The Rev. Frank B. Reeves

2006-10-14T16:44:00.000-07:00

The Basics for Beginning to Understand the Scriptures

God is Love. It is only among people drawn together by mutual love in Christ that any understanding of Him can be advanced.
To understand the Bible we must test, as best we can, what is taught to us or offered for our acceptance, and to exercise judgment upon it, no matter what the source is. We also need to seek to grasp the truth that is present in every conviction that is sincerely and persistently held among other Christian people that is at variance with our own views.
In studying the Bible there will be differences of opinion. It must be the task of many generations to work out a synthesis of the different understandings of the one revelation of God in Christ. Both parties in any controversy over the Bible will find that among their varying views they will discover a far greater measure of substantial agreement than they may have anticipated. The removal of differences within the Church can only be rightly effected by the discovery of the synthesis of ideas which does justice to all of these.
The first step in interpreting one’s own tradition is to give attention to the background of the universal tradition of Christendom and that requires a consideration of the weight we should give these historical sources and the authority which attribute to them.
The Christian religion is founded upon a specific revelation of God in history. To this revelation Scripture and the Church both bear witness. The Church has always claimed that its’ doctrine is based on Scripture. It is to Scripture, therefore, that we first turn in considering the sources and authority of Christian doctrine, though we proceed to the Scriptures aware that certain realities must be considered.
Belief that the Bible is the inspired record of God's self-revelation to humankind and of our response to that revelation is not for me a dogma imposed as a result of some theory about the way it’s books were composed, but a conclusion drawn from the character of the various biblical books contents and the spiritual insight displayed in them.
The theme of the Bible as a whole is God, though the working out of this theme is, in parts, obscure. At times the limitations of the human writer and his Age distort the presentation of this central theme, as when vindictiveness is attributed to God; but the central theme is never wholly obscured, and in its completeness the Bible produces the conviction that it is not only about God but that it is of God. God speaks to humankind through the Bible, which may therefore be rightly called "the Word of God."
It is the Biblical record which deals with the special preparation for Christ, and of His direct impact upon men, through His Life, Death, and Resurrection. It sets before us that historical movement of Divine self-disclosure of which the Gospel is the crown.
While we must reject the view that all parts of the Bible stand on one spiritual level, we must also avidly oppose any effort which simply concentrates on the parts of the Bible that seem particularly relevant at one time or another. Those passages which seem to be on a "lower Spiritual level" still have their place in the whole, which derives part of its power from the universality of its range and even, in part, from the inconsistency of some of its material.
Ones sense of the Inspiration of the Bible is deepened when we recognize the sincerity of the record, through many generations, and despite the changing world views and the discoveries of new truths about the world and humankind.
The tradition of the inerrancy of the Bible which was commonly held until the beginning of the nineteenth century cannot be maintained in the light of the knowledge now at our disposal. The belief in inerrancy is in no way necessary to a full acceptance of the Bible as The Word of God and for conveying to us God's revelation of Himself.
We must always remember that the books of the Bible, though received as the oracles of God, were written within, and accepted as canonical by, a living and worshiping society over many centuries. They can only be fully understood in relation to that society and its life. Moreover, the Bible is the work of many writers: original authors, editors, and revisers and its final form is due to the selective judgment of the early Jewish and Christian Churches.
According to the teachings of the New Testament, the Bible is to be regarded as a work of the Holy Spirit which is in harmony with the mind of Christ and deepens our understanding of him. In the light of the Christian experience of the Holy Spirit and His work we can trace the activity of the same Divine Spirit in various degrees outside the limits of either Israel or Christendom.
