tag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-14:339050Cole J. BanningA Faith without Foundations; A Messiah without MetaphysicsCole J. Banning2013-06-12T02:21:08Ztag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-14:339050:29423Pentecost and the Holy Catholic Church2013-05-24T21:13:15Z2013-06-12T02:21:08Zpublic2I'm hard at work on my post(s) about the affinity between Wittgensteinian metaethics and progressive Christian moral theology, but in the meantime I'd like to direct you to the post <a href="http://emptynave.blogspot.com/2013/05/from-rome-to-canterbury-my-journey-to.html">From Rome to Canterbury: My Journey to Anglicanism</a> by Thomas Bradshaw over at <a href="http://emptynave.blogspot.com/">The Empty Nave</a>. This past Sunday--which was, of course <a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearC_RCL/Pentecost/CPentDay_RCL.html">the Feast of Pentecost</a>--I had the pleasure and honor of witnessing Thomas make a mature public affirmation of his faith and commitment to the responsibilities of his baptism and receive the laying on hands by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_H._Borsch">the Rt. Rev. Frederick Borsch</a>. I'm proud and pleased to have been (in his words) <blockquote>an inclusive, wise lay-minister and vestry member, who would later become a good friend--that pushed me to study hard and nourished my hunger of a greater theological education than what was available for me.</blockquote>I should also note that some eleven hundred miles away on that same day, another dear friend of mine--Ruth Ellen of <a href="http://brigids-cross.blogspot.com/">Patron of Poets, Scholars, and Nuns</a>--was <i>also</i> receiving the sacrament of confirmation. <br /><br />As I witnessed the confirmation of Thomas and the rest of his confirmation class, I of course remembered my own confirmation by George Councell (our diocesan bishop) in June 2008, but was also struck by the form used for the reception of candidates who have already been confirmed in another denomination:<blockquote><i>N.</i>, we recognize you as a member of the one holy catholic and apostolic Church, and we receive you into the fellowship of this Communion. God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, bless, preserve, and keep you. <i>Amen.</i></blockquote>I have frequently noted that one of the things I like about Anglicanism is that it is very clear as to the distinction between the Communion and the catholic Church, with the former only being a branch of the latter. Thomas was baptized in the Roman Catholic Church and confirmed in the Episcopal Church; Ruth Ellen was baptized in the United Church of Christ and confirmed in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. I myself received both my baptism and my confirmation in the Episcopal Church. But we are all members of the same, one Church:<blockquote>There is one Body and one Spirit, just as you were called into one Hope when you were called. There is one Savior, one faith, one baptism, one God and creator of all, who is over all, who works through all and is within all. (Ephesians 4:4-5)</blockquote>Pentecost is often called "the birthday of the Church." <a href=":http://cjbanning.dreamwidth.org/4558.html"">As I've mentioned before</a>, I find this somewhat misleading, and prefer to think of it instead as a preliminary coming of age, one of many different milestones of maturation from the teachings of the prophets to the confession of Peter to the resurrection at Easter to the ascension into heaven to the outpouring of the Spirt on Pentecost to the great ecumenical councils and beyond all the way to the eventual instantiation of the Kindom of Heaven in its fullness. One of the authorized collects for the feast of Pentecost states that on that day God "opened the way of eternal life to every race and nation by the promised gift of [the] Holy Spirit," the other that God "taught the hearts of [God's] faithful people by sending to them the light of [the] Holy Spirit."<br /><br />As an Anglo-Catholic, <a href="http://community.beliefnet.com/go/thread/view/44071/27033853/The_Apostolic_Churches_and_the_One_Catholic_Church">I believe that the Church subsists in the apostolic churches as governed by the historic episcopate</a>, but also that the elements of truth and sanctification found outside those structures compel towards catholic unity under apostolic authority. I'm reminded of this quote from Fr. Richard P. McBrien's <i>101 Questions and Answers on the Church</i>, which I previously quoted in my essay <a href="http://cjbanning.dreamwidth.org/6235.html">History and Christ</a>:<blockquote>[Jesus Christ] is the great sacrament of our encounter with God and God's with us. The Church, in turn, is the sacrament of our encounter with Christ and of Christ's with us. And the seven sacraments, in their turn, are sacraments of our encounter with the Church and of the Church's with us. Indeed, the other members of the Church are sacraments of encounter for us and we for them because, in the Christian scheme of things, we experience and manifest the love of God through love of neighbor.</blockquote>On this past Saturday--the day before Pentecost, and the penultimate day of Easter--my family buried my paternal grandfather. One of my duties consisted of picking some of the readings to be used at his funeral mass at <a href="">St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church</a>. I chose <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=236428968">Wisdom 1:13-15, 2:23-3:9</a> as the Hebrew Scripture reading and <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=236429482">Acts 10:34-48</a> as the New Testament reading. I chose the passage from Acts in part because it is traditional to read from that book in the Easter season, and part of the reason I extended it beyond the suggested reading of 10:34-43 was (beyond the fact that I needed to fiddle with it and I like long readings; my cousin-in-law, who read the Hebrew Scripture reading, which I also extended, was less than thrilled at me) because the following section seemed especially appropriate for the day before Pentecost (as the priest noted in his homily):<blockquote>While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.<br /><br />Then Peter said, “Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.</blockquote>This is, of course, a story of radical inclusion. We are the Church, but the Church is God's, not ours. We don't get to set the boundaries.<br /><br /><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Eak7H67x_TI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=cjbanning&ditemid=29423" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments