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| On this blog: raisingsparks.blogspot.com I've started a learning journal for my dissertation. Here is the first entry:
Feb. 17th -Yesterday went to the UT library and checked out some Tavener, Part and Macmillan material.
-Watched 2 DVDs: "Beyond the Veil" on Tavener and "24 Preludes for a Fugue"on Part.
Tavener seems like a celebrity- eccentric and confident. To me, he comes off as rather pompous when he talks about the spirituality of his music. There is no conflict and, therefore, no sociological element to his music. Very beautiful, but I find it rather monotonous.
The Part DVD was more interesting. There is more musical diversity in Part than Tavener. Almost no mention of faith in any substantial way.
New Macmillan Music to listen:
-Why is this night different?
-Tuireadh
-Visions of a November Spring
-Memento
-Adam's Rib
-They saw the stone had been Rolled Away
-I- (A meditation on Iona
-Visitatio Sepulchri
-Busqueda
Trying to finish Begbie's "Resounding Truth" today. I've very much enjoyed it, but am learning that it is very difficult to speak of music theologically. Begbie is so pleasurable to read because he has a great ability to be very critical and very generous at the same time.
Long road ahead. A ton of reading to do. Hopefully I will be able to narrow down a specific theme to concentrate on in the next month.
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| Jenson's ending to Systematic Theology Vol. 1:
The apprehension of God as beauty...in which we said that God is an event, a person, a decision, and a conversation. The phrase "the one God" directs us finally to the sheer perichoresis of Father, Son, and Spirit, and that is to their communal music. We close this doctrine of God with this evocation of God's being, beyond which there is no more to say: God is a great fugue. There is nothing so capacious as a fugue.
Ending to Vol. 2:
The point of identity, infinitely approachable and infinitely to be approached, the enlivening of telos of the Kingdom's own life, is perfect harmony between the conversation of the redeemed and the conversation that God is. In the conversation God is, meaning and melody are one.
The end is music. | | |
| A Eucharistic service for reconciliation
This form is intended for a communal service of formal reconciliation between two estranged persons or parties. If it is a matter of two parties, each party should choose a person to represent them. Prior to this service, the two persons or parties should have already taken steps towards reconciliation, expressing and demonstrating a desire to forgive and repent of their offenses towards each other. Also, before this service is to be conducted, there should be discussion and conversation among church leadership (pastor, elder, etc.) and the two parties pertaining to a proper understanding of the words and devices of the liturgy. There should be bread and wine to be distributed for all gathered, being prepared prior to the service.
The celebrant says
Today we celebrate the reconciliation between ____ and ____. Both ____ and ____ have agreed to meet at the Lord’s table as part of their continuing journey of forgiveness and reconciliation. As we gather here today, let us be reminded of God’s incomprehensible and extravagant forgiveness as we confess that it is only through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, through whom we are new creatures, that we are reconciled to God and invited into reconciliation with one another. As a community we, as one body, identify ourselves as a congregation of sinners who need to be and have been forgiven. With this confession, therefore, the Church is always called into reconciliation with one another and with the world, giving never-ending praise and thanks to the triune God that first forgave us. We now stand with ____ and ____, together bowing down at the foot of the cross as one body who is has been made anew through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let us now rejoice as ____ and ____ embrace in reconciliation and as we partake with them in the sacrament of our Lord’s body and blood, continuing on in our life-long journey of forgiveness and repentance.
At this time the two representatives or people will meet at the front where the elements are prepared and stand and face one another. The celebrant will then read Matthew 18:21-35. After the reading the celebrant, addressing the penitent, says
Do you confess your sin against ____, repenting of any wrong that you have done towards God and ____, admitting your need of mercy, grace, and forgiveness from both God and ____?
The penitent replies
I do confess my sin against ____, repenting of the wrong that I have committed and admitting my need of mercy, grace, and forgiveness from both God and ____.
The celebrant turns and faces the wronged, and says
Do you forgive ____ of his/her sin against you, remembering the costly grace and mercy that the Lord has given you? Do you also acknowledge ____’s repentance of sin and promise to pray and strive for continued healing and communion with him/her?
The wronged replies
I do forgive _____, remembering the costly grace and mercy that God has shown me. I also acknowledge ____’s repentance and promise to pray and strive for continued healing and communion with him/her.
