Many potential converts reject Christianity because it seems so disembodied that they cannot imagine themselves being accepted within it. The Christmas story is about as earthy as you can get - a pregnant teenager, a baby born in a barn, a bunch of smelly shepherds - and the original name for this holy day was the Feast of the Incarnation, a celebration of the mystery in which "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us . . . full of grace and truth," as the first chapter of the Gospel According to John says.
Many Christians, though, try to avoid the carnality of the Incarnation: one of the earliest and most persistent heresies is Docetism, which claims that Jesus only appeared to be human. Did Jesus need his diaper changed? Could he have been attracted to Mary of Magdala? Did our Savior ever become tired or short-tempered? Did he sweat? If you cannot imagine a carnal Christ, if you cannot imagine the question Joan Osborne asks, "What If God Was One of Us?" - the theme song of the wonderful TV program "Joan of Arcadia" - then you may be a heretic.
The Church has spent centuries grappling with the mystery that Jesus was both both human and divine, absolutely one of us and yet somehow more than us. Emma Goldman said, "If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution." Well, who would want to follow a Savior who cannot laugh and cry, sing and dance? A Messiah who has not experienced our joys and sorrow is only a counterfeit Christ.
Another early heresy that rears its ugly head regularly is Marcionism. Adolescents need to find an identity apart from their parents and some in the young Jesus movement defined themselves by rejecting everything that was Jewish. In the second century of the Common Era Marcion claimed that the God of the Hebrew Scriptures was not the God revealed in Jesus of Nazareth, that the creator of the universe was at best weak and incompetent and at worst corrupt and evil. Marcionism threatened for a while to overtake all Christianity, severing it from its roots.
Modern forms of Marcionism are no less insidious, no matter whether they are uttered by racists of the Christian Identity movement, or the leader of one large denomination in recent years who said that "God does not hear the prayers of the Jews," or by a leader of my own denomination, someone I have long respected, who recently told a group of clergy from this area that "Muslims do not worship the same God we do."
Yours truly inquired politely (I think) as to how he could say such a thing and asked "Didn't we condemn this as heresy in the second century?" He backed way from his statement, claiming that he only meant that Christians and Muslims see God different. This is certainly true, but then not all United Methodists see God the same way, either. The danger in saying - even if meant metaphorically - that "we don't worship the same God" is that it perpetuates the lies we have often told about other faith communities. Far too often, we Christians have said ludicrous things such as "Jews believe in law, not forgiveness" and "Muslims worship Mohammed." If we dismiss Bahais and Sikhs as worshiping another god, we will probably not learn anything from them - or realize that we have misrepresented their teaching.
As you may have heard me say before, I believe that anyone who really cares about evangelism needs frequent reality checks when it comes to talking about other faiths. How can we possibly appeal to people who live in a diverse, multicultural, multifaith world if we are ignorant, arrogant, and closed-minded. There is another good reason, though, for us to take a hard look at how we portray other faith communities: to avoid distorting our own beliefs, to avoid "falling into error."
So are you a Docetist? A modern Marcionite? Well, Jesus told us to repent and believe the Good News. Michael Kinnamon, who headed the Consultation on Church Union, reminds us in his new book, "The Vision of the Ecumenical Movement and How It Has Been Impoverished by Its Friends," that the ecumenical movement exists not only to help us receive God's gift of unity but also to help us repent of the human divisions that separate us. In this season of preparation for the Feast of the Incarnation, may we repent, learn, and be renewed.
Shalom/Salaam/Shanti/Pax,
Tom
A reader recently asked if it was okay to reprint one of my columns. As someone who has written several books myself, yours truly is all in favor of copyright laws and royalty payments. We do not copyright "The Prelude," though, precisely because we want to encourage you to reprint articles from it. Richard Deam's columns on stewardship, charitable giving, and financial planning are specifically intended to be republished in your local church newsletter. You are hereby granted permission to publish whatever you'd like from this newsletter or from the LICC Web-site. You can generally assume that it is kosher to use anything I have quoted from someone else, since I limit myself to "fair use" of brief excerpts. There are two exceptions to my blanket permission:
Last but not least, we writers appreciate it if you send a copy of the publication. We like to keep track of where our work appears - and we like to know that others are reading it.
