communion

Christianity

Podcast: Seeking Unity, Healing Wounds

Podcast: “Seeking Unity, Healing Wounds” – John 17:20-26

“Seeking Unity, Healing Wounds” Rev. Alan R. Rudnick

In the midst of the conflict of politics, economics, and culture, the idea of unity in American life might seem impossible to many. We watch television as pundits argue and clash over ideology and policy. We think our country and community is divided. Unity is impossible. However, in Jesus’ high priestly prayer he prayers for his disciples and for us – the believers who are not yet born! Jesus prayed that we all may be one. The misconception is that unity is when we all agree. Jesus shows us that unity is truly a community – a people called by God to be faithful to God and to one another despite conflict, disappointment, and fear. True unity is community lived out. The Christian community is one when we join in the work of loving, caring, and serving one another in Christ and not agreeing on every point of ideology. Differences will abound but it is the love of God and neighbor that makes us one.

T“The church is constituted as a new people who have been gathered from the nations to remind the world that we are in fact one people. Gathering, therefore, is an eschatological act as it is the foretaste of the unity of the communion of the saints.”
― Stanley Hauerwas, In Good Company: The Church as Polis

politics

We missed our Christian moment, again

As the build up to the Iowa caucus as come and gone, there was a heavy focus on the Evangelical Christian vote as a key to winning. Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and Donald Trump all sought the support of the voting block of Christians so crucial to winning the GOP nomination. It was Trump who made the greatest public effort towards being “a Christian” and it made all Christians look bad, very bad.

Donald Trump cozied up to Jerry Fallwell Jr. when he spoke at Liberty University to capture support from the traditional support system of Evangelical voters when he said, “Christianity is under siege.” What really made news is that he quoted scripture saying, “Two Corinthians” which prompted laughter among students listening because the reference is “Second Corinthians”. For the 10,000 students in attendance, Trump accomplished what he sought out to do: to look and act like conservative Christian.

Trump was not finished with his Christian pandering. In a worship service in Iowa, Trump put in his offering money into the communion plate prompting commentators to point out that Trump is not familiar with basic Christian worship. On the eve of the Iowa caucus, Trump posted an online video of his family Bible while carefully pointing out how he would not let “the Evangelicals” down. In many speeches to crowds he promised to “make Christianity great again”.

It is embarrassing to watch a politician try so hard make himself look like a conservative Evangelical Christian. It is troubling to see Christianity on display in such parody. It is saddening to watch Christianity be used as a political football for politicos and prognosticators to diagram and dissect. It is disheartening to watch Christianity be used as stepping stone to the presidency.

We Christians had a moment in the public eye and we missed it. Again. Continue Reading…

blog

Election Day Communion

Now that the Presidential debates are over, millions of people will be heading to the polls. One of the key voting blocks will have an opportunity to make their vote a spiritual act.

Election Day Communion, a movement started by several pastors, is encouraging congregations and Christians to head to the communion table after heading to the polls. Evangelicals, a targeted demographic by Republicans, are often noted for their conservative stance on political issues. Now, all Christians will have the opportunity to unite around The Table instead of being divisive. Insuring that Election Day Communion does not get partisan, the movement does not endorse a candidate or party.

The movement’s website describes how Election Day Communion started:

Maundy Thursday

Why we call it Maundy Thursday

Today is Maundy Thursday — no, not Monday Thursday, which would be an interesting concept: society could work Monday through Thursday, with Fridays off! Some Christians misunderstand that this day is only a “Catholic” celebration. Christians both ancient and modern have remembered Christ’s last supper with his disciples on Maundy Thursday, which begins the great triduum, the three days of the paschal celebration.

The word “maundy” comes from the Latin word maundatum for “commandment”, which comes from Jesus’ words from the last supper: “I give you a new commandment; that you love one another…” The full Latin phase is maundatum novarum, which means “a new commandment.” According to Robert Webber (The Services of the Christian Year, #252), these words were translated in the French word mande. This in turn was anglicized into “maundy.”

