Reflections on 25 Years of Ordained Ministry in 25 Points

In March of this year I celebrated 25 years of Ordained Ministry, and 25 years of ministry at Christ Lutheran Church in Regina, Saskatchewan. The staff and congregation at Christ Lutheran held some lovely surprise 25th Anniversary celebrations and gifted me with many lovely words of support and gratitude as well as with a Celtic Pectoral Cross (pictured above). 
 

In some ways it is difficult to believe that it has been 25 years since I began my work as a pastor at Christ Lutheran Church, in other ways I certainly recognize the passage of time. It is rare for a pastor to serve in the same place for 25 years, but I have been blessed to be part of a healthy and diverse pastoral team (thank you Orville Kaminski, Bob Leeson, Carla Blakley and Lynn Robertson), while working for a caring, accepting and creative congregation (thank you to the many wonderful members of Christ Lutheran Church). 

One way I thought I would mark this milestone is to write out 25 reflections about ministry - how it has changed, how it remains the same, and what the future might hold. In the coming weeks I will be posting these reflections, one at a time. Here is the first one:

Reflection #1: Change is inevitable, change is needed, change is uncomfortable.

We live in a climate of constant change, primarily in the area of science and technology, but also in terms of culture. By its nature the church resists change, as it looks to hold on to the revealed word of God that is centuries old. However we have often made the mistake of assuming that our particular way of interpreting that ancient revealed gospel is what needs to be maintained. Most of the struggles in the church over the past 25 years (and certainly before that as well) have been based in how we interpret and respond to the message of the scriptures. This remains an on-going challenge and struggle to this day.
 

In reflecting on my own life I would say I began my adult life with a more traditional and somewhat literal interpretation framework. In the intervening years that approach has given way to something more content with mystery and symbolic interpretation. This I don't see as change so much as transformation, I prefer to think that God's Spirit is continually working in lives of people to move us closer to God's will for us. Since the Spirit of God is constantly at work transforming the lives of people, transformation is to be expected, or to put it another way - change is at the very heart of our Christian faith.
 

Sometimes I wish things would stay the same, or even revert back to the way they were at an earlier time. However I would also say at the same time that there are some things that I would not want to ever return to, some changes I am deeply grateful for having taken place. This is the tension that marks the life of the church, even since the earliest decades (when Paul insisted that Gentile Christians be accepted into the family of faith without requiring submission to the Judaic Law - a huge change if there ever was one.)
 

Perhaps it is the sense that change is happening so fast that causes the most discontent these days, but even that is relevant - my guess is that people thought the world was changing rapidly during the Reformation as well. Yes our technological tools seem to be replaced with new stuff every time we turn around - but people are not changing so quickly. Rapid change is somewhat illusionary in this regard.

Change will come, it is inevitable - without change we bog down in stagnation, we slowly die. Change is the very nature of life, and while it is not always comfortable it should not be feared or shunned. The Holy Spirit blows where it wills, the winds of change are ever present just as God is ever present. Our hope then is not in being in control "because we've dealt with this before", but that God's love is able to withstand any change that may come our way. Our confidence then is not in our ability to resist change, but in knowing that God's love will endure forever. Our future is not dependent on our holding on to the present (or past), but in embracing the unseen journey that God calls us to.

Should We Fix Easter?

The celebration of Easter can only happen one day later than it does this year. The latest Easter is celebrated is April 25th - which won't happen until the year 2038.

Why does the date for the celebration of Easter move around?

In the first three centuries Christians followed two traditions of celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus - either:

1) on, or just after, the first day of the Jewish Passover (no matter on which day of the week that Easter Day occurred), or

2) on a Sunday close to or on the first Passover Day.

Both of these methods existed continuously throughout this period..

Passover

Passover of course is based on the Jewish calendar, not Roman. It is celebrated on 14th day of the month of Nisan which is the first month in the Jewish calendar. This very ancient tradition for the timing and manner of celebrating Passover came from instructions found in the Book of Leviticus.

In the first decades of its existence the Christian church was mostly made up of Jewish people who accepted Jesus as their promised Messiah. However by the second century the church had spread throughout the Roman Empire and it was now mostly made up of non-Jewish people.

These Gentile Christians would check with their Jewish neighbours about when the Passover would take place that year and set their celebration of Easter accordingly.

Dissatisfaction

By the end of the 3rd century Christians began to express dissatisfaction with the custom of relying on the Jewish community to determine the date of Easter - the chief complaint being that the Jewish communities sometimes erred in setting Passover to take place before the spring equinox.

