Classical Virtues and True Beauty

Rector's Rambling: October 2012


Phidias: The Cavalcade-Balance, Function, and True Beauty

Sitting here in my chapel/study, I am surrounded by memories.  Directly in front of me is a bronze statue of the Minuteman at Lexington (or was it Concord,) presented to me by the members of my regiment upon my retirement.  He stands defiant, rifle in hand, alongside a plow over which is draped a cloak.  The reference to Livy's account of Cincinnatus is inescapable.  On the shelf below the Minuteman are the chief's stripes from my Dad's dress blue Navy Uniform. In the far corner stands another bronze of St. George slaying the dragon, and beneath that stands a stuffed red fox in front of a Joseph Petro print of Bishop Moody blessing the Knox County Hunt (which still needs to be hung after these many weeks.)  Behind me is a plaster cast of a Celtic hound, his collar broken, the oppressor's sword clenched between his teeth, and a broken crown beneath his left front paw.  Dave Harmon gave it to me when we dedicated the chapel here at Briarwood.  Over the altar, in the Romanesque leaded window, stands the Celtic cross my fellow professors presented to me when I left the college to enter chaplaincy and parish work again.  Next to me on the wainscoting ledge sits a picture of Rebecca taken when we were in college, sitting on a wall built by her father.  There is an Icon of Christ, and another of the Romanov martyrs, and small figurines of Generals Lee and Jackson.

There are so many memories in this room, and yet as I think about them, I realize that they all represent a common heritage and a common philosophy.  Tristan expressed it well when he called home last night.  He was in the midst of processing a particularly virulent attack on about everything he believes, and needed a sounding board.  I was it.  The article was a generalized attack on traditional Graeco-Roman concepts of beauty.  It maintained that they were merely long established tyrannies of the historic male hegemony which oppressed women and those who did not meet the traditional sculptor's standard of beauty.  Tristan responded that in design, good form always follows function, and that certain physical attributes are historically valued because they enhanced performance in a particular realm.  Furthermore, to maintain and develop those attributes, certain desirable social qualities are essential, like self-discipline, restraint, hard work, enhanced levels of understanding, and dedication to reaching goals.  He added that the article seemed to be written by a person who was unwilling to practice those "virtues" necessary to exhibit that beauty of form which follows and enables human function in its highest expression.  In short, the writer was, in his opinion, lazy, undisciplined, unwilling to sacrifice, and far too willing to blame their own rejection on the attitudes of others rather than on their own unwillingness to cooperate with those laws of nature which are self evident;  those laws which in an earlier age brought death or slavery to those who ignored them.

I suppose the vast majority of my nick knacks and keepsakes are reminders of what Tristan called "Traditional Values."  They remind me of old comrades, of shared sacrifice and hard work, of heroism and the disciplines which preserved freedoms and built empires-spiritual as well as political or economic.  In a very real sense, they call me to examine my spiritual life, and to realize that my physical and intellectual lives are important expressions of that "spiritual life" which I value so much.  Certainly, my salvation is all of grace.  It is freely given by Jesus Christ through the blood of the everlasting covenant.  I neither deserve it, nor can I do anything to attain it.  But once it becomes the defining feature of my life, I am changed forever, and called to put aside those bad habits of laziness, and thoughtlessness, and selfish lusts of the flesh and mind.  I am called to so discipline myself in grateful humility that I do my best to follow the example of who Jesus is and what he does in history.  The virtues of temperance, self-control, hard work, personal discipline, dedication, and submission to the revealed will of God- along with so many others, enable me by God's grace to be more like Jesus, that his work might be done in this world. 

David Brainerd, the early Puritan missionary to the natives of New England, lamented that God had given him a message to proclaim and a horse from which to proclaim it.  By not taking care of his physical health, he said, "I have killed the horse, and now I have no way to deliver the message."  His words call us all to pay closer attention to the exercise of the traditional virtues in our lives.  God calls us to do our best to develop physical, emotional, educational, and spiritual health that we might be able to serve him more faithfully and fully.  It is true that not all of us start with the same raw materials in every area.  Some of us have found our abilities to develop in one area or another severely limited  by accidents of nature beyond our control or by bad decisions we made in the past.  But whatever our situation, we are called in the here and now to do the best we can with what we possess in the present.  To labour toward that end is to attain true beauty in both the Classical sense and in the Christian sense. 

