Mail Archive of the old Santa Clara Valley Lutheran Parish

I adjure you by the Lord that this letter be read to all the brethren. (Thessalonians 5:27)
Subject: Re: Today's Devotion
Date: Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:31:22 -0700
From: Pastor Dawn Teuthorn <pastordawn@saintjudes.org>
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From: Pastor Dawn Teuthorn <pastordawn@saintjudes.org>
Subject: Re: Today's Devotion
Date: Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:31:22 -0700
To: scvlp@googlegroups.com

Thank you David.

Dawn

On Jul 13, 2009, at 8:12 AM, David Bonde wrote:

>
> I recently found an edition of the Apostolic Fathers which has both
> the Greek text and a modern English translation (Michael Holmes, Baker
> Academic).  My earlier efforts to read them were frustrated because I
> could not see what was in the Greek behind the translation, but I=92m
> also beginning to wonder whether I wasn=92t ready to understand the
> Apostolic Fathers.  Now, at a stage in life when I have been serving
> as a pastor of the church for over 30 years, I find these texts
> completely fascinating for they are written by old men who have long
> served the church and are struggling against the forces that are
> changing it.  I don=92t see now what I had once thought I had seen =96 a
> church retreating from the radical liberating message of Jesus to the
> safe ground of conventional morality, I see elders trying to hold
> their congregations together in the face of ideas and people that
> threaten to divide them.
>
> There is something refreshing in the fact that there is nothing new
> under the sun.  I find it nice to hear Clement write
>
> =93It is disgraceful, dear friends, yes, utterly disgraceful and
> unworthy of your conduct in Christ, that it should be reported that
> the well-established and ancient church of the Corinthians, because of
> one or two persons, is rebelling against its presbyters.=94 (1 Clement
> 47.6)
>
> And it puts the trials of my own ministry in interesting perspective
> to hear Ignatius write, as he moves across Asia in chains towards his
> martyrdom in Rome,
>
> =93Fire and cross and battles with wild beasts, mutilation, mangling,
> wrenching of bones, the hacking of limbs, the crushing of my whole
> body, cruel tortures of the devil =96 let these come upon me, only let
> me reach Jesus Christ!=94 (or =93attain=94 Jesus Christ).  (Ignatius to t=
he
> Romans 5.3)
>
> Then there is the enduring truth expressed in 2 Clement:
>
> =93When the pagans hear from our mouths the oracles of God, they marvel
> at their beauty and greatness.  But when they discover that our
> actions are now worthy of the words we speak, they turn from wonder to
> blasphemy, saying that it is a myth and a delusion.=94 (13.3)
>
> But what interests me the most is the discovery that the familiar
> reference to Holy Communion as =93the medicine of immortality=94 has been
> taken out of context.  It is not the bread that is the medicine of
> immortality, but the one bread:
>
> =93All of you, individually and collectively, gather together in grace,
> by name, in one faith and one Jesus Christ =85 in order that you may
> obey the bishop and council of presbyters with an undisturbed mind,
> breaking one bread, which is the medicine of immortality, the antidote
> we take in order not to die but to live forever in Jesus
> Christ.=94  (Ignatius to the Ephesians 20.2)
>
> The reference is not to the power of the sacrament, but the power of
> the community which gathers together for the sacramental meal.
> Cutting ourselves off from one another cuts us off from Christ.  This
> is not a defense of the existing power structure of these ancient
> churches; this is a defense of the idea that the church is the body of
> Christ.  The truth of heaven is not a spiritual insight to be gained,
> but a communal life to be lived.  My destiny is tied up with your
> destiny.  Our destiny is connected to living together in Christ.
>
> I don=92t know how we recapture any of this in Santa Clara County in the
> 21st century, living as we do in a spiritual marketplace where people
> move easily from one place to another to find a message and ministry
> that suits the need of the moment.  But if the medicine of immortality
> is not in the bread but in our life together embodied in the bread,
> then we truly face a great challenge.
>
> >
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