But it is important to emphasize the fact that the Holy Spirit in the New Testament is spoken of primarily as the power known by the experience at work in the fellowship of Christians, that is, of those who have received the Gospel rather than as a Divine energy diffused throughout the Creation. The unique character of the Inspiration recognized in the Bible is bound up with its relation to the Christian fellowship in this sense. The Bible possesses authority for Christians on the ground that it is the classical literature of the progressive self-revelation of God in history which culminated in Jesus Christ.
The Bible has been and is for the Christian Church the primary criterion of its teaching and the chief source of guidance for its religious life.
Its’ authority continues to be affirmed by the fact that it continues to mediate to individuals the revelation which it records and by nurturing their spiritual life of its’ readers.
The fact that the Church has accepted this particular body of literature as canonical Scripture invests it as a whole with an authoritative character for all its members.
Nevertheless, the use made of the Bible as an authoritative source of teaching should be controlled by the following considerations:
(1) The authority ascribed to the Bible must not be interpreted as prejudging the conclusions of historical, critical, and scientific investigation in any field, not excluding that of the Biblical documents themselves.
(2) Christian thinkers are not necessarily bound to the thought forms employed by the Biblical writers.
(3) The Biblical writings display a wide variety of literary type. In using the Biblical books as a standard of authoritative teaching, these facts must be taken into account. The supreme spiritual value of some parts of the Bible is not shared by all.
(4) In estimating the relative spiritual value of different portions of the Bible, the standard is the Mind of Christ as unfolded in the experience of the Church and appropriated by the individual Christian through His Spirit. That is to say, the stages of the Biblical revelation are to be judged in relation to its historical climax.
Within the body of Scripture as a whole a special authority has always been attached to the recorded teaching of our Lord as contained in the Gospels.
The Christian Church rests on the belief that in Jesus Christ there is given to mankind the supreme revelation of God. This revelation is given through all that He was and did, and thus includes but is not limited to His teaching.
In accepting the authority of His recorded teaching the following considerations must be borne in mind:
(I) The actual teaching itself was called forth by particular occasions and was conditioned by the thought forms and circumstances of the time.
(2) The record cannot be accepted as always reproducing the exact words of our Lord.
In the latter connection the following points may be mentioned :
(a) In any case, the words spoken have been translated into another language.
(b) The occasions with regard to which the teaching was originally given are not always set forth.
(c) There is some reason to think that in some cases the words attributed to our Lord reflect rather the experience of the primitive Church, or the utterances of Christian prophets, than actual words of Jesus.
(d) What appear to be the same sayings are sometimes recorded in different forms and contexts.
But when all allowance is made for possible divergences between the records as they stand and the historic facts behind them, it remains true that the religious and moral teaching of the Gospels conveys faithfully the impression made upon the Apostolic Church by the mind and personality of Jesus, and thus possesses supreme authority. Accordingly, the body of teaching in question provides a standard by which to judge the claim of subsequent developments to be true to the authentic spirit of the Christian Gospel.
It follows that the method of direct appeal to isolated texts in our Lord's teaching, in so far as it ignores the controlling considerations which have been set forth, is liable to error.
It is the duty of the Church and of the individual to undertake, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to interpret Christ's teaching and to apply it to the particular problems in every age.
The Church should also recognize as necessary to the fulness of its own life the activity of those of its own members who carry forward the process of understanding more fully the truth by freely testing and criticizing its traditional doctrines.
The Churches doctrines should not be held to prejudge questions which have arisen since their formulation or problems which have been modified by fresh knowledge or fresh conceptions.

