All posts by Peg Harvey-Marose

Any Season Good for Forgiveness

Pastor Peg's Blog

The recent political environment has created opportunities for friction between friends and families. I’ve seen a lot of posts on social media about how to survive the holidays in a conflicted family. I’ve also heard stories and had my own experience of individuals unfriending friends and family members on Facebook because of “offensive” posts. And understand that by “offensive” I mean, anything you don’t agree with. All of this conflict has made me think about the need for forgiveness, even when there is not resolution of the issues that the conflict was about.

I think the biggest problem we have with forgiveness is that we think it should fix everything. “Forgive and forget,” we say. But that is not what forgiveness is about. In the Lord’s Prayer, we pray “Forgive us our sins (trespasses, debts) as we forgive those who sin (trespass) against us.” That’s a tricky one. I want God’s forgiveness, but I don’t necessarily want to forgive others. Sometimes it is just more satisfying (in a sick way, of course) to hold a grudge than to forgive someone for hurting us. But is that grudge-satisfaction of God? Or of a more destructive source?

I was reminded of the deep meaning of forgiveness when I went back to my 40th high school reunion in October. A woman I had know all of my schooling years and had always like, though we were not close friends, felt the need to confess something to me. First, you need to know that I was bullied when I was in 7th and 8th grade. A cheerleader decided I was the one to be attacked and led a cadre of girls to trip me in the hall, insult me to my face, pull things out of my hair, etc. The woman who approached me at the reunion was one of the cadre who once, according to her confession (and I believe her), had said something mean to me with the encouragement of the cheerleader. I didn’t remember her doing this and told her so. But the woman began to cry. She told me that she had felt so bad since then for having done that to me. She said she had carried it around for so long because she knew it was wrong and she just wanted — needed — to apologize.

I had not been prepared for this revelation, but I recognized the need. She needed forgiveness for a hurt she had carried around for 45 years–a hurt she put upon herself when she lashed out at me. In that sacred moment, I knew what needed to be done. I told her, “I forgive you.” It was a simple response to her very complicated need.

Forgiveness is not so much about being reconciled with someone else, as it is to be reconciled with yourself and God. Whether you have done something you regret or you have been hurt by someone else, forgiveness is the balm that heals our woundedness. Forgiveness is not easy, but in this conflicted time and every time, forgiveness is what we need to receive and to give in order to heal.

The Church’s Role in Feudalism

Reformation 500

In the last post, the system of feudalism was explained. This week we want to look at the role of the church in feudalism.

To review: Feudalism was a system created to provide land, resources(food), and service(military) to those who needed it. But how did the church relate to this system.

Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire in 391AD. With this protection, the church grew in numbers and influence and became the most powerful institution in the Europe.

The church was organized in much the same way the feudal system was with the pope on top, then bishops and abbots, then priests and superiors of convents and monasteries, then friars, monks, and nuns. Do you see something missing in the diagram to the left? Where are the believers, the average Christians? In many ways, they were considered so unimportant that they did not need to be on the chart.

The church leaders were the most educated individuals in society. They were called upon to help the secular leaders as advisors on political, financial, judicial, and military issues in addition to spiritual matters.

Most important the church with its structure helped to legitimize the feudal system structure. The church taught that God appointed the pope and kings (divine right of kings). This meant that each person was born into their divinely determined position in society. If you were a king, you and your descendants would always be kings. If you were a peasant, you and your descendants would always be peasants. God wanted it that way!

Land was given to the church by Nobles as indulgences(to buy their way into heaven). By the end of the Medieval period, the church was largest landowner in the Europe owning one-third of the land. With that much land, the church became very powerful and with power comes the abuse of power.

Fuedalism

Reformation 500

In order to understand the context of the Reformation, it is important to understand the how society was structure. The structure was called feudalism.

The King owned the land. He would give land to subordinates in exchange for resources like food and soldiers. The king gave land to Nobles in return for money and knights. The Nobles gave land to Knights in return for protection and military service. The Knights gave land to the peasants in exchange for food and services.

