Having Two Legs

St. Bartholomew and His Day

Bartholomew is listed in the synoptic gospels as one of the Twelve, likewise in the list given in the book of Acts. Apart from these references we know nothing else for certain about this man. Some have conjectured that he is the same as Nathaniel (John 1:45-51; 21:2), and early legends also testify to this. The thought is that Bartholomew is most likely a surname. It literally means “Son of Thalamai”. We also know that Philip and Nathaniel were friends according to John’s account, and in the synoptic lists, Bartholomew is listed with Philip. Perhaps then, the synoptic authors referred to this man by his last name, while John remembers him according to his first name, though all of this is conjecture. Eusebius is the earliest record of anything regarding Bartholomew, and there it is recorded that he was a missionary to India who left the gospel of Matthew in Hebrew with new converts there. Accounts vary with regard to Bartholomew’s death. Some legends record that Bartholomew was beheaded while most others recount that he was flayed alive before being crucified upsidedown. Apparently this latter legend is why he is pictured flayed and holding his own skin in Michelangelo Last Judgment.

It should not be forgotten that it was also on this same day, a millennium and a half later, in 1572, that Catherine de Medici ordered the slaughter of an estimated 100,000 Huguenots, French protestants, an event remembered in history as the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre. Despite the bloodbath, Pope Gregory XIII responded by congratulating the Queen of France and minted a special medallion in her honor, commemorating her “holy” deed.

Because of the way it is believed that Bartholomew died, a knife has consequently become the emblem of St. Bartholomew and can be seen in many old almanacs. At the abbey of Croyland, one source says that there used to be a distribution of knives each St. Bartholomew’s Day, in honor of the saint, a custom which I say ought to be revived.

The fact that this day often inaugurates cooler weather in many places is expressed in a popular distich:

“St Bartholomew
Brings the cold dew.”

A Collect for St. Bartholomew’s Day:

Almighty and most merciful God, who gave your faithful servant Bartholomew the grace to heed your call to discipleship and give his life in service to your Son, grant that we, together with all your saints, may take up our crosses daily and follow after Jesus, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, unto ages of ages, Amen!

Authority is Loyalty

In Mark 9, John points out to Jesus that they (the disciples) had seen someone casting out demons in Jesus’ name, but because they were not followers of the disciples, they were forbidden to continue the practice. And Jesus responds: “Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in My name can soon afterward speak evil of Me. For he who is not against us is on our side.”

In a post several days ago regarding my qualms with those who “convert” to other branches of Christendom, I questioned the validity of playing the “authority card” in defense of Rome or Constantinople. Now to make it perfectly clear, I do believe that the Church is the Body of Christ, and the appointed leaders of the Church speak with real authority, and they are to be honored and obeyed as such. And I am willing to fully affirm that it is possible that some ecclesiastical authorities today have been ordained by men who have been ordained by men who were ordained by others who (going back all the way) were ordained by apostles who were chosen by Jesus. But Jesus’ words make it clear that authority does not rest in a particular theological pedigree. Ultimately, true authority rests in loyalty to Jesus. And because this is the case, all authority must be assumed to be such (1 Pet. 2:13ff).

And of course someone will pipe up in the back of the peanut gallery and want to know how many miracles I have performed in the last few months. Isn’t that a prerequisite for “rogue” ministry? Actually, no. Jesus says that for sure whoever is doing miracles in His name should be left alone, but continues and allows for even more. The mark of true ministry and authority is allegiance to Jesus. The point is this: there is no club, no seminary, no ecclesastical convention, and no tatoo that entitles you to a free ride. The guy with the apostolic succession on his head may be as godly as St. Peter himself, or as God damned as Judas. To say that all Protestants must repent of their sectarianism and return to Rome or Constantinople is like saying that the scribes, pharisees and Pilot weren’t guilty of the blood of Jesus because hey, they were just doing what that Holy Blessed Apostle Judas told them to do.

