History, they say, is written by the victors. Heresy, in turn, is determined by those who hold positions of power in the orthodox circles of the day. Certainly ideas are not to be trifled with and discerning between sound and unsound teaching is an important and delicate matter. Still, maybe it is time to bring in from the cold some of those whom earlier generations banished.
Ted’s invitation to a reflection for the Second Sunday after Christmas
The light shines in the darkness …
… and the darkness did not overcome it.
OPENING IN COMMUNION WITH THE ANCIENTS
From Psalm 147
In “Psalms for Praying: An Invitation to Wholeness”, Nan C. Merrill, Continuum Press, 2002
Praise the Beloved, Life of all life!
Invite Love into your heart!
For Divine Love gives strength to the weak,
courage to face their fears.
Divine Love brings peace to the heart,
peace that is beyond our knowledge.
Divine Love cuts through the ignorance,
humbling and breaking open the heart.
Divine Love severs the veil that separates
realms of the profane and sacred:
Holiness radiates through all touched by Divine Love,
a refining fire!
Wisdom flows from the Heart of Divine Love
to all receptive hearts nurtured in the Silence.
Yes, the Divine Word is written on every heart-scroll,
a guide to pilgrims on the Way.
May everyone awaken to Divine Love,
that peace and integrity and assurance
may be born again in every land.
O my soul, praise the Beloved!
SCRIPTURE
Here are two passages, the first from the opening chapter of Genesis, the first book in the Hebrew Scriptures, and the second from the opening chapter of the Gospel of John in the Christian Scriptures. Perhaps you will notice ways in which they echo each other. Where extra periods appear … this indicates where I have abridged the readings. On this Second Sunday after Christmas, the Gospel verses are as close as John comes to a Christmas story.
But first, if you choose to listen, here is a hymn that contains images and themes from today’s readings.
Perhaps you know it because it is in our United Church songbook, More Voices #103.
The Hawaiian words in the refrain translate as “Faithful is our God”
Be quick on the “skip the ads” button!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y–rixZuf1c
Genesis 1:1-5, 26-28, 31
In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good…. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day….
Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness.” And so God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them….. God blessed them….. God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
John 1:1-5, 14
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it…. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.
Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church:
Thanks be to God.
TED’S REFLECTIONS
BEWARE OF HERETICS!
Pelagius (imagined above) was a 4th-5th Century Welshman who followed the Way of Christ especially as it was nurtured in him through the sensitivities of his upbringing in a Celtic land. He was not, however, ignorant of or hostile towards the more widespread Roman approach. In fact, he spent much of his life living and teaching in Rome itself – in many ways a “Mecca” for all Christians – where he was widely respected for his saintly lifestyle and revered as a learned scholar and an inspired teacher. Gradually however – as his Celtic roots became more and more evident – controversy began to swirl around him until he was eventually excommunicated as a heretic and banished into obscurity. What seemed to rub his Roman colleagues the wrong way were two things especially: he taught women and considered them as worthy as men of education and leadership; and he never bought into the prevailing orthodoxy of “original sin”, especially as that doctrine was formulated by another major theologian of the day, Augustine of Hippo. From a Celtic perspective, something of the Divine is incarnate in all matter, animate and inanimate, female and male, and remains so for all time. In my seminary days, I was warned against the heresy of “Pelagianism” only to discover more recently that I have actually been a practising “Pelagianist” through most of my life in ministry. Maybe my own Celtic roots (in my case, Cornish and Irish) have been showing all this time even when I didn’t have a name for it. I mention this knowing that, should you report me, I may also be excommunicated as a heretic and banished into even more obscurity than I already live!
I also mention Pelagius because the Gospel reading for this week is a portion of the deep and evocative first chapter of the Gospel of John. John’s Gospel was particularly treasured in Celtic Christian circles. The image that John Philip Newell emphasizes in his writings is that of the Beloved Disciple mentioned in the Gospel (John himself perhaps or Mary of Magdala?) who, in art, is often depicted as cuddling on the breast of Jesus – “listening for the heartbeat of God” in Newell’s words. Whereas Roman Christianity tended to favour the Gospel of Matthew, especially where it emphasizes hierarchical authority and orthodox doctrine, John’s Gospel appeals more to the imagination and intuition and invites us into an intimate and mystical relationship with the Divine rather than into a life of conformity and obedience within the institution.
Celtic Christians in general (along with others from some branches of the Christian movement, notably Eastern Orthodox churches) also shared Pelagius’ aversion to the notion of Original Sin – that we are born into sin and are incapable of good unless we repent and are baptized and regenerated by the Spirit through our faith in the grace of God as mediated to us through Christ. Most of Protestantism adopted and even intensified that thinking – the Reformers may have protested against a lot of their Roman roots but not that part. For Pelagius, on the other hand, and those who would dare to call themselves his kin – although evil and sin are so obviously real and can manifest themselves in human behaviour in quite vicious ways – humans are born good and blessed (as the first chapter of Genesis affirms) and never lose that essential identity no matter how deeply it might be buried in any one person. Opening to Christ does not change our nature so much as it reawakens us to our essential nature as Beloved in God, freeing that wellspring of goodness and love to flow freely through us. That is another reason why the Gospel of John so resonates with Christians of a Celtic sensitivity: “the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.” What is essentially true about the gift of life remains true no matter what forces – including bad theology – try to convince us otherwise and seek to extinguish that brave and persistent flame at the core of our being.
That may be a bit more history and theology than you really want. But, my friends, it all comes down to this. Nestle onto the breast of Jesus and listen for the heartbeat of God, letting its vibrations resonate within you and express themselves through you. Look for the light in everyone you meet, even when it is difficult to see past their shadow. And, above all, dare to believe that same light shines in you and that you are now, always have been, and always will be Beloved of God without reservation or exception.
For Further Reflection:
- How do you “listen for the heartbeat of God”?
- What does that image mean in your spiritual orientation and practice?
- What helps/hinders you from seeing the Beloved in yourself and in others?
- What difference does it make when you do?
How might any of your reflections and thoughts lead you into prayer before you continue with what follows?
OUR DEDICATION
From the United Church of Canada’s Song of Faith
We witness to Holy Mystery that is Wholly Love. God is creative and self-giving, generously moving in all the near and distant corners of the universe. Nothing exists that does not find its source in God. Our first response to God’s providence is gratitude. We sing thanksgiving.
Finding ourselves in a world of beauty and mystery, of living things, diverse and interdependent, of complex patterns of growth and evolution, of subatomic particles and cosmic swirls, we sing of God the Creator, the Maker and Source of all that is. Each part of creation reveals unique aspects of God the Creator, who is both in creation and beyond it. All parts of creation, animate and inanimate, are related. All creation is good. We sing of the Creator, who made humans to live and move and have their being in God.
In and with God, we can direct our lives toward right relationship with each other and with God. We can discover our place as one strand in the web of life. We can grow in wisdom and compassion. We can recognize all people as kin. We can accept our mortality and finitude, not as a curse, but as a challenge to make our lives and choices matter. Made in the image of God, we yearn for the fulfillment that is life in God. Amen.
CONCLUDING BLESSING
A poem by Mary Oliver, “Wild Geese”
Besides its usage here, the wild goose is also an image associated with St. Columba and the Iona Community
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting–
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
Peace be with you.
Ted