Because of this dissatisfaction with reliance on the Jewish calendar, some Christians began to experiment with independent computations. Others, however, felt that the customary practice of consulting Jews should continue, even if the Jewish computations were in error. Apparently throughout the geographically diverse Roman Empire it sometimes happened that Jews in one city might determine Passover differently from Jews in another city.

This controversy between those who advocated independent computations, and those who wished to continue the custom of relying on the Jewish calendar, was causing a sense of disunity in the Church when Constantine came to power in the early 4th Century.

Council of Nicaea

Constantine wanted a united Empire, and after defeating the leader of the Eastern half of the Empire in 324 AD one of the first things Constantine did was to call a council of Christian leaders - the first item on their agenda was to establish a uniform system for the dating of Easter. If Christianity was to help keep the Empire united it had to be uniform within itself, so differences over the dating of Easter had to be sorted out. This meeting is know as the Council of Nicaea and it took place in 325 in the year of our Lord. It of course ended up being about much more than the dating of Easter, and the Nicene Creed, which Christians around the world have used in worship for centuries, had its origins in this council at Nicaea.

The method for the dating of Easter that was agreed upon by that Council in Nicaea is essentially the same method that we still follow today.

The Method for Dating Easter

Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the full moon after the northern hemisphere's spring (or vernal) equinox. According to the early church calculations the equinox is on March 21 - even though, astronomically speaking, the equinox actually occurs on March 20 in most years . The name equinox is derived from the Latin aequus (equal) and nox (night), because around the equinox, the night and day have approximately equal length.)

Some of you may know that our Orthodox brothers and sisters sometimes celebrate Easter on a different date than the rest of the church - that is because they base their calculations on the earlier Julian Calendar - whereas the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches use what is known as the Gregorian Calendar which was established in the 16th Century by Pope Gregory the 13th (who used astronomers and mathematicians of his day to create a more accurate calendar calculation.)

Fix the Date

All this sounds so complicated, doesn't it? Wouldn't it be easier to simply fix a date, like was done with Christmas?

I read a news item about this very subject a few weeks ago. Earlier this month Cambridge professor Sir Colin Humphreys published a book called The Mystery of the Last Supper in which he claims the "The Last Supper was on Wednesday, April 1, AD 33, with the crucifixion on Friday, April 3, AD 33." Humphreys believes that his research not only definitively establishes the dates, which have eluded most scholars, but that it resolves an apparent conflict within the Gospel accounts of Jesus' last days.

Sir Humphreys says the discrepancies among the Gospels happened because they used an older calendar than the official Jewish one. Based on his conclusions Humphreys says the case can be made for giving Easter a permanent date as the first Sunday in April.

Well then - should we simply go with that?

I would like to suggest that there are three symbolical reasons to keep Easter as moving date.

God of Surprises

1) A moving Easter reminds us that God is a God of surprises - just as the date of Easter can surprise us from year to year. God has acted in surprising ways throughout history. The Bible is full of surprises: a very elderly couple give birth to a child, a shepherd boy from an insignificant tribe is chosen to be a great king, God comes to Elijah in a still, small voice rather than in grand displays of fire and earthquakes, and of course the greatest surprise of all - an empty tomb on Easter morning!

Hope for All Time

2) The hope of the resurrection is not just for one moment in time, it moves with us throughout all time. Just as death can descend upon us at any time, there also is ever-present hope that rises from the empty tomb. Jesus' resurrection gives hope to all people that death is not the final word!

This hope is for all time, not just a specific day of the year. A recognition of this hope throughout time is seen in the long-held consideration by the church of every Sunday being a mini-celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. Once a week we are reminded that Jesus rose from the dead on a Sunday. To fix the date of Easter could limit it to simply being a commemoration of a historical event rather than a celebration of an eternal hope.

Forces Beyond Our Control

3) A moving Easter reminds us that we are not ultimately in control, that there are forces beyond ourselves that impact and influence our lives. Of course this should be obvious to us at all times, but our current culture keeps selling us the lie that we are in control of our own lives, that we are masters of our own destiny - and this of course leads us to act like we don't really need God.

One of the reasons I think Easter has not become as commercialized as Christmas is simply because of the moveable date - it is not as easy develop a business plan around a moveable date, so thankfully it remains a celebration mostly tied to the church and not to commerce.

We like to plan out our lives, to schedule things, to be in control! A moveable Easter interrupts our schedules and reminds us that ultimately it is God who is in control and that relying on ourselves alone leads to eventual despair and hopelessness.

Hopefulness

Easter is about the opposite of hopelessness. Easter is about hopeFULness. The good news of the resurrection of Jesus fills us with hope, even in the midst of uncertainty.

