St. Cuthbert's Holy Week Services 2009

JOIN US!

For Holy Week and Easter 2009

St. Cuthbert’s Episcopal Church
7932 Mountain Blvd.
Oakland, CA 94605

(510) 635-4949

stcuddy@aol.com

www.stcuthbertsoakland.org

Thursday, April 9, 2009 Maundy Thursday Service: 7:30pm

Friday, April 10, 2009 Good Friday Service: 7:30pm

Saturday, April 11, 2009 Easter Vigil Service: 7:30pm

Sunday, April 12, 2009 Easter Sunday: 10am

(No 8 am services on Easter Sunday.)

Phyllis Brislawn's Memorial Service - November 15, 2008

A CELEBRATION OF THE LIFE
of

Phyllis May Lupton Brislawn

(June 22, 1930 – October 9, 2008)

11 a.m., November 15, 2008
St. Cuthbert’s Episcopal Church
7932 Mountain Blvd.
Oakland, CA 94605

Biography of Phyllis May Lupton Brislawn

Born June 22, 1930 in San Mateo California, to Edward Lupton and Dorothy Wintler Lupton. Phyllis passed gently and without pain on October 9, 2008, at her home in Piedmont. She was surrounded by loving family. Phyllis May is survived by her husband of 51 years, Ferdinand Leo Brislawn. She was a devoted Mother to Margaret Brislawn Love, Helen Brislawn, and Gordon Brislawn as well as an inspiration to her three granddaughters, Anastacia, Allison, Katherine and her cherished extended family.

She was graduated from Mills College and received her Masters degree in Psychology from Stanford University (Phi Beta Kappa). Phyllis was passionate and dedicated to her career as a school psychologist. She started her career as Director of Special Education in the Palo Alto School District, from there she moved on to Emeryville and Richmond. Her mission was to ensure that the pupils became successful readers as a foundation for academic and personal success.

Her many outside interests included traveling, attending the Berkeley Repertoire and the Paramount Theaters, volunteering at the American Cancer Society's Discovery Shop, docent and archivist at Pardee House, and teaching Sunday School as well as many years as Secretary to St. Cuthbert's Vestry. She also built an amazing doll house and spent most of her time supporting her friends and family.

She was a quiet role model who did not bring glory to herself when others succeeded with her help. It was her way to make people feel appreciated and important. Her life, love and perspective inspired and moved all those who knew her. Phyllis will be greatly missed by many, but now she lives in each of our hearts. She was truly one of God's special people. Of all her many accomplishments her family was always first in her heart.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Phyllis' honor to

St. Cuthbert's Episcopal Church.

© Photos Tom Slocumb

GRAND OPENGING - Oak Knoll Produce Market

NEW!

OAK KNOLL PRODUCE MARKET

2008 Schedule

SATURDAY,

December 13, 2008

10 -11 a.m.

2009 Schedule: 2nd & 4th Saturdays

SATURDAY

January 10th & 24th, 2009

February 14th & 28th, 2009

10 - 11 a.m.

Great wholesale prices!

Great produce - fresh from Watsonville!

at St. Cuthbert’s Episcopal Church - Parish Hall
On-site parking available

St. Cuthbert’s Episcopal Church
7932 Mountain Blvd
Oakland, CA 94605

(Directions: Go Rt 580 E, exit at Keller Ave., go left over freeway )

Phone: (510) 635-4949

E-mail: stcuddy@aol.com
Website: http://www.stcuthbertsoakland.org/

© Photos Tom Slocumb

St. Francis Day 2008 - Blessing of the Animals

St. Francis Day - 2008

at St. Cuthberts Episcopal Church

Guest Preacher - Sr. Maggie Simpson CSF

© Photos Tom Slocumb

Gay Prom 2008 - Hayward, California

St. Cuthberts Episcopal Church Members

Rally to Support LGBT Youth

at the

Gay Prom Night, Hayward, CA

June 2008

Jeremiah Allen and the Rev. Connie Hartquist-Jacobs

The Rev. Laurie Willis and Lorraine Steele

The Rev. Laurie Willis

Don Silva with flag

The Revs. Connie and Laurie with fellow clergy

Jeremiah Allen & Bill Bill Bailie

Bill Baillie

Juneteenth Freedom Mass

Juneteenth Freedom Mass

June 15, 2008

with the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir

Conducted by Paul Kim, Assistant Director of the OIFG

Hosted by St. Cuthberts Episcopal Church

and

Church Without Walls (American Baptist Church of the West)

The Rev. Pamela Cranston and Jeremiah Allen

Paige Beercy-Beery and Family

Sarom Khak and Stewart Peou

Pastors Eugene Williams and Betty Clark

(Church Without Walls)

Pastor Betty Clark preaching

Pastor Eugene Williams preaching

Crab Feed

St. Cuthbert's Episcopal Church

Annual Crab Feed
&
Silent Auction

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Open: 5 p.m. Seating: 5:30 p.m.

Cost: Adults $35

Kids $15 - age 12 and under

All you can eat crab or chicken!

Silent Auction, 50/50 Raffle and a secret door prize

Where: St. Cuthbert's Episcopal Church – Parish Hall
7932 Mountain Blvd.

Oakland, CA 94605

Pre-Purchase Required - No ticket sales at the door.
For Tickets Contact:(510) 635-4949 or stcuddy@aol.com

(Directions: Take Rt. 580, exit at Keller Ave., go left - good from either direction.)

Holy Week and Easter 2008

Holy Week and Easter 2008

St. Cuthbert's Episcopal Church

7932 Mountain Blvd.

Oakland, CA 94605

(510) 365-4949

www.stcuthbertsoakland.org

Palm Sunday, March 16th, 10 a.m. Holy Communion – Procession around the church and the dramatic reading of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ.


Maundy Thursday, March 20th, 7:30 p.m. – “Maundy” comes from the Latin, “mandatum” or commandment, referring to Jesus’ commandment to love. We will remember the setting for the First Supper of the New Age, the Holy Eucharist. We will wash each other’s feet as a sign of Christ’s service to us and of his call for us to serve others in his name. At the end, we will strip the altar then empty the church in silence, taking the sacrament with us, to prepare for Good Friday.


Good Friday, March 21st, 7:30 p.m. – God’s Friday - the day when we remember Jesus’ Crucifixion.


Easter Vigil, March 22nd, 7:30 p.m. – We begin with our Great Vigil of Easter after sundown with the lighting the New Fire of Easter, singing the ancient Exultet and end with bells, Great Alleluias and the blazing light of Glory.


Easter Day, March 23rd, 10 a.m. – Easter Sunday service, the Queen of Festivals, when we unpack our alleluias, when we ring in the resurrection with organs, choir, trumpets and horns and songs of joy. Pastors Betty Clark and Eugene Williams and the congregation of Church Without Walls (who now rent our worship space at 2 p.m. on Sundays) will join us at the 10 a.m. Easter service.


