith and reason should guide leaders who make decisions which affect all humanity. My faith and reason tell me that the world is witnessing a bloody conflict against civilization as we have known it. This requires leaders who can go beyond just divvying up the pie. They need to make it clear where they stand and what they are willing to do to prevent more heads from being cut off.

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“Every Priest is Taken from Among Men” (10/29/2006)

On this Priesthood Sunday, we have been reminded in today’s lesson from the Letter to the Hebrews that priests are first and foremost human. But the greater import of this letter is that there is really only one priest and one priesthood. Jesus Christ is our great High Priest who has offered the once-and-for-all sacrifice that brings to those who believe in Him the forgiveness of our sins and life everlasting in God’s kingdom.

It took many decades following the Lord’s death and resurrection for the church to realize that Christ was continuing to exercise His priestly ministry through the ministry of the Elders—the bishops, priests, and deacons. This awareness bears witness to the belief that the Risen Christ continued to live among them through the power of the Holy Spirit. In his first letter, the apostle Peter said that Christ would reign over a nation of priests….that all who were baptized became part of his Royal Priesthood. The essential role of priests is to worship and to offer sacrifice. In Christ, the whole church is empowered to offer with, in, and through Him, a perfect sacrifice of praise.

So what’s the distinction between the priesthood of all the baptized and the priesthood of Holy Orders? St. Augustine put it this way when speaking to the people he served: with you I am a follower of Christ, for you I am a bishop. The church teaches that those taken from among the baptized to serve as priests are given a special grace that makes it possible for them to stand in the midst of the church as a sacrament of Christ, the head of the Body. But like all who share in Christ’s priesthood—lay or ordained—the measure of success is faithfulness. No priest takes this “honor” upon himself so as to “Lord it over” those he is called to serve. This means that like Christ, priests must seek the grace to empty themselves of any sense of pride or prestige so as to be able to lay down their lives for the flock.

This is a great challenge. Please pray for me and for all priests that we may become truly faithful servant leaders.

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