2006-09-01T10:43:00.000-07:00

To Apprehend the Truth

The convictions by which we live must enshrine truth. In the light of new discoveries that successive generations have had to come to terms with, the traditional statements of a particular truth may well become unacceptable. Scripture should not used to prejudge questions which have arisen since its composition nor those which have been modified by new knowledge or fresh conceptions. It is the continuing task of every generation to work out a synthesis of these differing apprehensions of truth with the one true revelation of God in Christ. The removal or the reduction of differences within the Church can only be done by the discovery of a synthesis which does justice to all of the differences.

Our goal must always be to strive toward a relevant Christian theology which is more adequate than any that has preceded it.
In interpreting our own tradition we must give attention to the background of the universal tradition of Christendom but in any discussion of doctrine we must consider its historical sources and the authority which these should carry.
The Christian religion is founded upon a specific revelation of God in history. To this revelation, Scripture and the Church both bear witness. But the Church has always claimed that its doctrine is based on Scripture.
Belief that the Bible is the inspired record of God's self-revelation to man, and of man's response to that revelation is a conclusion drawn from the character of the Scriptures contents and the spiritual insight displayed in them. The unifying elements of the Scriptures lies in their presentation of the self-revelation of God through history and experience -- a self-revelation which develops in relationship to both the response and to the resistance of man to the Divine initiative, and which culminates in the Incarnation.
The theme of the Bible as a whole is God, though the working out of this theme is, in parts, obscure. At times the limitations of the human writer and the historical period in which he writes distort for us the presentation of this central theme, as when vindictiveness is attributed to God; but the theme itself is never wholly obscured in its completeness. While rejecting the view that all parts of the Bible stand on the same spiritual level, it would be an error to concentrate all attention on the more clearly edifying passages.
We have to remember that the books of the Bible, though received as the oracles of God, were written within, and accepted as canonical by a living and worshiping society. They can only be fully understood in relation to that society and its life. Moreover, the Bible is the work of many writers-- original authors, editors, and revisers--and its final form is due to the selective judgment of the Jewish and Christian Churches. It is in this process as a whole that we recognize the working of the Divine Spirit.
Taken as a whole, the Bible produces within us the conviction that it is not only about God but that it is of God. God speaks to us through the Bible, and so it may be rightly called "the Word of God."
The Bible is unique as being the inspired record of a unique revelation. It is the record of the special preparation for Christ, and of His direct impact upon humanity through His Life, Death, and Resurrection. It is, in many ways, the historical record of the Divine’s self-disclosure of which the Gospel is the culmination.

2006-08-24T10:26:00.000-07:00

WHY I AM AN EPISCOPALIAN

• People belong to various denominations for a variety of reasons. Some simply remain in that church into which they have been born because of family, ethnic or social convenience. Others join a local congregation because of location or because of friends or because of the clergy. A few will seek out a church which challenges them theologically or appeals to them because of its doctrinal beliefs or because what it teaches is more closely compatible with their own ideas. Others are drawn to a particular denomination because of what it is doing or not doing in the area of the present social issues in this country.

• Each church has a particular uniqueness even though the various denominations are all drawing closer together if one has eyes to see. There is nothing wrong with differences that preserve identity so long as they do not hinder or fragment the Christian Church insurmountably.

• The Episcopal Church is not perfect. It is a denomination in a Protestant sense and a part of the Church Catholic in the historical sense and it has faults as well as assets. But it so happens that for me, at least, it contains more things that I love and accept and follow than liabilities that would cause me to reject it.

• Therefore, I can say that I am an Episcopalian because:

• l) Within the Episcopal Church there are the ancient traditions and order and heritage which has come down to us from the earliest times. We find here an apostolic continuity. This Church was not Reformation founded, rather it was Reformation cleansed and renewed, holding very dear the graces of the Church Catholic and embracing the wonderful blessings of the Protestant renewal.

• In the Episcopal Church there is a respect for the Sacraments including that of Holy Orders. We revere those called to serve the Church as Bishops, Priests, and Deacons because of the office they hold and we honor the extensive training and testing they have been through. Yet our clergy are men and women who are not remote from the world but who know how to live and work and play in this world.

• 2) In the Episcopal Church there is a beauty of worship which is time-tested. There is majesty in the service. There is the corporate nature God’s people caught up in the act of worship, doing something, saying something, not simply being witnesses to a spectacle or a performance. Throughout the service there is the theme of utter equality within the people of God’s one cup, one loaf, standing or kneeling before the Altar, the table of fellowship, all alike, regardless of youth or age, rich or poor, wise or foolish, good or bad; and there is a common challenge for each worshiper to look back at ones past misdeeds, to look closely at present attitudes, and to look ahead with future determination.