If you have never attended a Maundy Thursday or Good Friday or the Easter Vigil service before – this is the year to try one or two or three of these. Some parts of these worship traditions go back to the ancient Christian Church, dating from the 1st to the 4th century CE.

(Directions: Take Rt. 580, exit Keller Ave. go left - from either direction.)

Part of the Palm Sunday Procession

Alison Love, Crucifer

Palm Sunday Choir

Mark Daniel, Music Director (far right)

Tom Slocumb, Cellist

Christmas 2007 Schedule at St. Cuthbert's

Christmas 2007 Schedule

St. Cuthbert's Episcopal Church

• Wednesdays in Advent, starting December 5th at 7 p.m., the Rev. Pamela will lead a study course on Anglican Evangelism called: “How To Share Your Faith Without Losing Your Friends.”


• Saturday, December 22nd at 10 a.m.: Church Annual Christmas Decorating Party. Come help decorate the church! For adults and kids. With coffee, hot cider, hot cocoa and cookies.


• Sunday, December 23rd at 10 a.m.: Actor Michael Reardon and Patrick Lane of Into the Light Productions will present a spectacular and dramatic "performance-sermon" of scripture, light, and movement Matthew’s Christmas Narrative.

• Monday, Christmas Eve, 7 p.m.: Family Christmas Service.


• Tuesday, Christmas Day, 10 a.m.: Christmas Communion with music


• Sunday, December 30th, 10 a.m.: "Come A-Caroling" Service - Lessons and Carols.

Roussel Sargent's 90th Birthday Celebration

Roussel Sargent's 90th Birthday Celebration

November 29, 2007

Mills College, Oakland

On November 29th, 70 people came to Mills College to celebrate the 90th birthday of St. Cuthbert's parishioner, Roussel Sargent PhD, retired Aurelia Henry Reinhardt Professor of English from Mills College. Much to Roussel's embarrassment, glowing tributes abounded - including a loving letter from her long time friend and fellow writer, Ursula LeGuin.

Dr. Roussel Sargent PhD

Roussel, Elaine, Paige and Margaret

Roussel & Fr. Tom Shultz OHC and Br. Rafael OHC

Mark and Chanthima Daniel

Mary Teixeila and Kevah Payne

Friends

Roussel Sargent and Paige Bearce-Beery

Tom Slocumb and Shivaun Van Straatum

Sharon Vaughn

The Rev. Pamela Cranston and Roussel Sargent

A Tribute for Roussel Sargent

on her 90th Birthday

by The Rev. Pamela Cranston

Just for the record, Roussel Sargent was born the only child of Sydney Beuzeville Byles Sargent and Winifred Muriel Strachan on November 24, 1917 at Acocks Green outside of Birmingham, Warwickshire County, England. Her father Sydney was an unenthusiastic banker and came from a long line of Sargents from Henley-on-Thames (of the Henley Regatta fame.) (For your information, among other things, she is a distant relative of the poet Coventry Patmore.) Roussel told me that her father had thick wavy black hair and noticeably bushy eyebrows, which she inherited in a slightly feminized form. From her father she also inherited a love of language and English Literature – and a drop or two of spirituality.

In the early 1890s, her father was sent off as a boy to attend a small private school in Somerset, and it was there, Roussel tells me, that he became the victim of the craze for levitation. She said, “The kids in his dormitory each put a finger under his body and they all breathed and concentrated—and up went Daddy in a highly satisfactory way. Then they heard the footsteps and knew a master was coming to check up on them. Concentration broken, there was a panic-stricken dash for their beds as my father crashed to the floor and broke his arm.” His arm was badly set by the school doctor but it proved to be a lucky accident because it later exempted him from fighting in World War One. If he had enlisted there is a good chance we would have had no Roussel!

I first met Roussel in 1998 when I came became the associate priest at St. Cuthbert’s Episcopal Church in Oakland. After a long hiatus from religion, Roussel had returned to the Episcopal Church about 1996 (home of her beloved Book of Common Prayer) through my friend Fr. Paul Strid. Since then, I have always known Roussel, despite her family’s love of spiritual heights, to have her feet planted squarely on the ground – unlike most Episcopalians who have both feet planted firmly on the fence. (And proud of it!) So I can categorically say that any rumors of Roussel levitating have been grossly exaggerated.

Roussel and I became good friends almost as soon as I met her and soon discovered we have many interests in common. In a way, you could say that Roussel represents the long lost Aunt I always wanted to have. Many of you I expect had Roussel as a consummate teacher and colleague. I was never so lucky, but what I can say about her is that she is a lovely poet, a great diarist, a wise and faithful Anglican, and a considerate and amazingly generous friend who is never boring.

Roussel is shy and modest by nature and though she would be the last to say it, Roussel’s real achievement is her extraordinary gift for friendship. If you need a cheerleader in your life, Roussel is the best encourager I know – so much so that I wonder if she’s ever had a secret desire to be a Raiderette! I could not do half of what I do without her support…

And what a collection of friends! If you look around the room you will begin to get a picture of who Roussel is by seeing this assorted group of fascinating, intelligent, deep and quirky people. For better or for worse, Roussel, we are your legacy.

You can tell a lot about a person by the people and things they like, and so I have decided to make a list of them for you in a poem I wrote called: When I’m An Old Woman (with apologies to its original author, Jenny Joseph.)

The Rev. Pamela Lee Cranston
© Mills College, 11/29/07



WHEN I’M AN OLD WOMAN

(For Roussel Sargent on her 90th Birthday)
November 24, 2007


When I’m an old woman, I shall forget
about wearing purple and garish hats
but spend all my money on charities and chocolate.
I shall lavish all my care on two fractious cats—
one fat, the other black with white whiskers
and four white spats. When I tire,
I shall sport a wooden cane
(most properly called a ‘stick’)
and use it to whack any car that dares
to cut across my path.
I shall collect English country calendars,
hoard ancient books by Traherne and Vaughn
and save copper pennies in a jar.
At all times and in all places, I will cherish words,
never miss Jeopardy and let the sound
of Tudor language lift my soul.
I shall cultivate brass band roses, drive
to Oregon to see the summer stars
and dabble my toes in a babbling brook.
I shall stroll across the Sussex Downs at sunset,
gaze at the orient wheat and dream of Greece,
then eat the bluest Stilton, drink the finest port
and lounge beneath yellow beech trees in the fall.
I shall pick the best seat at Evensong
and always pause to hear the bell-ringers ring the changes.
I shall buy Christmas crackers and sing silly songs
to make up for the gravity of my youth.
I shall stay up till two researching footnotes with the OED
then sleep in late and dawdle over coffee
and the crosswords and write witty letters
to William Safire full of questions about curious words
like “zounds!”, “boogie”, and “flabbergaster”.
I shall read the Times Literary Supplement
from cover to cover and tell my friends
never, under any circumstance, to vote Republican.
And when Death comes north of 100,
I shall treat him like an English butler,
who will open (with kid gloves) the door
to my bright Future, where I shall become
a living poem, a golden word,
everlasting in the poetry of Christ.


