Political Extremism

 A well-written article by the Dean of our Diocesan Cathedral in Springfield, IL.

Extremism - by the Very Reverend Andrew Hook

A False Community

 

"In a false community everyone protects himself against everyone else. Everyone tries not to be known, except in ways he or she chooses. Everyone tries to work out ways in which all relationships will be smooth. This is not community.

There is a vision in the writings of Saint Hermas, one of the seventy disciples of Christ, a vision: he sees the angels of God building the city of God, the new Jerusalem, and he sees that they choose square stones with sharp edges and place them next to one another, cementing them together. And then there are stones that seem so beautiful in their material, so smooth in their shape -- round, oval -- and they are rejected. Because it is only those stones that can be fitted together and cemented together that can be used for the building of these walls of the Heavenly Jerusalem. And when we try to create a society in which every one of us is safe from the other, are we not creating a society of people who are like smooth, rounded stones that can in no way be fitted together with others? What is needed then is a hammer that will break the smoothness and reshape them."

- Metropolitan Anthony Bloom, "Churchianity vs Christianity," pp. 114-115

Breaking the Rules

 

When is it OK to break the rules?

I am thankful that I was raised in a house where I was taught manners and respect for other people. I was taught, in keeping with the teaching of Jesus to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. This kind of mutual respect and honor is in part what keeps any human group or human society from turning into chaos. Today, in the United States, in the broader sense of our popular culture and our national debates, good manners seem be the exception rather than the rule.

But at what point does a person’s or societies’ view of “good manners” or “appropriate behavior” become manipulative, unduly restrictive, and/or downright abusive? Every human family or group, no matter how large or how small, has unwritten expectations and “acceptable manners”. This does not mean that their definitions are healthy or to be adopted.

When Jesus came to live among us, he walked into both civil and religious structures with many assumed and expected manners and rules. Those under the power of these leaders knew the consequences of thinking outside of their holy and elevated rules and used their so-called prestige and knowledge for their own selfish desires. This not only bothered Jesus, but it also often infuriated him to the point of rebuke and at times even name-calling for specific theological application.

Jesus knew the importance of the Law of God in the Old Testament, and he knew the authority and power of the truths of the Old Testament Scripture in general. However, he also knew, that human rules, established to give limits and boundaries to facilitate structure and order, were to be contextually applied based on the core, Godly characteristics of righteousness/justice, mercy, and shalom as God had revealed it to his people.

However, those who love POWER over their love for God, revel in rigidity and simplicity – laying aside a patient, gracious, and thoughtful discerning of truth and error or right and wrong. Jesus never pursued the leadership of Israel to change them. They pursued him as a threat. When Jesus pushed back at their duplicity and parasitic behaviors, the Jewish leaders saw Jesus as a disrespectful, rebellious, and dangerous prophet. Of course, any prophet in the Old or New Testaments that pushed against corruption, injustice, or the disobedience to God’s Word also faced these same responses.

Our text for Sunday comes from the Gospel of Luke chapter 13 (see the link below). Jesus again, chooses mercy over the strict interpretation of current man-made applications regarding the sabbath. The RIGHT group, the POWERFUL group was non-too-pleased. But the powerless, marginalized, and ill woman who was healed were ecstatic and gave praise to God!

How might we be a people who give this “gospel” news and love to others who know only the marginalization and power structures so valued by the world? How can we avoid this kind of off-putting, Holy Spirit dousing, and selfish approach to leadership at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church? To the Church of Christ?

"Controlling the Rules" - Luke 13:10-17

GOOD vs. BEST

 

In recent sermons we have been discussing the reality of the "cultures" in which we breathe and drink in our understandings about what matters in life. Much of how we live is intuitive. When we make decisions regarding the use of our resources between two good things, there are assumptions behind our decisions.

 

It is also true that our hurts, fears, and anxieties, affect our decision making and priorities. Without careful meditation and evaluation (and the wise advice of those who love and observe us) most people won't recognize the true things that drive them. Instead of being responsive and thoughtful, we are often reactive and stressed-out.

 

One main purpose of the Church of Christ is to hold firm to the "first things" that give the redeemed true wisdom and direction. The Church is to help her people to keep their eyes on Jesus. Thus, during the storms, or when the storms do finally arrive, we are prepared and ready.