Thank you Tristan, for reminding me why I kept all of this junk.  In the weeks to come, might we all commit ourselves to the practice of those virtues which will help us to build stronger bodies, stronger minds, stronger relationships with each other, and more intimate relationships with Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord, my Master.

Faithfully,
Bill+
  

Good Shepherd Sunday Sermon

The Good Shepherd by William Dyce

Preached at St. John's Lancaster on the Fourth Sunday of Easter MMXII

Today is Good Shepherd Sunday. In an age where we are influenced in so many ways to consider ourselves as individuals to be the center of the universe, it is very tempting to talk a lot about the nature of sheep. And I must admit, there do seem to be some very real similarities between us and them. They are creatures of flight and instinct which seem ever prone to move as a herd or a mob, without much evidence of reasonable introspection. They seem to be sick a great deal, and are relatively unable to protect themselves successfully against those who would prey upon them. They are beautiful in their own way, and useful after a fashion, but at the end of the day they do sort of remind me of four legged chickens with wool coats. To compare myself or my fellow homo sapiens to sheep is far from a compliment, and I think there has been far too much of it over the years.

No, it seems to me that the real purpose of today’s image of Jesus as the great and good Shepherd of Israel is more about him than us. In an age more agrarian and pastoral than our own, one which was scarce removed from the wandering lifestyle of the Bedouin tribes, the image of the shepherd was as common as that of the auto worker or the teacher in our own age. Just as the non-expert in our own day can identify a teacher who is able to motivate and inspire her students, or an auto worker who is diligent and timely, so the ancient Jew understood what constituted the character and habits of a good shepherd, even if he was several generations removed from the agrarian experience. Hence Jesus employed this image, along with others common to the age, to explain the love of God to the people of Israel, and indeed to all the world.

In ancient Jewry, the sight of the shepherd enduring cold, heat, rain, and danger to insure the safety and well being of his charges was well known. The good shepherd’s willingness to sacrifice and endure hardship and danger on behalf of his charges was proverbial. Jesus was not the first rabbi to employ the image of the shepherd climbing down the face of the cliff to rescue one of his charges, not was he the first to speak of Israel as a flock cared for by a committed and loving steward. While we no longer see shepherds in our daily travels, the image is as well fixed in our culture as it was in that of ancient Palestine. The image is a part of our culture, and it is not hard to understand.

Jesus Christ loves us, and takes personal responsibility for our care and nurture. He is as willing to go down the face of the cliff for you and me today as he was when he walked the dusty roads of ancient Galilee. His desire to deliver us from the danger and potentially fatal results of our lust, our gluttony, and our pride was demonstrated conclusively to everyone on the earth by his death for us on the cross. His ability to deliver on his characterization of himself as the pen or paddock which provides our safety, security, deliverance, and well being was proven by his ability to take up his life again in the Resurrection from the dead. Yes, his willingness to endure the shame and suffering of the Passion and Crucifixion, and his triumphant defeat of death itself is historical proof that he is faithful to all of those who are loved by God, and that includes you and me. Unlike the hireling who runs away at the first sign of trouble or danger, Jesus is willing to stand by us, to labour for your salvation and for mine, until the very end. He is willing to do whatever it takes to help all of us to overcome those sins which drag us down. He will faithfully stand by us when the bad times come to us, without regard to whether those bad times just come our way or are the result of our bad decisions and actions. In a nutshell, that is the meaning of all of this talk about Jesus being the Good Shepherd.

How will you respond to such a commitment made on your behalf? True, none of us asked him to be our Good Shepherd. He made these decisions willingly to show us his love before we were even created. When we were no more that a loved dream of what was to come in the mind of God, Jesus made the decision to love you and me, and everyone else ever made in the image of God the Father. He determined to do whatever it might take to offer us the gifts of forgiveness, of reconciliation with God, of deliverance from guilt and shame, of release from the bondage of our addictions and bad habits, of deliverance from being alone and devoid of purpose. And in addition to deliverance and restoration to God in this life, he offers us the opportunity to live forever with him in heaven in the life to come. He offers us escape from the just reward for our sins, for the way we have treated God and each other. He offers us escape from Hell and its everlasting separation from God’s love and hope and purpose. How will you respond?