© 2007 Pamela Lee Cranston

Visitation of Bishop Marc Andrus - November 11, 2007

VISITATION OF BISHOP MARC ANDRUS

November 11, 2007

Bishop Marc and Shiela Andrus' first visit to St. Cuthbert's Episcopal was a great success. By 4 p.m. on Sunday, over 95 people came to celebrate their presence among us. We welcomed 3 month old Justice Mok who was baptized. In addition, three others were confirmed and one person was received. Under our music director, Mark Daniel's leadership, the music was fabulous. And so was the reception - a feast from many cultures! It was a great day.

Dia de los Muertos - Day of the Dead Fesitval

Dia de los Muertos

Day of the Dead Fesitval

St. Cuthbert's Episcopal Church

November 4, 2007

This day we celebrated the Feast of All Saints and Day of the Day – a day of light and laughter.

In Mexico, the traditional observance of Day of the Dead calls for a feast during the early morning hours of November the 2nd, the Day of the Dead proper, though modern urban Mexican families usually observe the Day of the Dead with only a special family supper featuring the sugared "Bread of the Dead" (pan de muerto). In smaller villages, families go to the graves of their close kin. At the gravesites they spruce up the gravesite, decorating it with flowers (primarily large, bright flowers such as marigolds and chrysanthemums), with religious amulets and with offerings of food, cigarettes and alcoholic beverages. They then set out and enjoying a picnic, party with other family, friends and neighbors who gather at the cemetery.

Families remember the departed by telling stories about them. The meals prepared for these picnics are sumptuous, usually featuring meat dishes in spicy sauces, a special egg-batter bread, cookies, chocolate, and sugary confections in a variety of animal or skull shapes.

Poet Octavio Paz observes that, undaunted by death, the Mexican has no qualms about getting up close and personal with death, noting that he "...chases after it, mocks it, courts it, hugs it, sleeps with it; it is his favorite plaything and his most lasting love."

Day of the Dead – Full of whimsy in Latino culture – they bring the death-skeleton out of the closet. Quite literally. Skeletons on motorcycles, at the kitchen table, partying skeletons, even Madonna and child skeletons…. Laughing at death.

This is not a morbid feast or a way of denial but a joyful one. It is the ultimate statement of faith. We laugh at death because we know that Jesus Christ has the final word about life – not Death, even when death seems brutal and senseless.

March Against the Iraq War - Saturday, Oct. 27th

Fall Out Against the Iraq War Demonstration

Saturday, October 27th
San Francisco, CA

Members from St. Cuthbert's Episcopal Church joined Bishop Marc Andrus and fellow Episcopalians throughout the Episcopal Diocese of California in a massive demonstration against the War in Iraq on Saturday, Oct. 27th in San Francisco.

Over fifty people marched down from Grace Cathedral via California and Polks Streets to the SF Civic Center singing protest songs, carrying banners and drumming drums.

ABC News reported that the streets were filled with thousands as labor union members, anti-war activists, clergy and others rallied near City Hall before marching to Dolores Park.

As part of the demonstration, thousands of protesters staged a massive "die-in" and lay down on Market Street for three minutes to commemorate the thousands of American soldiers and Iraqi citizens who have died since the conflict began in March 2003.

No official head count was available. Organizers of the event estimated about 30,000 came to the San Francisco demonstration at City Hall. More than 10,000 people marched to Dolores Park.

Tom Jacobs, the Rev. Connie Hartquist Jacobs, Tom Bickley and the Rev. Pamela Cranston of St. Cuthbert's Episcopal Church, Oakland, CA.








Bishop Marc Andrus addressing the crowd.

Up-coming Events Fall 2007

Up-coming Events Fall 2007

St. Cuthbert's Episcopal Church

Oakland, CA

Saturday, October 27th at 10 a.m: St. Cuthbert's joins the Fall Out Against the War Demonstration. Join Bishop Marc Andrus and fellow Episcopalians throughout the SF Bay area in a massive demonstration against the War in Iraq. Episcopalians against the war will gather at 10 a.m. at Grace Cathedral (with parish banners) and march from there down to the Civic Center by 11 am. Wear warm clothes and comfortable walking shoes.

Sunday, October 28th at 10 a.m.: Sunday dedicated to the Millennium Development Goals.

Sunday, November 4th at 10 a.m.: Mexican Dia de los Muertos: All Saints/All Souls Day. Bring photos of your loved ones and marigolds.

Sunday, November 11th at 4 p.m. (no morning services): Our first visitation of Bishop Marc Andrus, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California. Baptism & Confirmations. Potluck reception afterward. Great food!

Sunday, December 2nd at 10 a.m.: Advent 1: Advent wreath & featuring guest harpist, Jack Pantaleo.

Wednesdays in Advent, starting December 5th at 7 p.m., the Rev. Pamela will lead a study course on Anglican Evangelism called: “How To Share Your Faith Without Losing Your Friends.”

Saturday, December 22nd at 10 a.m.: Church Annual Christmas Decorating Party. Come help decorate the church! For adults and kids. With coffee, hot cider, hot cocoa and cookies.

Sunday, December 23rd at 10 a.m.: Actor Michael Reardon and Patrick Lane of Into the Light Productions will present a spectacular and dramatic "performance-sermon" of scripture, light, and movement Matthew’s Christmas Narrative.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Contemplative Mass - Every Sunday at 8 a.m. - with 20 minutes silent meditation, body work and chanting in the context of Holy Communuion. People of all faiths welcome to attend.

See our website for more information: www.stcuthbertsoakland.org

St. Cuthbert's Day - September 9, 2007

Feast of St. Cuthbert at St. Cuthbert's Episcopal Church, Oakland, CA - September 9, 2007

Jack Pantaleo plays his Irish Celtic harp at St. Cuthbert's
Episcopal Church, Oakland.

Harpist and author, Jack Pantaleo, appropriately from St. Aidan's, San Francisco, played his two harps for us during our Celtic Mass in celebration of the earth and St. Cuthbert. He brought and played his large orchestral harp and his Irish Celtic harp. It was magical to hear him. Thank you Jack for your great gift of music!

See our website at: www.stcuthbertsoakland.org


**************************************************************************************

Christian Buddhist Meditation Workshop - June 16, 2007

LEANING INTO THE GREAT MYSTERY

A Workshop on
Christian-Buddhist Meditation

with

Kosho McCall

Head of Practice

Tassajara Zen Mountain Center

and

The Rev. Pamela Cranston
St. Cuthbert’s Episcopal Church

Saturday, June 16, 2007
10 am - 3 pm

St. Cuthbert's Episcopal Church
7932 Mountain Blvd. (at Keller Ave.)
Oakland, CA 94605(510) 635-4949; stcuddy@aol.com

Kosho McCall
Head of Practice, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center

Kosho McCall: He was born in Rochester, Indiana and graduated from the University of Maine in 1970 and received a MDiv in 1976 from General Seminary. He was ordained as an Episcopal priest in January 1976. He served as a priest at the Cathedral in Portland, Maine and in parishes in the Diocese of Maine form 1974 – 1988. He also had a private counseling practice in pastoral psychology from 1985 – 1988. He came to San Francisco in 1988 and served until 1992 as a priest at Grace Cathedral and other parishes in the Diocese. In 1995, he joined the SF Zen Center. He became a Buddhist priest and is now head of Practice at the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, where he has been since 1997.


