As part of my journey to ordination I have been asked to share a short reflection on each of the 39 Articles of Relgion of the Church of England. I will share my reflections as I write them over the coming weeks. Today, I share my responses to articles one through six.
There is but one living and true God, ever-lasting, without body, parts, or passions; of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness; the Maker, and Preserver of all things both visible and invisible. And in unity of this Godhead there be three Persons, of one substance, power, and eternity; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
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The path to ministry God set before me was indeed mysterious. I was raised in the Mormon church, but always felt that something wasn’t right. For the longest I assumed it was my lack of faith and sinfulness that prevented me from being able to believe the things I should. When I left home for university I stopped attending church and, though I still considered myself a Mormon, started exploring different options. At university I found I had more in common with my friends at the Wesley Foundation, Baptist Student Union, and other Christian organizations than I did with my Mormon peers. At the same time, I was also put off by the Christians on campus who would confront people on the quad and condemn them to Hell or question if they were saved (a phrase of little meaning to a Mormon).
Read more...The 19th century was a time of great action and change in the religious scene in America. Republican ideals and the new sense of freedom offered by America’s vast frontier led to great revivals of religion. Americans questioned the established churches and forged their own religious paths with nothing except personal conscience and the Bible as their guide. Within this context the post Revolutionary War remnants of the established English church remained in America. Many of the parishes left behind stood apart from the evangelical Protestant mainstream that would come to define the 19th century. Others had been touched by the revivals of Edwards, Whitefield, and Wesley’s Methodists and intended to take part in the religious conversation of the first American century.
Read more...The parable of rich man and Lazarus found in Luke 16:19-31 raises many uncomfortable questions about wealth, poverty, salvation, judgment, and the nature of the afterlife. Most uncomfortable for me, is the parable’s apparent ease with the idea of the rich man being tormented in Hades.
In the narrative, torture is introduced abruptly without comment and neither Lazarus nor Abraham seem to have a problem with it. The rich man is dead, buried, and being tormented in Hades all within one quick declaration in vv.22b - 23. Lazarus makes no plea for mercy with Abraham on the rich man’s behalf in the parable. Indeed, Lazarus remains completely silent during the entire afterlife exchange between Abraham and the rich man. Abraham throughout his entire discourse with the rich man shows no repulsion to what is happening. On the contrary, Abraham makes it clear in v. 25 that he knows the rich man is “in anguish.” This he notes, as matter of fact.
Read more...The Parable of the Growing Seed – so called by Snodgrass1 – found in Mark 4:26-29 at first glance appears to present an image of a careless and maybe not very intelligent man who aimlessly throws seed around, naps during the growing season, and then harvests whatever happens to grow. First impressions, however, are not always best. On a deeper analysis, the parable reveals an image of humankind participating in the building of the kingdom of God and enjoying the bounty of God’s blessings once his kingdom has been fully realized. In this short parable, Jesus not only answers the question of why things do not seem to have changed too much at the Son of Man’s arrival, but also why his followers should work to build the kingdom they thought would appear in an instant.
Read more...The parable found in Luke 8:5-8, Mark 4:2b-9, and Matt 13:3b-9 titled the “Parable of the Sower” by Snodgrass1 is much better titled the “Parable of the Soils” as it is called in Burton’s2 early 20th century gospel harmony, because the point of this parable has very little to do with the sower and everything to do with dirt.3 Snodgrass provides sufficient evidence that the nimshal found in Matt 13:18-23, Mark 4:13-20, and Luke 8:11-15 fits well within the bounds of what Jesus would have taught to his disciples.4 The explanation of the parable in the text makes it clear that Jesus and the Evangelists saw the seeds in the parable as a metaphor for God’s word being preached to God’s people. The soil represents those who Jesus’ message is preached to and their receptiveness to that message. A person with the qualities of good soil will listen to Jesus’ message, work to understand it, and put Jesus’ teachings into action in her or his life.5
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