 

But if our lives are so jammed-packed with good things, so that we have no time for spiritual preparation and prioritization, should we be surprised when the storms knock us for a loop? Storms and crisis don’t care about our priorities, retirement plans, or scheduled events. They come anyway and sometimes force us to look at the true weakness and vulnerability of our focus and choices. They are the true “flash floods” that reveal our vulnerabilities. However, if we are building on the ROCK, we will stand firm and remain strong through the storms that hit us. Why? Because we are preparing for and we expect them to arrive in our lives.

 

In the below sermon we look at an everyday scene that will be familiar for most of us; two sisters, handling an important guest in different ways. One is wrapped up in convention and the cultural assumptions that are intuitive. Another is enthralled with knowing and following Jesus; this results in her taking a disciplined hearing to his teaching first of all. Jesus, as he often does, redirects the assumptions of us all.

Good vs. Best (Video Sermon)

Accepting the Challenge

 

When it came to the genuine, foundational, character problems of the Jewish religious community of their day, Jesus often meddled. I submit that if a person is actually honest with the clear revelation of Holy Scripture in the Gospels, there is just no way around it. While we can definitely say that Jesus was careful and strategic about how he taught, when he taught, and who he was teaching, he was also at times prophetic so as not to be brushed aside or misunderstood (He risked offence and misunderstanding in the beginning, middle, and end of his ministry on earth). Our text on Sunday is one of those stories where everyone who is listening would likely have been bristling.

When Jesus tells a parable in answer to the question of a certain lawyer of the Mosaic Law, ("who is my neighbor?") the crowd got an answer for which they had not bargained. Are we Christians today anymore ready for such challenging answers from Jesus? What did the Jewish leaders and the people do with the repeatedly challenging teaching of Jesus? What do we do?

Jesus had a clear understanding of where the Jewish Covenant People of God were headed with their many religious and political compromises in concert with the powerful rulers of the day. This, of course, culminates in the destruction of the Temple and the decimation of the Jewish people in Israel a mere 60+ years later (70 AD). As Jesus looks at the direction and future of the American Church in the years to come, what does he see?

Jesus often specifically identified the hard-heartedness of the Jewish leadership. Yet, the overwhelming majority of everyday worshippers were just fine tolerating their leaders as long as they themselves didn't experience too much disruption. Yes, their leaders were bankrupt theologically and corrupt in practice. Yes, these same leaders manipulated and took a buffet approach to Holy Scripture, picking and choosing from their pages the truth that fit their presuppositions and desires. However, in the end, the challenges of Jesus, as will be revealed Sunday with the "Good Samaritan", largely fell on deaf ears. Jesus just seemed too extreme. Those that did continue to follow him before and after his death and resurrection only ended up doing so at great risk.

It will take effort on our part to stay open and teachable to Jesus. It will take evaluation, meditation, and courage to evaluate why we hold some of the beliefs that we hold and why we hold them so tightly.

However, if we choose to listen and pursue the teaching of Jesus through the preached Word, with a reliance on the aid of the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit speaking to our hearts and minds, we truly have nothing of substance to lose, and everything eternal to gain.

Fr. Thomas Reeves

The Love Test - Video Sermon

GOING

 

One of the characteristics of being a follower of Christ is the desire and action of reaching out to others with the hope and redemption offered by Jesus to the world.

Recently, I was out at the Pitt's farm for a "blessing of the fields", setting them apart and asking our God for a fruitful harvest. While we were walking around on the homestead, Jack pointed out a particular gas vapor farm light that they used for security reasons. This light was no longer needed on one part of the property, and so, he had moved it to be better used at another location.

Now, if that same security light had been purchased, put into the machine shed, unpacked, and left unconnected, what good would it do? For the lamp to fulfill its design and purpose, it had to be installed outside of the machine shed and connected to an electrical source so that it could have an appropriate place to have any influence.

Outreach is not something that the baptized Christian is supposed to do first of all; it is to be an evidence of who we truly are. Our genuine character will reveal itself through habitual patterns, whether good or bad. Jesus tells us in Matthew chapter five that "we are the salt and light" of the world. He goes on to say that we "should not hide our lights under a bushel-basket". How are we developing our full character in Christ?

