The Apostles' Creed as a Prayer

In a workshop on worship for mentors of the EfM program (Education for Ministry of Sewanee, The University of the South), I worked with fellow mentors Nanette and David to create a liturgy from the Apostles' Creed.

We were taking off from a suggestion in Diana Butler Bass's essay about the creed, that it can be recited as a kind of prayer (see blogpost in 02/2015 "Believing and Beloving"). The word "to believe" comes from German "lieben," or "love": "to belove." The word "creed" comes from credo, something different from the Latin word for "I have an opinion." "Credo" means something more like "I entrust myself to." So when we say the Creed as a checklist of intellectual propositions that we accept, we're short - changing it. Instead, we are declaring our trust in the beings of the Trinity, and pledging our lives to living the story that the creed tells.

We assigned each member of our group a passage from the Creed, written on a piece of paper, and gave everyone in the workshop time to find and copy on the page a text of scripture or from another source that illustrates or expands their passage. When it came time to worship, we read the creed in unison; then read it one passage at a time, placing the pages in the center of our circle at the end of each reading; then we recited the creed again.

The effect, we hope, is to make the creed what Bass imagines it to be, an icon of words. I explained that the creed would become like one of the stained glass windows at our meeting place, St. Philip's Cathedral [see photo]: we see the images of the window itself, but also can look through to the sky and world beyond.

Here's what we read today as a group in worship:


I believe in one God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

A reading from Job ch. 38 - 39

Then the Lord answered out of the whirlwind: Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?... Have you commanded the morning since your days began and caused the dawn to know its place? Do you give the horse his might? Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soar?"

I believe in Jesus Christ, his Son our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.

A reading from Luke
The angel Gabriel was sent from God... to a virgin, and the virgin's name was Mary.... And the Angel said, "Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus."

He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead.

A reading from Luke 24.46
Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day.

On the third day he rose again.

A personal meditation by Kathryn
Walking toward Cavalry, Jesus fell and rose, fell and rose again, three times. We, too, fall again and again. Thanks be to God who shows us how to rise again and again. And still we rise.

He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

A reading from Mark 16.19
And then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that attended it.

He will come again to judge the living and the dead.

A reading from 2 Corinthians 5.10
For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

And, from 1 Corinthians 4.5
Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time. Wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the matters of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.

I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints....

A reading from 1 Corinthians 1
I appeal to you brothers and sisters in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.

...the forgiveness of sins...

A reading from Psalm 32.1
Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sin is covered.

An anonymous prayer found at Buchenwald
Think not of the pain inflicted by our captors, but the fruit borne by our condition, love, brotherhood, sacrifice, devotion; so that when our captors come to judgement, let the fruit borne be their forgiveness.

...the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.

Readings from the Book of Common Prayer, p. 493
I am the Resurrection and the life. Give us faith to see in death the gate of eternal life, until we are reunited with those who have come before. A personal comment by Fr. Holland: The resurrection occurs in life as well as in death.

A reading from Romans 8
Nothing can separate us from the love of God: no height or depth, no power or principality -- not even death itself.

A reading from John 3.16
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that those who believe in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

We repeated the Creed in unison. David suggests that, whenever possible, the papers collected at center should be burned at the conclusion of the creed, as an offering of prayer, like incense.

"All Saints": Refugees Revive an Episcopal Church

All Saints takes its title directly from an Episcopal church in Smyrna, Tennessee that lost a large number of parishioners who couldn't tolerate the national church's acceptance of a gay bishop and a female presiding bishop. Those left behind were stuck with the mortgage on a new building on new property. Tennessee's bishop sent Michael Spurlock, a young man fresh out of seminary, to lead services and oversee the sale of the property.

The title could also refer to a disparate group of individuals who came together from as far away as Myanmar to build that church into a vibrant center of worship, education, and service. The book tells the life story of Spurlock, who was an angry atheist before his relationship with opera singer Aimee Marcoux turned him towards the Episcopal church -- and marriage; Ye Win, guerrilla fighter for his Karen people against the repressive Myanmar regime; Bu Christ, Anglican priest operating at risk to his life in Myanmar; retired Gulf War veteran Paul Adams, problem - solver and agnostic who just happens to have had experience teaching English as a second language: these, and more, saints, all.


As we get to know their backgrounds, we see these people help each other. The influx of Karen people brings energy to the church, and parishioners step up to help ease the Karen into America. A parishioner in a power - driven wheelchair, recognized from a news story, hears someone say, "You're from that church that saved all those refugees." She replies, "No, all those refugees saved us!"


