As I prepare for Sunday's homily in which I hope to combine the choice given us-to follow or to leave Jesus- in last week's gospel(John 6) with this week's Markian Gospel I am struck with the connection. To choose to follow Jesus is often to turn away from tradition-in fact tradition and ritual can almost become a 'false god' when it is an end in itself and not a means to doing what Jesus did-showing us how to bring God's reign on earth.
The Gospel for this week, especially Mark 7: 8 and 9 is exactly what we are struggling with when we struggle with the institutional church, a church that we need to be careful not to become despite our yearning for renewal. Jesus is charged with not following all of the rituals of Judaism and he quotes Isaiah who said "The doctrines they teach are only human precepts. You disregard God's commandments and cling to human traditions". And, according to Verna Dozier,the separation of clerical and "lay" roles in ministry is a distortion of the very "dream of God" to which we are all called.
Regarding this, I would like to share a great book and a wonderful author with you. Of course, you may already know her as she has been writing since the 1980's, but what she has written is both timely and relevant for us as we seek to forge a renewed priesthood-of all believers. The book is THE DREAM OF GOD: A Call To Return (MA: Cowley Publications, 1991). The author is Verna J. Dozier, an African American Episcopal Biblical scholar who has written on the calling and authority of the laity-the LAOS-the people of God. (And here I remember that the "Laos"-from the Greek- are the poor folks and the little ones of this world, the ones to whom Jesus ministered.) In this book she discusses where the institutional church has missed the mark and distorted the dream of God. She says: "The church, as an institution,has again and again fallen away from the dream that God has for us--to FOLLOW Jesus and not merely worship him." (She notes that Jesus never called us to worship him, only to follow him). She examines the clericalism and institutionalism bred in the church and engages all followers of Christ in the call to lead the church again toward the dream of God-the reign of Love and justice for all.
For Dozier, all believers are to minister to and with God's people and work for structural change. Clergy may have some particular ministries but these are equal to all other ministries. Ordaining some to minister and not all to minister,and separating table ministry from preaching and praying (Acts 6:2) is an early church distortion of what Jesus asked of us: to love our neighbors and transform the world to correspond with God's dream. Instead, the institutional church has enshrined both clergy and ritual-making both holy to the point of distorting the very meaning of Christianity- where doing what Jesus did in love and healing and bringing good news to the poor becomes a meaningless tag-on instead of the central meaning of our faith.
As women priests we are breaking with tradition, and our communal consecration and sharing of the Eucharist further breaks with it, as does our inclusiveness and the sharing of the ministerial responsibility with all the church. Woman theologian Mary Hunt has made some excellent critical points about our choice of becoming ordained as still following a tradition that sets some above others. Indeed, I agree with her, and can only accept ordination as a WAY to declericalize and SHARE what has been seen as "only for priests" with all of the people of God. For us, as women in the church -we could neither open nor share what we did not have. Now that we do have it, sacramental responsibility, let us, in the words of Susan Ross, break it open and share it freely. And let us end the distortion Dozier brings so vividly to our attention: let us do a whole lot less worshipping of Jesus and a whole lot more following of Christ.
2 comments:
You are not worthy to wash my priestly male feet.
Not my post, but I don't disagree with the sentiment ^
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