This Sunday, we are looking at Luke chapter ten. Jesus has already sent out the 12 disciples to bring the good news of the Kingdom of God to various Jewish villages. In Sunday's text, he is now sending out 72 other disciples to attempt a similar mission. How does this text apply to the people of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church?

God is not asking any of us to be something that we are not.  However, he is asking us to claim who we are in Christ, and through the gifts and strengths that he has given us, bring the light of Jesus to a world in need of God's love.

(See the YouTube Channel for Father Thomas Reeves for the video sermon: "GOING")

St. Matthew's in Publication

 

Our Church, St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, was featured in the Summer 2025 issue of the Anglican Digest. My article appears on page 44.

The Anglican Digest

Living or Fabricated?

 

Authentic people discern reality and truth as they present themselves, so that love and wisdom may be rightly applied. 

Inauthentic people create the narratives they must have, and then desperately try to manipulate others and situations for their own happy returns. One approach reflects the character of God. The other, the power brokers of this world.

Loving and Hating Truth

 

From Confessions, by St. Augustine, Chapter 23.

That Donatist Problem Today: The Elusive Search for the One Pure Church

I am thankful for the Reformation. I wouldn’t be an Anglican if this was not the case. Luther helped many understand that a baptized person earns no merit on their own before God per their religious busyness. He, with others, also exposed the way that the Roman Church of the day had made their tradition all-encompassing. Tradition had grown in such a way as to push Holy Scripture to the background, and thus, it was interpreted through the lenses of an extensively rigorous and religiously cultural bias. The Reformers sought to address this problem in part through what became “sola scriptura” and helped restore the primacy and importance of Holy Scripture in keeping with their Patristic forebearers who were “soaked in Scripture.”[1]

But as any careful investigator will note, the Reformers also went beyond Medieval abuses and encouraged certain Scriptural and theological errors of their own. While it is true that we do not merit our righteous status before God, it is also true that sanctification IS still a part of our salvation as evidenced overwhelmingly in Holy Scripture:

“Sanctification is not ‘Christian living’ removed somehow from the gospel message and our salvation. Sanctification is a work of the Holy Spirit as He continues to develop holiness in our lives as we open our hearts to our Lord Jesus Christ and seek our triune God.”[2]

Through Luther’s influence, a theology also arose that taught that salvation could occur outside of the Covenant Community of God, the Church of Jesus Christ (in contrast with Patristic assumptions even before Cyprian). A cavalcade of Reformers (and the later Pietists) followed suit taking the theology of a personal salvation to an unscriptural extreme. Salvation for Protestants thus became “my salvation outside of the church” (aka, me and Jesus) instead of my personal salvation inside and with the church in keeping with the scriptural teaching of being “the bride of Christ.” I submit that these would have been surprising and extremely foreign ideas to the framers meeting at the Council of Nicaea in 325.  I also submit that those attending Nicaea would have assumed the primacy of scripture (Suprema-scriptura) along with the important place of tradition in keeping, finding, and applying the truth.

In our search for holiness, it is easy to go beyond what is true and right, becoming more impressed with our current insights than our position in finite time and space allow. As history reveals, over-reactions theologically can create their own heresies and cause lasting damage to the Church of Jesus Christ. Spiritual humility and scriptural discernment are disciplines that must be pursued; they do not come easily and need to be done in community.

Holiness or Grace?

During the persecution of Christians by Emperor Diocletian, there were some Bishops who cowered under threat allowing both holy books as well as their copies of Holy Scripture to be destroyed. Following the persecution, many of these Bishops returned to their posts. Around 311 A.D./C.E. the Bishop of Carthage was consecrated by one of these traditores (traitor Bishops). The Bishops in Numidia found this untenable, consecrated a rival bishop, and brought their appeal to the unified Catholic church. The initial investigation did not support the desires of these Donatists (named after a later champion of their cause), nor did a later Synod.  In the end, they were opposed continuously by the entirety of the church. The Catholic church in the 4^th Century believed that the unworthiness of any minister did not invalidate the sacramental rites. As Augustine wrote, Christ was the true minister of the sacraments of the church.

In the end, the Donatists separated themselves from the Western Catholic Church and declared themselves to be the true church. They were extremely rigorous and proclaimed a desire for the “true holiness” of the saints. They saw themselves as the pure church, while others were suspect. Any Catholic coming into a Donatist parish were required to be “re-baptized.” Any of this sound familiar?

