Mail Archive of the old Santa Clara Valley Lutheran Parish

Subject: Today's Devotion

Date: Mon, 13 Jul 2009 08:12:29 -0700 (PDT)

From: David Bonde <dkbonde@gmail.com>

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Subject: Today's Devotion
From: David Bonde <dkbonde@gmail.com>
To: SCVLP <scvlp@googlegroups.com>
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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 the
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.