During this day, Christians celebrate Jesus’ last supper with his disciples through serving and receiving communion with a special service. Often, all of or some of John 13 is read. This scripture recalls: Continue Reading…

Lewis Fellows

Lewis Fellows: Kansas City or Bust

This past week was crazy. I didn’t have any time to blog or tweet. I traveled to Kansas City, MO with the Lewis Fellows and spent some time with pastors of dynamic churches. When I returned to New York, I went back to the airport to welcome Gary Long, our retreat speaker. Saturday the church held our fall retreat on vision – an excellent time. Sunday was worship. As you can see, it was a pretty full couple of days.

I want to briefly share with you my Lewis Fellows experience. Tuesday, October 19 we visited Saint Andrew Christian Church (www.sacchome.org) and had a conversation with Senior Pastor Rev. Holly McKissick. Saint Andrew Christian Church is a Disciples of Christ church. Check out the church below:

As you can see, it looks more like a market than a church. Such a welcoming property and building. The church is only 20 years old and Holly is the founding pastor. Below, Holly is standing and we are meeting in the sanctuary. I loved this sanctuary. The building is only about 12 years old.

Holly comes out of the Southern Baptist tradition, but was ordained in the Disciples of Christ church. The sanctuary is welcoming and seating is structured in a “U”. Holly’s take on leadership was interesting. She talked about making mistakes, as all pastors do, but learning from them. She was honest and candid about her leadership and ministry.

Below is a pic of the cross that hangs in the sanctuary:

World Communion Sunday

World Communion & Mission Sunday

We have an incredible opportunity this Sunday to experience God in new ways at the First Baptist Church of Ballston Spa. This Sunday, October 3 is World Communion Sunday. What is World Communion Sunday? The National Council of Church explains:

The day has taken on new relevancy and depth of meaning in a world where globalization often has undermined peace and justice – and in a time when fear divides the peoples of God’s earth. On this day we celebrate our oneness in Christ, the Prince of Peace, in the midst of the world we are called to serve – a world ever more in need of peacemaking.

Churches from every denomination are taking part in this celebration of oneness in Christ. At FBC, we do communion a little differently this Sunday. We have four stations for communion, representing the four corners of the world, and we invite worshipers to visit one or all of the stations. The communion bread consists of different ethnic breads from around the world.

In addition, we have a special quest preacher from the American Baptist Churches International Ministries:

religion

Atheists Know More about Religion

In a recent Pew Religious study, atheists scored highest on a survey asking basic questions regarding religion. Even more surprising is the fact that some answered questions incorrectly when it came to facts about their own faith. The New York Times reports that on average respondents answered half of the questions incorrectly.

Atheists and agnostics scored the highest out of all respondents. Jews and Mormons scored the highest out of all religious groups. White Protestant Christians scored in the middle range.

How could Atheists out score all other religious groups in this simple religious test? It had to be the questions. The questions were too hard, right? Well, there were some basic questions like, “Where was Jesus born?” “Whose writings inspired the Protestant Reformation?” “Which Biblical figure led the exodus from Egypt?” The respondents answered in multiple choice form.

What conclusion can we reach about this study? Atheists know more about religion?

sacrament

Guest Blogger: Tripp Hudgins the AngloBaptist

Part III: Sacrament vs. Ordinance: Guest Blogger, Tripp Hudgins (AngloBaptist). Check out Part I & Part II.

Alan generously asked me to participate in this blog series on Baptist sacramentality and immediately I said yes. I wanted to chime in. But it took me a while to figure out how I could share my thoughts. As a baptist, I think the testimony might be the best mode of communication in this instance. I hope you will all bear with me.

I was in seminary listening to a lecture on the Eucharistic Prayer, that traditional prayer that many denominations use when celebrating the Lord’s Supper. We were walking through some of the history, form, and theological function of the prayer and when we got to the epiclesis I had an epiphany. Really, one hopes for an epiphany at the epiclesis, but how often does that happen? And yet, there it was. Whammo!