This system helped to provide what was needed to those who needed it. This worked fine until something happened to unbalance the system . . . like a drought or famine. In a just system, the king, nobles, and knights would not demand their portion during those hard times. However, the system was seldom just. The peasants would starve, so that the higher ups could have their portion. This created a volatile climate of suffering for the poor and indulgence for the rich in which the Reformation began its revolution of the church and society.

Was the Advent Wreath a result of the Reformation?

Reformation 500

The first Advent wreaths began to appear in the 16th Century in Germany. This is not a direct result of the Reformation, but it could be argued that as Roman Catholic faith practices were being eliminated from the lives of believers that other practices entered into the vacuum. The original Advent wreath had candles for each day of Advent — 28 — and the candles were white and red. The wreath was set up on a wagon wheel.

The Advent wreaths we know today have purple and pink candles (symbolizing  repentance) or blue candles (symbolizing hope). Regardless of the color or number of the candles, the purpose of the wreath remains the same, counting down to the celebration of  the birth of the Christ child.

What was it about indulgences?

Reformation 500

Martin Luther famously had a problem with indulgences. He wrote his 95 Theses about what he saw as abuses of the church concerning indulgences. So what is an indulgence?

An indulgence is a way to make up for your sins by purchasing, with money, and indulgence that would get you into heaven sooner. We have to understand some parts of medieval Christian theology to get at Luther’s problem with indulgences.

The church taught that humans were so sinful that there was no way they could be allowed into heaven until their sin was removed somehow. The concept of “purgatory” was developed in order for Christians to spend time in this uncomfortable place while they paid the price of their sins. This could take centuries if you were bad enough. Understand this Lutherans don’t do purgatory. The church developed ways for individuals to take off some of their years in purgatory through prayers, pilgrimages, and indulgences.

The church figured out selling indulgences was a great way to raise money. In Luther’s time, the Pope Leo X wanted to raise funds to rebuild St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Johann Tetzel was a great sales person, scaring the poor people of Wittenberg into buy indulgences with his famous words: “As soon as a coin in the coffer rings, a soul from purgatory springs.” Luther was having none of it, thus the 95 Theses.

Luther was a biblical scholar and professor at Wittenberg University. He understood through God’s word that as human beings we were unable to ever earn God’s love and forgiveness. Forgiveness was and is total gift from God. Therefore, indulgences were an offense to the gift of God that is freely given.

Luther’s 95 Theses were broadly published and soon became the bane of Pope Leo X existence, but that is a story for another day.

Re-Form-Ation

Reformation 500

It is important to understand how the Reformation began and what the original intent of the reformers was, as we look back on the history of the Reformation. When Martin Luther wrote his 95 Theses, his intention was not to create a new church, but to re-form the one and only church — the Roman church. As history unfolded, this is not what happened. The resistance to change in the church (an eternal problem) was much stronger than Luther had anticipated.

As we look back on 500 years of re-forming the church, it is important to understand that reformation is to be the ongoing practice of the church. All churches, including the one and only church (in 1517) the Roman church has changed throughout the centuries. New technology (like the printing press in Luther’s day and cell phones today), changes in culture (the inclusion of people of color and women in the leadership of the church), and new interpretations of theology (the theology of the cross had new and powerful meaning in light of the Holocaust), have made their impact on the church. These changes have created the church universal we know today. But the church we see today is not the church we will see in the years to come. Why? Because re-formation is an ongoing process.

“Re” means “again.” “Form” means, according to Merriam Webster, “to create or develop (something) over a period of time.” In the church, we are called to create or develop the church again and again over a period of time. We do this not simply for the sake of change but in order for the church to be faithful to its mission to share the good news of Jesus Christ to all the ends of the earth. Our great-grandparents would not recognize most churches today. But our children and grandchildren would not recognize the church of our great-grandparents. If we are to continue in our mission, we must re-form regularly with humility and with compassion for those whom change is painful.

Re-Form-ation: It is never ending!