I invite you on this day to respond by embracing God’s love in Jesus Christ with all you heart, soul, mind, and strength. As I complete this sermon today, stand and confess Jesus Christ, the second person of the Holy and Blessed Trinity as Lord and Saviour by saying the creed with passion and commitment, as if you really do believe it to be true. In the prayers of the People, bring him all of your needs and leave them at the foot of the cross, believing that he will do that which is best for you, and give you strength to do that which is best for his kingdom. Kneel in humility to confess your sins of act or omission and believe in your heart and mind that he truly does keep his promise to forgive you and restore you to a right relationship with your Heavenly Father. As we stand for the peace, purpose in your heart to make restitution to anyone or everyone you have wronged in any way, and if they are here today, approach them and offer to make a start. And then come to this table of our Lord to receive God’s gift of the Body and Blood of Jesus. Offer again to receive him as your own. Name him as your King and Saviour, your Brother and Friend. Know that in this act of Holy Communion, as you come to him in faith, he receives you as his own and empowers you for the task at hand. And then go forth into the world in the power of the Holy Spirit to bear witness to the dynamism and strength of this salvation by living a life of humility and obedience, one that recognizes your need of him, and which passionately desires to please him by doing those things the Bible says we ought to do, and by not doing those things it tells us not to do. As we respond in this way to the Good Shepherd, God will work through each of us, through all of us, to glorify himself and to bring the nations into his fold; and there will be peace among the nations, and all people shall see the glory and tenderness of his love.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Memory Work is Good for the Soul

Rector’s Rambling April 2012

Holy Week will soon be upon us. Some of you may remember that on the first Sunday of Advent, I challenged the parish to read those Bible passages suggested by Scripture Union in their “Essential 100 Bible Reading Plan” http://www.e100challenge.org.uk . Our target date for completion is Good Friday. Many people at St. John’s have taken that challenge seriously, and I believe our level of Bible literacy has increased as a result. In addition, I hope the regular discipline of Bible reading now seems more accessible to many of us here at the parish. Many of you know Betty Pugh, a long time parishioner of St. John’s. Although Betty is legally blind, she uses a special super magnifier and reads the Bible through on a regular basis. She asked me to suggest a list of Bible verses which Christians might memorize to their profit. I thought it was a good idea, and so here they are.

Some Favorite Memory Verses:

John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 14:6
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Matthew 28:19
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

Romans 3:23
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Ephesians 2:8
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Acts 1: 8
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

2 Timothy 3:16
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:


Romans 10:9
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

John 1:12
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

Romans 8:28
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Romans 12:1
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

These are just a few favorite Bible Verses. For a longer list, you might want to visit http://topverses.com , where you can access favorite Bible verses in many different translations.


If you have not already done so, I would also suggest you work on learning the Ten Commandments and Apostles’ Creed, reproduced here as they appear in “The Book of Common Prayer- 1979” http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp .

The Decalogue: Traditional (BCP page 317-318)

God spake these words, and said:
I am the Lord thy God who brought thee out of the land of
Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have none
other gods but me.

Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image, nor the
likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth
beneath, or in the water under the earth; thou shalt not bow
down to them, nor worship them.

Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain.

Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day.

Honor thy father and thy mother.

Thou shalt do no murder.

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Thou shalt not steal.

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

Thou shalt not covet.


The Apostles’ Creed (BCP page 66)

I believe in God, the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth;

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried.
He descended into hell.
The third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven,
and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father almighty.
From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

Faithfully,
Bill+

Fools For Christ

Sermon for Lent IIIB Preached at St. John’s 11 March 2012

Exodus 20:1-17

Psalm 19

I Corinthians 1:18-25

John2: 13-22

It made perfect sense- selling sacrificial animals in the Temple courts. People came from all over the world to sacrifice, and they could not be expected to bring their animals with them. And was it really so bad if the people providing the service made an honest living? After all, the Scriptures say that “the laborer is worthy of his hire.” The problem was that people got so caught up in the day to day administration of the program that it seems they forgot what the program of sacrifice was all about. The people on the spot demonstrated this lack of understanding when they failed to understand what Jesus was saying about his upcoming resurrection as he discussed the “allegory of the temple’s destruction and rebuilding.” This preacher from Galilee just didn’t make sense.