The Rev. Pamela Cranstonm Long-term Interim Vicar
St. Cuthbert’s Episcopal Church

The Rev. Pamela Cranston was raised in Old Deerfield, MA. She was an Episcopal Franciscan nun from 1974-1978 in England and San Francisco. She graduated from SF State University in 1984 and from CDSP with an MDiv. in 1988. She has assisted at Grace Cathedral and in parishes in the Diocese of CA from 1988 – 2007. She has also worked as a hospice chaplain since 1998. She is now the Long-term Interim Vicar of St. Cuthbert’s Oakland. She has been a spiritual director and retreat leader for 27 years. She is the author of: The Madonna Murders and Coming To Treeline: Adirondack Poems.

Juneteenth Freedom Mass

with members of the

Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir

SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2007

at 10 a.m.

St. Cuthbert's Episcopal Church

7932 Mountain Blvd.

Oakland, CA 94605

(Take Rt. 580 east, exit Keller Ave., go left.)

Come join us as we sing a medley
of Gospel favorites

St. Cuthbert's Episcopal Church

Annual Crab Feed

&

Silent Auction

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Open: 5 p.m. Seating: 5:30 p.m.

Cost: Adults $35 - Kids $15 - age 12 and under

All you can eat crab or chicken!

Silent Auction, 50/50 Raffle and a secret door prize

Where: St. Cuthberts Episcopal Church – Parish Hall

7932 Mountain Blvd. (Keller Exit, off Rt. 580)

Oakland, CA 94605

Pre-Purchase Required - No ticket sales at the door.

For Tickets Contact:(510) 635-4949 or stcuddy@aol.com

East Bay Debut

Book Reading/Signing

The Water Will Hold You:

A Skeptic Learns to Pray

by Lindsey Crittenden

Join us for a joint book reading/signing and discussion with

Lindsey Crittenden

and

the Rev. Pamela Cranston

author of: The Madonna Murders and Coming To Treeline.

When: Friday, April 20, 2007, 7 p.m.

Where: St. Cuthbert's Episcopal Church

7932 Mountain Blvd.

Oakland, CA 94605

(Directions - Take Rt. East 580 (towards Hayward),

exit at Keller Ave., go left over the freeway.

The church is on the corner of Mountain Blvd. and Keller Ave.)

Light Reception After.

St. Cuthbert's Episcopal Church

Annual Crab Feed

&

Silent Auction

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Open: 5 p.m. Seating: 5:30 p.m.

Cost: Adults $35
Kids $15 - age 12 and under

All you can eat crab or chicken!

Silent Auction, 50/50 Raffle
and a secret door prize

Where: St. Cuthberts Episcopal Church – Parish Hall
7932 Mountain Blvd. (Keller Exit, off Rt. 580)
Oakland, CA 94605

Pre-Purchase Required - No ticket sales at the door.
For Tickets Contact:
(510) 635-4949 or stcuddy@aol.com

Holy Week and Easter

at

St. Cuthbert’s Episcopal Church

7932 Mountain Blvd.

Oakland, CA 94605

Sunday, April 1, 2007 – Palm Sunday Service – 10 am
Thursday, April 5, 2007 – Maundy Thursday Service – 7:30 pm
Friday, April 6, 2007 – Good Friday Service – 7:30 pm
Saturday, April 7, 2007 – Easter Vigil Service – 7:30 pm
Sunday, April 8, 2007 – Easter Sunday Service - 10 am

Oakland Hills / Oak Knoll House For Rent

NATIONAL COMING OUT DAY

Taizé Service at St. Cuthbert's Church a Great Success

The Taizé Service held at St. Cuthbert's Church Friday, August 25th was a great success, with over 45 people in attendance. It was the first time the St. Cuthberts Community had ever held a Taizé Service but with the Rev. Amber Sturgess' experience of the actual liturgies in Taizé, she was able to create a profound experience for many people. Mark Daniel, the Music Director at St. Cuthberts (and former founder of Chanticleer) along with a small band of musicians, sang and played beautifully. One person who attended said that she had "never seen a Taizé Service like this outside of Taizé France."

In the future, St. Cuthbert's Church hopes to host 2-3 Taizé services a year. The clergy at St. Cuthberts have deep monastic roots and are creating a community that delves into our rich mystical tradition.

Taizé Service at St. Cuthbert's Church - August 25, 2006, 7:30 pm

Come join us to commemorate and celebrate the life of Br. Roger Schutz who was tragically murdered last August 2005. We will hold a Taizé Service in his honor at:

St. Cuthbert's Episcopal Church

7932 Mountain Blvd. (at Keller Ave. off Rt. 580)

Oakland, CA 94605

(510) 635-4949

stcuddy@aol.com

Friday, August 25, 2006

at 7:30 p.m.

All are welcome to come!

About Br. Roger Schutz's death:

Brother Roger was stabbed to death during the evening prayer service in Taizé on August 16, 2005 (by Luminiţa Ruxandra Solcan, a 36-year-old schizophrenic woman from Romania). His throat was cut, causing him to bleed to death within minutes. The assailant was immediately apprehended by members of the congregation and was placed in police custody.

His death, in full view of 2,500 horrified young pilgrims at the Church of the Reconciliation in Taizé, turned a man many already believed to be a saint into a martyr, although there is no clear link between his faith and the crime.

The funeral took place on August 23, 2005. Horst Köhler, President of Germany, and Nicolas Sarkozy, Minister of the Interior of France, were in attendance. Brother Roger's community and friends attended the liturgy in the vast monastery church at Taizé, while thousands more followed it on a huge screen in fields outside the church. Brother Roger's simple wooden coffin, a wooden icon lying upon it, was carried into the church by brothers. He was given a Catholic funeral leaving some people to wonder if he had died as a Protestant or a Catholic.

Cardinal Walter Kasper, the president of the Vatican's council for the unity of Christians, who concelebrated the Mass with four other priests of Taizé, said in a homily, "Yes, the springtime of ecumenism has flowered on the hill of Taizé." Beyond religious divisions, Brother Roger also abhorred the division between rich and poor. "Every form of injustice or neglect made him very sad," Cardinal Kasper said. Br. Roger's successor, Br. Alois prayed for forgiveness: "With Christ on the cross we say to you, Father, forgive her, she does not know what she did." According to some witnesses, Brother Roger had forgiven his attacker while still breathing...


For more information about the Taizé Community, go to thier website at:
http://www.taize.fr/en_rubrique8.html

PRESS RELEASE: St. Cuthbert’s Episcopal Church

*click to enlarge

The Centered Heart: Integrating East-West Meditation Workshop

*click to enlarge, right click to save image , then print.

