Don't "dis" the Magdalene

On Good Friday afternoon, before the three hour service at St Mary's and the traditional Good Friday service in the evening at my parish of Christ Church, I got into a "Facebook" tussle with a "friend" of one of my online "friends".  And, in the words of John Lennon, " I should have known better..."

Icon of Mary Magdalene

This guy...that is how I have decided to refer to him...made a flippant remark about how Jesus dined with "women of ill repute" (he did not exactly put it that way) at the Last Supper, and by way of twisted analogy, it was perfectly acceptable for his online "pal" to take his daughter to Outback Steakhouse on Good Friday for lunch. 


Now, both of these visual images left me somewhat "gob smacked", as the Brits often say, but I was more distressed about his implication about who was present at the Last Supper and the kind of career choices they had made.

In response to this post I inquired if he was referring to Mary Magdalene, to which he responded in the positive.  That set me off.

And I let myself be drawn into a counterproductive Facebook back-and- forth in which I was accused of having no sense of humor.  I usually do have a wickedly good sense of humor, but not when I encounter faulty theology. I pointed out that the most recent Biblical research contends that this is not the case, and suggested he also take at look at a non-canonical text called "The Gospel of Mary".  I indicated that the Eastern Church has always referred to Mary as "The Disciple to the Disciples", and hold her in high regard. 

I know that Dan Brown in his novel and resulting movie "The DaVinci Code" implied a more familial relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene, but I consider that just a good read, and not necessarily good theology. ( Yes, one can enjoy fiction for what it is...fiction)

Just to set the record straight, Mary Magdalene is mentioned about a dozen times in the four Gospels: she is named as one of the women who financially supported Jesus's mission, she was present at the Crucifixion, and she is a witness to the risen Christ. Her name implies that she is from Magdala, a town on the Sea of Galilee that was known for the production of salted fish...an important part of the diet of the residents of Israel.  She is often confused with Mary the sister of Martha and Lazarus, or the woman about to be stoned for adultery or, finally,  the repentant sinner who washed Jesus' feet with expensive ointment and her tears.  The Roman Catholic Church declared in 1969 that the Magdalene is NOT the repentant sinner...a giant step forward in re-establishing her as an important figure in the story of Jesus and his earthly work.

So, did all this  new information persuade this guy that he needed to take a refresher course in "Christianity 101"?...I suspect not, but at least I got to share a small piece of Church History with several folks on Facebook who might not know who the Magdalene really was.

Notes from a Frequent Flier: It is finished"...meditation on the Seven Last Wor...

Notes from a Frequent Flier: It is finished"...meditation on the Seven Last Wor...: “It is finished…” Sometimes it is hard to finally admit something is over, done, finished.   It is often hard to turn the final page ...

It is finished"...meditation on the Seven Last Words of Christ

“It is finished…”

Sometimes it is hard to finally admit something is over, done, finished.  It is often hard to turn the final page of that compelling novel, or feel a pang of personal pain when one realizes that the final paper of the final class before graduation means one part of your life is finished and another will be beginning. In the most simplistic interpretation of these words of Christ at the time of his crucifixion one can say that Jesus is expressing the obvious: His life is ended, his suffering finished.  But others, perhaps the deeper thinkers among us, could also say that what is finished was his mission on earth; the work he was called to do caring for God’s people.

St Mary's Castleton: Today's venue

Jesus’ earthly work included feeding the hungry as he did providing food for many from just a few loaves of bread and several fish, he healed the sick, including lepers, cripples, the blind and a woman suffering from internal bleeding.  He comforted mourners as when he comforted Mary and Martha on the death of their brother, and at least twice commanded those who were physically dead to arise.  These were, of course, miraculous works and perhaps we feel that what we attempt to do in his name would be of lesser quality and value. We would be wrong to think this.