In the same way, the commandments of God from the first lesson don’t make a lot of sense in a modern and cosmopolitan world. Surely we all want to respect God and our neighbors, but can you really believe this Moses. He says that you have to do it his way, and that if you don’t, God will judge you, your children, your grand-children, and your great-grand-children. Is it really so bad if someone swears by using God’s Name? And I only get off two days a week. What is the big thing about giving one of them exclusively to God? I suppose the rest of the rules make some sense, about honoring parents and murder and stealing and the like. But all of this puritanical pre-occupation with sex and absolute honesty is not very realistic at all. And how can I ever make a living for my family unless I am willing to drive my competition into the ground and increase my own market share? Moses just isn’t willing to understand that it is dog eat dog out there in the business world today.

As usual, Paul was right. In our second lesson for today, he points out that “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.” And goes on to say “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” “Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” We are so enamored with ourselves. At least we are until things really fall apart. We trust in our own schemes and live our lives according to our own choices. We create false gods who will justify our own thoughts, actions, and desires, and do what makes sense to us at the time. And then comes the horrible time of divorce, violation of our safety and self-worth, death of a loved one, loss of a career, or our mobility, or our health, or our financial security. We realize that all of our imaginations were just that. And we cry out to God. And in his mercy and love he comes to us. When everything else lets us down ‘the message of the cross is to us who are being saved the power of God.’

It makes no sense whatsoever that God the Father would send his only begotten Son, the second person of the blessed Trinity, to bear the punishment I deserve and give me another chance. It makes no sense that The Blessed Holy Spirit, the third person of that same Trinity, would come to comfort and strengthen me in my hour of trial. In fact, it makes no sense that God would care about me at all. There are millions upon millions of people who have lived throughout history. There seem to be a nearly infinite number of star systems. History seems to roll on and on and I do so little to impact or control it. And yet God himself knows my name and has called me to be among that number of people who are being saved.

Today I stand before you as a Staryets, a fool for Christ, to encourage you to accept this radical and irrational message that by this bizarre and unbelievable methodology, God has chosen to show his love for you. He reveals to you and to me a model of how we might so live that we will find peace and consolation in this world, and life everlasting in the world to come. It is too simple to be real. Believe today that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Tell him that you are sorry for the bad things you have done, and that you will do your best with his help to amend your ways. I assure you today that he will keep his promise to you and to us all, and we shall be known as the people of God.

In just a few moments, we will stand and say together “I Believe.” We will confess that Jesus is the Christ. Then, after we bring our needs and concerns to God in the prayers of the people, we will repent and ask for his forgiveness for our sins. Then he will forgive us and invite us all to come to his holy table, which is an extension of his heavenly banquet table. Those of us who have been baptized he invites to receive the Holy Communion of the body and blood of Jesus. Those who have not been baptized he invites to come for a blessing and to begin preparation for baptism. In this act of faith, he will pour upon us the assurance of his love and strength for the challenges of this coming week. I urge you to join me as a Staryets, a fool for Christ. Set aside your own wisdom and embrace that true wisdom of God today. “For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.” In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. AMEN.

Preached at the Installation of My Friend

Installation of the Rev’d Mr. David Halt as Rector of St.Matthew’s Church, Springfield