St. Cuthbert's Leadership 2006: Bishop's Committee

At St. Cuthbert's we call our Bishop's Committee the "Gang of Ten". That captures our team spirit and feisty determination. We will not be a church that goes all passive victim or whines, nor will we be a church that is dull and stodgy. We are playful, loving, and full of Spirit.

The basis structure of our Gang of Ten is three classes of three plus the Long-term Interim Vicar, who serves ex officio. That way we have some continuity with the renewal of three fresh folks each year. Being feisty, however, we don't always play by even our own rules. When Sean Van Straatum had to leave and we needed to fill his one-year slot, Doris and Carolyn agreed to team up and we all agreed that this would be fine so long as between them they only cast one vote. This gives each of them a bit of a break and, since they do most of our Altar Guild work between them, we figure this is fair enough. So we are, perhaps, the Gang of Nine and Two-Halves this time around.

We are delighted to have all our gang members on board, from old pros who have done this more than once to those serving for the first time ever. [They are a wonderful, loving, prayerful, dedicated gang indeed!]

St. Cuthbert's Leadership 2006: Delegates

Here are our delegates and alternates for Diocesan Convention and the election of a new bishop for the Diocese of California. A nice combination of new timers and old timers to represent us!

St. Cuthbert's Leadership 2006: Clergy & Officers

Here we have two church officers: Phyllis Brislawn, Clerk of the Bishop's Committee, and Ana Love, possibly the youngest Treasurer in the diocese. Also the Long-term Interim-Vicar, The Rev. Pamela Cranston; Deacon Connie Hartquist-Jacobs; and Associate Priests Pamela Cranston and Amber Sturgess.

St. Cuthbert's May Media Madness

Bishop Swing's visit on Palm Sunday

What a wonderful time we had when The Rt. Rev. William E. Swing, Bishop of California, came for his final visitation at St. Cuthbert's on Palm Sunday. The Bishop was not about to let a few drops of rain get in the way of honoring Jesus as our King, so we marched and sang around the church before entering. Ten people were confirmed that afternoon, and each was marked on the forehead with the sign of the cross by every member of the congregation upon entering the church. We had a powerful beginning of Holy Week.

Palms were in place as were the Stations of the Cross
Bishop Swing and the Bishop's Committee
The Bishop confirming Allison Love
Bishop Swing and Bishop's Chaplain, Jeremiah Allen

Mary Swing patiently waiting for our meeting to end
Doris Hagen, William E. Swing, Connie Hartquist-Jacobs
The Bishop signing Prayer Books for the confirmands

as Amber Sturgess looks on

The Bishop is coming! The Bishop is coming!

NOTE: THE DATE OF THE EPISCOPAL VISITATION HAS BEEN CHANGED!


On Palm Sunday, April 9, 2006, the Rt Rev William E Swing, Bishop of California, will visit St Cuddy’s. This will be his final episcopal visitation with us before his retirement.

There will be one service only on that day at 4:00 p.m. so all may worship and meet with our Bishop. This festive service is scheduled to include Baptism and Confirmation and anyone interested in either of these sacraments should contact the Rev Amber Sturgess ASAP.

Bishop Swing will meet with the Gang of Ten prior to the service and a reception in the Parish House will follow the service.

This is a day to celebrate our bishop and his 26 years of ministry in this diocese and St Cuthbert’s as part of the universal Church. Mark it on your calendar now and be sure to join in a wonderful event.

Satan’s Throne—Part 6 (Conclusion)

My high school history and humanities teacher, Alan Amend, awakened in me a love of history. My interest in it has its crests and troughs, but it has endured. One of the peaks was toward the end of my (first) seminary years when I had visions of becoming a Church history professor. I began a graduate program in history at UCLA that did not last long. Although I concluded that such an intense academic focus was not for me, my gratitude for those extra years in history had endured. History gives us a sense of perspective that spans continents and millennia.

The awareness of prior generations with their various challenges, triumphs, and defeats can liberate us from assuming that we are the first or last or best to wrestle with anything. or that ours is the definitive frame of reference. So it has come to pass that I view the current parade of events both grateful to be living when I do and aware that we are but one of histories many chapters. Even in my teens and twenties I was drawn to the sobering reminders of poets.

“My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look upon my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
—Percy Bysshe Shelley

We are the greatest city,
the greatest nation:
nothing like us ever was.
—Carl Sandburg, “Four Preludes on Playthings of the Wind” (1922)

Taken out of context the quotations above suggest grandeur, but the poems in their entirety are sobering challenges to hubris, the pride that is the seed of downfall in the ancient Greek tragedies. Shelley’s Ozymandias speaks of the shattered remains of this great king’s statue and concludes as follows:

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Sandburg, writing a century after Shelley’s death, speaks of crows and rats in deserted ruins, concluding thus:

And the wind shifts
and the dust on a door sill shifts
and even the writing of the rat footprints
tells us nothing, nothing at all
about the
greatest city, the greatest nation
where the strong men listened
and the women warbled: Nothing like us ever was.

What, then, endures if great civilizations fall to dust and ruin, or are swallowed up by vegetation and forgotten? What will our legacy be?

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume
and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in
heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in
and steal.” (Matthew 6:19-20)

It would seem that Caesar’s standards are not those of Jesus. Enduring riches or fame are stored up “in heaven” or in God. In ordinary terms we think of grass withering but gold enduring, yet St Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians reminds us that it is faith, hope, and love that endure.

I find it both amusing and deeply chilling to read the words of Gary Schmitt in a memorandum from January 2001: “…[T]he preservation of a decent world order depends chiefly on the exercise of American leadership.” This is part of a discussion about the International Criminal Court and its rejection by participants in the Project for a New American Century (PNAC). What troubles me about the sentence is the idea that American leadership, no matter how important in globally politics, would be a chief element in the preservation of a decent world order. It implies that without one particular nation there would be little hope of decent order in the world, as though one nation either controlled or guaranteed decency or order! “Nothing like us ever was,” I hear in the background, as rats and lizards listen (but they do not applaud and cheer).

Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the LORD of hosts. (Zechariah 4:6)

That which gives value to our lives and is of lasting value is not the monuments we erect but the love we share, the justice we do, and the mercy we show.

In spite my own political biases, this is not a partisan rant. It does not matter which political party is ascendant, what the affiliation of any current President, which factions control Congress, what ideologies appeal to those whose wealth and influence shape the fate of millions. My concern here is with human choices, human actions, and their consequences for the average denizen of the earth. As an American, my concern is with the behavior of the United States as it embodies the dreams and the principles of our Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights. As a Christian, my concern is with how those of us who seek to follow Christ, or claim that we do, actually make decisions, take actions, cast votes, speak up, or remain passive when the collective reality of our government—a government designed to be “of the people, by the people, and for the people—shapes the lives and fates of our citizens and of the rest of the world’s inhabitants.