Congregants at St Mary's Castleton

As Christians we are charged to “Love one another as Christ has loved us.”…unconditionally and openly caring about the welfare of all. But what is an acceptable way to do this?  Who is to be included in our caring circle: congregants? Episcopalians? Christians? Neighbors?  Strangers? Others? The answer is all of them and any one else we meet along the way.  What kinds of things are other church communities doing to answer this call? Let me see:

A Presbyterian church in Dallas, TX has over ten congregational care groups that offer a whole menu of ways congregants take care of each other. They have specially trained members who can provide support to individuals who have had a recent diagnosis, recurrence, or are undergoing long-term treatment for an illness. Others have organized themselves to provide a helping hand for minor in-home repair services to members in need.  A transportation team works together to supply transportation for parishioners in need.

Interior St Mary's Castleton

Several mainline churches are offering therapeutic foot washing to the homeless and struggling communities in places like Richmond, Va., Atlanta, GA, Ashland, NC and Portland Oregon.  Yesterday morning, St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Gresham, Oregon offered a "foot spa" at Snow Cap Community Services, a local social services agency.  Members of the congregation, led by their deacon, Maureen, washed the feet of clients and after drying them, offered new clean socks to each guest.

Perhaps, you are thinking, we don’t have the means to do this kind of caring work, but, for a mainline church that represents a small percentage of the total population on this, our island home, there is much that we collectively do to care for each other and those in need in our neighborhoods.

And we have examples close to home.  Members of several Episcopal congregations have been preparing and serving meals at a local soup kitchen for many years.  Another one has begun to follow suit with their monthly Saturday evening community meals.  Folks at a north shore church have been quietly ministering to residents of a local adult home for many years.   Knitters and crocheters across our ten parishes have crafted bonnets for preemies at local hospitals and cold weather hats and scarfs for mariners across the globe. And with the help of Episcopal Charities our Episcopal island wide community provides over 700 holiday meals for food insecure families across the island. Our churches open their doors for scout groups, support groups, hurricane relief workers and after school arts programs.

And there are countless other small ways this care is manifested: silent prayer for those in need; a reassuring phone call for someone in personal turmoil; a warm embrace for a companion in need; a crafted palm cross for a sick church member…all of these seemingly small gestures speak so much about “getting it done.”

All of these things, large and small…communal and individual, are important pieces of Jesus’ reminder to us to “love one another”.

Perhaps the penultimate experience will be when our time on this planet is over; our personal mission done, saying firmly with our final breath, the words Jesus uttered from the cross:  “It is finished.”

Foot Washing

As a child growing up in post-World War II New York City, specifically in the East Bronx, I learned a whole lot about the individual rituals of Judaism.  My neighborhood was on the cusp between an ethnic Irish and ethnic Ashkenazi  Jewish neighborhood.  The families who lived in the five floor walkup pre-war apartment building I lived in were Irish –American or Jewish American – and that was it.

From an early age I understood that the Sabbath was on Friday night and Saturday morning for some folks in the building and on Sunday morning for the rest of us. I knew that Shabbos meant that families had a meal together and good stuff like challah and brisket were often part of the meal.  My father was a Shabbos Goy for two widowed Jewish women on our floor.  Esther Shapario’s family had immigrated from Russia in the 1920’s and Anna Bruns was a recent immigrant from Belgium after the war. Mrs.  Bruns had a number tattooed on her arm that indicted she had been in a concentration camp during the war.  My father’s reward for turning lights on and off and checking on the tea kettle was several quarts of extremely good chicken soup that we would happily devour.

I also knew that the men wore long black coats, big beaver hats, and had prayer shawl tassels that hung from under their shirts.  I also understood that they needed at least ten men who had been bar-mitzvahed in order to have prayer time.  This meant that sometimes the younger boys were sent out of the local synagogue to rustle up a few good men for the minyan.

There were rituals for so many things including ritual washing of both hands and feet.

In today’s Gospel lesson we hear the yearly story about Jesus’ washing the feet of the apostles.  In ancient Israel most folks either wore sandals or went shoeless.  This meant that when someone entered your home, they were tracking in lots of dust, dirt and dung from the local village or farm.  It was customary for the host to offer his guests the ability to wash their hands and to have their feet washed.  The host would not be washing the feet of the guest, his servant would do it.  If there were no servants, the wife or daughter would be assigned this task. Men of honor or status would not stoop so low as to wash another’s feet.  In this telling, Jesus turns the tables on his followers, whom, by the way, were playing the “Who is the most important” game, wondering which of them was the top banana…after Jesus of course. 