If the situation requires, both questions should be asked to each person.
The celebrant then turns to those gathered and says
Do you, the congregation, affirm and support ____ and ____ in their forgiveness and repentance, promising to pray for and support them in their journey of reconciliation?
The congregation replies
We do affirm and support the forgiveness and repentance of ____ and ____, promising to pray for and support them in their journey of reconciliation.
The celebrant now instructs both persons to reach out both of their arms towards each other and, one at a time, say
I reach out to you, ____, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, being discontented in our estrangement and separation, desiring for you to be a part of who I am, and humbly invite you into my life as a brother/sister through the crucified and resurrected Christ.
The two persons will now wait in silence, maintaining the posture of outstretched arms, silently praying along as the celebrant says
Gracious and wonderful God, because of your great love we stand here today in quiet and humble waiting, inviting each other into an embrace that is empty of any self righteousness, entitlement, or judgment. We stand here today with the community of the forgiven, remembering the severity and costliness of your forgiveness that was demonstrated with your death, knowing that because of your great sacrifice we are able to see truthfully our histories as redeemed by You, having been reconciled through Jesus Christ and given the ministry of reconciliation. We ask for the help of the Holy Spirit as we move towards embrace, guiding us into the perfect and unconditional love made known in the cross of Christ. Amen.
The celebrant instructs both persons to, one at a time, say
As a symbol of reconciliation I embrace you ____, becoming both a guest and a host of you, holding you in both activity and passivity, and with you sharing in a fellowship that that is made possible through the crucified and risen Christ.
After both persons have said this, they embrace each other, closing arms around each other.
After releasing the embrace the celebrant instructs each person to, one at a time, say
I acknowledge that the release of embrace is really the beginning of embrace. Through the triune God and the Church we are learning to live a new way of life, knowing that the healing of brokenness and the unlearning of sinful habits is a life-long process that requires a constant striving to learn to see our histories and each other through the true reality found in Jesus Christ. I do not forget where we have come from, but rather un-learn the habits of my selfish old self while learning to see truthfully the redemption of all things through Jesus Christ. I accept you in your peculiar identity, knowing that our differences are not accidental to our calling to be a truthful people who share a common history of forgiveness and repentance. May the Holy Spirit help us to live in peace and harmony with each other, teaching us to live truthfully as new creations, redeemed by the blood of Jesus. In the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
At this time those that are gathered will surround or stand near the two people reconciled to share in the Eucharist. The celebrant or another member of the congregation should read Matthew:26:26-28 . After the reading there should be a time for spontaneous prayer, allowing for members of the congregation to pray for the two persons reconciled, ending with the Lord’s Prayer:
At the appropriate time the celebrant leads the congregation by saying
Let us pray as our Lord has taught us:
(all together) Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name,
Thy Kingdom come,
Thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
At this time the celebrant says
Let us humbly remember how our Lord forgives us, we who are un-deserving of the grace that God gives freely, of our un-payable debt as we partake in the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.
At this time the elements should be distributed to each gathered.
After each has taken the elements the celebrant says
Praise be to the triune God who takes away the sins of the world! Let us go in peace, repenting of our sins and forgiving as God has forgiven us. Praise be to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
After the benediction there should be some sort of celebration. This could be the singing of a hymn, the sharing of a meal, or any other form of celebratory fellowship.
Because we are Forgiven
If one was limited to a single word in describing Christianity, “forgiveness” very well might be the most appropriate. As Karl Barth has observed, “It is always the case that when the Christian looks back, he is looking at the forgiveness of sins”.1 This forgiveness, being truly remarkable, comes with an un-imaginable cost to God, who, out of no obligation, demonstrated his love towards us by sending his only son to die for us while we were still sinners.2 The above liturgy, which has the ultimate goal of communion and Eucharistic fellowship within a community of discipleship, is intended to underline the severity and costliness of God’s forgiveness and the Christian’s mandate to, first, forgive unconditionally as God has forgiven them and, also, to invite all into the fellowship of the community of the forgiven. For a central device of the liturgy I have used the four structural elements of Miroslav Wolf’s “the drama of embrace”3 to devise symbolically a gesture of reconciliation between two estranged people.