In our search for holiness, it is easy to lay aside a thoughtful and collective grace. In our search for grace, it is easy to lay aside the tough love and the courage it takes to pursue and encourage holiness. The history of the church is resplendent with cases that engage the harmful extremes. Over-reaction is easy, communal and thoughtful courage is hard.

Faithfulness will always demand prophetic pushback when those leading a church are in conflict with Holy Scripture and historic Christian orthodoxy. In our desire to be faithful, it is also easy to begin to develop a “two-dimensional” approach to holiness and faithfulness. We can decide that those who are not on “our team” are now the bad guys, and those on our team are the truly blessed, Spirit-led, good guys. This is a narrative that is far too common among many priests and bishops in break-off Anglican churches, who act as if there is no more faithfulness left in The Episcopal Church. It is also common with bishops and priests in The Episcopal Church who act as if it is acceptable to impatiently strong-arm new and innovative theology and morality, with little sensitivity to the worldwide Anglican Communion in the process; to insist on an individualistic, modernistic, and post-modernistic superiority which shows little historic humility and the complexities involved with being finite while engaging the infinite through time and space.

Tolkien’s words in the Fellowship of the Ring resonate here:
“Frodo: 'It's a pity Bilbo didn't kill Gollum when he had the chance.'
Gandalf: 'Pity? It is pity that stayed Bilbo's hand. Many that live deserve death. Some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo? Do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. Even the very wise cannot see all ends. My heart tells me that Gollum has some part to play in it, for good or evil, before this is over. The pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many.'

Also, hear the curious words of Jesus in Luke 9:
49 John answered, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us.” 50 But Jesus said to him, “Do not stop him; for whoever is not against you is for you.” 

Our God’s character and reality are NOT relative to someone’s (or group’s) individual desires and opinions.  However, beyond the clear teaching of Holy Scripture and our Historical Creedal orthodoxy, there is much that the “one holy catholic and apostolic church” is less certain and agreed upon (especially in the application of truth in any culture!). May our desire for holiness be bathed in thoughtful grace, and may our grace not bend regarding that which is eternal and transcendent. 

God never abandoned his often-apostate Children of Israel, nor did he enable or placate their wickedness. It is only through these largely rebellious Covenant people that we now have our Messiah and Salvation. Let us be hesitant to decide for God when he has finally discarded his Church. Do we not now as Anglicans understand that Luther was wrong to deem the entirety of the Roman Catholic Church as Apostate in his day?

Starting and Ending Points

I am not discounting the importance of seeking after and engaging holiness.  However, I am submitting in the strongest possible terms that “revisionism” in history and theology is not just a progressive problem, but a clear conservative problem as well. If we believe that we have the inalienable right to make up our version of Christianity based on our personal and cultural experiences, then we will continue in conflict with the ways of the Triune God of Christianity and the majority of the unified church of Jesus Christ before the 11 century. (And yes, this includes we of an Anglo-Catholic ilk with our penchant at times to worry more about the minutia of "rending our clothing" than the "rending of our hearts". They need go hand in hand, and only the Spirit transforms a willing heart. The sacrament and liturgy can be spurned by the rebellious). 

This conflict is exacerbated by an individualism that continually takes the name of the Holy Spirit in vain to support a-historic and anti-intellectual laziness when it comes to the interpretation of Holy Scripture.  It is right and good to believe in the illumination of the Holy Spirit; however, this does not mean that our thoughts and feelings while praying or reading Holy Scripture are from God. We are the church together in accountability to Holy Scripture and our informing tradition. You and I are never the centers of any world…EVER.

The above thoughts do not remove either the mystery or the existential realities involved with seeking or submitting to the one true God, while at the same time, doing so in community with the church.  However, our Christian heritage does position our Triune God as the “prime mover” of all that is…including redemption. Our God is not the god whom many Modern worshippers desire.  He is not a god that will coalesce with our ever-burgeoning opinions so he can garner our attention, worship, and service.

Maybe we should consider the ways he has saved and led his Covenant People in the past with more frequency. Truly, there is nothing new under the sun.

---

[1] Hall, Reading Scripture with the Church Fathers, IVP, 1998, pg. 129

[2] Reeves, Was Jesus an Evangelical?, eLectio Press, 2017, pg. 25