• Just as the date of Easter moves from year to year, the hope of Jesus moves with us throughout the days, months and years of our lives - bringing light into the midst of our darkest hours.
• Just as the date for Easter is not a static thing, Jesus is a dynamic force, moving through the world by the power of the Spirit - bringing new life into the midst of believers everywhere.
• Just as the date for Easter is not easy to determine, Jesus is calling us to a mission that goes beyond our pre-determined paths - a mission that is often surprising, filled with challenges, yet in the end more rewarding than we could ever imagine.

So in the future, when you are trying to remember when Easter is being celebrated that year, may you remember that our risen Lord is always with you - regardless of the date... and may that thought renew within you hope, peace and joy for all time!

Three Marys at the Cross - a Trinitarian Reflection

The Crucifixion by Vladimir Borovikovsky - an 18th Century Ukrainian artist.

It struck me as a little unusual to have the writer of John's Gospel single out three women with the same name at the foot of the cross - three Marys. The synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark & Luke) indicate a more general "women who had followed him from Galilee" (Luke 23:49), or "many women were also there" (Matthew 27:55), or "there were also women looking on from a distance" (Mark 15:40). Mark and Matthew name Mary Magdalene and another Mary the mother of James and Joseph (Joses in Mark?). Only John mentions three Marys. This led me to ask "Why identify by name these three and no one else?" While pondering this an idea struck me - was possible that the writer intended a symbolic reflection of the three parts of the Trinity present at the crucifixion?
  

When I checked this idea with my friend, Harry Maier, a theological professor and academic scholar, he said this was probably not anything the writer of the Gospel of John intended. As Harry wrote "it is a stretch to see a notion of the Trinity in John without the mindset that is looking for it." He then went on to explain why this was unlikely and what was more likely the author's intention by naming these women at the cross. I appreciated Harry's comments and thought about dropping this contemplation about the three Marys, but then, inspired by something I once learned from Madeline L'Engle at a writer's workshop I thought I could still do a little midrashic musing. Midrash, according to Monica Osborne of Purdue University, "is not something that exists outside of the text; rather, it expands the original text, deepening it, filling it out, adding complexity and comprehension." So what follows are my reflections about the three Marys.
  

Could the three Marys be pointing to the full presence of God in that death scene on Golgotha? The Gospel of John certainly has the three parts of the Trinity fully present with each other throughout - Jesus refers to abiding in the Father, and the Father in him; John the Baptist testifies at the very beginning "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him (Jesus)." The Trinity, while not named as such, and probably not even thought of in the manner Christianity has come to understand it, is certainly present throughout John's Gospel, Jesus' unity with God the Father and his relationship with the Spirit of God emphasized over and over.
  

If the three Marys reflect the three persons of the Trinity, how might they do this?

1. Mary the mother of Jesus could certainly reflect God the father, the first person of the Trinity.
2. Mary the wife of Clopas could reflect God the son. (The literal text does not say "wife of"- Clopas could either be her father, son or husband). The reflection of God the son is a little less clear here, but it is the name Clopas that provides a possibility. Clopas is likely a shortened form of the Greek name Cleopas which is itself an abbreviated form of Cleopatros, a common Hellenistic name meaning "son of a renowned father". Jesus, the second person of the trinity, is certainly a son of a renowned father.
3. Mary Magdalene could reflect the presence of the Spirit. Mary Magdalene was a person who was filled with seven evil spirits, these were cast out by Jesus which led Mary to become of disciple. Thus she is someone who has been transformed from one filled with evil spirits to one filled with God's spirit. (Luke 8:2). This is the weakest of the connections since only the Gospel of Luke mentions Mary of Magdalene filled with evil spirits, John says nothing of this. Perhaps more significant is John's portrayal of Mary being the first post-resurrection apostle (apostle meaning one who is sent, and Mary is sent by the resurrected Jesus to the disciples with the message "I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.") Mary is empowered to believe and proclaim, something the Gospel of John attributes to the Spirit of God. ("For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit." John 3:34. See also John 15:26-27)

Now admittedly this is highly speculative, and I certainly wouldn't make it a central tenant of my faith, however this idea has given me another layer to the crucifixion scene in the Gospel of John. This Gospel does not have Jesus cry out the words of Psalm 22 "My God, my God. Why have you forsaken me?" (found in Matthew's account). Instead John's Gospel allows for God to be fully present - even in the paradox of Jesus' death. To be fully present all three persons of the Trinity would need to be extant.
  