• And we have the special services which are a part of our uniqueness: Thanksgiving Day with its emphasis on the harvest and on stewardship; Christmas, in candle-light with its emphasis on the humble humanity of this Person in all His mortality who would change the world; Ash Wednesday, with its emphasis on mortality, and self-discipline with the beginning of Lent, being reminded that it is only the gift of God that brings the Holy Hope of eternal life (from the soil we came and to the soil we shall return); Palm Sunday, with the Crosses and the heralding of the King riding into the Holy City to begin a week so awesome in its impact that it is called Holy Week; Maundy Thursday, kneeling at the foot of a red-draped Cross, a towel and a basin, and the quiet commemoration of the institution of the Lord's Supper, and then the stripping of the Altar so symbolical of the beginnings of what became a horrific night ending the next day with a Cross and crown of thorns; there is Good Friday, with a nearly bare Church and the lesson driven home of the cruelty of man and the vulnerability of the love of the Innocent One hanging there, embracing the whole world from the Cross, the pulpit of His finest hour; there are the bursting lilies and the joyous music of Easter- the other side of Good Friday, where man comes to celebrate the Christian Passover and worship the Risen Lord who is still within the world today offering His reconciling love; and finally there is Ascension and Pentecost, human nature ascendant dwelling with the Father, and the birthday of the Church, with its emphasis on the work of the Holy Spirit abiding today in the hearts of humankind, teaching the Church and guiding society with a constant whisper, a small still voice calling us to a sense of ought ness.

• And we have the special services such as Baptism, Confirmation, Marriage, and burial, each marking a milestone in our life from the cradle to the grave. There is the utter simplicity of the early Communion service, the reverence of Evening Prayer at sunset, the quietness of the empty Church, the quality of the music and the depth of the Prayer Book (a spiritual treasure house) with its 90% scriptural content -- the lofty phrases, the stately cadence, the Transcendent Presence of the Holy God in Rite I, the Imminent Presence of Jesus our Brother in Rite II, the familiar words which can be found the world over.

• 3) I am an Episcopalian because in this Church I find a generous freedom here as opposed to the brittle fundamentalism too often found in others. We have a healthy concept of the Bible: we affirm it contains all things necessary for Salvation but at the same time we weigh carefully the fact that not everything it contains is necessary for Salvation.
We have a positive relationship to science which asks the question "how" just as theology asks the question "why", and that to be a whole person one must ask both questions - but in no case do we find the two fields incompatible, nor should they fear each other. The authority we ascribe to the Bible does not include prejudging the conclusions of historical, critical, and scientific investigation in any field, and that does not exclude a critical study of the Biblical documents themselves. We do not hide from the truth as it emerges in successive generations.
Our faith is boiled down in the Kerygma: "Jesus Christ -- Crucified -- Risen. Jesus Christ -- Son of God --Savior."

• 4) I am an Episcopalian because within this Church there is an intellectual freedom as well as a great depth of understanding. You can read what you like, whether it is radically conservative or equally liberal, whether it is Thomas Aquinas or Bishop Tutu, but the challenge is to think, to learn, to grow, to mature, to come of age. We can disagree on many things and still remain firmly Episcopalian -- a part of one fellowship.

• 5) I am an Episcopalian because in this Church there is authority (though it is not authoritarian) and uniformity (though it is not uniform) striving for a balance with tolerance, understanding and compassion. Our Canon Law is a careful relationship of checks and balances. The Church is democratic in government from top to bottom, from an elected rotating Vestry to an elected Presiding Bishop. There is disciplinary action when necessary, but it is not sensationalized, and some Canons such as the Marriage Canon deal pastorally with each individual case, since no two are alike, particularly in the area of divorce and remarriage. This is not ambiguity; rather it is compassion.

• 6) The Episcopal Church on the subject of social behavior does not have a long list of do's and don'ts. Some say we are lenient but others say it is harder to be a good moral Episcopalian because you have to think for yourself. You cannot take refuge in an authoritarian structure. You are exposed for all to see. You must work out the finer points of your moral behavior yourself with God as your guide.

• Without judgmental moralizing, we are very concerned with the devastating effects of alcoholism and drug abuse, and with the dehumanizing effects discrimination and segregation. We affirm the sanctity of life and yet take seriously the goals of stem cell research and genome mapping.

• 7. In the Episcopal Church we respect the dignity of the individual. We can also go into the world joyously and have fun and enjoy life expressing a zest for living. We can even have fun within our denomination. There is always a lighter side. We can have a festival, a bazaar, a barbeque or a Parish supper and experience communion in a common fellowship which has nothing to do with a formal worship service, but has very much to do with an increasing closeness among the people of God.

• And we don’t preach money at every service, nor do we have one fund raising project after another. We also do not use condemnation of one thing or another as a means of holding us together.

• We can study together, worship together, play together, pray together, laugh together, and grieve together.

• To be an Episcopalian is challenging, inspiring -- even exciting.