The epiclesis is the part of the longer Eucharistic Prayer (aka anaphora) where the presider (priest or pastor, typically) prays for the Holy Spirit to be present in the elements at the table. I was listening with Baptist ears on as my Episcopal professor explained the historical use of this prayer. I was on the lookout for magical thinking, or mechanistic ballyhoo. None. Zilch. Nada. Then…Then it hit me.

Hold on! What are all the elements present at the table for communion? Bread, wine (or juice), a presider of some sort, and, well…the people. The gathered faithful, The Body of Christ, are present at the table of the Lord! Don’t baptists believe that the Holy Spirit transforms us? Don’t we believe that we are somehow renewed by the power of the Holy Spirit? Don’t we pray that God would be present in our hearts? Isn’t this the same thing? Is this baptist sacramentality?

Baptists

Early Baptist Use of Sacraments

Much to the ignorance of many modern day Baptists, the word “sacrament” or sacraments was used by Baptist framers in their creeds and confessions. Yes, I said it. I used the words “Baptist” and “creed” in the same sentence. Recent Baptist history upholds that Baptists are non-creedal, however it is clear that Baptists in the 17th and 18th centuries used creeds. Later, Baptists called these creeds “confessions of faith” as did many other protestant groups.

Baptists affirm the theological statements in the creeds but do not use them to be identified as a “Baptist.” But, some Baptists used

confessions of faith as creeds. This is the paradoxical nature of Baptists and their confessions of faith because their statements were directed at excluding other completing theologies. That is exactly what the creeds do, among with affirm what people believe. We receive the word “creed” from the Greek word credo meaning “to believe.” Clearly, the Baptists were using creedal statements and formulas, but many Baptists did not want to call these doctrinal statements creeds in reaction to the creeds of the Catholic Church and the Anglican Church.

Alright, on to the use of the word “sacrament” in early Baptist thought and writings. William Joseph McGlothlin compiled a collection of early creeds and confessions of faith that our modern day Baptist life is modeled from. McGlothin’s, Baptist Confessions of Faith, was written in 1911 is a very helpful source book to understand how Baptists used “sacraments.”

The following are excerpts from, Baptist Confession of Faith, of the “English” living in Amsterdam in 1614, who desired to correct John Smyth‘s “errors” :

sacrament

Sacrament or Ordinance? (Part 1)

Recently, Karen Bullock, professor Christian heritage and director of the Ph.D. program at the B.H. Carroll Theological Institute, commented on Baptists celebrating their 400 year anniversary by saying, “…several theologians across the past half century have advocated that Baptists reconsider both the terms and meaning of sacramental acts…Some of this thinking re-engages the sacramental notions of churchly acts and ordinances…”

Over the past few years, I have been actively involved in reading confessions and writings of early Baptists who saw a theological strengthening in the acts of baptism and communion. Normally, to contemporary Baptists, the word “ordinance” is used over “sacrament.” This was done to avoid the Catholic understanding of “sacrament” and to avoid any hint of works related faith. However, over the next few weeks and months, I will present scholarly and lay research on the case for strengthening sacramental language among Baptists.

Indeed, the word sacrament was used among Baptists in the 16th and 17th centuries. However, “ordinance” stuck in favor of Zwingli’s view of baptism and communion. Even modern British Baptists use the word “sacrament” when they speak of baptism and communion.

I found this little bit of encouraging research that opted to spiritually understand what happens at communion. The 1689 London Confession of Baptist Faith, states:

wine

Churches Use Wine to Fight Swine Flu

communion-wine

It seems that the H1N1 “Swine Flu” is changing church and changing the way congregations do “church”. Churches in Sweden, who use a common cup, are using strong or fortified wine for communion to fight against Swine Flu. In Anglican, Catholic, and other European churches, it is more common for churches to share one cup to drink from instead of individual cups for communion.