Central to the above liturgy is that it is a communal activity that emphasizes the free grace given by God to all. By locating reconciliation within the communal life of the church, the liturgy highlights the notion that as a group of people who are together striving to be faithful and obedient, the church’s identity is foremost as a people who need to be and have been forgiven of their sins.4 As part of a church the people that are the central participants of the liturgy are not alone in there journey of reconciliation. With the celebrant’s opening remarks, the congregation, alongside the central participants, stands equally guilty of sin and equally in need of God’s forgiveness, being charged to promise to pray for and support them as they live out their own journeys of forgiveness and reconciliation. By establishing the guiltiness of everyone, there is no room for any self righteousness or judgment from the congregation or from the central participants. As Stanley Hauerwas has commented on the church’s working out of conflict, “We […] do not confront one another from a position of self-righteousness; we must come to the other as one who has been forgiven.”5 For anyone who is in a position to forgive, approaching the person who has done harm to them with an attitude of self-righteousness or judgment is to have forgotten the inconceivable grace that God has given us by allowing his only son to die on a cross in order to forgive us our sins. An attitude of unconditional forgiveness, however, is not an easy one to adopt. Certainly in situations of blatant injustice and oppression it may seem impossible to forgive or, much least, be reconciled with our enemies and oppressors. Yet, the gospel bids us to forgive just as God has forgiven us, unconditionally and impartially (Matthew 18:21-35 articulates this idea very clearly). Also, God has not left his people without help. By giving us the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the Church, God has provided us all the resources that we need to be truthful people who together learn to form truthful habits such as forgiveness. The Church, therefore, with the help of the Holy Spirit, proclaims the good news of Jesus Christ: that we have been forgiven and reconciled to God, becoming new creatures that are now free to see truthfully that all of our history, including our own transgressions as well as transgression against us, has been redeemed. Knowing that we now live as redeemed creatures through Christ, there is no excuse that permits us to not forgive.
In light of this, the liturgy includes first a section that allows an opportunity for both people to confess sin against each other and forgive each other of that sin. With the words that are recited, confession and forgiveness are both intentionally located directly alongside with the need of and memory of God’s great forgiveness. As Richard Foster has said of God’s forgiveness, “The evidence of mercy and grace sparks a contrite heart and allows confession to flow.”6 And not only confession, but forgiveness also. Memory of God’s forgiveness allows us to know confidently that our admission of sin is heard and forgiven by God and that our forgiveness of others is related directly to seeing all things truthfully, that is, redeemed and forgiven by God through Jesus Christ. This is why later on in the liturgy the words “I do not need to forget where we have come from” are said. As forgivers we do not need to forget the evil done to us, as Volf has argued, because by being creatures made anew through Jesus we are being transformed by God’s forgiveness and reconciliation and are able to see that our own evil and the evil done to us is made part of an economy of salvation that allows us to be reconciled to God and to be part of a new community that otherwise would be impossible.7 Contrary to Volf’s notion that the memory of the other’s transgression locks them into un-redemption because it keeps the tainted past in the present, thus making true reconciliation impossible, Christian’s are given a more truthful memory that thrusts the past, along with the present, at the foot of the cross and sees it truthfully as forgiven and reconciled. To forgive and be reconciled with one another is not to forget, it is to remember truthfully.
Despite my reservations over Volf’s notion of non-memory in reconciliation, I have included as part of the liturgy the four structural elements of his “the drama of embrace” to symbolize the process of reconciliation. The first element is the opening of arms, which acts as a gesture of invitation towards each person to come into communion with one another. By opening arms towards each other both people exhibit a discontentment with their own self-enclosed identity that has excluded the other from communion and being a part of who they are.8 “I do not want to be myself only; I want the other to be part of who I am and I want to be part of the other.”9 The opening of arms signals that both people have recognized that Christ has redeemed all, and therefore teaches them to always be willing to create a space within their own selves for communion with the other. Next, after the invitation has been made, the two people wait for each other to accept the invitation of communion and reconciliation. In light of the gospel and the forgiveness of God, Christians are to demonstrate patience in the process of reconciliation, never being self-imposing on others, but perpetually offering an invitation to embrace one another in forgiveness. The third element in the drama is the “goal of embrace”, which is reconciled communion between the two estranged people. This is symbolized by the two people closing their arms around each other. In this embrace the two people are, at the same time, hosting each other and being a guest of each other. This is made possible because God’s forgiveness strips us of any entitlement to “have the upper hand” over another within the process of reconciliation. There is equal reciprocity on both sides. Both the forgiver and the forgiven stand in equality with one another, being seen truthfully as redeemed by Christ. The final gesture in the drama is the release of the arms, signaling the ongoing work of reconciliation that is never-ending in the community of disciples. Reconciliation is not a moment, it is a process of learning to live truthfully in the light of the crucified and risen Christ. True reconciliation is not some sort of “therapeutic” technique that reduces forgiveness to an affirmation of individual autonomy10, but rather an “unlearning of the habits of sin as we seek to become holy people capable of living in communion”.11 This is why it is essential that reconciliation be located within a community that is together learning what it means to be holy and to forgive.