As these people learn to trust each other, they learn to trust in God's providence. Several times, Spurlock finds exactly the amount of money the church needs at exactly the moment he needs it -- which he sees as the answer to prayer. Readying the church for sale, Spurlock takes a lonely walk around the church's vast property and hears a voice -- "it wasn't mine!" he says later -- pointing out that the church has land and around 70 under employed Karen whose expertise is farming: together, they establish a farm that feeds Karen families, supplies local foodbanks, and makes a profit. When watering the acres proves impossible, Spurlock meets a man on a hiking trail who just happens to have a spare 1000 gallon water tank to give away. Are these divine interventions, or does the man of faith see what he looks for -- and does faith open him up to look for help?

The story portrays faith as openness to relationships, and the trust that develops through those relationships, not as a set of intellectual propositions -- although the pastor does run the agnostic Paul Adams through the Nicene Creed, checking off all the items that Adams has come to believe as he has worked with Karen, so impressed was he by the ways they've risked their lives for faith. Faith grows through habits of worship and intentional hospitality that build the community. In these ways, and in the willingness on both sides to honor the others' cultural differences, the book All Saints illustrates much of what I've been reading in books of theology this year.

The book, now adapted as a film, is by Michael Spurlock and Jeanette Windle, All Saints: The Surprising Story of How Refugees from Burma Brought Life to a Dying Church. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 2017.

Atlanta Opera's "Dead Man Walking"

Jake Heggie was a novice at composing opera when acclaimed playwright Terrence McNally collaborated with him to adapt Sister Helen Prejean's memoir Dead Man Walking. But Heggie's background in both concert music and musical theatre served him well, first time out. Heggie's music propels the action, sustains tension under monologues, and ties scenes together thematically. Though I had not seen the opera since it was new (Cincinnati Opera, 2002), Heggie's music instantly brought back emotional memory of that first time: the dread during the prologue, the warmth of an original hymn tune "He Will Gather Us Around," and, most of all, the heart - breaking pavane as each parent remembers the last words they said to their children.

While the real Sister Helen Prejean speaks out against the death penalty, Heggie and McNally don't stack the deck. They leave no doubt that "Joseph DeRocher" (Michael Mayes, baritone) is entirely guilty, dramatizing his savage murder of a teenage couple; nor is there ever doubt that the death penalty by lethal injection will be executed on him. They don't make "Sister Helen" (Jamie Barton, mezzo - soprano) a saint: challenged to say if she "really" believes "this monster deserves to live," she replies, "I believe that is what my Lord and Savior wants me to believe. I'm trying to get there." Confronting the parents, she appears to be what they tell her that she is, naïve, oblivious to their needs while she attends to the convict, and ineffectual as she repeats, "I'm sorry... I'm sorry." Meanwhile, DeRocher is defensive, pugnacious, unwilling to admit his guilt.


Instead of taking one side, Heggie and McNally go inside: They ask, what good, if any, can be salvaged from the horrible situation that DeRocher himself created for himself and for all the others? One of the parents "Owen Hart" (Wayne Tigges, bass), remarks to "Sister Helen" that he and she are both victims of the killer. As many scenes take place in the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, we also see that the inmates and officers are equally trapped, frightened, and resentful of each other.


Our sympathies are engaged most strongly when "Mrs. Patrick DeRocher" (Maria Zifchak, mezzo - soprano) testifies to a clemency board, her two younger boys watching, along with Sister Helen and the parents of the victims. Singing simply of her son when he was a child, she's interrupted by Mr. Hart's plain description of what DeRocher did to his daughter. What follows is the moment of the opera that I've never been able to discuss with anyone, because (even now) I tear up. (In 2002, I'd looked forward to seeing diva Fredricka Van Stade in the role; but I was so wrapped up in this drama that I didn't realize until intermission that she had been the mother.)

The singing actors played their roles with energy and integrity; the orchestra and chorus were strong and clear.

While Dead Man Walking sidesteps easy answers, one unfortunate image in Atlanta's production makes me uneasy in another way. Because the convicted killer is strapped down for lethal injection, his arms are spread in a manner that could be construed to make him Christ - like. I've surveyed still images from other productions to see that some designers have wisely chosen to play down that resemblance; only Atlanta's production punched it up, making the execution chamber's wall cruciform. That's a jarring and inappropriate statement imposed on the action. At his end, Joseph De Rocher seeks forgiveness, and he looks for love in the face of Sister Helen; but he is not anyone's redeemer, innocent sacrificial lamb, or a sacrifice of any sort. The designer's intrusion marred the production in its last moments.

[I met Jake Heggie a few years ago, at the Atlanta premier of his opera Three Decembers. See my post of 05/31/2015.]