• In addition, we are a Church that draws people from a variety of marital, economic, social and educational backgrounds, We draw people who are lonely or in tragedy and married people of mixed church backgrounds. We can defend ourselves from charges that we are morally irresponsible or overly liberal to the point of chaos, or that we worship a Prayer Book and ignore the Bible, or that our Clergy dress in costumes, or that you can be anything and be an Episcopalian, or that we teach loose morals because we let our children dance, or that we have Bishops as powerful as the Pope, or that we are governed by the Queen of England, or that our Baptism lacks enough water, or that our Liturgy is just so much verbiage, or that wine is wrong in Communion or that we worship the Altar and Cross, or that we ignore Genesis and listen only to geology, anthropology and evolution.

• I would even say that this Church of ours makes sense from top to bottom and in spite of some faults, that it is interesting -- and that it can be presented, entered into, and enjoyed with a resulting impact that can move anyone -- because the Episcopal Church is not a gathering of people who come together on their own initiative -- it is the Body of Christ participating in His Death and Resurrection -- upheld by the power of the Holy Spirit.

• The Church exists not for herself, but for the sake of Her Lord. Christianity has no meaning apart from this historical community that we call the Church of which we today are a part.

This Church of ours has enough depth to keep us probing for many years to deeper spiritual insights, and yet it has enough simplicity for even the youngest person to understand something about it and to feel a part of it.

• It has its Sacraments, its Clergy, its theology, its worship, its demand for individual responsibility, its relationship to science, its Canon Law, its social conscience and social activities, all of which fits our individual and corporate needs.

• I can say then that we Episcopalians love our Church. We do not think it is perfect (because it is composed of sinful humanity), but we do believe it is the Body of Christ. We find Jesus Christ in our midst. We say this humbly and try to live as becomes it, but we also say it with confidence!

2006-08-22T11:54:00.000-07:00

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The Struggle

to be

Faithful to Scripture

I’ve never known anyone who takes their faith seriously who didn’t want to be faithful to scripture. Liberal, conservative, traditional, all strive to be faithful to scripture. And yet, every struggle within the Church for the past two millennia has been over how to be faithful to scripture.

The ability of the Church to ignore the deeper implications of its own scriptures is horribly plain throughout history. Remember it took eighteen centuries for Christians to realize that slavery is against the Gospel. Remember that those who supported slavery claimed to do so on biblical grounds, condemning emancipation as 'incompatible with scripture'. Remember, too, that Jesus was condemned to death for his own inclusive attitudes by fundamentalist zealots who sincerely believed that they were obeying scripture.

In all these cases those who opposed change could quote the Bible in their defense. With hindsight, the Church sees that they were wrong; they were killing the spirit with the letter. It seems incredible now that sincere Christians could ever have thought it right and 'scriptural' to exclude and subjugate people of a different race. In the same way the Church will one day look back on the issues that
divide us today, and find it incredible that it once thought it right and 'scriptural' to treat women and other minorities as it does now.

Let's be clear then. The struggle to make the Church inclusive is not based on some secular, woolly, 'liberal agenda' (the charge endlessly parroted against our denomination) but on a scriptural imperative to do what Jesus did. It is the same struggle between the spirit and the letter recorded in the Gospels, the struggle to oppose prejudice, bigotry and oppression, and open the kingdom to everyone, especially the most marginalized.

Inclusivity is not a soft option. It is harder to live in a truly diverse and welcoming community than it is to live in a community of the respectably like-minded, just as it is harder to be an intelligent student of scripture than it is to embrace a literal interpretation. In an inclusive Church the included do not simply expect to stay the same. All of us must be challenged and changed in every department of our lives, by the Gospel and by one another. All of us are called to holiness and continue to need forgiveness, healing and new growth. All of us can expect to bear a cross if we faithfully follow Christ and witness to him.

But part of that following and witnessing to Christ must mean standing up for a Church which continues to welcome others as he has welcomed us and, especially in present circumstances, to stand firmly with our church. By definition, a Church which lives in the Spirit of Jesus will be genuinely (not just theoretically or conditionally) open and welcome to everyone.

Building and defending that kind of Church is the most truly biblical thing any Christian can do.