Tom
Special thanks to The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s U.S. Disaster Response for its $225,000 grant to help us launch a new interfaith job services project in partnership with FEGS Long Island. This project will be a first-of-its-kind interfaith collaboration for an entire array of job services for World Trade Center clients from both agencies and from other agencies with which we also partner for WTC disaster relief. FEGS will provide job services and the LICC will continue to provide direct assistance to clients while they are completing the job services program. When more funds come in, we eventually hope to develop an emergency loan fund to remove other barriers to employment and self-sufficiency for WTC clients such as loans to start small businesses. Although we hope these loans will be repaid, we realize some clients will not be able to do so. For those who can, the repaid loans will be lent out to others in need. No interest will be charged on any of these loans.
We thank the Presbytery of Long Island for its $5,000 gift and Citibank for its gift of $2,000. We also thank the following for their gifts of $500 or more:
We are also grateful to the numerous faith-based institutions, agencies, businesses, and others that gave less but whose gifts are just as important, and to the individuals who gave but asked that we do not publish their names. Thank you all for being a blessing to the hundreds of people we help each month. We are able to do this because you care enough to give.
We want to tell you a story about a wonderful donor who's supported our emergency food programs for years. She asked that her name not be used. When her father died in the 1990's, she inherited $100,000 and invested it wisely. She decided her father's money should go for charitable causes. In addition to the LICC, she also gives to other charities that operate feeding programs. She's been living on Long Island for 35 years and has always had a special interest in giving for the hungry. She first learned about our emergency food programs through her church. Reading our newsletter, she learned about our urgent need for a building--because Nassau County is selling the building in which we currently operate our Hempstead emergency food center. She responded by giving us stock worth nearly $100,000 for us to use as a down payment to buy a building. Not only are we extremely grateful for this marvelous gift; it will also help us to leverage other gifts for the same purpose in ways we could not otherwise have done. Who ever said miracles don't happen?!
--Sara Weiss, Director of Development
Singing Christmas carols from around the world and from many denominations was always a hit with my parishioners. It reminds us that "Christ the babe was born for all."
On Christmas Eve we drew on both Protestant and Catholic sources and often sang the Latin hymn "O Come, All Ye Faithful," the Polish carol "Gentle Mary Laid Her Child," a French carol ("The Friendly Beasts" or "He Is Born"), "Silent Night" from Austria, and "Joy to the World" from England and Germany.
It is not as easy to find music from beyond Europe and North America, but if you decorate your chancel with poinsettias, note that this plant comes to us from Mexico, where it is called "Flower of the Holy Night." You might incorporate Mexico's customary Las Posadas, which reenacts the Holy Family's search for shelter. Even if your flock doesn't know "That Boy-Child of Mary" from Malawi, you can use the second and sixth verses as a final charge to the congregation. The Venezuelan carol "Nino Lindo/Beautiful Boy," "En el Frio Invernal/Cold December Flies Away" from Spain, or the French-Canadian carol "Twas in the Moon of Wintertime" may not be familiar enough for visitors to sing, but they make nice solos or choir anthems.
On the Sunday after Christmas, we often used "Angels We Have Heard on High," which comes to us from Catholics in Italy and France, "Hark the Herald Angels" from England and Germany, and "The First Noel" from England and France. The Gospel text for the day goes nicely with the Anglican "Once in David's Royal City": "day by day, like us, he grew; and he feeleth with our sadness, and he shareth in our gladness."
Do you hesitate to try something new and different on Christmas Eve? While the service needs to be visitor-friendly, shouldn't we do something unexpected when we proclaim that God did the unimaginable, that "the World became flesh and dwelt among use, full of grace and truth..." Perhaps Christmas can be rightly celebrated only if we do something utterly surprising.
For the past two and a half years, the Long Island Council of Churches has been bringing together Jews, Christians, and Muslims for interfaith dialogues on the Middle East conflict and how it is affecting relationships among Americans of different faiths. In conjunction with the Diocese of Rockville Centre, the American Jewish Committee, and the Islamic Center of Long Island, the LICC recently gathered leaders of Long Island's Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities to support the Alexandria Declaration, the historic joint peace statement signed by leaders of the three faiths in the Holy Land that was issued in Egypt on January 21, 2002. The Declaration calls for cessation of violence in the Middle East, respect for all religious traditions and holy places, and an end to incitement and hatred. The Long Island response endorsing the Alexandria Declaration was drafted by LICC Board member Msgr. Donald Beckmann, Rabbi Jerry Davidson of Temple Beth El in Great Neck, and Arshad Majid of the Islamic Center of Long Island. Rabbi David Rosen of the American Jewish Committee, founder of Rabbis for Human Rights in Israel and one of the leaders behind the Alexandria Declaration, will be speaking at ICLI (835 Brush Hollow Rd. in Westbury) on Dec. 8 at 8 p.m.
