Thundering Herds of Pagans
In Tuesday's New Testament lesson, we got the interesting picture of Paul and Barnabas preaching and then being seen as messengers of the local gods. The image is fantastic: the two apostles, running away as fast as they can, probably tripping on their robes, with the loyal priests of Zeus tramping after them, trying desperately to offer sacrifice to them as they flee at top speed.
Priest of Zeus: "But wait, I want to kill this sheep for you!"
Apostles: "Really, it's fine, gotta go."
Priest of Zeus: "No, wait! Come back!"
It seems to me like a scene right out of Monty Python. It also seems like an admonition to not succumb to the charisma of a certain minister or priest. Would your faith be just as strong if a different person were administering the sacraments? Do you worship in a sacramental curch in the first place? If the preacher of your church were replaced by an unpopular person, would that hinder your ability to worship? These are substantial questions. I worship in the Anglican Church, which understands that the validity of the sacraments is independent of the quality of the priest's homily.
But that thundering herd of pagans, trying hurridly to perform sacrafices to the fleeing apostles, remind me of congregations who worship their preacher perhaps independent of the faith that he (or she) represents. It comes to this: do you worship the preacher, the preacher's message, or God?
posted by DailyOfficer @ 11:58 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
When praying the daily office, I happen to use the 30-day cycle of Psalms. Last night (Twelfth Day Evening) Psalm 66 gave us this….
• I will enter your house with burnt-offerings
and will pay you my vows, *
which I promised with my lips
and spoke with my mouth when I was in trouble.
• I will offer you sacrifices of fat beasts
with the smoke of rams; *
I will give you oxen and goats.
For some reason, overnight, this lingered with me and had been ruminating on this when your blog post today reminded me again of offering sacrifice.
While I pray the office, I was struck by the fact that it is likely I will live out the rest of my natural life and not actually sacrifice an oxen or goat. For God or anyone else for that matter.
I will; however, participate in the Eucharist and I understand that the validity of that sacrament is independent of the quality of the priest's homily or the priest for that matter. What I would say about myself is that insofar as congregational life, I can’t and don’t put all my eggs in one basket. One priest, one Senior Warden, one poorly played hymn, one poorly preached sermon is not going to make or break my faith. I think; however, that much of our culture today focuses on single personality and egos. People love to watch television shows where people are “fired” or “voted-off”. Congregational life ought not be about popularity, rather, cooperation.
What oxen and goats are we giving?
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