Do we choose Jesus or Caesar? The way of love or the way of power? The way of reconciliation or the way of vengeance? The way of justice or the way of personal aggrandizement? Grasping or sharing? Judging or understanding? Advantage or mutuality? Greed or generosity? Hospitality or hostility? Peace or war? Sustainability or exploitation? Liberation or oppression? Hope or fear? Hearts that are open or closed? Truth or deceit? Integrity or corruption?

To say “Jesus is Lord” is to relativize all other claims to our allegiance. Caesar cannot be Lord if Jesus is, and neither can anyone else, including corporate entities. Not a governmental figure nor a company. Those who have been “sealed by the Holy Spirit in baptism and marked as Christ’s own for ever” cannot owe their soul to the “company store.” Those delivered from bondage in Egypt do not return to Pharaoh. Those set free by Christ do not belong to anyone less than God. Do we then act as God’s people?

Do we speak out? Do we stand up? Or do we sit back and wait for God to sort it all out, when God is waiting for us to join in God’s work and be the Body of Christ in our time? Do remember that Jesus does not call us that we may be comforted but that we may be transformed and become agents of God’s love, healing, and grace?

We remember Jesus’ sense of mission:

When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." (Luke 4:16-21)

Do we accept our own?

Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so
I send you." (John 20:21)

There is work to be done. The average American worker earns less in constant dollars than several years ago. A huge segment of our population has no health insurance. The gap between rich and poor is swelling. Huge breaks are given to industries making immense profits while budget cuts penalize the already marginalized. The laws of the land are being flouted by those charged specifically with enforcing them. Basic human rights are being treated as optional. There are ethical and spiritual principles at stake in how we behave as a society, and I am not speaking here of individual morality but of the demonstrable fate of the many. A vision of the commonweal, the collective good, is something that has been diminishing over the decades, and that is something that flies in the face of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

To do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8) is NOT to be doormats for Jesus. Note that we walk humbly with God, we do not let others ride over us roughshod. Those who do justice and love mercy are not wimps who watch in silence while injustice takes place.

I issue no call here to establish a theocracy in our land. That would be an abomination. But we have a responsibility to help shape the direction of our cities, our states, our nation.

My sisters and brothers, we decide every day of our lives. Which shall it be?

Caesar?

Or Jesus?

Nominees for Bishop of California

More information is available at: http://bishopsearch.org/

The Rt. Rev. Mark Handley Andrus has served as Bishop Suffragan in the Diocese of Alabama since 2001, where he's initiated the Task Force for the Stewardship of Creation and the Pilgrimage for Peace, and been responsible for diocesan college chaplaincies and the camp and conference center, along with episcopal ministries. He serves on national steering committees for Bishops Working for a Just Society, Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation, and the Executive Council Committee on the Status of Women. He was Rector of Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Middleburg, Virginia; Chaplain and teacher at Episcopal High School, Alexandria, Virginia and curate at the Church of the Redeemer, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Prior to ordained ministry, he worked as a regional planner on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Bishop Andrus received his M.Div. at Virginia Theological Seminary, a Master's in Urban and Regional Planning from VPI&SU (Virginia Tech) and a B.S. in Plant and Soil Science from the University of Tennessee. His curriculum vitae is here.

The Rev. Jane Gould is Rector of St. Stephen´s Church, Lynn, Massachusetts, a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-racial urban church. Ordained in Massachusetts in 1986, she has served urban and suburban parishes of the Diocese. In addition, she served 6 years as MIT´s Episcopal Chaplain and Coordinator of the Technology Forum. Local commitments include Diocesan Council, youth ministry, mission strategy work, several urban ministry committees, and numerous community boards. Nationally, she serves as deputy to General Convention and board member of Episcopal Urban Caucus. Thanks to Kellogg Foundation and Lilly Endowment grants, she has extensive international experience and leadership training.
With a Californian father and eastern mother, Jane is decidedly bi-coastal growing up in Washington D.C. and receiving BA and MA degrees from Stanford. Her curriculum vitae is here.

The Rev. Bonnie Perry, D.Min., is Rector of All Saints' Church, Chicago, a diverse, outreach-centered congregation with an average age of 36. She is an adjunct faculty member at Seabury-Western Seminary, supervising seminarians and teaching a course she developed entitled, Advanced Studies in Congregational Leadership. She consults with clergy and vestries in Chicago and congregations in West Virginia, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, and Minnesota on congregational development, young adult evangelism and stewardship. She received her B.A. from the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts then served in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in West Oakland and South Central Los Angeles. She received her Master's of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary and her doctorate in Congregational Development from Seabury-Western Theological Seminary. In addition to her ministry, Bonnie is a passionate sea kayaker. She's a certified American Canoe Association Open Water Instructor and a British Canoe Union Level 3 Sea Coach. Her curriculum vitae is here.

The Rev. Canon Eugene Taylor Sutton is Canon Pastor of Washington National Cathedral, and Director of the Cathedral Center for Prayer and Pilgrimage. He co-founded an ecumenical network of churches and individuals in the Washington area who practice centering prayer, and is a frequent leader of retreats and conferences throughout the nation on prayer, spirituality, and preaching. Canon Sutton has served as a college chaplain, parish priest and a professor in homiletics and liturgy at Vanderbilt University Divinity School. He is a contributor to the book The Diversity of Centering Prayer. His curriculum vitae is here.

The Very Rev. Robert V. Taylor is Dean of St. Mark's Cathedral in Seattle. Since his arrival in 1999, the Cathedral's congregation has flourished as has its presence as a public voice and gathering place, a center for inter-religious dialog, worship and reconciliation. Previously, he served as Rector of St. Peter's Church in Peekskill, New York, two year-long Interim posts in New York and two years as Associate Rector of Grace Church, White Plains. Robert received his Master's of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in 1984 and his B.A. from Rhodes University, South Africa. Born and raised in South Africa, Robert experienced police harassment for anti-apartheid activities and, facing mandatory military service, left for the US in 1980 with the assistance of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He currently serves as a member of the Board of the Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation and the Governing Council of the Committee to End Homelessness in King County. His curriculum vitae is here.

Satan’s Throne—Part 5

In the best tradition of Hebrew prophets, Jesus was a threat to the social order. His teachings defied accepted wisdom, he hung out with all manner of outcasts, his interactions with women were remarkable for that time, and his message carried an egalitarian flavor. He defied religious traditions and placed people above rules, above profits, above power. Religious leaders considered him a heretic and blasphemer, and Rome eyed him as a potential insurrectionist. Talk of an alternative reign to that of Caesar was not acceptable on any level. His rejection of every form of exploitation challenged the way things were. Jesus was a troublemaker.

The new society that he proclaimed was a threat to entrenched structures. Alliances of “church” and state that worked for mutual enrichment of the very few at the apex of the social structure and left all others at their mercy had no place for Jesus alternate vision.

By now, no matter how intriguing this background may be to some, the reader is wondering why I have spent so much time on it all. Well, here is where the rubber hits the road.

What do these competing visions have to do with our lives today? Where do we see the way of Jesus and the way of Caesar? How do they operate and how do we disentangle ourselves from the way of Caesar in order to follow Jesus?