And no, this doesn’t mean that ordination doesn’t matter or that the church is a free-for-all democracy. But it does mean that the church is a theocracy; it means that God does whatever He wants and He does it with whomever He wants, our fancy little ceremonies notwithstanding. Maybe God will wind up reuniting the organizational structure of the church over the history of the world. Maybe in ten or thirty thousand years there will be an “Office of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.” Maybe. But I kind of doubt it. I suspect that as God perfects His Bride, it will be far more organic. Sure, maybe there will be various leadership positions over certain branches of the church and those leaders will be in fellowship and communion with other leaders. But that unity and fellowship will not be based on a particular heritage, a pretentious ceremony or the letterhead on the stationary. Our unity is and will always be in our allegiance to Christ, our loyalty to Him and to His people.

It’s the disloyalty expressed in phrases like “I’m converting” that makes me sick.

Holy Trinity Weekly

This Sunday will be the Twelfth Lord’s Day after Pentecost.

The Christian Almanac records that in mid August of 1301 Dante Alighieri fell out of favor with the rulers of his home town of Florence, Italy. Eventually being banished from home, he took up an exilic residence in Venice. And it was during this period in Dante’s life that he wrote “The Divine Comedy”. This allegorical epic traces Dante’s pilgrimage from the depths of Hades through Purgatory to the heights of highest Heaven. Written in high Italian meter, full of sweeping imagery and challenging themes, Dante presented the world with the story of history revealed as the story of a beautiful gospel. His work was historically startling, presenting his
contemporary world with a work in the vernacular as well as his careful attention to characterizations and human psychology.

If you have never had the privilege of wandering up through the labyrinthine trail of “The Divine Comedy”, I highly recommend that you do. For if nothing else, Dante shows us the world much more truly than most, a world with all of its ugliness and sin, all of its glory and joy, and all of it sovereignly ruled by the Love of its
Maker.

The sermon text for this Sunday will be Mark 9. The lessons for the day will be 1 Kings 19:4-8, Ephesians 4:30-5:2, and John 6:41-51.

Orthodoxy, G.K. Chesterton Study

Chapter 1: Introduction: In Defense of Everything Else

1. What kind of apologetic does Chesterton intend to employ?

Chesterton opens telling us that he wants to defend Christianity as the one fitting/satisfying answer to the innate human need to live in the world as familiar and unfamiliar, completely at home and full of wonder as though it were a yet an undiscovered world. Chesterton is writing for “ordinary people”, people who take for granted the basic desirability of a life of imagination and wonder and joy. Chesterton wants to defend the faith as a “romance”.

2. What does Chesterton “despise most of all things”?

He despises “light sophistry” or what he also calls “mere paradox” or a “mere ingenious defense for the indefensible”. In other words he hates the scientist who explains to the little boy, “Oh that’s just gravity, it’s a measured, magnetic force that…” The problem is that for every so called “explanation” we cannot cover all the bases. We can define something and hope to have really explained everything it entails. And so when we say that something is “just…”, we are lying (e.g. Shaw, p. 4). But of course the lie is revealed for what it is by the reality of truth. All of our words compare to the Word. This is why Chesterton says that he never said anything in his life because he thought it was merely funny. (It was also always true.) Likewise the example of the rhinoceros: it’s one thing to explain or describe an imaginary creature with certainty (like the griffin or gorgon), but it’s an entirely different prospect to discover the rhinoceros as a creature that actually exists (is true!) and looks like it ought to be found in an anthology of mythological creatures.

3. So what does that mean?

The point of all this is that truth is gigantic, strange, and exotic. Lies are simple, plain and straight forward. The truth is a story of intrigue and adventure. So when we look at the world we need to come to at as Chesterton, the man in the yacht, discovering England for the first time. And the same thing goes for the Christian faith. It needs to be discovered afresh by every last man, woman and child in the world, and because it’s true it can be. But because it’s true, it will be discovered to have been there all along. It’s new and old, familiar and unfamiliar, alien and homely.