Theologian Mark McIntosh Sees Drama in the Cosmos

For "The Drama of the Cosmos," final chapter of his book Mysteries of Faith, Mark McIntosh works with an analogy close to my heart: life is like a play, the divine Author and Director collaborating with us on our roles. But we're like McIntosh in his school's 8th grade musical, saying lines and pretending to feelings that he didn't understand (148). "Most of us engage in benign or humdrum exploitations of the world around us," he writes, while an actor "who is really living the part" will be able to risk "true presence" to others (147), and be "able to turn what was a mere stage prop into something significant and meaningful." The church, he says, teaches us how to live into our roles, to be present with others and to care for creation.

Further, McIntosh imagines humankind as "third - rate actors, rehearsing over and over again fragments of unrelated plays," little dramas that never connect (151). Jesus seems to have had the effect of drawing people out of those lives and into reality, as McIntosh cites the disciples' leaving their fishing boat in an instant (Mark 1.16-17), and the promise that we can become children of God (John 1.12-13). I've always read that promise as assurance of inheriting eternal life; McIntosh sees it as redirection of our present - day lives (150).

From the earliest pages of this book, McIntosh has written of "attention" to moments of beauty or tension that break through our lives, and "desire." That ties in with the drama analogy, too, as characters' desires, called "objectives," animate the actors in their roles. The threads of attention and desire tie together in the final chapter, where McIntosh observes how Jesus operates in his earthly ministry, not by "merely" preaching but by redirecting our desire. "He puts his hands on our heads and directs our gaze right through the world's antic posing to the One who loves him, and thus he suggests to each of us a new identity" (154). McIntosh gives us a wonderful passage from Augustine, a list of senses that God has transformed to new desire, ending with touch: "You have touched me, and I have burned for your peace" (155).

Observing that Jesus chose to form a community to share his ministry, McIntosh concludes the book making the case that we learn how to be our true selves through the church. He cites Simone Weil's idea that "'to be' most fully is to 'be for another'; our lives need "freeing up" from being "constrained, wasted, exhausted in self - preservation" (161). My qualm about all this is to observe that fellowship of teams, squadrons and even physical therapy clinics are all places where we practice giving and growth. What takes the church beyond those places? McIntosh's earlier chapters provide some answers: this kind of growth and care is what church is intended for, and the church plugs us into the intellectual - aesthetic - narrative universe of Anglican liturgy and theology.

(In a note, McIntosh credits Swiss theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar, author of a five - volume exploration of Theo - Drama.)

Related Readings on this Blog
Blogposts about McIntosh's earlier chapters:

• "Not the Moral but the Story" concerns chapters 1 and 2 (01/19/2019)
  
• "How Episcopalians Believe" concerns chapter 4 (01/26/2019)
  
• "Jesus Saves - But How?" concerns chapter 6 (01/30/2019)

For more about redirecting desire and achieving communion with God through the institution of the church, see Ronald Rolheiser's The Holy Longing. My response, "Spirituality Needs Community," was posted 09/27/2012. Also related to how Episcopalians believe is "Believing and Beloving," my response to Diana Butler Bass's "Christianity After Religion" (02/26/2015).
More about McIntosh's BookMcIntosh, Mark. Mysteries of Faith. Vol. 8 in The New Church's Teaching Series. New York: Cowley Publications, 2000.

Theology Before Breakfast: Forward Day by Day, Nov. 2018 - Jan, 2019

Each morning for many years, now, the quarterly publication Forward Day by Day has let me know where we are in the endless cycle of Scripture readings assigned by the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer, and has offered short responses by a different author each month. As I read, I often check mark insights that make me go "Ah!" or "Hmm." I distill those checked passages in my blog.

Episcopal priest Jeffrey Queen wrote for November 2018. Rachel Jones, associate editor of Forward DxD wrote in December. January's author has been Linda Buskirk, consultant for the Episcopal Church Foundation.

Gems in ScriptureThe authors Queen and Jones drew attention to facets of Scripture that I don't recall noticing before.

Ruth 1.16 Where you go, I will go. This promise of a young widow, a foreigner, to her bereft Hebrew mother - in - law, makes a sweet personal story. But Queen asserts, "In these words, Ruth is the voice of God" speaking to us. God's big "P" Promise of faithfulness to us feels more intimate and personal when I think of it in the context of Ruth's story.

Joel 2.21-22 Do not fear, O soil; be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things! Do not fear, you animals of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness are green; the tree bears its fruit.... We don't often think of Joel, nor of God's attention to creatures aside from ourselves. "Joel helps us expand [our] vision to consider the implications of God's salvation upon all creation." The author reminds us of saints Francis and Seraphim (19th century Russian orthodox saint), famous for their care of God's other creatures.