An empire built on military force has been tried throughout the millennia, but no matter what divine blessings they invoke upon themselves, the Law, the Prophets, the Writings, the Gospels, the Epistles, and the Apocalypse all call empires to account before God. They must give an account of how they treat the least among them, for Jesus’ parable of the sheep and the goats is, if we trust what Matthew writes, a judgment not only of individuals but of nations.

All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one
from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put
the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. (Matthew
25:32-33)

Hillel the Elder, whose life overlapped that of Jesus, preceded Jesus in noting the criterion of pleasing God:

That which is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation. Go and study it. (Babylonian Talmud, tractate Shabbat 31a)

Jesus spoke similarly:

When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" He said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." (Matthew 22:34-40)

Empires are not run on love. The reign of God is. Since we cannot equate earthly nations and empires with the reign of God, I do not propose we evaluate them in terms of love. But I do believe we must hold them to the standard of justice, and that involves treatment of the “last and least.”

The friends and followers of Jesus should be working for liberation of the oppressed, care of the sick, feeding of the hungry, shelter for the homeless, equitable treatment of the marginalized. Jesus did not treat anyone as dispensable or irrelevant.

What does it say for our nation if laws are passed and budgets structured that favor insurers over the insured, pharmaceutical giants over the sick, energy conglomerates over those who cannot afford fuel to get to work or heat for their homes, banks and financial institutions over their customers? How can we brag of higher standards for our schools when we do not provide the means to meet those standards and the attention our children need to learn and thrive? How can we leave the people one of America’s great cities to languish while bragging about our efforts to rebuild New Orleans? How can we extend the service of our troops in battle and cut spending on the Veteran’s Administration that cares for them when they come home? How can we send young men and women to fight for the United States when do not provide them with adequate armor? How can we reduce society’s safety net for the poorest while the gap between rich and poor widens obscenely and the level of those living below the poverty line increases?

Where are our national priorities when we extend our military and economic presence without taking care of our own poor, sick, elderly, and young? Why are we reducing the burden on the very wealthy while increasing it for everyone else? What does it say about the value we place on our children and our children’s children when the nation goes deeper and deeper into debt?

What does the way of Jesus have to say about corruption, secrecy, and lies? Where are today’s prophets who will stand up and speak boldly on behalf of the dispossessed? Who will be our next Martin Luther King, Jr.? Our Mohandas Gandhi? Our Desmond Tutu? Our Oscar Romero? Our Harriet Tubman or Elizabeth Cady Stanton? Our Chief Joseph or Sealth? Our Isaiah, Amos, Micah, Hosea? Our Mary?

When the Soviet Union held nations under its thumb with ruthless brutality and suppressed all freedoms, Ronald Reagan named it an Evil Empire. The Soviet Union collapsed and for the moment there is one superpower on the planet, though China may be able to challenge that before long. Have we become an empire or aspire to do so? What does this say about our Declaration of Independence, our Constitution, and our Bill of Rights? What are our national ideals today, our goals? If it is our deeds that tell the truth and not our words, where do we stand?

I believe Jesus challenges us today to remake our society. That does not mean we can create the reign of God on our own and it certainly does not mean we should restructure our nation to conform to ours or any other belief system. It does mean we, as Christians, have a duty to help shape the structures of our society so they favor justice, freedom, and the common good. We must oppose injustice, oppression, and the greed and lust for power that ignores the wellbeing of all. Jesus or Caesar—whom do we serve?

Conclusion in Part 6

Earlier posts:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Satan’s Throne—Part 4

The Bible’s contrast between Christ and empire is stark. For all the imagery of the ideal deliverer and ruler that derives from the propaganda machine of the Davidic dynasty, the early Christians radically redefine the notion of God’s Anointed (Messiah/Christ). Their experience of Jesus did not fulfill messianic expectations. David delivered Israel from the threat of the Philistines and expanded Israel’s borders. Jesus did not deliver the people from Rome’s grip nor did he establish a worldly kingdom. From all appearances, his kingship was a joke and it was mocked. Many of the most vivid images of the Passion involve brutal jests related to his supposed sovereignty: the crown of thorns, the robe, the title Pilate had placed on the cross (Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews), and the taunts of the onlookers.

"Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews"

Rome’s rule was brutal and it is difficult to envision any empire maintaining a hold on the nations without strong and savage force. Crucifixion was a method of execution intended not merely to kill the most heinous criminals and threats to Roman rule, it was meant to humiliate and to warn. It was a form of blatant terrorism. A person was stripped, nailed to a cross, and left not only to asphyxiate slowly and painfully (or perish from dehydration or shock) but also to hang there and rot, a reminder to all passersby that this is what happens to those who oppose Rome. Crucifixion was designed to instill fear and horror, to quench any flickering dreams of opposing the empire. Rome’s message was clear to all: This is what we think of your “king.”

Indeed, the evangelists themselves take great pains to establish contrasts. What sort of king is born and laid in a feeding trough? What sort of king’s birth is announced not in palaces but to shepherds, persons involved in a semi-unclean occupation? If Augustus can order the known world to participate in a census, what can this Jesus do? What does it mean to give Caesar what is Caesar’s and give God what belongs to God? What sort of messiah gathers no army? Indeed, what sort of fool heads straight to Jerusalem, where all his enemies await, and does nothing to evade capture and execution?

As far as Rome was concerned, one more potential troublemaker has been dealt with, one more wannabe threat eliminated. But what sort of threat to Rome did Jesus pose?

Tiberius and Jesus: Crown of Laurel, Crown of Thorns

Luke draws on the Song of Hannah and gives us a hint in the Song of Mary (Magnificat).

[God] has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. (Luke 1:51-53)

This proclamation of God’s character expressed in action speaks clearly of social reversals. Had Mary been speaking in the 20th century, she may have begun with “come the revolution….” When Jesus said “the last will be first, and the first will be last,” he was not upholding the status quo. (Matthew 20:16)

It is one thing to hear a person read a passage from Isaiah in the synagogue—"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor," and another to hear the reader then assert, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." (Luke 4:18-21)

The Coronation of Jesus from an early Christian sarcophagus

Good news for the poor almost always means bad news for those who live off the toil of the poor. Higher wages mean lower profits and those who are especially fond of high profits will resist raising a worker’s pay any more than necessary. When you are dealing with the economy of the ancient Mediterranean world where all but a few percent of the population were peasants living in or near poverty, the landowners and employers held all the cards. There was no union and no power that would uphold the lot of the poor. Except for one: God. The God of Israel had expressed a concern for the marginalized throughout the Hebrew Scriptures. The poor, the widow, the orphan, the alien—these were mentioned again and again as being dear to Yahweh. They were not to be forgotten, abused, or oppressed, and God was watching and judging. Job’s claim to innocence was based not on rules he had kept but on his care for exactly these people.

Jesus was following this tradition of promoting social justice in the name of God’s justice. One would think the religious authorities would have welcomed someone whose words and deeds were so in keeping with the Scriptures, so revealing of God’s character.