The LICC, the Diocese of Rockville Centre, the AJC, and ICLI are now urging other Jewish, Christian, and Muslim leaders across the Island to add their voices to this interfaith plea for peace. Would you like to sign it? Here's the original declaration, followed by our Long Island statement:
The first Middle East Interfaith Summit with the participation of the leaders of the three monotheistic faiths, held in Alexandria, Egypt, issued the following statement:
In the name of God who is Almighty, Merciful and Compassionate, we, who have gathered as religious leaders from the Muslim, Christian and Jewish communities, pray for true peace in Jerusalem and the Holy Land, and declare our commitment to ending the violence and bloodshed that denies the right of life and dignity.
According to our faith traditions, killing innocents in the name of God is a desecration of His Holy Name, and defames religion in the world. The violence in the Holy Land is an evil which must be opposed by all people of good faith. We seek to live together as neighbors respecting the integrity of each other's historical and religious inheritance. We call upon all to oppose incitement, hatred and misrepresentation of the other.
Signatories:
As Christian, Jewish and Muslim religious leaders on Long Island in New York, we walk together on a journey of reconciliation and mutual understanding. We look with profound sadness on the violence, mistrust and hatred that are so present in the Holy Land of Israel and Palestine. While as Americans we do not claim to have perfect solutions to the troubles of other parts of our world, as people of faith we stand in solidarity with our sisters and brothers of the three Abrahamic religions who seek to discover new possibilities for reaching beyond conflict in their homeland. With great hope we have read the Alexandria Declaration on the principles for peace and justice in that sacred land. Together we endorse these principles. We express our gratitude to the courageous signers of that statement. As we thank them for their openness to new vision, we offer our prayers that followers of all faiths will heed their message.
We affirm their insistence that "killing innocents in the name of God is a desecration of His Holy Name, and defames religion in the world." We hold with them that religion may never be used as a cover for xenophobia or an excuse for violence. Indeed, while we hold firmly to our own distinct beliefs, we affirm together that it is a distortion to claim that our faith relationship to God as Christian, Jew or Muslim necessitates that believers from the other two traditions - or other religions - have no valid relationship with God at all.
With respect for the prophetic insight of this Declaration, we do offer a few comments as we prepare to affirm it:
The Alexandria Declaration is a true sign of hope in a troubled part of our world. It is an important example of how religious leaders of all three faiths can offer both prophetic insight and practical recommendations towards finding a way forward out of this long night of hatred and violence. As fellow believers in the God of Abraham, we add our names and our prayers to this Declaration.
Signatories:
"Word of Honor" is a terrific new made-for-television movie, one that raises profound questions while telling a compelling story about guilt, innocence, and personal responsibility in war. Veterans of combat often dismiss the moralizing of clergy and other church folk as being overly simplistic, and this film shows us how complicated culpability can be. As our occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq drag on, and Washington insiders talk of reviving the draft, these themes could not be more timely.
Ben Tyson (played by Don Johnson) is a successful corporate executive who wakes up one morning to find himself accused of leading a massacre of civilians 30 years earlier when he was an Army lieutenant in Vietnam. Dr. Steven Brandt (John Heard), a member of his old platoon, seems to be seeking peace and redemption by blowing the whistle on an atrocity that the guilty had promised never to discuss. Within hours, Tyson is at the center of political maneuvering and tabloid journalists are digging up - and fabricating - stories about his wife Marcy (Sharon Lawrence), who is now a principal but was once a rock groupie. Their son David, confronting temptation to cheat in school, suddenly looks upon his parents with disgust. Ben denies the allegations levied against him but refuses to say anything in his defense.
Major Karen Harper (Jeanne Tripplehorn), the JAG officer assigned to investigate the allegations, pursues the facts despite pressure from on high to close the case quickly. As the veterans confront their buried secrets, each man's account of the horrible events at the Vietnamese hospital is presented Roshomon-style, with few clues as to which are accurate memories and which are the stories people have told themselves so long they have come to believe them. Only after a surprise eyewitness to the massacre comes forward does the truth finally come out. In the end the truth really does, as the Good Book promises, set people free.