Jesus silently takes a bowl, pitcher and wraps a towel around himself and begins this menial task to the shock of his followers.  He then instructs them to follow his example and do likewise…to become servants to all.  We will replicated this act of Christ in this community, a replication, I dare say, that is a comfortable re-creation of this act of humility on the part of Christ. We know each other reasonably well, are comfortable with each other and  since we all knew ahead of time that we’d be called upon to do this, I think I can safely say…most have made sure their chosen foot for this ablution, is relatively clean.

 

So, I want you to think about this scenario: washing the feet of people you do not know.  Just as we have done our own version of “Ashes to Go”, there are several congregations around the nation who have embraced foot washing as a ministry on the streets.

Earlier this month, a group of people from a Methodist Church in Richmond, Virginia, gathered together a collection of latex gloves, nail clippers, and antibacterial soap and opened the church doors to a cadre of street people who were, at first, a bit skeptical about allowing complete strangers to wash, rinse and towel dry their feet and then give them each  a new clean pair of socks to wear.

Last year Samuel Wells, a chaplain at Duke University integrated foot washing into the liturgy and washed the feet of students, the housekeeping staff and colleagues.

Black and white Christians have washed one another's feet as a sign of racial reconciliation at religious conferences in various American cities including Memphis and Birmingham. Last year the spokesman for the Presbyterian Church in Canada spoke about the practice of incorporating foot-washing in marriage ceremonies.
(Having recently been a part f a family wedding, I am not sure how one would do this with any thought of success.)

As part of their Maundy Thursday practice, British monarchs have washed the feet of selected peasants as part of a ritual that dates back to the 13^th century.  Curiously, by the 17^th century the royal leader either had the feet of the peasant pre-washed or just had an underling do it.  This practice is no longer in vogue.  Queen Elizabeth II does not have anyone removing their shoes and socks in her presence, at least not on Maundy Thursday.

But is this sudden interest in reviving a religious ritual in so intimate and familiar a style does raise some interesting questions for modern Christians. Can this ritual be used as a symbol of reconciliation?  Two years ago a group of Hutus and Tutsis , enemies during the war in Rwanda washed each other’s feet in as a symbol of reconciliation. Can it be a symbol of humility? In 1998 a senator from Kansas washed the feet of one retiring from his office.  He claims this was a symbol of “servant leadership.”

But what do recipients of foot washing feel about this practice?  In a recent article in the Washington Post, a woman who routinely gets her feet washed by the group in Richmond has said, “At first it was weird. Because you have corns and bunions, you know, and you don’t want anybody handling your feet.  When they put your feet into that hot water, whew! It sure feels like heaven.”

And just maybe, that is what it is meant to remind us of…heaven… a fore taste of what is to come in a little, bitty space and time.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_TgBIyJvnE

Family Gatherings

This past weekend my son, my only son, got married.  Family and dear friends traveled far and wide to come to celebrate with us.  He got married the day after his father, my late husband, would have celebrated his 66th birthday.  So it could have easily been bittersweet..and it was bitter, but the sweet won out.




Aunts and uncles, cousins and sons, daughters and grandparents, all decked out and dolled up began to arrive by car, plane and train to witness the wedding, re-connect with friends and family, meet the new girlfriend and celebrate the news of an upcoming birth. Sharing tales of recent adventures and sharing photos of the growing grandchildren complete the familial circle.  Lifting a glass in toast to the special couple from childhood friends and college frat brothers who speak about the loving circle that surrounds the newlyweds brings a tear to the eyes of some and laughter to all.




And the music and dancing continued long into the night! The first official married dance; daughter and Dad, son and Mother, and the rest of the crowd joined in with gusto! Spouses and partners, cousins and uncles, brothers and sisters, friends and lovers all spun around and swayed to the music. It was an evening to cherish forever.



May we all look back upon it with the ability to close our eyes, return to the dance floor, and smile at the memory!