They, however, profited from the way things were and had an understanding with Rome. Jesus threatened their position and power just as he threatened the imperial power with words that, no matter how rooted in the Jewish tradition, sounded radical to their ears. He could only be a lawbreaker and a blasphemer. He needed to be dealt with.

Continued in Part 5

Earlier posts:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Satan’s Throne—Part 3

Jesus came proclaiming a different kind of rule than that of any known empire. His opening message was that “[t]he time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” (Mark 1:15) To those around him the known rulers were Herod, the half-Jewish and half-Idumaean kinglet whose power was entirely under Roman authority, and Tiberius Caesar. What could this “kingdom of God” be? Especially one that Jesus seems to consider more important than self-preservation.

We have come to understand that Jesus used the term not to suggest territories, bureaucracies, armies, and such—the usual trappings of a kingdom—but the “reign” of God, the realization of God’s will and rule on earth. It remains a strange concept to those who never talk about it, ponder it, and wrestle with what it means in our lives here and now.

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people. (Matthew 4:23)

Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?' For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and [God’s] righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:31-33)

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs." (Matthew 19:14)

It is not a reign of coercion, though God might well make any and all claims on us creatures. Jesus does not impose; he proclaims and invites. Some respond with faith and follow him. Some respond with doubt or conflicting values and do not follow. Some respond with fear or anger and resist Jesus and what he announces. Jesus’ way is not the way of empire. As God spoke to King Zerubbabel through the prophet Zechariah: “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the LORD of hosts.” (Zech. 4:6)

Jesus answered [Pilate], "My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the [Jewish leaders]. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here." (John 18:36)

It is not a reign based on getting and keeping but on giving. The point of riches is to use them for the common good, to share with those who have not. This is not the way of modern commerce or individual estate planning. Jesus proclaimed an “estate plan” that laid up treasures on another level altogether, where moth, rust, thieves, the stock market, and the IRS can do no harm. Caesar and his far-flung tax collectors would not understand.

"You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." (Mark 10:21)

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)

He said also to the one who had invited him, "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." (Luke 14:12-14)

Then he looked up at his disciples and said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. (Luke 6:20)

It is not a reign of exploitation. The God of Israel is known first and foremost for setting slaves free. The Exodus is the foundational story for the people of Israel, telling of their origin as a people and the God who gave them an identity.

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” (The first “commandment” of the Decalogue—Exodus 20:2)

You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. (Exodus 22:21)

When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God. (Leviticus 19:33-34)

Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD their God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets the prisoners free; the LORD opens the eyes of the blind. The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down; the LORD loves the righteous. The LORD watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin. (Psalm 146:5-9)

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Luke 4:18-19)

It is not a reign of dominion or division. The path which Jesus calls us to follow is one that rejects the artificial distinctions that we use to define the “other” and create division. Without such distinctions it is difficult to justify one person lording it over another. This does not entail a rejection of all authority but clearly implies an end to the abuse of power. Arrogance and servility alike have no place in God’s reign. In this Jesus follows the best traditions of the Torah, the prophets, the psalmists, and the sages.

You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; and you shall not lie to one another. And you shall not swear falsely by my name, profaning the name of your God: I am the LORD. You shall not defraud your neighbor; you shall not steal; and you shall not keep for yourself the wages of a laborer until morning. You shall not revile the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind; you shall fear your God: I am the LORD. You shall not render an unjust judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbor. You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not profit by the blood of your neighbor: I am the LORD. You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD. (Leviticus 19:11-18)

You shall have one law for the alien and for the citizen: for I am the LORD your God. (Leviticus 24:22)

“I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.” (John 15:15)

There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28)

Continued in Part 4

Previous posts:
Part 1
Part 2

Satan’s Throne—Part 2

The Pergamene martyr Antipas was among those persecuted, evidently for refusing to worship the emperor. To most Romans this was a formality similar to reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag, but to Christians it involved calling Caesar “Lord” and acknowledging the emperor’s divinity. The mere act of tossing a few grains of incense on the fire before the emperor’s statue was, to devout Christians whose religious roots were in Judaism, an act of apostasy and idolatry. Jews had been exempted from this civic ritual as the empire had realized their faith, unlike all the other known religions, would simply not allow it. But Christians, once they had been evicted from the synagogues as no longer being authentically Jewish, did not have this exemption.

The entire book of the Apocalypse is riddled with references to the question of whether Jesus is Lord or Caesar is Lord. Whose is the ultimate power? Who is truly divine? Who has the last word? Whose is the final victory? John’s pastoral answer is clear: Jesus is Lord and his is the victory. Those who remain faithful to Christ will share in his victory. The way of the empire is the way of death but the way of Christ is life.

What are these two contrasting paths?

The way of empire is always the way of power. Influence is extended through military and economic means, taking advantage of geography and natural and human resources. Cultural and ideological tendencies are yoked to political intent. Propaganda is nothing new, though sometimes it is subtle. The masterful Roman poet P. Vergilius Maro (Vergil or Virgil) managed, through no accident, to flatter the emperor Augustus through the epic Aeneid, a poem that traces Rome’s heritage back to the Trojans who survived the fall of Troy and many perils and temptations thereafter on their journey to Italy. The story of Aeneas and his travels provides a myth that shapes Roman values and legitimizes the Julian line currently in power, for Aeneas was the son of the Trojan Anchises and the goddess Venus, and his son Iulus gave his name, so the story goes, to the clan of Julius Caesar. The imperial line is divine and divinely favored and Rome’s glory under Augustus prophesied. The skeptics among us will note that the epic poem was written in the time of Augustus, thus making it one of those prophecies after the fact, or vaticinia ex eventu (to use the technical term). A mere quibble. Ignore the man behind the propaganda curtain.

The Roman colisseum in Nîmes, France, where I spent an afternoon in autumn 1967. Still functional after all these years.
Roman aqueduct over the Gard River in Provence (Pont du Gard)

The Roman temperament favored organization, discipline, and bureaucracy. A tension existed between a recognition of rule by law and the whim of some rulers, to be sure, but an empire-wide consistency could be achieved. The Roman army was well trained, Roman engineers were skilled. Roads, aqueducts, and buildings constructed two thousand years ago still stand. I got to watch a non-lethal bull fight in the city of Nîmes, sitting in a coliseum built by the Romans and still fully functioning. What especially amazed me was that thousands of people could exit in minutes, something I would never see in a modern structure.

Even with the temperate Roman climate and various societal traits, the Roman Empire was built with the toil of slaves, shrewd commerce, and military might. Slaves in the City of Rome itself are estimated to have been one third the total population.

Everything about Jesus challenged the society he lived in. Most Christians are aware of the challenges Jesus posed to Jewish religious authorities and the traditions that had grown up over the centuries and become dear to the scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians, and priests. These conflicts and Jesus’ position with respect to them are widely taught and preached. The political conflicts are discussed less and this shortchanges the Gospel.
























More in Part 3