4. What form of Christianity is Chesterton defending?

Chesterton is after a defense of “mere” Christianity, the Christian faith as outlined in the Apostles’ Creed, and he is not seeking to discourse on the subject of where the rightful authority of that creed ought to be declared from (i.e. Rome, Constantinople, Canterbury, Greenville, etc.).

Chapter 2: The Maniac

1. How does Chesterton feel about the dictum: “Believe in yourself”?

Chesterton begins by deconstructing self-confidence because self-confidence is the beginning of insanity. This is first of all because of the reality of sin, yea even, original sin, which for some reason, modernists of all shapes and sizes have made a habit of denying. This should have been our first clue. But since sin has been denied by many moderns, Chesterton says he will begin with the insane, because that’s still an admissible category, and (we suspect) Chesterton doesn’t see any meaningful difference. They are both to some degree, self-inflicted cages.

Thus beginning with the asylum, Chesterton sets off on a mission to find sanity.

2. What is the main difference between sanity and insanity?

Insanity is created by an over insistence on reason and logic. Sanity is the common sense of the poet. “The poet only asks to get his head into the heavens. It is the logician who seeks to get the heavens into his head. And it is his head that splits.” (p. 11) This insistence on certain and exhaustive knowledge and understanding is an enslavement, a determinism. When one serves the god of reason or logic, one must keep to that one and only traveled path.

3. What are the three most common forms of insanity?

Chesterton gives three of what he calls the most common forms of insanity: the conspiracy theorist, the guy who says he’s the rightful king of England, and the one who says he’s Jesus Christ. The point is the same in all three instances. All three are examples of tiny minded intellectualism. Everything is about them and their theories. And it’s all self-centered and egotistical. Chesterton admits that there may be reasoned and logical arguments that can uncover the fallacious assumptions at work, but these are probably useless. The best argument is one of pity and aesthetics. Wouldn’t it be more lovely to have a bigger, grander world? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if it weren’t true? Isn’t it a more enjoyable existence to live as though your claims were nonsense?

Evil is at the heart of unbelief and insanity. And therefore it must always be remembered that we do not speak words into the world as though they were tools intended to fix the machinery. Logic and reason are not used because they merely convince the un-tuned mind; rather the words we speak should mimic the words of God (e.g. “Let there be light.”), speech-acts declared in faith to dis-spell the nothingness. We should not “seek to argue with it like heresy but simply to snap it like a spell” (p. 15) And this spell is an all encompassing spell. The madman has a tiny hammer and everything is nail.

4. What is the first modern example of a widely held or “respectable” insanity that Chesterton raises?

Chesterton brings up materialism as a prime example of the kind of insanity he is concerned with. It is a kind of “insane simplicity”. Everything is boiled down to the “blind destiny of matter”. (p. 18) And Chesterton objects to this on the grounds of how similar it is to the previous examples of insanity. It is a tiny universalism, limiting every question to a very small set of possibilities. Chesterton admits that all truth ‘limits’ to some extend, but some truth claims are more tyrannical than others. Materialism leaves a man with no other options than explaining everything by blindly determined causation wrought by the pure genius of matter. And Chesterton objects because there is nothing left unexplained. “Materialists and madmen never have doubts.” (p. 19) The circle is too small. The Christian faith draws the circle so wide that freedom is created. Materialistic determinism defeats every question.

5. What is the other example that Chesterton brings up, what Chesterton calls the “other extreme of speculative logic”?

Next Chesterton takes up Rene Descartes. Without naming the philosopher, Chesterton brings up the extreme skeptic, the one who is willing to doubt or question the verity of everything until finally reaching the echoing interior of his own skull and settles down as though he has finally found freedom and certainty. This theory is just as insane as materialism in that it is just as simplistic, just as universal in claim, and just as much a straightjacket for the imagination, a self-defeating circularity.

6. What does this chapter finally conceive of as the “chief mark of insanity”?

Reason without root (e.g. materialism) or reason in the void (e.g. skepticism) is the chief element of insanity.