As reported on by The Local , church leaders hope that fortified wine will give better protection against the spread of swine flu when the common communion cup is used from parishioner to parishioner. The change is a local decision and the Church of Sweden said that the church has not made any mandatory regulations using the fortified wine.

The rationale for this change is the hope that a heavy content of alcohol will kill germs and fight the spread of swine flu than non-alcoholic communion juice.

If you are wondering what the specific definition of fortified wine is, the following is useful:

Saying a wine is fortified means the alcohol content is greater than what natural yeast fermentation could give. Wines are ‘fortified’ to higher alcohol content by adding brandy or neutral spirit hence the name fortified wines…The higher alcohol content will kill the yeast and after a day or two.

I could not find any official medical proof for the rationale of using a fortified wine for communion, but one would think that it the practice could guard against the spread of germs. Sailors for hundreds of years would drink only beer or alcohol related drinks on ships because it would not harbor disease like water would.

Of course, this brings up many concerns for some Christians. Most non-Catholic churches and non-Anglican related churches use grape juice instead of wine for communion because of the concerns of contributing to alcoholism. In
addition, these non-Anglican/Catholic churches sometimes believe drinking alcohol in general should be frowned upon or even is sinful.

Churches are not only changing the way they serve communion, but also how congregants greet each other. The Church of England took steps to protect church goers by ending the common cup from communion time:

In the light of this advice, we recommend those presiding at Holy Communion suspend the administration of the chalice during this wave of pandemic flu. For those who still wish to offer in both kinds, we recommend the practice whereby the presiding minister, whose hands should have been washed with the appropriate alcohol-based rub before handling the elements and the vessels, personally intincts all wafers before placing them in the hands of communicants.

European churches and Anglican churches are not the only churches changing how church goers interact with each other. A Catholic church in Cincinnati, OH has band priests and parishioners from shaking hands because of fears of swine flu. Florida churches made similar changes when they ended the tradition of Passing the Peace or shaking hands during church.

Are these modern concerns and fears of illness changing centuries of how Christian churches operate? Not being about to embrace other congregation members during the Passing of the Peace certainly changes the theology behind being a community that practices reconciliation in worship. Can such illnesses change the way churches relate to each other? Will we have to wear medical masks to church?

These actions do not change Christian theology, but they do challenge our how we fellowship, worship, and live. We can take communion in a variety of modes and each mode is a different way to experience the symbol of remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice. Certainly, one of our prime concerns for congregants should be their health and safety, but this is one of those issues that pushes churches to be creative with their worship.

At what point do medical concerns take “the holy” out of the moment? Certainly receiving communion from someone with surgical gloves and a mask changes the way we think about communion. When does the sterile affect the sacred?

twitter

I’m Not Sold on Twitter in worship

A variety of news outlets have commented on the growing trend in churches: Twitter Worship. Time, New York Times, and Switched have covered the movement. If you do not know about this trend, I’ll try to explain it in two sentences. Using the social networking site, Twitter, worship attendees interact with the sermon, worship, and music.

Some churches even display “tweets” on their projection screens and the pastor interacts with the micro comments during the sermon. The UMC Board of Discipleship has a good overview of the pros and cons of using twitter and other technology in worship. Even Josh Harris questions the use of Twitter during worship. Despite the popularity of Twittering, many have asked the question, “Is Twittering during worship really worshipful?” I am a pretty technology dependent person, but I’m not sold on Twitter worship.

This is a difficult question to answer because there are some things to consider:

Twittering in worship attracts younger worshippers. A segment of the population that is greatly prized by churches.
A Twitter worship service can attract the unchurched or non-Christians.
Using Twitter creates more of an interactive worship experience, which is something that people want need.
People are quickly becoming more connected through technology, thus connecting through technology can be a way to reach people for Christ
Twittering during worship is encouraging people to be reflective about God.

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