Luke 24:44-48
Jesus said to his disciples, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you-- that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things."
Blog Reflection
Cyril is the one we have most to thank for the development of catechetical instruction and liturgical observances during Lent and Holy Week. Born in Jerusalem about 315, Cyril became bishop of that city probably in 349. In the course of political and ecclesiastical disputes, he was banished and restored three times. His Catechetical Lectures on the Christian faith, given before Easter to candidates for Baptism, were probably written by him sometime between 348 and 350.
The work consists of an introductory lecture, or Procatechesis, and eighteen Catecheses based upon the articles of the creed of the Church at Jerusalem. All these lectures (the earliest catechetical materials surviving today) may have been used many times over by Cyril and his successors, and considerably revised in the process. They were probably part of the pre-baptismal instruction that Egeria, a pilgrim nun from western Europe, witnessed at Jerusalem in the fourth century and described with great enthusiasm in the account of her pilgrimage. Many of the faithful would also attend these instructions.
Cyril’s five Mystagogical Catecheses on the Sacraments, intended for the newly baptized after Easter, are now thought to have been composed, or at least revised, by John, Cyril’s successor as Bishop of Jerusalem from 386 to 417.
It is likely that it was Cyril who instituted the observances of Palm Sunday and Holy Week during the latter years of his episcopate in Jerusalem. In doing so, he was taking practical steps to organize devotions for countless pilgrims and local inhabitants around the sacred sites. In time, as pilgrims returned to their homes from Palestine, these services were to influence the development of Holy Week observances throughout the entire Church. Cyril attended the Second Ecumenical Council at Constantinople, in 381, and died at Jerusalem on March 18, 386.
Cyril’s thought has greatly enriched the observance of Holy Week in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. (Taken from Holy Women, Holy Men, Celebrating the Saints, page 274)
The season of Lent, Holy Week and Easter are more about our Baptism and the other Sacraments.. During Lent as we go through our fasting, acts of abstinence, prayer and alms giving, or doing things that help us build on our faith, what we are actually doing is deepening our commitment to our Baptismal Covenant. See the Book of Common Prayer pages 292-294.
Because we are all human, we mess up. All of us at one time or another struggle to keep the ideals of what we believe as Christians in our hearts, minds and actions. We all need a tune-up.
The things that happen in our lives can really stink.
What Jesus did in his death and resurrection was to help us know that no matter what we do, there is a way to return to God and receive the merciful and forgiving grace to begin over again. The word repentance means to turn away and do something new.
We know as human beings our intention to turn away and do something new is there, until a moment comes when we are once again tempted by the need to focus on ourselves rather than God or someone else. The Lent, Holy Week and Easter celebrations reminds us that we can always turn back and try again.
We owe thanks to St. Cyril of Jerusalem for authoring the beautiful Liturgical celebrations that usher new individuals into the fellowship of God's Church. Those liturgical celebrations help those of us who have been in the Church for a longer period of time remember that we never out grow our need for the transforming grace of God.
The transforming grace of God that we are experiencing during these days of Lent, can also help us to better understand what our Baptismal Covenant calls us to.
Shortly after I attended Creating Change 2011 I reworded the description of this blog to what it now says: "I am a gay Episcopalian who believes that to fulfill the vows of our Baptismal Covenant to "strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human person" we must pray and work together to achieve the full inclusion and equality of all marginalized persons including LGBTQ people in the church and society. The Episcopal Church's three legged stool of Scripture, Tradition and Reason will be part of each blog meditation to inspire our movement."
Why do I think what I have said in that blog description is important?
Because when I read a story on a blog like JoeMyGod by Joe Jervis about a 28 year old guy who has been arrested because he confessed that he stoned an elderly gay man to death because the "Bible says so", I believe Christians are missing what our Baptismal Covenant is about.
Our Baptismal Covenant and Christian Faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus is not a license to excuse or provoke such violence. Yet there are many Christianist churches and groups that feel that the Bible is their reason to scapegoat, discriminate and if necessary kill with every justification.
There are Christianists who feel that the Bible alone with the philosophy of literal interpretation, without attention to over 500 years of critical scholarship with attention to language, culture, history and application, means that they must oppose the rights and opportunities for LGBT people to marry the person they love. And there are those who will kill in order to make their case. There are those who will justify homicide for those who support marriage equality. And claim that their faith was the reason.
This is not the message of Christianity. This is not the message of the Bible. This is not Christianity being the reason for such violence. This is how individual people use the Christian religion and our sacred text as their reason for these horrific attitudes and actions. Such is not what our Baptismal Covenant is about.
There are those who also feel that the Christian religion justifies political corruption if necessary to get their way. To be prejudice towards another person because of their race, class, culture, skin color, gender, religion, economic status, health status etc is what the holy text of the Bible tells them to do.
To help some understand better what the Bible is and is not, I suggest my readers also check out a terrific article by Kristin M. Swenson that appeared in the Huffington Post entitled: Five Things Everyone Should Know About the Bible.
Lent offers Christians the opportunity to put the Gospel perspective back in to our faith. The Liturgies of Lent, Holy Week and Easter remind us what is the reason we value the dignity of every human person as we do.
We value the dignity and integrity of every human person, because God has valued all of us. God loves all of us just as we are and through Jesus has redeemed all of us to one day share eternal life with God forever. It is through the mysteries that we will celebrate during Holy Week and Easter, that we have the reassurance that our Faith calls on us to regard every human person as deserving justice and inclusion.
Prayers
Strengthen, O Lord, the bishops of your Church in their special calling to be teachers and ministers of the Sacraments, so that they, like your servant Cyril of Jerusalem, may effectively instruct your people in Christian faith and practice; and that we, taught by them, may enter more fully into the celebration of the Paschal mystery; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Holy Women, Holy Men, Celebrating the Saints, page 275).
Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen. (Collect for Fridays, Book of Common Prayer, page 99).
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