7. And what does Chesterton finally claim is what keeps men sane?

Mysticism is what keeps men sane, the ability to live with mystery and paradox. This keeps the world “open” enough to live in, the world big enough to explore and celebrate (p. 23). “The whole secret of mysticism is this: that man can understand everything by the help of what he does not understand.” (ibid) Only by beginning with the infinite are we ready to study the finite as it’s reflection (in some miraculous way). In other words, only after one has first admitted the deep mysteries of chlorophyll and photosynthesis and bowed before the dark glory of the Creator, can one say truly, “That is a leaf”. Otherwise we are left lying our heads off, saying, “That’s just a leaf.” And we’ve drawn the circle in a tame, definite ring around our tiny, frail brains, effectively cutting off all possibility of actually arriving at the Truth.

Eucharistic Meditation

“Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, and they did not have more than one loaf with them in the boat. Then He charged them, saying, “Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”” (Mk. 8:14-15)

Jesus’ exhortation here implies that His disciples are bread. They are a lump of dough that must beware of particular kinds of leaven. Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod; the yeast they need is the yeast of Jesus. They need to be growing up into the one loaf, which is His body. One of the most common ways of leavening bread both in the ancient world and even still sometimes today is the practice of saving some of the dough from a previous batch of bread. That small piece of dough ferments and becomes the leaven for the next day’s bread. And so day after day, portions of bread are kept back to ferment and then mixed into the following day’s bread. And so John records Jesus right after the feeding of the five thousand saying, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world… I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst… I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” And so I imagine Mark probably had a bit of a smirk on his face when I wrote this: “they only had one loaf with them in the boat.” There was only one loaf of bread in the boat; it was the bread of life come down from heaven for the life of the world. And you are this loaf, and each week you come here to be remade and renewed, and Jesus leavens you with His flesh so that you are flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone, for the life of the world.

Exhortation

Patience is a fruit of the Spirit. This means that as the Holy Spirit of Christ dwells in you richly, you will grow and evidence more and more patience as the years go by. We are a pampered and spoiled people. We have fast food, cell phones, microwaves, high speed internet, automobiles, e-mail; we have the world at our fingertips, and it is incredibly tempting to believe that we are entitled to this kind of service and speed. But it is all a gift. We become accustomed to our timing, getting what we want when we want it. But God is the ruler of all, and He bestows all things in his time. He has made everything beautiful in its time. And this is the point: if you are chafing against God’s timing then you are despising the beauty that he has designed for you. This does not mean that you do not pray for better things. This does not mean that you are not hungry for the blessing of God. But it does mean that you must be comprehensively and thoroughly thankful. You must be drenched, soaked to the bone, dripping with gratitude for everything. It’s all a gift from God what he has and has not given to you, and when we cling to disappointment or bitterness in anyway we are like small children pouting when our father says that we have to eat our peas before having dessert. This may apply to how you view your job or your family or your parents. It may apply to how you view this church, the worship, or the leadership. It may apply to what you think about your finances, your health, or your future in general. Be patient. Cast all of your cares upon God because He does care for you. Then be patient. And you must be so patient that you are even willing to give it all up if that’s what God requires. God is not a stingy father, he has more good planned for you than you can even begin to imagine. But God loves tension and drama; he understands a good joke, he understands how a climactic ending ought to work. So don’t ruin the play. Don’t spoil the fun. God is working in your life, telling a wonderful story. Just go along with it. Be patient, and God will raise you up.

A Couple Links

Martin Luther has apparently been resuscitated and now has a blog. A self proclaimed movie critic, this guy is a hoot. Scroll down and look at his post from August 9th titled “World Trade Center and Other Pressing Matters.” He also has a post somewhere in there with some thoughts and comments on Leithart’s recent Credenda artical about Flannery, sacramental theology, and the dearth of protestant imagination.

I was also pointed to this site. The Interfaith Stewardship Alliance is a “coalition of religious leaders, clergy, theologians, scientists, academics, and other policy experts committed to bringing a proper and balanced Biblical view of stewardship to the critical issues of environment and development.” Looks interesting.