John's Gospel records Jesus' moment of death with these words "Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit." (John 19:30) This is more than just "breathing his last" (as in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark) - there is a recognition that Jesus' spirit is part of him until the end - and will be again when he breathes on the disciples and gives them the Holy Spirit after his resurrection (John 20:22).
  

Praying just before his arrest and execution John's Gospel records Jesus saying "So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed." (John 17:5) Jesus knows he is heading to his death, but recognizes that through this death he would be glorified in the Father's presence. Unlike what it appears, God is fully present, rather than completely absent, at Jesus' death.
  

Women in the Gospel of John are important, they often are the messengers of God's surprising truth. The importance of the three Marys at the foot of the cross reflects the truth of God 'fully present' even in death. The three Marys are visuals reminders to us that there is nothing in all creation, not even death, that can separate us from the full presence, and love of God. The image of the three Marys at the foot of the cross now expands beyond a picture of grieving women to a sign of hope for all who face the death of a loved one. God does not abandon us in death, God is with us in more ways than we can perceive or comprehend. In that hope there is comfort.
  

This musing has led me to more questions: How can we, in this place and time, reflect the full presence of God in our context? How can we witness to the fullness of God's love, a love that not even death can stop from being fully present?

Lost Sheep Found

This post is a follow up to an earlier post (March 6 - Baby Jesus is Buried).

This past week we've finally had some warmer weather, allowing much of the snow to melt away. The huge snow bank in front of the church began to receed enough that I was finally able to get the nativity scene removed. I was happy to find Jesus, a little wet and worse for wear, but still there at the feet of Mary and Joseph. When I was pulling out the various pieces I noticed the top of a metal post poking out of the snow bank. I wondered what was missing that I had forgotten about? A little more digging in the melting snow and I came across a little lost lamb! That discovery led to another lost lamb a few feet away. Two sheep lost and forgotten about, now along with baby Jesus they were found and there was a bit of rejoicing (as well as relief).

Ironically at the Lenten midweek service a couple weeks ago I preached on the parable of the lost sheep. Now here I was living it out (sort of), except I wasn't looking for the sheep - I was simply glad when I came across them. That is a huge difference between the parable and my experience - in the parable the shepherd leaves the 99 to look for the one lost sheep (showing the value of the lost sheep, and desire of the shepherd that not one should be lost). I didn't even know I had some lost sheep! All I can say is that I hope my pastoring skills are better than that. (The word 'pastor' comes from the Latin word for 'shepherd'.)

At least the nativity set is now put away for another year and we won't have people wondering why there is a nativity scene on display at Easter time!

Father Dean Leads the Way

Today my father, Leslie Dean Hendricksen (known as Dean to most), celebrates his 75th birthday. Last month I celebrated my 25th anniversary of ministry at Christ Luthearn Church (more on that in another post). That means I am currently the age my father was when I became a pastor. That thought makes me shake my head - could it be possible that I'm as old as my dad was? But of course that's what happens when time keeps rolling along.

As far as I'm concerned my dad doesn't act like an old person (except for the fact that curling and coffee row has become a big part of his life the past couple of years). My dad loves nothing more than to learn something new, to get a new perspective on a subject - especially subjects around faith and church. He is not afraid to entertain new ideas, which is not to say he accepts every new idea that comes along, but he is willing to look at something with an honest, open and inquiring mind. Of the many characteristics that I share with my father (whether passed on through genetics or example) this is the one I am most pleased with. I am happy that my dad taught me to love learning and to continually grow in knowledge and understanding.

There is nothing my dad enjoys more than talking with people, picking up new information and new insights through conversation as well as observation. Next to that my dad most enjoys reading (and then talking about) books. Some people go to post-gradute studies then stop their learning when they enter the "real world". My dad has only known the "real world" (meaning he never got the opportunity to go to university) and yet his learning is more broad, more current than many with a university or seminary degree. I'm proud to have a father like that!

I have been blessed to have a father who has a passion for faith and life, who lives out grace and mercy, who encourages and celebrates the arts, and who is filled with understanding and humour. I thank God for being the son of such a man. The person I have become is in large part because of the person he is.

The picture above is of my dad during a trip to the Holy Land a few years ago. I thought the picture a bit symbolic, suggesting that just as the blessings of God were passed on to the descendants of Abraham, so too have the blessings of God been passed on my siblings and I through our father. He has blazed the path of faith before us, and we have benefitted from his life journey. We now are (hopefully) passing that wisdom and faith on to the next generation. For the blessings of God throughout the generations I am most grateful. Thanks Dad, and Happy Birthday!