James 1.19-20 Let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger... The passage is familiar; Queen applies it to our instant connectivity world - wide. In January, Linda Buskirk finds other parallels between ancient scripture and modern technology: the great cloud of witnesses that surrounds us now includes "the Cloud". She sees a modern phenomenon in the "deluded" idol - worshiper of Isaiah 44.20, who cannot save himself or say, "Is not this thing in my right hand a fraud?"

Here we are, millennia later, with churches closing for lack of attendance while crowds keep all night vigil for the newest smart phone. Ancient and modern idol worshipers share a common yearning, planted deep within each of us by our Creator. We yearn because the Holy Spirit whispers in our hearts, "There is more."

The authors sometimes offer aesthetic appreciations of Scripture. Jeremiah, in his fiery laments and enthusiastic hopes, speaks directly to the hearts of young adults, writes Jones. She compares the range of human emotions to a piano keyboard and says that Psalm 22 "hits all 88 keys." She never gets tired of seeing stars in the night sky as a "canopy" stretched above us by the Creator in Isaiah 4.5.

Analogies to ExperienceFor Christmas day, Jones observes that the Trinity gambled heavily on one modest 13 - year - old girl: she could have stayed frightened and refused. This was a succinct reminder of an insight gained at a retreat, where I first saw Henry Ossawa Tanner's painting of the Annunciation, and first read Denise Levertov's poem on the subject, both of which emphasize Mary's ambivalence. (See my blogpost of 12/04/2014).

"Our life's work is just to walk each other home." That simple image packs a lot of content. Jones takes it from Ram Dass, author of Here and Now (1971), brought to Jones's mind for the New Year's Eve reading from John's gospel about Jesus knowing where he's from and where he's going.

"A believer who lives 'unreflectively' is like a person with a well - stocked wine cellar who has never uncorked a bottle." That's from Meister Eckhart by way of Buskirk's response to Psalm 119.66, Teach me discernment and knowledge. She remembers the Episcopal Church when she joined in 1978, two years after the ordination of women, a time when the current prayer book was in its test run. She couldn't understand why there was so much upheaval. She seems to ask, What's discernment for, if you're afraid to explore your wine cellar?

Perhaps because Buskirk is involved with capital fundraising, she draws helpful analogies between concepts in Scripture and current law. When Jesus tells his disciples that they can achieve whatever they attempt in His name, Buskirk explains how her aging mother bestowed on her the power of attorney. "She relied on me to choose what was best. I had to rely on what I knew about her, what she valued and needed, to make those choices on her behalf." She continues:

Jesus grants us similar responsibility over our own lives. We can have a good chat with Jesus about our options, but honestly, an answer is not likely to float down on a dove. We must rely on our understanding of God's nature to know what to ask for and make decisions that will build up a safe, loving, peaceful kingdom that glorifies its Creator.

How Episcopalian of her that she imagines asking God for answers to prayer, not for individual matters, but for building up the kingdom on earth.

On the Feast of the Epiphany, Buskirk reminds us of "reading of the will" scenes, usually revealing dysfunction in a family. But she reminds us that we are heirs to Jesus, and I'm reminded how the assurance of my investments and Mom's Living Trust bolster my confidence even in rough times. (See another angle on that blessing in my blogpost of 12/30/2017, The Privilege is Mine).

To Paul's exhortation to "know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge" (Ephesians 3.19), Buskirk confesses that she'd always thought the key to spiritual growth was to gain more knowledge. But she learned from Franciscan Sister Norma Rocklage, "To be really who we are, we need to subtract from ourselves, not add.... Our true self is to get rid of whatever we have piled on ourselves that gets in the way."


Finally, I take away from Buskirk's month of meditations a bit of advice for these fractious times, perhaps learned in business negotiations.

Consider an issue about which you are passionate. Invite someone with an opposing view to respectful, experimental conversation about this topic. Pose this question to each other: If laws and/or hearts in society were in agreement with your position, what would the desired outcomes be? Listen to each other's answers. Can you find common ground in the answers?

I imagine so. She writes this in response to Ephesians 4.7, But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ's gift.


Action Items for EfM
Every page of the issue ends with an action item, something related to the meditation or Scripture to try or to ask. As a mentor in our church's chapter of EfM (see our class page), I'm often looking for ideas along those lines. Here are a few that strike me.

• The Jews' story, central to their whole lives as a community, is the Exodus. What's yours?
• What gamble have you taken?
• How does where you're from influence where you're going?
• Add a gratitude list to your prayer list.
• Tonight, even if it's cold, take a walk to appreciate the "canopy" of stars.
• Think what "gifts" you can share with your community (1 Cor. 12.4-6)
• Recall the last time you were changed or challenged by something in Scripture.
• Are there some treasures in your spiritual attic that you haven't opened and shared?