Ephesians 6:10-17
Luke 13:10-17
This past Sunday the Gospel passage was about the woman who had an infirmity for 18 years and was healed by Jesus. On the surface another healing took place, however this one was a little different. Jesus healed this woman in the synagogue on the Sabbath, and that is a big no no. Right away the leadership gets mad and chastises him for healing her. Jesus fires back that each of them would save an animal if it got caught in something on the Sabbath why not this woman.
For me, this passage is more about the rules than about healing. We are faced with people who are caught up in the rules and not the fact that Jesus just saved this woman from a life of pain. I think that sometimes in the church the same thing happens. We get caught up in the rules and not necessarily in the fact that something miraculous is happening. Is the liturgy any less valid if it is served in the parking lot with no vestments, or rather in a splendid cathedral with all the trappings of the church. Now don’t get me wrong, I love that stuff, but is it necessary? The guys and gals serving in Iraq and Afghanistan have church on the back of HumV and the priest, if there is one, serves in his fatigues with his body armor on and maybe, has a stole on. Is this a valid service?
There is this term that we use in Orthodoxy called Convertitis. This is an affliction for us converts that we get hung up on all of the rules of the church and not on what the rules are for we cannot see the forest through the trees. Can we have oil today, is meat allowed this time of year, was my metania low enough, are the candles in the right place, did I say 300 Jesus Prayers and is my prayer rope tied right around my wrist. These are the kinds of questions that we converts ask ourselves. Notice I lumped myself in there…
What Jesus is saying here is not that the rules don’t matter but sometimes there are more important things than the rules. We have liturgical rules for a reason, so we don’t have priests just making things up, even though they do! The point is that sometimes for pastoral reasons we change things.
What is important is the Cross, the grave, the third day Resurrection as we say in the liturgy. That’s what is important. Sometimes how we get there is not as important as what we do when we get there.
Hi Father,
Nice blog. Having recently listened to ‘the Power of Myth’ – Bill Moyers’ interviews with the religious scholar Joseph Campbell, I was reminded of the psychological power of ritual. I think that the prescribed certainty of rituals are particularly attractive to many converts who, before conversion, may feel a little overwhelmed by uncertainty in their lives. My experience with converts is that they come to the church and/or God for a sense of certainty that is missing in their lives.
This in turn may explain why converts have a noticeable attachment to precision and definite directions in the performance of rituals – that underlying need for a sense of certainty. External actions often reflect and/or reinforce internal state. A physical act may well become a psychological trigger for experiencing a state of grace, for example.
Anyway, I have been blog surfing (by hitting ‘next blog’ in the top of each blog) which brought me randomly to your blog, and it’s proving extremely interesting.
Along with my blog and a few friends’ blogs, here is where I have blog surfed to recently:
Nissan
Ah Bugger
Auto
Hypernautz
Violet Rose
The Footy Club
Controlled Randomness
RasberryWillow
Need to Know
Simple Sphere
Para Sempre Zoação!
Knight Nation
Mazda News
Ryochiba
Boulder the Great
Blog Potato
Phoenix Fire
Clip Tip
Upside down, inside out, however you like it
where everythink is in its own place
I dream of Taco Bell
Heyl1 goes York!
/”>Coolest Guy on the Planet
MEGAN FELLNER
A Nova Visão Do Futebol
Walking On Fire
BMW News
HitchHiker’s Omnibus
The Quiet Stone
milk money or not, here I come
America; The Freak
All Your House Are Belong To Us
Auto Blog
Fawlty Towers
Star Girl
This Is Not A Blog. It’s A Golb.
Careers
Jodi
el sur tambien existe
Thinking about Lil’ BGs
Jerusalem Jones
Lou’s Hideaway
Mercedes News
Monthly RetConn
Sri
TOUT CE QUI EST HUMAIN EST NÔTRE ….
Animals Are Our Equals
Movie Reviews
Phantasmagoria Under the Mad Moon
Jungle Doodles
Holy Smokes
Evolve Happy
Gluttonous Sins
Thoughts of a Delicate Mind
beautiful kisses
two4disney
m@’s life
Girlfriend Board of Review
Jerry in Berlin
100% Nicky
A Clear View To A New Life
Marissa Anich’s Internet Blog
toutelabeautepourvous
Davis Files 7081
Self Publish Blook ( Yes, Blook )
Read Between the Lines
foongee.blogspot.com
A Place Called Cafe
Reason I Live
Gardening 1 on 1
and about that
Musings
j’s mental scraps
Jeff’s Pix
Abbie & Ian & Tory Update
I Am Milk
The Life Of MINDUCKOLS
kellogg bloggin’
sssarahlicious
eduardo argañaraz
blitherings from a faghag
One N and an I
Turhamaisuutta
bloc d’una lectora
bloc d’una lectora
I’ll add your blog to my trail next. Bye!
Petra 🙂
Thanks for your comments and thanks for coming by.
this reminded me of the movie i have not thought of in years. it was called romero with raul julia, its the true story of a priest in el salvador who is made archbishop because it was thought he would be quite and ineffective. but turns out to be a great leader.any ways in this one part he walks into this small village that the soldiers are going to take over. when they see him they strip him of most of his clothes. suddenly some of the villagers rush forward and throw a blanket over his shoulders while people in the back ground are being lined up against a wall shot.Romaro decides its a good time to start a mass and the soldiers walk away from him and the villagers . good movie worth seeing this was one brave archbishop
Hi Fr Peter,
Petra’s comments remind me of Joseph Campbell’s assertion that people who live their faith are connected with the metaphor of scripture and their lives are symbols of their faith, whereas some followers get stuck in the the literacy of doctrine or scripture and miss out on the true experience of their faith.