By sharing in the Eucharist following the symbolic release of embrace, the two people are invited into a fellowship that learns to forgive and live truthfully by partaking in the body and blood of Christ. There is no better way for the community of the forgiven to remember that they are to forgive because they were first forgiven than to eat the body of Christ and to drink the blood of the new covenant, which was shed for many for the remission of sins”.12 Christian community is a group of people who have been joined by the truth of God’s unrelenting forgiveness, and therefore are a Eucharistic community of people always willing to forgive and strive for reconciliation.
As the liturgy finishes, it is proper that reconciliation should end with celebration. Just as there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents,13 so there should be joy and celebration when two people are reconciled. The gospel of Jesus Christ is truly good news! Let us be thankful and joyful for God’s incomprehensible love and forgiveness, and let His people be a people of forgiveness and reconciliation!
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| Here is a poem that my friend Sean shared with our group a few days
ago. It is Wendell Berry's "Manifesto: The Mad Farmer's Liberation
Front"
Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
vacation with pay. Want more
of everything ready-made. Be afraid
to know your neighbors and to die.
And you will have a window in your head.
Not even your future will be a mystery
any more. Your mind will be punched in a card
and shut away in a little drawer.
When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you
to die for profit they will let you know.
So, friends, every day do something
that won't compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.
Denounce the government and embrace
the flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.
Give your approval to all you cannot
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has not encountered he has not destroyed.
Ask the questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millenium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.
Say that the leaves are harvested
when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.
Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees
every thousand years.
Listen to carrion - put your ear
close, and hear the faint chattering
of the songs that are to come.
Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.
So long as women do not go cheap
for power, please women more than men.
Ask yourself: Will this satisfy
a woman satisfied to bear a child?
Will this disturb the sleep
of a woman near to giving birth?
Go with your love to the fields.
Lie down in the shade. Rest your head
in her lap. Swear allegiance
to what is nighest your thoughts.
As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn't go. Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.
----This
poem certainly has stuck with me the last few days. Hannah and I
recited Psalm 33 in rhythm and melody to Fourtet's "Unspoken" the other
day. I thought it appropriate for 5pm on a Tuesday. We laughed.
Hannah
and I also attended a Church in North Carolina last Sunday that celebrated
Memorial day by singing "America the Beautiful" at the end of the
service. My brother, his wife, my wife, and myself all stood in silent
protest as the congregation sang in patriotic fervor. | | |
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Some notes from a recent Jeremy Begbie lecture that I heard at the
'Transforming Culture' symposium conference in Austin a few weeks ago:
Christians are subversive, yet hopeful. It is God's future that is interrupting our present.
The Holy Spirit unites the unlike. It thrusts us beside the stranger and the enemy, and brings us to the foot of the cross.
The
Holy Spirit generates excess. In God's future, evil has been defeated
by a GREATER love found in God's excess and the overflowing of
trinitarian love.
The Holy Spirit Inverts. The rich become poor,
and the poor become rich. A whole new world of possibility is found in
inversion.
The Holy Spirit exposes the depths. Easter confirms the cross as THE place where evil is defeated.
The
Holy Spirit re-creates. It is THIS world that is re-made and renewed.
God's new creation is not other-worldly, but new-worldly.
All
of these ideas were demonstrated with Prokofiev Piano Sonata #7, last
movement. Listen to the overflowing use of inversion, retrograde,
juxtaposition, harmonic movement, and re-creation of melody. Music
should help us to worship in truth. | | |
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