Joshua 1:7-9
Psalm 43
Romans 12:1-18
John 15:9-16

The Scripture Lessons appointed for today are most instructive, and they are echoed and affirmed by Saints throughout the ages. Be humble. Love one another. Be faithful and obedient to the Word of God written. Acknowledge and appreciate and enable one another’s gifts. Stand with courage and steadfastness for that which is right, whatever the cost may be; and together you will model for this city and this diocese the very nature of God.
Dave, we go back a long way. I remember taking our hummer deep into the woods at Camp Grayling to find a quiet place to read Morning Prayer, and running the ridge line at the east end of Camp Atterbury to the old settlers graveyard to do the same. I remember when we broke away from the convoy on the way to Fort Knox so that you could meet Bishop Thompson. He stood us up, but treated us to a wonderful meal at his club in downtown Cincinnati. I think it was on that trip that we had the tire blow out somewhere around Louisville. We were young then, and you were Methodist, and I used to be. We both loved God and our families. Our hearts burned with a desire to serve him and the Republic, and we shared so many things, tears and joys and fine and gentlemanly things, and dreams of what the future held.
Now I am on the downhill side of my active life as a Priest of our Lord, and you, you are at a grand new beginning. The people to whom God has called you come to this place faithfully every week after they have toiled in the workplace and sought to build their families and relationships in times which are often so very, very difficult. Honour them, and the vast majority of them will honour you virtually all of the time. After all, you are God’s gift to each other. Forget most of what you learned in school about being a good pastor. Go back and re-read Gregory’s Pastoral Care, and Herbert’s Country Parson, and Baxter’s Reformed Pastor, and throw in a bit of Bishop Grafton for Good measure. Don’t forget Archbishop Ramsay’s Christian Priest Today, and remember the godly examples of Mr. Harding and Father Tim. Buy a little farm and mabey even burial plots, and write your name in the soil of this place. Become one with this people. Share their dreams and visions. Baptize their children and bury their honoured dead. Weep with them and laugh with them. Rejoice with them when their children win the state championship, and be by their side when those same children go off to war, or college, or to a new love. Serve them faithfully in Word and Sacrament, and guide them in the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic faith; for that is your primary task here. Programs are fine, and sometimes are even helpful, but your primary purpose is to preside in Word and Sacrament, that the people of God at this place might come to know themselves, and God and each other, with an ever deepening intimacy…an intimacy which ravishes their souls and leads them to that peace which passes all understanding. It will never do for you to be a professional priest or sacramentarian. You must be one with this people, “wallowing in the midst of their daily affairs.”.. loving them and thereby proving your amateur status, remembering that amo, amare- is the latin root for love, which ought to motivate everything you do here. Bind yourself to them with an holy co-dependence, and thus demonstrate to this entire county the true nature of the Holy and Blessed Trinity. As we cannot imagine the Father without the Son and the Spirit; or the Son without the Father and the Spirit; or the Spirit without the Father and the Son—So may the people of saint Matthew’s be bound so closely in love that none of you can imagine what your church would be like if any one of you were absent.
This will not be an easy task. There will be times when your own humanity and that of others here will show its ugly possibilities, and you will think the worst of each other’s motives. You will disagree with vigor over agendas and programs and prerogatives. You will release arrows you wish could be recalled, and perhaps for a time even think their release fully justified. And this is where the admonition of today’s Scriptures becomes so important. Always conduct yourself with humility, preferring others before yourself. Be willing to listen, and covenant with your people to hear one another. Teach them that the Word of God written is the rule and guide of our faith, that it contains all things necessary to salvation, and that no Christian man ought to be required to do or believe anything that is not clearly taught therein; and that we ought to submit to the clear teachings of the Bible, even when we do not agree with them. Questions are good things, but at the end of the day, obedience must be our goal. Such obedience grows not out of coercion or slavish worship of laws or precepts, but out of an absolute confidence in the character of Him who loves us, and who gave himself for us. Because he has always been so constant in seeking our best, we can follow with confidence where He leads the way, even when we do not understand His grand strategy.
Dave, my friend, you will make many mistakes, as will every member of your vestry, and of every committee, and as do all of us here. There will be those who will hold onto the mistakes of others with a seemingly eternal memory. But if your life is holy; If you live according to the ways of God taught in the Bible; if your attitudes and demeanour give evidence that the love of God is spread abroad in your life; if you are a man of good will; the people here will gain such confidence in your character that they will work with you in spite of your shortcomings. And if you seek to see that same holiness and evidence of the Holy Spirit in their lives, your love and acceptance and understanding will be mutual- an empirical evidence of the efficacy of Holy Baptism in the lives of all here.
And so in closing, I would say to you, my friend, and to all here:” Be strong and of a good courage, be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.” AMEN and AMEN