Based on the novel by Nelson DeMille, who served as a first lieutenant in Vietnam, "Word of Honor" asks how much responsibility a commander bears for crimes committed by those under his command and how high a price you should pay - and your family should pay - to honor a vow you have made to protect others. It also asks how severely we should judge bad choices made by those who have endured hardships we cannot imagine.
"Word of Honor" premieres on TNT on Saturday, Dec. 6, at 8 pm and repeats at various times through Dec. 21. It shows both the insanity of war and how easily its madness corrupts those who never wanted to be there.
Filmmaker Nancy du Plessis kept running into pairs of almost identically dressed adolescents in Munich, Lisbon, Belfast, Paris, and Manhattan. In her new documentary, "Get the Fire! Young Mormon Missionaries Abroad," she follows three 19-year-old members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from Salt Lake City as they spend two years being trained and sent to Germany.
Social scientists have observed that American society is short on rites of passage. Mormons deserve credit for finding a way to use 60,000 youth in ministry each year, giving them international experience and language skills. "You leave a boy," Andy McGuire, a former missionary to Pennsylvania says, "and return a man."
This transition is achieved through severe regimentation, though. Missionaries are allowed to call home only on Christmas and Mother's Day. They may not use first names, read newspapers, go to the movies, watch television, listen to pop music, or do anything else that might take their minds off work. They must stay within sight and hearing of their partners 24 hours a day. One former missionary likens the Missionary Training Center to Marine boot camp, but another quips, "When you join the church, you don't know it is going to control what underwear you wear for the rest of your life."
Many Mormons consider themselves Christians, but an instructor at the MTC pays greater homage to the Book of Mormon than to the Bible. Missionaries are urged to bear testimony they do not believe themselves. There can be value in following a discipline you do not fully trust - Alcoholics Anonymous urges drunks who question their program to "Fake it until you can make it" - but it is dishonest to convince others of claims you doubt yourself. One veteran says, "I now see this is a form of self-deception."
Talking with one German prospect, a young Mormon slams Protestant churches for having hierarchies - even though his leader claims to be "a living prophet." A German Mormon insists they make ideal citizens, causally adding, "Many served as police under Hitler." None of the young missionaries asks if this might have been wrong. Later their host insists he would not follow orders that violate his conscience. If enforcing Nazi rule would not trouble him, what would? Using alcohol or tobacco.
Many Mormons return with a stronger commitment to the LDS Church and are enthusiastic about their mission work. It is great training, one veteran observes, "for a career in marketing or sales."
Others experience faith crises. Robert Shively married a fellow Mormon but left the church, unable to reconcile its teachings with what he knew. Dmitri Yatsenko recalls with embarrassment, "I spent two years knocking on doors and trying to convince people that American Indians were really from Israel and that they practiced Christianity before Columbus and that they wrote in Egyptian."
"Get the Fire! Young Mormon Missionaries Abroad," airs on PBS on Thursday, December 23, at 10 p.m. as part of the series "Independent Focus." A companion website at www.pbs.org/getthefire offers an interview with the filmmaker, preview clips, further resources, and a chance for viewers to offer feedback.
Bill Gaither, the Gospel Music Hall of Fame singer/songwriter, hosts "A Gospel Bluegrass Homecoming" (Sunday, Dec. 7, on WLIW/21) along with Marty Stuart, a bluegrass picker, singer, and historian. Interspersed with reminiscences by musicians on the roots of their work, this two-hour concert celebrates one of today's most popular music genres and tells how it spread from Appalachia to country churches to the wider world, blossoming during the 1970s and 1980s.
No mention is made of bluegrass gospel's non-white roots, but astute viewers will note that this program was taped in Nashville at Fisk University, an institution founded to educate freed slaves and the home the Jubilee Singers, who themselves spread gospel music around the world. The oldest material offered in this program, such as the opening numbers "This Little Light of Mine" and "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" come from African-American churches and were widely used by both abolitionists and the civil rights movement. Like other American contributions to music, bluegrass is a creative synthesis of black and white musical traditions. From the nasal Clinch Mountain Boys to the sweet harmonizing of the Gaither Vocal Band, bluegrass music is acquainted with hard times but is irrepressibly upbeat.