Gratitude

Pastor Peg's Blog

heart_6134cThis time of year we tend to spend some time thinking about gratitude, what it means to be grateful, and what we are grateful for. (Pardon the dangling participle.)

I was taught manners as a child. Part of those manners was to say, “thank you” when someone did something for you. A stranger opening a door, a server filling up the water glass, or a cashier at the grocery store handing me my change. These were the type of interactions that required a “thank you” according to my parents. And so to this day, “thank you” comes out of my mouth frequently, especially to strangers. But is that gratitude or polite regard for others?

I have to confess that I am a pretty ungrateful person. I have always functioned with the attitude that if someone is supposed to do something, say take out the trash, that thanks is not required and should not be expected. In Luke 17, Jesus tells a strange parable about a slave who has worked in the fields all day and comes in to prepare dinner for the master. Verses 9-10 read, “Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!” So doing what you are supposed to do should not garner you special consideration or thanks.

And then I am humbled.

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Giving thanks in all circumstances? Believe me there are circumstances that I am not grateful for! Maybe, just maybe, I am looking at this whole gratitude thing the wrong way.

Is my problem that I want to be thanked? And if I’m not thanked, I resent it? My lack of gratitude might stem from the reality of thankless jobs that fill life, that no one even takes notice of, that I’m busting my butt to get done and no one seems to care … unless it suddenly doesn’t happen? And is my problem that I am as guilty of not recognizing all that is done around me and for me?

That brings me back to the beginning. When I say “thank you” to someone who has done a small kindness (opening a door) or simply their job (the cashier at the grocery store handing me my change), am I in that moment recognizing one of those thankless jobs that are done around me and for me? And in that moment am I acknowledging the humanity of that person who is so frequently invisible?

More than all that, I think my biggest problem with gratitude is that it’s not about me being the recipient of gratitude. Instead, gratitude is an attitude toward all of life in the good times and in the bad. Gratitude is seeing the people and things around me that make my life full and sometimes simply easier.

Even after 58 years of life, I have so much to learn. I still think I am a pretty ungrateful person. But thanks be to God, I’m working on it.

Blessings,

Pastor Peg

What makes you a Christian?

Pastor Peg's Blog

I am frequently asked the question, “Do you have to go to church to be a Christian?” This is becoming more and more of an issue as the definition of what regular worship attendance has changed in the last decade or so. It used to be that regular worship attendance meant that a person attended worship every week. Recent research has shown that when individuals describe themselves as regular worship attenders, they mean they worship once a month. So the question rises again, do you have to go to church to be a Christian?

I can unequivocally say, that yes, you can be a Christian and not go to church. But here’s the rub. Christians don’t go to church (defined as a building used on Sunday mornings). Christians are the church in every aspect of their lives. A good question to consider then is “what is the church?”

The first word used to mean what we call the church was the Greek word ecclesia or ekklesia. This word comes from ancient Athens and was the name of the principle assembly for government. It literally means the called-out-assembly. The call would go through the city for all free male citizen to gather for debate and decision making. In the history of Christianity, ecclesia, the called-out-assembly, was the first word used to mean the church. Therefore, you cannot be the church alone, because the church is an assembly or better yet, a community.

The Christian community is the central unit of the church. I believe the problem has arisen when church became about obligation instead of community. We were created in the image of God who is community Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer — the Trinity. God’s call is the invitation to join the community of the Trinity. In the Trinity, all are co-equal members. In Christian community, all are co-equal members. To quote Paul, “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female for all are one in Christ Jesus.” We are called to be one, but not alone. Individuals and yet united. We are called to be community.

It is in community where we learn what it means to be a Christian. We learn to pray, to study, to serve, and to give. These are things that do not always come naturally to human beings. But more than anything else, it is in community that we learn to love. Not romantic love, but the love that takes a lifetime of practice to start to understand. This is a love that stands with those who are oppressed or suffering. Love that cares for those who cannot care for themselves. Love that stands the test of time.

So yes, you can be a Christian and not go to church, but you cannot be a Christian if you are not being the church.