Some of the Old Masters of bluegrass are represented here, such as Ricky Skaggs and Ralph Stanley, but the fiddling of lesser-known Stuart Duncan was far more impressive. The Isaacs, newcomers who tour with the Gaithers, are far better than some of the better-known groups, offering a buoyant version of the stories of Job and Polycarp, affirming joyful faith in the midst of tribulations. The National Bluegrass Band garbles the old spiritual "Mount Zion" when they sing, "I got my hand on the gospel plow and I won't take nothing for my journey now," but they perform it with some exceptionally fine picking.
There are a number of surprises in this show. The name Rhonda Vincent and the Rage may sound like a rock band, but they play in a distinctly old-fashioned style. Gospel music may seem serious and earnest to non-Christians, but Earl Lewis has a lot of fun on stage, clowning around and making strange noises while singing, and the group Mountain Heart does the same with "Gospel Train." Old-timey Rhonda Vincent belts out an attack on Christian hypocrisy, reminding us that "You don't love God if you don't love your neighbor." The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, who had hit recordings as a mainstream group in the 1960s, sings gospel and does so quite well, closing out the program with a rousing rendition of "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?"
Did you know that Halley's Comet is part of the Chanukah story? This critic is no fan of Fran Drescher, but she proves to be an excellent host for "A Chanukah Celebration" (Sunday, Dec. 21, at 3 p.m. on WLIW/21), explaining this and other interesting aspects of the Feast of Lights. Weaving together song, story, a recipe from Jeff Nathan, holiday decorating tips by Teresa Strasser, and the "Alef...Bet...Blast-Off!" puppets, this program is aimed at viewers of all ages and all faiths.
Rabbi Irwin Kula, host of public television's "Simple Wisdom" and one of America's most influential spiritual leaders, offers an excellent interpretation of the miracle of the Maccabees, putting the meaning of the holiday in the context of our own lives and reminding us that this is not so much the story of a military victory as it is of one of faithfulness.
Kula and Drescher stress that this is "truly a holiday for all the people." Emmy-winning Broadway legend Theodore Bikel sings an incomparable, klezmer-backed version of "Chanukah, O Chanukah." Alan Eder and friends embody by singing and dancing a traditional Chanukah to the beat of African drumming and reggae instrumentation. Craig Taubman likewise makes Hebrew lyrics accessible to modern Americans, both Jew and Gentile, with passionate contemporary Jewish music that resembles the very best Contemporary Christian Music. It is easy to see why his Friday Night Live services at Temple Sinai in Los Angeles draw more than 2,000 people.
TWG
"At the heart of the ecumenical movement is the conviction that there is one church and that its members, however fragmented they may seem, are deeply related to one another thanks to what God has done in Jesus Christ. The ecumenical task, therefore, is not to create unity, but to address divisions of human origin in order that the unity God has given may be visible in the world."
--Michael Kinnamon (former head of the Consultation on Church Union) "The Vision of the Ecumenical Movement and How It Has Been Impoverished by Its Friends," Chalice Press, 2003
"To be effective in responding to a disaster, we must prepare for the worst possible crisis and pray that it doesn't happen."
--Msgr. Kevin Sullivan, Catholic Charities, Archdiocese of New York
Hosted by the Youth Ministry and Public Policy Education Committee of:
Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Church
1434 Straight Path, Wyandanch
Sponsored by:
The Public Policy Education Network at Catholic Charities, Diocese of Rockville Centre
In cooperation with The Long Island Council of Churches and the Diocesan Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministries
This evening of Advent Prayer, Music and Reflection will explore:
Directions to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Church: From Southern State Parkway, exit at Straight Path north. The church is about 3 miles north on your left. From Northern State or the LIE, exit at Rte. 231 south (Deer Park Ave.) Proceed about a mile south of the LIE to Straight Path which intersects diagonally on the right (Across from the Upper Tabernacle Church.) Go south on Straight Path about 5 miles, crossing the railroad tracks. The church is ahead on your right.
REGISTRATION:
Send your Name, your Parish, and the number of persons attending by December 3rd to: PSM, Catholic Charities, 90 Cherry Lane, NY 11801 OR call (516)-733-7078 OR Fax (516) 733-7098 or e-mail: robinson.mary@catholiccharities.cc.